IssueTracker

It's been a month since I submitted this. Is there anything new at the moment?

This is clearly taking too long, given the fact that this issue was submitted like 3 months ago and I still haven't got any update from the assignee. What's happening?

Alright, I had enough of waiting. I'll be posting on the Maps Help Community.

I've been trying to send feedback requesting that the data be restored, but to be honest, this could be a tricky process as I am not sure if Google will ever acknowledge that the data is important to me.

Welp, there wasn't any update here until now.

Here are some of the coordinates where the higher-resolution 2017 Street View existed:

• Los Angeles: 34.4277232,-118.5857775
• Dallas-Fort Worth: 32.7491504,-97.29456
• Houston: 29.7105342,-95.3082092
• Orlando: 28.4997113,-81.4280755
• Bay Area: 37.4173519,-122.0876903
• Miami: 25.8356795,-80.2061919 and 25.8660371,-80.3228524

Go to those coordinates, enter Street View and click on the 'See more dates' link on the top-left corner. At some of those coordinates, there is indeed 2017 imagery, but it's mostly in Gen 3 resolution which is not very perfect due to stitching errors and inconsistent picture quality on larger-screen displays, and while Gen 4 versions exist, they're no longer accessible. Other coordinates have very little or don’t even have 2017 imagery at all. Even past the removal, I was still able to retrieve the data through Street View API functionality, but it has since also been removed there. While the coordinates may not be consistent with the screenshots attached, this should help pinpoint the situation I'm facing.

Not all US states have a lot of 2017 imagery, and the existing Gen 3 versions are not perfect due to stitching errors and inconsistent picture quality on larger-screen displays. I also want to explain in detail where more of the Gen 4 data existed in North America when the update was released, based beyond the coordinates:

Los Angeles

• As historical imagery: The Santa Clarita and San Fernando imagery had some March and May 2017 captures upgraded to Gen 4 quality, while other areas saw new revisions from those months. In Orange County, especially in and surrounding the Anaheim Resort and Platinum Triangle, you could find a large number of Gen 4 captures from May and June 2017. On a section of SR 58 in the Mojave Desert, new revision points leading to Gen 4 imagery from March were added.
• As quality updates: A few roads in the Angeles National Forest received Gen 4 captures from May 2017, especially on the Big Pines Hwy where it never saw any updates as it was stuck on Gen 2 imagery from January 2009. Some residential streets in Pomona also gained Gen 4 imagery from June.

Dallas-Fort Worth

• As historical imagery: Gen 4 captures from 2017 replaced the majority of Gen 3 versions across the DFW area. Most of the data was taken between March and September 2017.
• As quality updates: A few driveways were updated to Gen 4 with imagery taken between March and September 2017.

Houston

• As historical imagery: Like with the DFW area, the majority of 2017 imagery in Houston was in Gen 3 quality, and the 9/10/2021 update replaced those images with higher-quality, Gen 4 versions.
• As quality updates: Some driveways were updated to Gen 4 with imagery between March and August 2017.

Orlando

• As historical imagery: This is where I first sought the imagery on the day of the update. Orlando had little to no 2017 imagery, and throughout much of the year, it was gathered with Gen 4 vehicles. The imagery was not released until September 2021.
• As quality updates: Some driveways were updated to Gen 4 with imagery from 2017.
• As new additions: Some parking lots at Walt Disney World received blue lines officially leading to Gen 4 imagery from 2017.

Bay Area

• As historical imagery: Imagery between March and July 2017 was upgraded to Gen 4 quality, with others being entirely new revision points. The city of San Francisco only had Gen 4 imagery from April and September 2017 (P.S.: I heard that some Gen 4 vehicles were also sought driving around the Bay Area in late 2016, but for some their imagery was not fully functional to be published. Kindly request that it be added as well.)
• As quality updates: Many driveways and parking lots around the Googleplex had their current Gen 3 imagery replaced with higher-resolution imagery from March 2017.
• As new additions: Some driveways received blue lines leading to Gen 4 imagery from March 2017. I was also surprised to find that one of the driveways near the Googleplex had Gen 4 imagery from June 2017 that was captured with a Japanese Street View car (very weird to see one here).

Miami

• As historical imagery: Most 2017 imagery in Miami had been in Gen 3 quality, but a few Gen 4 versions from that year were found with the September 2021 update. It's dated mainly between July and September.

It's been exactly one year since I first submitted this. I still don't see any return looking at the timeline.

(Replying to comment #30) Welp, that was a misunderstanding. Sorry about that.

But anyways, I would focus more on the March-September 2017 Gen 4 data first because jumping to other images would cause this issue to get closed as infeasible. So, once the Gen 4 data is re-added, I'll probably open a separate issue regarding the Gen 0 data.

It's been 2 years since the data was removed, and I still haven't seen any return. I've been checking VirtualStreets' X account to see if an update has occurred, and so far nothing special happened.

UPDATE: With the successful creation of issue 338730578, this issue has finally been confirmed. We should expect the imagery to be re-released in the coming months.

To create a larger batch of imagery releases, I'm addressing incomplete Gen 4 coverage from the summer of 2018 in Southern California with the creation of issue 346378699. That issue has also been confirmed. As the data is being processed, an update could occur by the end of the year.

For those who are still unfamiliar about the hearing of Gen 4 cameras in 2016, I attached a screenshot. This unpainted vehicle was seen from a Gen 3 camera which was following it. Various different Gen 4 vehicles were used on different days, but I'm quite obvious that these vehicles mostly drove independently and were not followed by Gen 3 vehicles. If data from these Gen 4 vehicles does get published, then the coverage would be considered complete.

To ensure the coverage is complete, I'll be providing additional examples of Gen 4 imagery that was taken within the date range in different US metropolitan areas. Note that these lists and selections are not complete. For each metro area, these will be posted separately.

Here are some screenshots of early Gen 4 imagery in the Bay Area. Most of these examples were gathered in Mountain View, near Google's offices.

(Replying to comment #59) Do you have any further examples? There's a possibility that more US metro areas had Gen 4 sightings during and before March-September 2017, and if any, please provide them so the team can add the imagery to the data processing queue.

Halloween day, but still no major Street View update. So far I've only been getting a few results from the tool within the date range in the following metro areas, and these are mainly from August/September 2017:

• Bay Area, CA
• Los Angeles, CA
• Phoenix, AZ
• Denver, CO

I'm hoping Google is able to make this major update possible as the year is coming to a close.