7 ms·

Go back in time with Street View

106 points by ruchir_21hj 12y ago

iscrewyou 12y ago
Prime example of what you call having an upper hand. Great on Google for providing this. Its not really a Maps application anymore. Its an archive.
mnw21cam 12y ago
Doesn't seem to be active yet. Will be interesting when it is.
- crazygringo 12y ago
  Indeed. No clock icon for me on the links they provide, even in Chrome.
sneak 12y ago
Google Street View already lets me go back in time to a time when Flash was required to use the web...
- crazygringo 12y ago
  You're wrong, Street View doesn't use Flash. (At least not on modern browsers, I can't speak as to whether or not there's a flash fallback for older browsers.)
- nandhp 12y ago
  Only Classic Google Maps uses Flash for street view; recent versions use HTML5. If you haven't migrated yet, see http://www.google.com/maps/about/explore/ http://www.google.com/maps/about/explore/
sutterbomb 12y ago
It's frustrating to see feature announcements for features that aren't live yet - especially when they aren't framed as a "coming soon" feature. If you're doing a slow roll-out, or announcing an upcoming feature, be explicit about that. Without setting expectations, you've completely lost the point of announcing. I won't just remember to check back later, and I won't share the news with anyone else since there's nothing to see.
- hanapbuhay 12y ago
  Double checked if this announcement was written in the future.
- hamburglar 12y ago
  Agreed. Google does this to me regularly. "Hooray, you can X" and then I spend a while poking around, trying to do X, before eventually realizing they've probably punked me again and giving up. I don't understand why they do it. Instead of being amused by their new feature, I'm annoyed that they've wasted my time again.
- allworknoplay 12y ago
  So absurd, especially when they link you to specific things they claim you should be able to see.
alanlewis 12y ago
"This device isn't a spaceship... it's a time machine."
kingnight 12y ago
I'm surprised they went forward with the fullscreen Google Maps experience. I can't believe how awful the performance is. I can't count how many times I've followed a link, including ones off this blog post, where the map will hang (on some js query I'm assuming) and won't respond to user input or do anything until the page is reloaded. I also can't believe how tricky the UI is. Finding directions from one place to another is unbelievably difficult. The only thing I can think of is that their desktop usage has just plummeted so they decided to go out the door with experimental features up to wazoo for the tinkerers who love to waste time exploring the map.
- chadgeidel 12y ago
  I, too find the new maps occasionally frustrating (although I prefer it to the old version. To answer other's questions. It's a game of "who moved my cheese" in which Google changes the way some feature works (for example - creating a link to a location), and when I try to find out how to do it "the new way", I only get results for "the old way". I just discovered recently that you can show the sidebar (with the "Print" and "Link" buttons) in new maps by clicking the gear icon and select "My Places" in the lower right corner of the screen. This is non-obvious behavior. Am I stupid? Perhaps. Can a case be made for the fact that moving navigational elements is bad UX? I think so.
  - nandhp 12y ago
    I do agree that the new maps are sometimes frustrating. However, I feel the need to point out two things with respect to your particular objections to it. 1. "Gear > My Places" appears to do basically the same thing as "Help > Return to Classic Google Maps", which has a significantly more obvious name. 2. In the new Google Maps, the Print and Link buttons are mostly redundant. If you want to print the map, use your browser's Print command. In some situations (e.g. step-by-step directions) there is a print button on the Google Maps button-bar (under Google's global navigation) which offers more options (e.g. print with maps or print text only). As to making links to things, there's a perfectly good URL in the address bar. If that isn't good enough (it's really long, so maybe you want a short URL), you can do "Gear > Share and embed map". Yes, this really ought to be named "Share or embed map", since those are actually separate features.
rwhitman 12y ago
I've been waiting for this feature to come about. I have to admit I've often taken a spin around street view in urban areas where there was major upheaval (devastation, rapid gentrification) and zoomed up and down streets hoping to get a glimpse of before / after street view photos. Pretty exciting to have it become featurized
will_brown 12y ago
This is similar, but maybe even cooler than Google Earth's time slide. I hope one day Google gives users the ability to filter Google News and Google search results by date. One of my side projects is location based video sharing using the Google Map API. One of the first things I incorporated was a video search/filter by time/date. See: http://112.196.33.85/solitaire/demo/will_brown_new/login.php http://112.196.33.85/solitaire/demo/will_brown_new/login.php
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > I hope one day Google gives users the ability to filter Google News and Google search results by date. Haven't those options been in "search tools" for a long time (starting back when the search tools were more prominent), and in advanced options even before that?
  - will_brown 12y ago
    Google News allows search by date, but unless there is an option I am unaware of it is capped at the last 30 days. Also, I think the filter is based on the date something was crawled, which is not necessarily the date of publication. Edit: I can set the range past 30 days, the actual function is a little tricky for older articles because again I believe it is based on crawl date not publication date. Example I set date 1939-1944 and search "World War 2", no results.
    - _delirium 12y ago
      They actually used to have a more full-featured date search in Google News, but it was temporarily discontinued in December: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/news/Gl23RwnTIlg/aAGakhzIe_cJ https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/news/Gl23RwnTIl...
mimighost 12y ago
It kinda remind me of the old Google that before Larry Page takes over: offers that may be not profitable in its nature but interesting and really enlighten your imagination.
Theodores 12y ago
This is a truly exciting gift from our friends in the GooglePlex. I guess that Microsoft, Apple and others in the mapping game must be disappointed by this announcement. This back-in-time feature is not necessarily 'must have' but it certainly is something that a lot of people are going to like. It also makes Google the only choice for the serious 'maps user'. Personally I envy those born in the last few years. When they get to my age they will be able to explore the streets they grew up in rather than rely on hazy black and white memories.
guard-of-terra 12y ago
Naver had this for some time now for Seoul street view.
spingsprong 12y ago
Extremely poor performance for me at the moment. The update rate is so slow as to be virtually unusable.

