How to go back in time using Google Maps
There’s a lot to explore in Google Maps, but you may not always know where to look. It’s great if you’re trying to drive through a crowded city or find out which local coffee shop has the best-rated bagels, but there are also other, lesser-known features worth investigating. These include historical imagery on Google Street View.
Google Maps actually makes it easy to switch between different time periods. On either desktop or mobile, you can go back to when Google’s Street View cars first started patrolling the streets — in some areas, you can go back as far as 2007 — and see how roads and places looked years ago.
So whether you have a practical purpose or just want to take a nostalgia trip, here’s how to go about it. These instructions apply to the latest versions of Google Maps for the web, Android, and iOS.
Street View on desktop
If you’re using Google Maps in a desktop browser, you can get to Street View by clicking anywhere on the map where Street View is available (which is most roads and famous landmarks), then clicking the Street View panel at the bottom. (It will look like a small square photo with a curved arrow.)
Alternatively, select a specific destination …