Google Is Shutting Down Its Dedicated Street View App Next Year (9to5google.com) 13
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 9to5Google: Google is preparing to shut down the dedicated Street View app on Android, keeping the feature in Google Maps. Google's Street View is an easy way to get a 360-degree look at almost any given street on the planet, perfect for getting a sense of your next travel destination or simply exploring the world from the comfort of home. While the Google Maps app has long offered an easy way to hop into Street View, there has also been a dedicated Street View app on Android and iOS.
This standalone app served two distinct groups of people -- those who wanted to deeply browse Street View and those who wanted to contribute their own 360 imagery. Considering the more popular Google Maps app has Street View support and Google offers a "Street View Studio" web app for contributors, it should be no surprise to learn that the company is now preparing to shut down the Street View app.
In the latest update, version 2.0.0.484371618, Google has prepared a handful of deprecation/shutdown notices for the Street View app. These notices are not yet visible in the app today, but our team managed to enable them. In the notice, Google confirms that the Street View app is set to shut down on March 31, 2023, encouraging users to switch to either Google Maps or Street View Studio. However, one feature that is being fully shut down with the Street View app's demise is that of "Photo Paths." First launched last year, Photo Paths were intended as a way to let nearly anyone with a smartphone contribute simple 2D photos of a road or path that had not yet been documented by Street View. Unlike every other feature of the Street View app, there is no replacement for Photo Paths on the web app or Google Maps app.
This standalone app served two distinct groups of people -- those who wanted to deeply browse Street View and those who wanted to contribute their own 360 imagery. Considering the more popular Google Maps app has Street View support and Google offers a "Street View Studio" web app for contributors, it should be no surprise to learn that the company is now preparing to shut down the Street View app.
In the latest update, version 2.0.0.484371618, Google has prepared a handful of deprecation/shutdown notices for the Street View app. These notices are not yet visible in the app today, but our team managed to enable them. In the notice, Google confirms that the Street View app is set to shut down on March 31, 2023, encouraging users to switch to either Google Maps or Street View Studio. However, one feature that is being fully shut down with the Street View app's demise is that of "Photo Paths." First launched last year, Photo Paths were intended as a way to let nearly anyone with a smartphone contribute simple 2D photos of a road or path that had not yet been documented by Street View. Unlike every other feature of the Street View app, there is no replacement for Photo Paths on the web app or Google Maps app.
Re: (Score:2)
That you comment as AC makes one wonder who is funding that comment.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Seeing Google's track record of this (https://killedbygoogle.com/), dude's not wrong...
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https://killedbygoogle.com/
I had not heard of this site before. The number of products that Google has killed is stunning!
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Indeed it is. Try relying on some of these for in-house developed app integrations. Changing gears more than a Gen Z'er figuring out a manual transmission...lol.
Streetview (Score:3)
The mobile Web version of streetview
doesn't have the look back in time facility. I'd say that's a big minus point.
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The mobile web version is one exception, but the desktop web version and the Maps app both have that. So it's not gone from any platform.
I like the photo paths (Score:2)
I like the photo paths, and have even contributed my own.
A great way for almost everyone to contribute more imagery to google maps.
As Long as I Can Get it Somewhere. (Score:2)
Of all the things "Google" that have come and gone, the one I most appreciate is Google Maps and its various pieces. I remember when those trucks hit the road en masse... what audacity! And then when Apple maps arrived, and suddenly the difference in quality and completeness was starkly demonstrated.
That's not to deride Apple - when Google first started getting widespread use the same sorts of problems occurred. It's just that Apple entered into a world inhabited by a mature product, and it showed.
The idea
The what app? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Ditto. I didn't know it existed.
Photospheres (Score:2)