Like millions of other people, I use Google Maps regularly. I use it to find the fastest route to the grocery store, or avoid traffic jams on my morning commute. It has mostly been a purely functional tool for me, to get from point A to point B.
Recently I stumbled into a feature that completely changed how I look at the app. There's a hidden digital time machine.
It turns out that Google has been busy archiving decades of panoramic Street View imagery. And while we've been busy navigating our daily lives, Google’s camera cars have been building a massive, visual history of our world.
When I realized I could access this archive, I didn't go looking at famous landmarks or changing city skylines. I, of course, went straight to my childhood home.
How to unlock the time machine yourself
If you want to go on your own digital nostalgia trip, the process is incredibly simple, though Google keeps the controls relatively quiet. To start your journey, open Google Maps on your computer and search for an address.
Once the location loads, look to the bottom right corner of your screen and grab the little yellow silhouette figure, known as Pegman, and drop him directly onto the blue-highlighted street in front of your destination to enter Street View.
Once you are standing on the digital street, look up at the top-left corner of your screen where the address box is located. You will spot a small clock icon accompanied by the words "See more dates."
Clicking on that icon will open a window at the bottom of your screen featuring the archived images throughout the years, depending on how often the Google car has driven down that specific road.
If you are using the Google Maps app on your phone, you can achieve the same effect by tapping anywhere on the screen while in Street View, which will bring up a menu card at the bottom. Tapping "See more dates" on that card will reveal a scrollable carousel of past years, allowing you to swipe back in time with your thumb.
Google Maps is brilliant at showing us how to get to where we are going. But if you know where to look, it is even better at reminding us of where we used to be.
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