Google Rolls Out Street View Time Travel To Celebrate 20 Years of Google Earth

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: After 20 years, being able to look at any corner of the planet in Google Earth doesn't seem that impressive, but it was a revolution in 2005. Google Earth has gone through a lot of changes in that time, and Google has some more lined up for the service's 20th anniversary. Soon, Google Earth will help you travel back in time with historic Street View integration, and pro users will get some new "AI-driven insights" -- of course Google can't update a product without adding at least a little AI. [...] While this part isn't new, Google is also using the 20th anniversary as an opportunity to surface its 3D timelapse feature. These animations use satellite data to show how an area has changed from a higher vantage point. They're just as cool as when they were announced in 2021.

The AI layers are launching in the coming weeks in Google Earth web and mobile as part of Google's Professional Advanced offering. If you use that version of Earth, you should have access to a collection of so-called "AI-driven insights." For instance, you can find the average surface temperature or tree canopy coverage in a given area. This could be of help in urban planning or construction, but it's unclear how many of these insights the app will have. Google says the AI angle here is that the new layers use machine learning to categorize pixels. It's possible Google has just reached the "AI as a buzzword" stage.

GDPR?

[martin-boundary]

Surely keeping 20 years worth of pictures of someone's house fails the GDPR?

Re:GDPR?

[drinkypoo]

There is a legitimate purpose for the photos, they do not contain any PII, and if you blur faces then there's really no privacy concerns at all.

You do not have a right to not have your house photographed. If they were labeling your home with your PII, that would fall afoul of the GDPR.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Hence families have 8 foot high walls.

Having those high walls is a sign that your government is broken. You only need them because your government cannot defend you, or because you need defense from your government, or of course both.

You cannot fix this problem by stopping Google from taking photos on your street and sharing them.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Hence families have 8 foot high walls.

Google raping your privacy.

Don't be naiive. Families have 8 foot walls because politicians have decided that high trust societies aren't conducive to massive fearmongering and power grabs. Thus, the people on the other side of their walls have become a threat to their livelihood and possibly lives.

Re:

[fropenn]

There is a legitimate purpose for the photos

Stalking, and calculating property tax increases?

if you blur faces then there's really no privacy concerns at all

You can sometimes identify someone without being able to see their face, such as by their vehicle (e.g., parked in the driveway), or if kids live there (via yard toys, bikes, etc.), etc. As long as photos are taken from public spaces, then yes, it is legal, but it is not accurate to say there are "no privacy concerns."

Street View Time Machine isn't new

[LindleyF]

They had this in 2014. But I guess it wasn't integrated with Earth then.

*Any* corner?

[dwater]

Does it work for mainland China? I hear it is not very clever...

Re:

[BoogieChile]

It doesn't work for my corner of the world, since the Google street car has been through it only three times in the last 20 years, and the last time was over 10 years ago.

Why not keeping up to date?

[bradley13]

Google put a massive effort into creating their maps and street map. What I don't understand, is why they don't think it's worth keeping up-to-date?

I live in a semi-rural location, and both the satellite pics and the maps are around 10 years out of date. I have submitted map corrections, as well as requested new imagery, several times over the years. Nothing.

Re:

[Smonster]

I think you answered your own question. “I live somewhere rural”. Assuming it is truly rural then its safe to also assume not of lot of people or businesses are there and the roads don’t change that often. Secondly, you obviously care. But on national level you are the exception. Google isn’t doing it for free. They do it to sell ads. As long as the roads, trails, and buildings are pretty much the same there isn’t a pressing need to redo the photos to maintain accuracy. Making

pro users will get some new "AI-driven insights"

[newbie_fantod]

Finally, a company that disincentivizes service upgrades.

Re: pro users will get some new "AI-driven insight

[Equuleus42]

Agreed. I'd be happier if they instead updated Google Earth Pro for Desktop to natively support ARM64 CPUs like the Apple M series.

Nuke being able to blur houses and buildings.

[Travelsonic]

The idea has very faulty logic supporting it, the implementation is terrible, and defeats the purpose of street view.

I was a First-Gen Street View driver

[mmarlett]

I guess the project is 20 years old, but I drove one of the first Street View cars in the summer of 2007 — 18 years ago. I was in the second batch to go out. Drove every other day from sun up to sun down for months. It put calluses on my steering wheel hand. I quickly listened to my entire iTunes library on my 80GB iPod. Started churning through books on tape. You cannot imagine how many flat tires we got. The first cars were cheap Chevy Cobalts. As one of my supervisors said, "It's a $10,000 car with