Google Maps has just posted new HD 2011 Street View images in downtown Detroit!

Well, Google Maps has recently been improving how we have been virtually visiting Detroit. We had the east side, the near west side and several suburbs added to the 45-degree view in late September, then we had building shapes added all over the metro area and now they have added new HD Street View images from last year to downtown Detroit and from this year to all of Essex County across the river!

However, the 2011 images aren't just confined to downtown, as they also extend out on Fort Street and I-75 as far as Military Street [[two blocks east of Livernois), in Lafayette Park, in Mexicantown, West Grand Boulevard from the river to just past Vernor Highway, West Jefferson Avenue up to Fort Wayne, Clark Street between Fort and Jefferson, Woodward Avenue a block into Brush Park from I-75, a couple of streets near the River Rouge steel plant and some streets in Ecorse. And for some reason the Google car even drove into the Rosa Parks Transit Center!

This could be the start of an update to the images in the rest of the region, since currently the newest Street View images in Metro Detroit [[outside of Essex County and downtown) are from 2009 and earlier! Below, I have posted a few screenshots of the new images [[sorry if I stretched the page).

1. Here's one last view of the Brewster-Douglas Projects [[you know, where Dianna Ross lived before joining the Supremes) from the Gratiot overpass over I-375 before they disappear from Google's servers.
2. The images are so new, they show the urban garden on the Lafayette Building site...
3. ...and the new LED lights on the Renaissance Center.

Well, I am not only double-posting, but also bumping this thread to remind DYers of a major update.

It appears that without expectation, Google has decided to finally release the 2011-present HD Street View images to every state that mostly hadn't had them yet, including Michigan. I was working on an unrelated project and while I was on Street View, I was on Puritan Street between Livernois and the Highland Park border and the 2009 image suddenly turned into a 2011 one!

I then decided to look around some parts of the metro area and noticed that even my home city now had 2011 images! Also, I noticed Royal Oak now has images from last year! This was truly something I never expected at all.

Well, thanks for the update. It prompted me to discover that they have finally included our house in Street View for the first time. Nice photo too.

I feel like Steve Martin in "The Jerk" where he finds his name in the phone book then proudly proclaims "I'm somebody!"

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Originally Posted by Jimaz

Well, thanks for the update. It prompted me to discover that they have finally included our house in Street View for the first time. Nice photo too.

I feel like Steve Martin in "The Jerk" where he finds his name in the phone book then proudly proclaims "I'm somebody!"

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Even after today's update, the Street View image of my street is still from 2007!

However, I also noticed that the Street View car managed to drive on the brick road in front of the Henry Ford Museum! But at least they finally included the post-reconstruction Southfield Freeway on Street View. And BTW, when did the Street View car drive past your house Jimaz?

And today, I've discovered yet another update: several parts of Downriver just got new two-month-old HD images! Here's what I've seen from those new images:

• The southbound lanes of the post-reconstruction Fort Street between Goddard and Northline Roads are finally included.
• The new Dix-Toledo Road/I-75 interchange in Brownstown Township is included [[some of it, really).
• The images are also recent enough to show the Woodhaven Kmart and Kroger stores no longer open, the Starbucks and Buffalo Wild Wings [[also in Woodhaven) already in operation and the future Woodhaven LA Fitness under construction.
• They are also recent enough to show a shuttered Spotlight Taylor 10 theater, as well as the major renovation project at the Taylor Meijer store and Forever 21 in it's new location at the former Southland Center Borders.

And my neighborhood still hasn't been updated after this update! Plus, Grosse Ile still lacks HD images, despite a Street View car being sighted crossing the toll bridge towards the island last month.

And it's been updated again!

Just today, I've discovered that parts of Detroit and Macomb, Oakland, Lapeer and Saint Clair Counties all now have new HD images taken this past August, recent enough to show the new Auburn Hills Gardner-White store and the Port Huron Menard's.

Remember my above post where I mentioned my street wasn't updated after the previous update? Well, once again, the images of my house are still from 2007! I'll assume that they'll finally post more recent 2013 images during the next update round.

Speaking of the previous update, it appears the same update that added HD images from July to the Downriver region also added images taken at the same time to northern Macomb County and the south side of Port Huron, including Marysville.

Why do they rarely update the satellite view? You can still see the Ford Auditorium on it. I'd almost think that'd be the easiest one to update on a consistent basis.

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Originally Posted by mtburb

... And BTW, when did the Street View car drive past your house Jimaz?

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I haven't a clue.

I right-clicked the image and discovered the 3-D mode! Now where did I put my red/blue glasses? :)

Edit: Oh. In Google Earth it says Imagery Date: 10/2012.

Well, while I was doing something unrelated on Google Earth [[trying to do a 2013 version of "Unbuilt Detroit" using that and Trimble Sketchup [[that used to be Google's, but Trimble took it over last year)) when I discovered that my house is finally in HD [[according to Google Earth: "Imagery Date: 7/2013", which would mean the image is now about five months old)! Nope, I'm not in the new images, but, at least my street now has HD images from this past summer.

Plus, I've also notice that they finally got the southbound lanes of Fort Street at that S-curve north of Pennsylvania Road and that Eureka Road right by the Southgate Shopping Center [[and my first house) is now on Street View for the first time as well, all taken that very same month. In addition, not even a historic bankruptcy filing taking place the very same month could stop the Google car from driving [[albeit only to turn around after getting on there) onto Belle Isle for the first time since 2009!

Well, that's a really early Christmas present for me.

It appears that Street View in Metro Detroit has been updated once again-just today, I noticed that streets within Detroit proper that used to have 2011 images have been replaced with images from last July-October! And once again, the Google car drove right into the RPTC. I was also surprised how many CBS Outdoor structures still had white frames on the 2013 images-wasn't that around the time CBS started phasing them all out?

Another thing I noticed: these updated images are new enough to show signs of customers at both Whole Foods and at Gateway Marketplace!

My detroit house is definitely mid summer 2013

I get more excited about this than I should. :p

There's also a new feature where google shows past views of locations. Trumbull Street just down from Henry Ford fell pretty hard pretty fast. There's also a few streets around 7 Mile and Woodward where you can see how agonizing slow and inefficient the city's demolition process has been. On a whole vacant block, one or two houses were gone per year! :eek:

I don't know if this is related, but in the past week I've noticed a green shading extending over a large area of southeast Michigan and part Ontario on Google Maps. Anyone know the meaning of it? I don't see anything similar anywhere else in the country.

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Originally Posted by MikeM

I don't know if this is related, but in the past week I've noticed a green shading extending over a large area of southeast Michigan and part Ontario on Google Maps. Anyone know the meaning of it? I don't see anything similar anywhere else in the country.

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Well, I am currently on there and that green shading has disappeared. I still don't know how that happened, though...

I see it both on the website and the Android app.

I saw it yesterday but it seems to be gone now. Although, the park land areas do seem a bit greener now and more defined. Someone just must have made an error when updating the maps.

Edit: Also, I-96 through Livonia is drawn out very definitely in relation to the current construction project.

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Originally Posted by animatedmartian

There's also a new feature where google shows past views of locations.

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On Street View? How do we enable/see the older photos?

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Originally Posted by Király

On Street View? How do we enable/see the older photos?

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You have to be using the newer version of Google Maps. When you go into street view, the option to view past photos will be in the top left hand corner under the address information.

Also, I'm noticing the shading on any app that uses Google base maps.