Google Time Machine
A clock icon has been added to Street View which allows users to travel into the recent past and observe how places evolve over the years
The power of image has never been so prevalent. Since Google Street View was launched in 2007, the tool has captured some unusual sights, including a copulating couple on the bonnet of a car in Australia and an individual in superhero gear napping on a bench in Japan. Now the scope for perplexing and fascinating imagery around the world has been widened with a new Street View feature allowing users to travel back in time, uncovering an archive of photographs accumulated over the years. By moving a scrollbar along the bottom of the screen, users can alter the year to see how a particular place or building has developed and changed over time. In a recent Google blog post, product manager, Vinay Shet calls it a "digital time capsule of the world." As technology and culture develop at a vast speed, we are becoming more and more interested in the evolution of just about everything. With Street View, users are now able to explore faraway parts of the world and their development over time, like the reconstruction after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Onagawa, Japan. Without having to leave the glow of a monitor, Street View now allows the exploration of a national park or even the ocean floor during any season in the last seven years.
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