Welcome to the first update report of 2022! In this report you will find tables listing the changes that were found by the Virtual Streets community, listed by country and by month. You will also find more complete data for the most interesting changes operated by Google in this first quarter.
Disclaimer: Google does not provide any data or changelog about Street View updates. All the following data only reflects the findings of the community and unfortunately not everything can be detected or listed.
January 2022
The major change in January is the apparition of 4th generation of imagery in Colombia, the Philippines, South Africa and Russia. The first 2022 coverage being published in multiple countries is also a milestone, notable in France where it only took 10 days to be published.
Country | Changes | Detected dates |
---|---|---|
Argentina | Updates and new roads in the following provinces: Buenos Aires, Chaco, | November 2021 to December 2021 |
Australia | Updates and new roads in the following subdivisions: Northern Territory (new area with gen 4), Queensland | November 2021 to December 2021 |
Brazil | Updates and new roads in the following states: Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Espírito Santo, Ceará | November 2021 to December 2021 |
Canada | Updates in Ontario | November 2021 to December 2021 |
Colombia | New country with 4th generation imagery First 2020 and 2021 coverage Updates and new roads in the country | February 2020 to September 2021 |
Czechia | First 2021 coverage Update and new dirt road near Germany from a German car entering the country | November 2021 to December 2021 |
Denmark | First 2022 coverage Updates around Aarhus | January 2022 |
France | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the country | December 2021 to January 2022 |
Indonesia | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in Java | November 2021 to January 2022 |
Ireland | First 2022 coverage Updates in Dublin | January 2022 |
Italy | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the country | December 2021 to January 2022 |
Japan | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the following prefectures: Osaka, Gunma, Kumamoto, Okayama, Tochigi | December 2021 to January 2022 |
Mexico | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the following states: Veracruz, Querétaro, Chiapas, Yucatan, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Mexico, Nuevo Leon, Quintana Roo | December 2021 to January 2022 |
Netherlands | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the country | December 2021 to January 2022 |
New Zealand | Updates and new roads on the southern island | November 2021 |
Philippines | New country with 4th generation imagery First 2020, 2021 and 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the country (limited additions this month) | February 2020 to January 2022 |
Portugal | First 2022 coverage Updates around Porto | January 2022 |
Russia | New country with 4th generation imagery First 2021 coverage Updates and new roads in the country (limited additions this month) | February 2021 to August 2021 |
South Africa | New country with 4th generation imagery First 2020, 2021 and 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the country | August 2019 to January 2022 |
Spain | First 2022 coverage Updates in Catalonia and Andalucía | December 2021 to January 2022 |
Sri Lanka | Updates and new roads in the country | December 2021 |
Sweden | Updates and new roads in the country | November 2021 to December 2021 |
Taiwan | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the country | January 2022 |
Thailand | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the country | January 2022 |
United Kingdom | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in England | December 2021 to January 2022 |
United States | First 2022 coverage Updates and some new roads in the following states: South Dakota, Texas, South Carolina, Florida, Oregon, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, North Dakota, Nebraska, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, Iowa, Louisiana | September 2021 to January 2022 |
February 2022
February’s main changes are the great progression of the new coverage in Russia, South Africa and the Philippines and the long-awaited update of Luxembourg. First imagery taken this month only took 7 days or less to be published, marking a new record. This time it was in Denmark.
