The second major update of Google Street View occurred on 2021/06/21, approximately 3 months after the previous major update.
Like the previous update, most of the novelties are updates of roads already covered. New pictures can be as new as April 2021, with even some May 2021 already available near the Google HQ in Mountain View, California. The highlight of this update is Switzerland finally receiving new pictures, a first since 2014, and some coverage in a new country: Liechtenstein!
Some new coverage can be found in a few countries however it stays limited. To help looking at new things you can also use some tools created for this purpose. Here is a detailed report of all the changes per country. This report can be edited at any time to include new information.
Disclaimer: Google does not provide any tools or changelog to list new coverage; everything listed is the result of intensive search and custom tools. While it can’t be officially confirmed it was added in this update there is more than 95% of chance it is.
Additions
Australia
Australia got new coverage in Queensland, notably around the city of Gayndah that wasn’t covered before outside of the main road. Victoria state also got a few new roads.
Brazil
In Brazil two states received new coverage on a few new roads around main cities: São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Canada
A new road was also added in British Columbia, offering a nice view of a wintery landscape.
Ecuador
While the country didn’t get any new pictures since 2015 some new coverage was detected in this update. It is simply missing roads that were added on Google Maps, allowing old coverage to finally appear. This is an example of “new” road, a few more can be found in the northern half of the country.
Some small rural towns also got some bits, like this one. The reason all coverage is not published is unknown but it clearly shows how much unpublished data exists in the country as the cars had to drive there, covering more roads in the process.
France
In France a few new roads were added in the southwest, close to the Pyrenees.
Hong Kong
The territory received new coverage in many small streets and roads. Most notable addition is the newly built tunnel north of the new border crossing that was built along with the China – Hong Kong – Macau bridge. You can find here a map showing all the new roads.
Indonesia
A few additions can be found in the country, mostly rural roads in Java. The new highway between Manado and Bitung in northern Sulawesi received its first imagery. Sumatra’s Riau province also got new coverage on the highway between Palembang and Lampung.
Japan
We can find newly covered locations, usually small mountainous roads. The most extensive addition is Nuwa island in the prefecture of Ehime.
Liechtenstein
Since the beginning the small country of Liechtenstein never had any Google Street View imagery. At best, a few meters on a bridge going to Switzerland… But this update brought in a small surprise with the first actual coverage in this country!
The new coverage is located in the very south, in the city of Balzers, and is made by a car coming from Switzerland:
This stays quite limited but at least shows that the country and Google don’t block the publication of coverage there. It is very likely that Google simply never bothered covering Liechtenstein. In this case the car simply kept going through the border and stopped at a car park before going back to Switzerland.
Malaysia
North of Johor we can find many new small roads added on Street View.
New Zealand
The main addition for this country is this road in the northern island.
Singapore
New streets keep being added in Singapore. This map shows what got added.
Sweden
Sweden is one of the countries that got most of the new additions. Many rural roads were covered around the lakes in the south. Like in a previous update Karlstad is where most of the new roads were added. Other additions concern the areas around Umeå and Gothenburg.
Switzerland
The country received a tangible amount of new roads everywhere. The south near Italy in particular but also in the north. For example the city of Porrentruy had coverage but cut from the rest of the country, it is now all linked together.
Some new roads near the Italian border now offer spectacular views on the Alps.
Thailand
A few new roads were covered in the Tak province such as this one.
United States
New coverage can be found as minor additions in a few states. Texas got many new rural roads added around the largest cities. Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee also have some additional rural roads but most of the additions are in the southwestern states such as California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
Updates
As usual for most of the updates from the past years updated coverage is the most predominant part. Many countries got new imagery however it is always the same countries that get updates. New imagery is mostly from 2021 but late 2020 and sometimes 2019 is also a possibility.
Australia
Main cities are where most of the updates can be found: Sydney, Canberra, Perth, around Adelaide and Brisbane… Some main roads between cities also received updated coverage as the cars pass through them to reach the cities.
