How to Go Back in Time with Google Maps

Google Maps offers many interesting features that go beyond just helping you navigate the city. Among these functionalities is the ability to access historical imagery through Google Street View, allowing users to explore how streets and places have changed over time. It is possible to go back as far as 2007 in some areas, providing a unique experience, whether to satisfy a practical need or simply to reminisce about the past.

To access this feature on the desktop version, you can use Google Maps in a web browser. By clicking on a location where Street View is available, a panel will open at the bottom with an image. Alternatively, you can select a specific destination on the map, and once the information panel appears, click on the Street View panel itself or select the "Street View & 360°" option in the photo gallery. If historical images are available, you will see a "View more dates" link in the upper left corner. By clicking on this link, thumbnails with different dates will appear; selecting any of them will show how the place looked at that time.

For those who want to navigate more quickly, there is a mini map in the lower-left corner that allows you to click to jump directly to a location. By pressing "View latest date," you can return to the most recent images.

In the mobile version of Google Maps, accessing Street View is done in a similar way. By long-pressing a point on the map, if images are available, a Street View photo will appear in the lower-left corner. You can also tap the name of a place to open its information card and select "Photos" followed by "Street View & 360°." If there are images from other dates, you will see a "View more dates" link at the bottom, allowing access to the thumbnails of the different available dates.

Additionally, you can explore historical satellite images via Google Earth, either through its web interface or mobile applications. In the web version, by enabling the historical imagery option, a timeline appears allowing you to choose the year you wish to explore. In the mobile apps, the option is activated from the layers button. With this tool, it is possible to travel back in time, although it should be noted that the quality of the images decreases as you go further back in time.