Google Maps Street View takes you back in time with digital time capsule feature

Feel like travelling back in time a bit? Google has introduced a new feature for Google Maps Street View on the desktop that lets you see how much a place has changed over time. The digital time capsule shows you how structures, such as the Freedom Tower in New York City, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, etc., were built. It even shows how reconstruction efforts are going along in Onagawa Japan following the 2011 earthquake and Tsunami.

Source: Google Maps

Google lays down Pokémon challenge for April Fools’ Day

April Fools’ Day is still a few hours away but it’s already the April 1^st on the other side of the planet so Google’s latest prank involves the Pokémon world. This “new build” of Google Maps challenges you to find and catch all the creatures on your Pokédex in order to earn the Pokémon Master title. You can play along if you have the latest version of Maps on your iPhone or Android device. You just need to hit the search bar and tap on “Press start.” You only have until 2am on April 2 to catch them all though.

Source: Engadget

Google Maps parody Google Naps tells you the best places to snooze

Google Naps, a parody version of Google Maps, seeks to help you find the best places to catch a quick shuteye around the world. A group of Dutch users wanted to provide users with the “world’s coziest and coolest places to take a well-deserved nap.” The napping spots are shared by fellow users and include areas in US, China, Indonesia, and Brazil, to name a few. It’s meant to be a funny take on Google’s Maps application and probably just a reminder that naps are a good thing every now and then (no matter where you are).

Source: The Next Web

Google Maps hack creates urban jungle out of Street View

If you’ve wondered what our cities would look like post-apocalypse, a new hack for Google Maps gives you a peek of what that world would be like. Urban Jungle Street View gives you a look into concrete jungles filled with vegetation and whatnot. Einar Öberg designed the experiment with the use of Google Street View’s depth data. It helped him plot the grasses and trees on the road and have ivy crawling up buildings. It can supposedly work in any location but you would probably see greater effects in city centers.

Source: CNET