With Google Street View you can virtually navigate through streets. Large parts of the world are already indexed by Google. In this article you can read how to conjure up the most beautiful images on your screen.
Tip 01: Activate
Street View is built into Google Maps. To view interactive images of streets, go to in your browser the website. You can activate Street View in two ways, the first option is via the orange man at the bottom right. This little man is called Pegman and by clicking on it and holding down your mouse, Google Maps shows you which areas can be viewed with Street View. All areas to be viewed will glow blue and you can drag and release Pegman to one of the streets. You can see that the Netherlands is almost completely accessible, Google has been diligent in photographing the Dutch streets.
Once you’ve put Pegman somewhere, Google Maps will automatically change the view. You are now in Street View mode. To go back to the map, click at the bottom left Back to the map. The second option is to enter an address at the top left of the map. As soon as the map is zoomed in on your search, you will see the option at the top left just below the search Street View. Click on it and you will see the Street View representation of the address you provided. Of course Street View must be available for this street, otherwise this option will not be visible.
Tip 02: Move and zoom
Once you have entered Street View mode, you can virtually view entire neighborhoods or villages. At the top left you see the current address, this will change as soon as you start navigating with Street View. The most important buttons can be found at the bottom right of the screen. With the top button you rotate the view, you move your head from left to right, as it were. If you click on the left, you turn, for example, 90 degrees to the left. If you click in the center of the button, the view will turn to the north again. You can zoom in with the plus and minus buttons below.
However, you can also navigate by simply clicking anywhere in the view. You can then click and drag to look around. Click at the end of a street and Street View will automatically take you there. You can see if you can go somewhere with Street View through the virtual arrow on the ground. When a street is not indexed, you will not see an arrow. When you navigate with your mouse over the Street View view, you sometimes see that a gray square area is indicated by your cursor, this means that you can zoom in directly on this part.
Tip 03: Back in time
Google is constantly recording cities and towns in the Netherlands and some places have already been visited several times by the company’s cars. A nice feature is that you can also access these old recordings via Street View. At the top left you will see a date for each address, this is the date on which the recording was made. If a location has already been visited several times, there is a clock before this date. This will take you to the Time Travel function. Click on it and a bet will open under it. In a timeline you can see by means of a point at which times more recordings were made.
Choose one of the dates and you will see the inclusion of that date in the bet. If you want to see a larger view, click on the magnifying glass at the bottom right of the bet. Click on the cross to remove the bet, you will see that the date has now changed in the top left corner.
Tip 04: Aerial View
Not only can you virtually walk through cities, you can also visit some cities by flying. This feature is called Aerial View and is a bit hidden in Google Maps. Aerial View is not available for all cities. To access 3D images of these cities, you need the advanced version of Google Maps. Not all computers and browsers can access advanced mode. If you are at the bottom of the screen in a narrow line the text Simple mode you need to switch by clicking on it.
On the opened page, click on these requirements to see if you are able to display 3D models. If you meet the requirements, you can click the Use Maps with 3D button. It is best to use Google’s own browser Chrome for this. You will now see the Earth option at the bottom left, click on it and you will see a satellite view of your map. At the bottom right, an extra button with four squares has now appeared. Select this option to tilt the view. Click it again and you will see the map from a bird’s eye view. If you navigate to a city with 3D images, for example New York, and you zoom in on the center, 3D images of buildings in the city will appear.
Tip 05: View art
Not only can streets be explored with Street View, Google also makes interactive recordings of the interiors of well-known museums. The company does this under the name Google Art Project. Some museums have only taken photos of well-known works of art, but a complete virtual tour can be made in the Rijksmuseum, for example. click on this link and search for a museum or art collection by entering your search term at the top.
If you then left on Media type click, you choose Museum view. Click on the result and a window of the museum will open. On the left you see a map of the museum, on the right you have the opportunity to walk virtually through the museum. If you want to go to another floor, click on the number below the zoom button. If you want to see which museums have a museum representation, click at the top Collections and then choose for Museum view only.
Tip 06: Discover buildings
Google has applied a similar system to several well-known buildings, for example, Street View technology allows you to look inside the walls of palaces, churches and castles. Click on it Explore everything. Choose Locations and select a continent on the right or zoom in on a country. Click on a blue dot and on the next page you can read all about the place of interest. below Street View you can see which things you can view interactively. If there are more than two options, click Show all to see all options. Click on a photo and a map will appear on the left.
You can virtually walk through the building on the right-hand side. From the normal version of Google Maps you sometimes also have access to buildings. Go to www.google.nl/maps and click on the two triangles at the bottom right to open the image window. If you move your mouse over an image, you will see above the image whether it is a normal photo, a Street View object or a Photo Sphere. A Photo Sphere is a 360-degree photo with similar controls to a Street View object.
Tip 07: Delete info
Of course, it’s great that you can view a street in Tokyo or a country road in Spain from the comfort of your home, but if a Google car has driven past your house, you may not be happy with the result. Of course faces and number plates are made unrecognizable, but mistakes happen in this automatic process. If you do not want the whole world to be able to look inside you, you can indicate this to Google. The company will then ensure that your house is made unrecognizable.
Go to your house in Street View and click at the bottom Report a problem. On the new page you will now see an example of your house with a red rectangle in it. Now move the image with your mouse so that, for example, a window is exactly in the red box. Underneath, choose why you want this image to be removed from Street View by, for example, for A face or My house to choose. Enter additional information and choose To send to report it to Google.
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