106 points by ruchir_21hj 12y ago

Prime example of what you call having an upper hand. Great on Google for providing this. Its not really a Maps application anymore. Its an archive.

mnw21cam 12y ago

Doesn't seem to be active yet. Will be interesting when it is.

crazygringo 12y ago
Indeed. No clock icon for me on the links they provide, even in Chrome.

sneak 12y ago

Google Street View already lets me go back in time to a time when Flash was required to use the web...

crazygringo 12y ago
You're wrong, Street View doesn't use Flash. (At least not on modern browsers, I can't speak as to whether or not there's a flash fallback for older browsers.)
nandhp 12y ago
Only Classic Google Maps uses Flash for street view; recent versions use HTML5. If you haven't migrated yet, see http://www.google.com/maps/about/explore/ http://www.google.com/maps/about/explore/

sutterbomb 12y ago

It's frustrating to see feature announcements for features that aren't live yet - especially when they aren't framed as a "coming soon" feature. If you're doing a slow roll-out, or announcing an upcoming feature, be explicit about that. Without setting expectations, you've completely lost the point of announcing. I won't just remember to check back later, and I won't share the news with anyone else since there's nothing to see.

hanapbuhay 12y ago
Double checked if this announcement was written in the future.
hamburglar 12y ago
Agreed. Google does this to me regularly. "Hooray, you can X" and then I spend a while poking around, trying to do X, before eventually realizing they've probably punked me again and giving up. I don't understand why they do it. Instead of being amused by their new feature, I'm annoyed that they've wasted my time again.
allworknoplay 12y ago
So absurd, especially when they link you to specific things they claim you should be able to see.

alanlewis 12y ago

"This device isn't a spaceship... it's a time machine."

