Discovering yourself on Google Street View

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Last Updated on 24th July 2020

We’ve all seen those funny staged, and not so staged Google Street View shots but you never expect to find yourself in one! Well back in 2009 I made an appearance.

A google Street View car drove past me!

My moment took place when I was running back to our Crowne Plaza hotel in Darling Harbour, Sydney after forgetting something or other. I remember spotting a little white car out of the corner of my eye with a camera attached to its roof. At the time I didn’t think much of it as it wasn’t emblazoned with any obvious Google or CCTV logos. Either way I got what I needed from the hotel room and carried on with my day.

On returning back to England a few months later I did check a few times. This was more out of curiosity, wondering if it was actually a Google Street View car that I’d seen, but initially to no avail. The Street View of the area outside the hotel was still showing images from a previous year.

Google Maps has finally been updated

Then in 2011 came some success! Google had updated its images albeit over a year after my visit. There I was, three or four shots in total, a blurred face in each, as I rounded the corner at pace! I must have been in a rush! And here’s one of the current links in Google Maps.

The great thing with Google Street View is that it has a timeframe view on the desktop version. Even if they update these images with more recent photos I’ll always be able to go back and choose the year that I was featured in.

Check closer to home too

Now of course you’re unlikely to just “find yourself” surfing randomly around Street View but maybe check out your own road or place of work and you never know! You might see a neighbour at least, or a previous tenant, or a colleague or even a burglar! Obviously if you discover an actual Google Street View car during the course of the day you’ll have that vital split second to decide what to do! Keep walking?, pull a Usain Bolt pose?, feign a death on the pavement?, or most likely do nothing out of the ordinary. If you do see a Google car go by though do remember to check back every few months to see if you eventually appear for all the world to see just like I did.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this maybe you’d like to read my post about the travel related questions that people are asking Google?

Has anybody else ever discovered themselves on Google Street View? 🙂

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