HN

Comments (66)

• Menu

  modeless
  Street View is such a missed opportunity. In 2007 it was visionary and essential to create the map data that allowed Google Maps to win. In 2026 it is a symbol of Google's stagnation. Essentially zero improvement in user experience for more than a decade, in a time of incredible advancements in computer vision.By now we should all be flying around the planet in a seamless 3D reconstruction unifying street level and satellite views and allowing smooth free camera motion all the way from space to the front door of buildings and even inside. Many years ago I saw internal Google demos of dramatically improved Street View rendering, none of which ever made it to production. Google has consistently failed to recognize the value of the product and systematically underinvested in the user experience.
• Menu

  Oarch
  Apologies as this is fairly tangential:There's a parallax effect in Street View on Apple Maps that separates out the layers of every image. Things like lampposts or telephone poles all rotate slightly differently to whatever is behind them.And it's such a subtle effect that I still break my brain trying to determine whether or not I've made it up.Imagine expending that much development time and effort for something you're not even sure is there. And somehow I still find it enviably cool.
• Menu

  benbristow
  The workstation paragraph seems like a humble brag. Most of us yearn for a set-up like that! Especially with the price of components going up thanks to AI and corporations buying all the hardware to support it.
• Menu

  hmokiguess
  Tangential comment but I still don't understand how we have technology to identify a car license plate from space but we have pixelated images from Antarctica on Google Maps / Google Earth. Why not publish that and make it accessible? Is it true that Antarctica is not easy to scan due to ice and snow?
• Menu

  ks2048
  El Salvador looks black but has pretty good coverage throughout the country.Costa Rica seems also to have more coverage than I see here.Paraguay too.
• Menu

  bagels
  Why is there so much dense coverage in southern Ontario than anywhere else in North America?
• jeffbee
  Is that base map style inspired by the board game Pandemic, the computer game DEFCON, or a third thing?Edit: Apparently it is "Nova Map" base tile set from ArcGIS.
• anon
  undefined
• Menu

  mcntsh
  Streetview is such an incredible product - one of the few digital products that still manages to bring me joy every day. it'll be a shame when it's inevitably enshitified.
• nobody_r_knows
  [dead]