Brazil
According to Google’s list only two states were supposed to be updated: São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. And this is what we can verify with this update as only those two states benefited from it. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of the updated areas:
- São Paulo: São Paulo, São José dos Campos, Jundiaí and a few major highways
- Rio de Janeiro: Rio de Janeiro including the bridge across the bay, Maricá, Cabo Frio, Itaguaí and main highways between cities
Belgium
Belgium is currently under a large update and this update keeps bringing new imagery to the country. Most of the new data is in Wallonia but Flanders and Brussels did get some updates as well. Updated imagery is usually from March 2021.
Bulgaria
The country keeps getting welcomed updates that progressively replaces the old, depressing imagery taken during winter in 2012. Most of the new pictures published in this update are from winter too (March and April 2021) however the new cameras make it more enjoyable to look at. Yambol seems to be the city receiving most of the new pictures although some roads in Stara Zagora and Yambol oblasts are also updated.
Canada
Canada received some updates in Ontario and British Columbia. All other provinces seem to not have new data. As usual the territories stay untouched for a decade.
- Ontario: London, Toronto, Hamilton, Windsor and other locations nearby
- British Columbia: Vancouver, Abbotsford, Coquitlam and other locations around along with the Trans-Canadian Hwy and the Coquihalla Hwy up to Merritt
Dernmark
Most of the updates in Denmark occurred in cities such as Copenhagen, Aalborg, Aarhus, Randers. Overall the western part of the country had the largest amount of new pictures. New data is from late 2020 to March 2021.
The bridge linking Denmark to Sweden also got updated with March 2021 imagery.
Finland
As usual the country never gets any update published despite the Street View cars driving there. The reason is still unknown and the country’s coverage is in really bad shape with old pictures and low quality unofficial coverage everywhere.
However this update brought in the first coverage made with the latest generation of camera with some pedestrian coverage made in late 2020 in Helsinki, including streets that were not covered yet as they were built after the previous coverage was published. Still better than nothing.
France
In France many places around the country had updated imagery. Most of the main highways got updated along with main cities. As usual Corsica and any overseas territories are left out. New coverage is mostly from 2021 but some late 2020 was also released.
Germany
Germany doesn’t get any updates since the last decade for privacy issues, however Google still drives its cars to gather data used to improve Google Maps. Sometimes near the borders some coverage can slip in and the A61 close to the Netherlands actually got updated to March 2021.
Hong Kong
The territory received a major update with almost all roads and streets updated to 2021.
Hungary
Hungary received some updates, mostly in the county of Csongrád and the city of Szeged. Budapest also got some updates. New imagery is from March 2021.
Indonesia
Despite the country not being listed by Google in the list of countries getting updates in 2021, Indonesia keeps getting new imagery. Major cities and roads in Java got updates but the most updated area is the island of Sulawesi. Sumatra’s Riau province also got a few updates. Most of the new pictures are from 2021.
Italy
Being a country with warm winters, Italy is always one of the countries getting most of the updates in the first half of a year. New imagery includes data from late 2020 to March 2021 and spreads all over the country including Sicily and Sardinia. Main cities and highways are the most updated kind of places but some smaller and more rural locations also benefit from this update. For example this mountainous village was stuck with broken 2009 coverage but now has brand new 2021 high quality coverage.
Japan
As usual Japan gets new pictures in each update. Many prefectures got updates, usually in the main cities and highways.
Some of the prefectures with updates are Tokyo, Toyama, Okayama, Kochi, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Wakayama, Nagasaki, Hyogo, Kagawa, Kyoto or Ibaraki. New pictures were all taken in 2021.
Malaysia
Malaysia got all its updates in the peninsular part of the country. No update happened on Borneo.
The states concerned by the updates are Kedah, Pahang, Johor, Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Perak and the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur. Most of the updates occurred on the west coast with pictures from late 2020 and 2021.
Mexico
A few updates with 2021 imagery were found around Mexico City but this is pretty much it.