Country | Changes | Detected dates |
---|---|---|
Argentina | Updates and new roads in Tucumán and Chaco provinces | December 2021 |
Brazil | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the following states: Ceará, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Paraíba, DF, São Paulo, Goiás | November 2021 to January 2022 |
Canada | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in British Columbia (greater Vancouver) | January 2022 |
Colombia | Major updates and a few additions all over the country | March 2020 to October 2021 |
Denmark | Updates and new roads in the country | January 2022 to February 2022 |
France | Updates and new roads in metropolitan France New trekker views in Paris | January 2022 to February 2022 |
Indonesia | Updates and new roads in Java and Sumatra | December 2021 to February 2022 |
Italy | Updates and new roads in the country | February 2022 |
Japan | Updates and new roads in the following prefectures: Okayama, Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Kyoto, Nagasaki, Nagoya, Kumamoto, Fukuoka | January 2022 to February 2022 |
Luxembourg | New country with 4th generation imagery First 2021 coverage Updates and new roads in the country | June 2021 to August 2021 |
Mexico | Updates and new roads in the country | December 2021 to February 2022 |
Netherlands | Updates and new roads in the country | January 2022 to February 2022 |
Philippines | Major updates and additions all over the country Notable areas are in the southern half of the country such as Mindanao island or new islands nearby | March 2020 to December 2021 |
Portugal | Updates and new roads in the country | November 2021 to February 2022 |
Russia | Major updates and additions all over the country Every federal subject received new coverage except the following ones: Khabarovsk Krai, Primorsky Krai, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Sakhalin Oblast, Kamchatka Krai, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Kaliningrad Oblast, Altai Republic, Pskov Oblast Notable additions: Nenets Autonomous Okrug (newly covered federal subject), Arkhangelsk Oblast, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Sakha Republic, Magadan Oblast, Omsk Oblast, Tomsk Oblast, Buryatia, Republic of Dagestan | February 2021 to September 2021 |
Singapore | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the country | January 2022 to February 2022 |
South Africa | Major updates and additions all over the country | September 2019 to December 2021 |
Spain | Updates and new roads in the country | January 2022 to February 2022 |
Sri Lanka | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the country | December 2021 to January 2022 |
Taiwan | Updates and new roads in the country | February 2022 |
Thailand | Updates and new roads in the country | January 2022 to February 2022 |
United Kingdom | Updates in greater London area | February 2022 |
United States | Updates and new roads in the following states: Washington, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, New York, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Oregon, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Utah, Florida, Alabama, Connecticut, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, Virginia, Indiana, Colorado, Iowa, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Illinois, Kentucky, California, Massachusetts | November 2021 to February 2022 |
March 2022
Major updates for March are the debut of the 4th generation of imagery in Bangladesh and Romania, along with the addition of a new country to Street View, Mali, even if the coverage is very limited (a few landmarks only).
Country | Changes | Detected dates |
---|---|---|
Argentina | Updates and new roads in the following provinces: Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Catamarca, La Rioja | January 2022 to March 2022 |
Australia | Updates in greater Sydney (Rockdale) | February 2022 |
Bangladesh | New country with 4th generation of cameras First 2022 coverage Major update on national roads countrywide Major additions in Dhaka division | November 2021 to January 2022 |
Belgium | Updates near Brussels (Zaventem) | March 2022 |
Brazil | New roads and updates in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Goiás and Mato Grosso | November 2021 to February 2022 |
Canada | Updates in Ontario (Hamilton, Burlington, Mississauga) | January 2022 to February 2022 |
Colombia | First 2022 coverage Updates and new roads in the following departments: Casanare, Caldas, Tolima, Santander, Quindio, Valle del Cauca, Cundinamarca, Antioquia | July 2021 to January 2022 |
Denmark | Updates and new roads in the country (Viby, new road west of Aarhus, Vadum) | March 2022 |
France | Updates and new roads in the country | March 2022 |
Hong Kong | First 2022 coverage Updates all over the territory | February 2022 |
Indonesia | Updates in Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan | January 2022 to March 2022 |
Italy | Updates and new roads in the country | February 2022 to March 2022 |
Japan | Updates and new roads in the country | March 2022 |
Mali | New country with official coverage Multiple mosques and landmarks across multiple cities | March 2018 to January 2019 |
Mexico | Updates and new roads in the country | January 2022 to February 2022 |
Netherlands | Updates and new roads in the country | February 2022 to March 2022 |
Philippines | Updates and new roads in Calabarzon and around Manila | February 2022 |
Portugal | Updates and new roads in the country | February 2022 to March 2022 |
Romania | New country with 4th generation imagery First 2021 coverage Updates and new roads all over the country | April 2021 to November 2021 |
Singapore | Updates and new roads in the country | February 2022 to March 2022 |
South Africa | Updates and new roads in the country | January 2022 to March 2022 |
Spain | Updates and new roads in the country (except islands) | February 2022 to March 2022 |
Sri Lanka | Updates and new roads in the country | December 2021 to January 2022 |
Sweden | New forest road in Kalmar county | September 2021 |
Taiwan | Updates in Kaohsiung | January 2022 |
Thailand | Updates and new roads in Surin | March 2022 |
United Kingdom | Updates and new roads in the country | February 2022 to March 2022 |
United States | Updates and new roads in the following states: Florida, North Dakota, California, Texas, Kansas, Georgia, South Carolina, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Alabama, Louisiana, New Mexico, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, New York, South Dakota, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Mississippi | February 2022 to March 2022 |
Major changes of Q1 2022
Availability of 2022 imagery
The first interesting event of the year was the first coverage made in 2022 being published. On the 15th day 2022 imagery was spotted in the United States and France. This image in France was taken on the fifth day and published only 10 days later, marking a new record in terms of publication speed. Quickly more countries joined the list of the 2022 coverage with Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
At the end of the quarter 2022 coverage can be found in all the previously cited countries and in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Belgium, Colombia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Hong Kong, with coverage as new as March 2022.