kingnight 12y ago

I'm surprised they went forward with the fullscreen Google Maps experience. I can't believe how awful the performance is. I can't count how many times I've followed a link, including ones off this blog post, where the map will hang (on some js query I'm assuming) and won't respond to user input or do anything until the page is reloaded. I also can't believe how tricky the UI is. Finding directions from one place to another is unbelievably difficult. The only thing I can think of is that their desktop usage has just plummeted so they decided to go out the door with experimental features up to wazoo for the tinkerers who love to waste time exploring the map.

chadgeidel 12y ago
I, too find the new maps occasionally frustrating (although I prefer it to the old version. To answer other's questions. It's a game of "who moved my cheese" in which Google changes the way some feature works (for example - creating a link to a location), and when I try to find out how to do it "the new way", I only get results for "the old way". I just discovered recently that you can show the sidebar (with the "Print" and "Link" buttons) in new maps by clicking the gear icon and select "My Places" in the lower right corner of the screen. This is non-obvious behavior. Am I stupid? Perhaps. Can a case be made for the fact that moving navigational elements is bad UX? I think so.
- nandhp 12y ago
  I do agree that the new maps are sometimes frustrating. However, I feel the need to point out two things with respect to your particular objections to it. 1. "Gear > My Places" appears to do basically the same thing as "Help > Return to Classic Google Maps", which has a significantly more obvious name. 2. In the new Google Maps, the Print and Link buttons are mostly redundant. If you want to print the map, use your browser's Print command. In some situations (e.g. step-by-step directions) there is a print button on the Google Maps button-bar (under Google's global navigation) which offers more options (e.g. print with maps or print text only). As to making links to things, there's a perfectly good URL in the address bar. If that isn't good enough (it's really long, so maybe you want a short URL), you can do "Gear > Share and embed map". Yes, this really ought to be named "Share or embed map", since those are actually separate features.

rwhitman 12y ago

I've been waiting for this feature to come about. I have to admit I've often taken a spin around street view in urban areas where there was major upheaval (devastation, rapid gentrification) and zoomed up and down streets hoping to get a glimpse of before / after street view photos. Pretty exciting to have it become featurized

will_brown 12y ago

This is similar, but maybe even cooler than Google Earth's time slide. I hope one day Google gives users the ability to filter Google News and Google search results by date. One of my side projects is location based video sharing using the Google Map API. One of the first things I incorporated was a video search/filter by time/date. See: http://112.196.33.85/solitaire/demo/will_brown_new/login.php http://112.196.33.85/solitaire/demo/will_brown_new/login.php

dragonwriter 12y ago
> I hope one day Google gives users the ability to filter Google News and Google search results by date. Haven't those options been in "search tools" for a long time (starting back when the search tools were more prominent), and in advanced options even before that?
- will_brown 12y ago
  Google News allows search by date, but unless there is an option I am unaware of it is capped at the last 30 days. Also, I think the filter is based on the date something was crawled, which is not necessarily the date of publication. Edit: I can set the range past 30 days, the actual function is a little tricky for older articles because again I believe it is based on crawl date not publication date. Example I set date 1939-1944 and search "World War 2", no results.
  - _delirium 12y ago
    They actually used to have a more full-featured date search in Google News, but it was temporarily discontinued in December: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/news/Gl23RwnTIlg/aAGakhzIe_cJ https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/news/Gl23RwnTIl...

mimighost 12y ago

It kinda remind me of the old Google that before Larry Page takes over: offers that may be not profitable in its nature but interesting and really enlighten your imagination.

Theodores 12y ago

This is a truly exciting gift from our friends in the GooglePlex. I guess that Microsoft, Apple and others in the mapping game must be disappointed by this announcement. This back-in-time feature is not necessarily 'must have' but it certainly is something that a lot of people are going to like. It also makes Google the only choice for the serious 'maps user'. Personally I envy those born in the last few years. When they get to my age they will be able to explore the streets they grew up in rather than rely on hazy black and white memories.

guard-of-terra 12y ago

Naver had this for some time now for Seoul street view.

spingsprong 12y ago

Extremely poor performance for me at the moment. The update rate is so slow as to be virtually unusable.