Happier travels through Street View with Pegman

Today we're happy to announce some big improvements to the Street View feature in Google Maps! Thanks to feedback from our users, we've now made Street View even better and easier to use.

For one thing, Pegman, our plucky mascot, is now close at hand wherever you go. He hangs out right on top of the zoom slider:


To enter Street View, drag Pegman to a street (or just keep zooming in all the way, and the lowest zoom level is now Street View imagery). Tip: if you hold Pegman over a location for a second, you'll see a preview of what it looks like. Which direction you're facing depends on which side of the street you drag to:


Also, we've revamped the layout of Street View to give you more room for looking at really big stuff like the Colosseum in Rome, or for zooming in to get a better look at small stuff like this space invader mosaic in Paris.

The minimap in the corner lets you see the surrounding area. To see Street View and the map at the same time, you can click on the icon at the top left of the minimap. Looking up driving directions? This split screen view is especially handy for previewing turns along the way, and each step will be listed at the top of the Street View image.

Want to learn more and see the new features in action? Check out this video, narrated by Pegman himself:

And since Pegman now has even more of a starring role while you're exploring Street View, we thought we'd take a moment to celebrate him with a parade of Pegman Easter eggs, sketches, and prototypes:

Posted by Stephane Lafon, Software Engineer & Andy Szybalski, User Experience Designer

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