Having these cameras roam the streets helps Google improve its Google Maps data. For instance, there aren’t any lidar sensors built-in (laser scanners typically found in Street View cars that operate in cities), so they can be added when required, especially when it’s necessary to collect important and helpful imagery like lane markings or potholes. The image on the right shows global population density in red.Plus, instead of creating completely new camera systems to capture certain areas like Google used to do, the new camera is customizable. The map on the left shows you global Street View coverage in blue.

How many countries and people has Google missed? It's difficult to count heads, but we can start to answer that question by looking at global population density and comparing it with coverage areas.īelow is a rough slider map tool that compares coverage area (a sum of what's covered above, officially, in blue and light blue) with population density. There are vast sections of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia yet to documented by the Street View surveyor. Want to find yourself with Christ the Redeemer? Boom :īut Street View can only show you the world it has itself discovered, and it's missed a good half of the inhabited planet : Street View is great way to take in daily life in the United States, Europe, and larger Latin American cities. The car's photo maps have showered netizens with some of the most visually iconic experiences on the Web, such as the lot-dwelling Norwegian snorkelbros of Hordaland: The photos are taken by a compact car with a very powerful volleyball: Google's goal is to take pictures of what things look like, and not just where they are. Google has almost every city and town on Earth exquisitely surveyed from a bird's eye perspective, including suggestions powered by the company's search engine.īut Street View is a different program. Google Maps Street View cannot show you (all) the world. What if you could only see the world through the eyes of Google's Street View car?

Google street view map