Google Brings Historical Street View Imagery to Google Earth

Google Earth, the company’s popular geobrowser is celebrating its 20th birthday this year. On this occasion, the company is bringing historical Street View imagery to the app.

Until now, only Google Maps allowed users to go back in time and see how cities looked like in the past. However, Google acknowledged there has been growing demand from Google Earth users to get the same historical Street View imagery in the app.

“Last year, #somewhereonGoogleMaps started trending on social media, with people around the globe using historical Street View to virtually time travel and see how a place evolved over time. Now, you can access historical Street View imagery right from Google Earth — and if you use Google Earth in a professional capacity, you can easily access new datasets, like tree canopy coverage for cities, land temperatures and more,” wrote Yael Maguire, VP & GM, Google Maps Platform & Google Earth.

In the coming weeks, Google also plans to introduce new data layers to Google Earth, including data layers land surface temperature, tree canopy coverage, and rooftop reflectivity. The company will also expand access to Delve, its generative design tool for real estate and sustainability professionals.