Recently, Google added a neat little feature to its Street View product – the ability to go back in time by displaying their previously-captured images of the streets and towns in its Street View database. Street View was launched in 2007, so for many areas you can see how they’ve changed over the past seven years. For Sooke, most of the community was first captured in 2009, then again in 2011 and 2012.
I first had a look at my house, to see what had changed in my neighbourhood over the past five years. Then I thought about new developments in the town core since 2009, and had a look there.
What a difference the sale of this next building made – the new owners completely renovated it and it now houses three businesses in Sooke including a much-needed new dentist office:
This last one surprised me – I thought that it was torn down before 2009.
Have a look around Sooke and see what you can see. When zoomed in on Street View, you can preview the historical images by clicking on them on the left (look for the new text and the clock icon). To make them full screen, click on the magnify image.
I’ve heard that the Street View car has been spotted around the greater Victoria region, so it sounds like Google is updating Street View over the coming months.
boy I would have LOVED to have lived in Sooke back before 2009. Ideally I would have liked to have lived there around the late 1990s. I’ll take what I have now though, because I know damned well that it will all just be more urban sprawl in ten years, with only one road in and zero access to the back country.