Netherlands
The Netherlands got many updates in multiple areas, mostly following the coast from Belgium to Germany. Some cities like Amsterdam or Rotterdam have new imagery but overall most novelties are on roads outside of cities. New coverage ranges between late 2020 to April 2021.
New Zealand
North Island received many updates in cities such as Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Tauranga, Whakatane. Some of the roads going to the top of Mt. Taranaki was also updated.
South Island doesn’t seem to have any update.
Portugal
New imagery in Portugal is limited to some cities: Lisbon, Porto, Viana do Castelo… Some roads were also updated in the south. However the country is currently getting a large update so it is very likely that most of late 2020 coverage all across the country is also from this update.
Atlantic islands are not updated or completed yet, however a Street View car has been spotted in Funchal, Madeira, so in a future update we shall see new imagery published there.
Romania
The only new imagery in Romania that could be found is a Trekker coverage in Buzău which offers pedestrian views of the city. However more trekker coverage may be available in other cities.
Singapore
The city-state regularly gets new coverage and this update won’t be different. Most of the city got updated to 2021 imagery.
Spain
Spain got its first update since 2019 although it seems to be limited to the area of Sevilla, with pictures from 2021. However the enclave of Ceuta in northern Africa also received an update with pictures from late 2019, sadly no new streets were added.
Sweden
In Sweden many cities across the country got new pictures: Stockholm, Östersund, Umeå, Arvidsjaur… The islands of Öland and Gotland were also partially updated and got new covered roads, the latter receiving its first update since 2011.
Switzerland
Similar to Germany, Switzerland was stuck in the past with updates being continuously blocked. But not more! After 7 years the country finally benefited from a new update. The pictures are not that new compared to other countries (we talk about the second half of 2019 here) but they still bring in a very welcomed update and the newest generation of camera.
Most of the main cities had an update, usually with generation 4 cameras, along with main roads and highways all over the country. As usual the camera is lower on the car roof for privacy reasons (to avoid filming above walls or hedges).
Taiwan
Taiwan received updates in many large cities such as (New) Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan, Kaohsiung or Taichung, with pictures from late 2020 / early 2021. Smaller islands were not updated.
Thailand
The country had updates in a few provinces, mostly centered around Bangkok. In the north some updates occurred in Chiang Mai and on an axis between it and Bangkok more updates can be found in some provinces.
United Kingdom
The country received updates in multiple places, with pictures going up to April 2021. As usual dependencies such as Jersey, Gibraltar or Isle of Man are left out.
- England: Winchester, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle upon Tyne, isle of Wight, many motorways and highways all across England
- Wales: Bangor, some highways but limited updates overall
- Scotland: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Kincardine and a few highways
- Northern Ireland: no updates were detected however it is possible that some end-2020 imagery is new
United States
The United States received updated coverage in and around major cities, generally in the southern half of the country as this is where weather is the best to take pictures during winter. New coverage ranges from late 2020 to May 2021, with almost all 2021 coverage being released in this update (a few January 2021 coverage was already published around Mountain View, California in the previous update).
Here is a non-exhaustive list of main cities, areas and roads where updates were reported:
- California: Sacramento, San Francisco, Mountain View, Oakland, San José, Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino
- Nevada: Reno, Las Vegas
- Arizona: Phoenix, Tucson
- New Mexico: Albuquerque, Santa Fe
- Texas: Tucson, El Paso, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth
- Oklahoma: Oklahoma City
- Louisiana: Baton Rouge, New Orleans
- Mississippi: Hattiesburg, I-10
- Tennessee: Nashville, Chattanooga
- Kentucky: Bowling Green, Russellville, US-431, I-165
- Georgia: Atlanta
- Alabama: Birmingham
- South Carolina: Columbia, Charleston
- Florida: Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, the Keys up to Key West
That’s it for this update! As usual things may be missing and the report can be updated at any time to be completed.
The next update is estimated to happen in September however this is always speculation and it may occur earlier or later. Thanks for reading!