Google Brings Historical Street View to Google Earth for the First Time

TL;DR

• Google Earth now includes historical Street View imagery, previously available only on Google Maps.
  
• This expansion marks the 20th anniversary of Google Earth, which launched in 2005.
  
• The tool enables users to virtually time travel and view changes in landscapes and neighborhoods.
  
• Google Earth professional users in the U.S. will also gain access to AI-powered environmental insights.
  
• New data layers include urban tree canopy coverage and land surface temperature maps to aid in city planning.
  
• Google Earth has logged over 2 billion searches in the last year.
  

A 20-Year Journey: Google Earth Adds Time Travel Capabilities

To commemorate its 20th anniversary, Google has launched a long-awaited feature that brings historical Street View imagery to Google Earth for the first time. Until now, users could only access this data on Google Maps, where time-lapse Street View has been available since 2014.

With this new integration, users can explore the evolution of locations from a bird’s-eye perspective or at street level, allowing for both macro and granular views of how places have changed over time.

“We want to give people new ways to see the world, both how it is and how it was,” the company said in its announcement blog post.

Social Trends Inspire Product Expansion

The move comes on the heels of a viral trend that gained traction across platforms like TikTok and Instagram in 2024. People began using Google Maps’ time-travel feature to revisit moments in their personal lives—such as spotting a loved one captured in old Street View images or watching their childhood neighborhood change.

Now, with the feature available on Google Earth, users can zoom in and out of time and geography with an even more immersive experience.

“Whether you’re exploring a remote village or a bustling capital, we’re making the past more accessible than ever,” said Google’s Product Manager Aisha Malik.

Enhanced AI Capabilities for Urban Planners

In parallel with the consumer-facing updates, Google has also introduced a suite of AI-driven environmental insights for professional users in the U.S., aimed at helping urban planners, researchers, and environmental scientists.

Among the most notable additions:

• Tree Canopy Coverage Maps: Detailed views showing which areas of a city have denser tree coverage, enabling urban cooling strategies.
  
• Land Surface Temperature Analysis: Heat-mapping data to pinpoint urban heat islands, especially in low-tree or concrete-heavy areas.
  

These tools are immediately available for select U.S. cities, including Austin, Texas, where the system can help target areas for green infrastructure investments.

Google Earth: From Viral Launch to Global Tool

Launched in 2005, Google Earth quickly went viral, logging 100 million downloads in its first week. Over the years, the platform evolved from a novelty into a vital tool for education, environmental research, travel planning, and journalism.

According to Google, people have searched for places in Google Earth more than 2 billion times over the past 12 months alone.

“From classrooms to city councils, people are using Google Earth in ways we never could have imagined back in 2005,” said the company’s Earth team.

A New Chapter in Geo-Visualization

The addition of historical Street View isn’t just a cosmetic upgrade—it represents Google’s larger push into temporal digital mapping, a frontier increasingly relevant to climate studies, disaster response, and city development.

It also aligns with ongoing updates to Google Earth’s AI architecture, enabling real-time updates and integration with satellite imagery for climate monitoring.

“Bringing Street View time travel into Google Earth represents the natural convergence of two powerful tools,” said a Google Earth spokesperson.

Google Earth by the Numbers

A Forward-Looking Platform

As Google Earth steps into its third decade, it is increasingly positioned not just as a consumer curiosity, but as an essential geospatial tool that bridges historical imagery, AI-driven insights, and real-time environmental modeling.

This announcement underscores Google’s commitment to empowering governments, businesses, and citizens with tools that not only map the world, but also contextualize it—past, present, and future.