Google Street View Adds New imagery in Nearly 80 Countries

Google Street View, the Google Maps feature that lets users see 360° panoramic views of supported locations worldwide, is getting new imagery in nearly 80 countries. According to Google, this is one of the biggest updates in the history of the service, which was first launched in 2007.

“Keep an eye out for updated Street View images from around the world, in countries like Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Rwanda, Serbia, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, Uruguay and many more,” the Google Maps team said yesterday.

Google Street View leverages over 280 million images captured by Street View cars and trekkers. Street View data is completed by satellite and aerial imagery visible on Google Maps and Google Earth, which will also get sharper thanks to new AI models.

“We’ve used our Cloud Score+ AI model, trained on millions of images, to recognize and remove things like clouds, cloud shadows, haze and mist,” the Google Maps teams explained. “At the same time, this model keeps real-world weather patterns — like ice, snow and mountain shadows — visible on the map.”

Lastly, Google will soon add new historical imagery to Google Earth on the web and mobile devices. In some locations, users will be able to go back to the 1930s and see how these locations changed over 90 years. This should be useful for researchers analyzing geographical changes and the effects of global warming across the globe. Google Earth users should also soon discover a new home screen that puts collaborative projects front and center.