Up until now, anyone hoping to time travel in Google Street View was more or less left at the mercy of the odd, serendipitous glitch. But starting today Google is rolling out a new Street View feature that lets you travel back in time virtually anywhere.
Apparently, Google’s been quietly hoarding old Street View snapshots since the carefree days of 2007, affording it a huge cache of data to draw from. Now, anytime you see a little clock icon in the upper left corner (like in the example below) you’ll be able to click through and see how that location has evolved over the years — at least as seen through the eyes of Google’s army of photo-collecting cars.
Even though it only covers a period seven years, it really is pretty incredible to see how much some of our most iconic and beloved locations have changed — be it for better or worse.
And while the new “digital time capsule” feature isn’t available across the board quite yet, checking out the evolution of places like the 2014 World cup Stadium and Japan both pre- and post-devastating tsunami should keep you plenty busy for now.
[Google]