Major Update: Colombia
Colombia was one of the 4 first countries without gen 4 imagery to get its first 4 gen update.
In January the first gen 4 imagery appeared in the city of Funza, west of Bogotá, with pictures from 2020 and 2021.
Initially only a small area in this town was updated and it was unknown if this was intended or just a test, eventually a bug. In the end this kind of small, local update appears to be the new way for Google to publish new data as this was also observed in many other places and countries. The update then progressively becomes more completed in the following days or weeks.
In February the new update started to spread quite a bit, which included many new departments including remote areas such as Choco. In March the updates stayed limited as the new data was released very slowly in a few areas. Most notably, the first 2022 coverage was published this month.
Major Update: Russia
Russia was another of the countries to receive their first gen 4 coverage, and arguably the country with the most impressive additions! The changes are so large we could say it is a 2.0 version of Street View in this country.
In January the new coverage was quite sparse but some really interesting updates happened, predicting a large-scale update all across the country. New pictures were quickly found in major cities and this particular rural road near Yakutsk was very promising as it was totally not expected to see Google cars driving outside of this town.
February started to really become interesting when the first official coverage appeared in Novy Urengoy, a northern Russian town far away from any existing coverage. This was another sign Google did drive way more than expected in this country.
Then on the 8 of February everything started to be published in Russia. The biggest update ever released in this country and one of the biggest updates in the history of Google Street View: thousands of kilometers of new coverage appeared all over the country, from the far east to Murmansk in the northwest.
Overall almost all the federal subjects received updates and new coverage. The Nenets Autonomous Okrug received its first Street View imagery although it is very limited and broken. It was one of the two remaining subjects to not have any coverage, the other one being the Chukokta Autonomous Okrug in the eastern end of Siberia where roads barely exist outside of settlements.
Notable additions are the Kolyma highway linking Yakutsk to Magadan, most of the roads in the Sakha Republic (unfortunately affected by large-scale wildfires), a very thorough coverage in Buryatia, the Omsk and Tomsk Oblasts, extensive coverage in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug north of Surgut, numerous additions in the Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Komi Republic along with Murmansk Oblast or a more in-depth coverage in the Caucasus, notably in the Republic of Dagestan.
In the end only the far east didn’t receive an update, notably the cities of Khabarovsk or Vladivostok. This is also the only country from this update report to not have continuous updates, not because it is not enabled but because of the cars not driving in Russia anymore with the winter and now the geopolitical context. It is safe to assume no update will happen in this country for a long time.
Major Update: South Africa
Until now, Africa was the remaining continent to not have any gen 4 imagery (with the exception of Ceuta and Melilla). South Africa is officially the first proper African country to receive gen 4 pictures.
The South African update started with some major cities such as Johannesburg or Cape Town but also slowly expanded into rural areas, notably in Limpopo. While 2021 imagery could be found it was also possible to see pictures taken in 2019 and 2020. On the last day of January the first data made in 2022 was published.
In February the new imagery started expanding all over the country. Unlike Russia the cars seemed to focus only on main roads and towns, and very few new roads were added. The major additions are located in Northern Cape, south of Botswana.
In March not a lot of updates happened, but the first imagery from both February and March started to be released mostly in major cities such as Johannesburg.
