Google Maps’ Street View celebrates its 15 anniversary with a new camera and new features

Street View on Google Maps launched fifteen years ago today, and it is celebrating this monumental occasion with the release of new features and a brand new camera. This new camera weighs less than fifteen pounds. It is roughly the size of a house cat, making it highly portable, shippable, and customizable, making it possible to gather even more Street View data.

The new Street View camera will complement Google’s current fleet of Street View cars, Trekker backpacks, and other gear next year to help collect high-quality images in more places, especially hard-to-reach locations like remote islands and rough terrain. It has a modular design, so it can be customized to fit the situation, mounted in more places, and upgraded with newer components when needed. It also weirdly reminds me of Wall-E, so that’s definitely a plus.

In addition to the new immersive view announced at Google I/O this year, Street View will also now let you see the world around you as it’s changed through the years. When you are viewing a certain location in Street View, you will now be able to tap on “See more dates,” which will take you to the historical imagery that has been published on that location and pretty much take you back in time.

In honor of this celebration, Google Maps users will also be able to customize the chevron icon that represents their vehicle when in navigation mode to a celebratory Street View car. Additionally, the Pegman indicator will be dressed up in a birthday hat and balloons on the desktop version.

Lastly, Google shared on their blog a list of magnificent places you can explore from the comfort of your home by using Street View, such as the Burj Khalifa, Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, and even the International Space Station! All are captured not just with these high-quality cameras but also with contributions from Maps users around the world who have shared their own imagery.