Major Update: Philippines
In the Philippines, the update started mostly on the southern island of Mindanao, with many updates in the Davao region. Cebu island followed quickly with imagery from December 2021, then Manilla with the first 2022 pictures being published the same month.
In February the Philippines also started getting new coverage on uncovered islands such as Pacijan, Poro or Ponson. The roads on the eastern coast of Mindanao finally got imagery as well. In one day the Philippines went from almost nothing to almost the whole country updated with gen 4 pictures:
In March the updates were small but the first images from February 2022 confirmed the Philippines would also get continuous updates.
Major Update: Luxembourg
Within Google Street View a few countries never got updated after their initial coverage. Luxembourg was one of them. But no more! In February Luxembourg finally received a country-wide update, switching most of the roads from decade-old gen 2 imagery to a brand new gen 4 one. All the new pictures were taken in 2021 during the summer.
A few new roads were added in the process, notably the new A7 highway north of Luxembourg City.
New Country: Mali
New countries are now an extremely rare sight in the past years since Google allowed anyone to create coverage. Last time was in 2020 with cities in the Dominican Republic (and Vietnam before it was removed). But in March a new country was added with Mali receiving its first official Google Street View coverage. However this is not regular coverage but only pictures taken around a few landmarks such as mosques.
The following map shows were the coverage is available (note: the coverage in Bamako is misplaced and is actually placed in the center of the country):
Here is a list of the covered landmarks. Note that some of them also have interior views.
– Sidi Yahiya Mosque, Timbuktu, Jan 2019 https://goo.gl/maps/nvxPKWP8TVDybBCf9
– Djinguereber Mosque, Timbuktu, Dec 2018 https://goo.gl/maps/rKWwK4Nw6F6KXsJQ9
– Sankore Mosque, Timbuktu, Dec 2018 https://goo.gl/maps/2RPvV7UwuCQxqmcn8
– Great Mosque of Djenne, Djenne, March 2018 https://goo.gl/maps/oN563fVfFGfcDTPu6
– The Great Friday Mosque of Niono, Niono, April 2018 https://goo.gl/maps/TwwLMaC78tDrNzG27
– The Bandiagara Escarpment, Sangha Ogol Leye, March 2018 https://goo.gl/maps/kFUHVeZkzkam3xea6, https://goo.gl/maps/Hn9r4fJNRrGPe8iPA
– The Komoguel Mosque, Mopti, March 2018 https://goo.gl/maps/STtCM6ViLfUbkrF18
– The Tomb of Askia, Gao, March 2018 https://goo.gl/maps/sK7RZ8pmvmA14kHH6
– The Historical City of Hamdallaye, March 2018, misplaced in Bamako https://goo.gl/maps/iDyqQaLd7zyuw5M2A (actual location: https://goo.gl/maps/ouhgMHYvPzbSxugB8), interior: https://goo.gl/maps/BXHHJFAJhRJWZ8pA6
The coverage was previously invisible on Google Maps like many other imagery used for Arts & Culture but the blue lines appeared later.
Major Update: Romania
In March two new countries received their first gen 4 imagery. The first one is Romania, with updates being applied in most of the regions. Unfortunately the county of Harghita was left out, probably because an unofficial coverage was created recently there.
Along with regular updates we can also notice the addition of newly built highways in different parts of the country. The northeastern part close to Moldova also got large additions. This update started the process of continuous updates in Romania.
Major Update: Bangladesh
Along with Romania, Bangladesh started getting its first gen 4 pictures. In this country the updates are done by a local mapping company, Decode Ltd, using regular gen 4 cameras from Google. They seem to have well defined plans for the overhaul of the Street View coverage in Bangladesh: first the main roads all over the countries were updated (with imagery from November 2021, when they started driving). Then the Dhaka division was densely covered, adding numerous new cities and roads recorded in December 2021 and January 2022. At the end of March the whole division was covered with the exception of the southern part across the Padma river (which will be covered later).
This promising update is only the start of something bigger as more areas will be covered in the future. Continuous updates are also enabled in Bangladesh now.
This concludes this update report for the first quarter of 2022. As usual not everything is listed as the amount of data is too large to be entirely shown in an article. Remember you can join the official Discord server to follow the updates closely or follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Thank you for reading.