Google Maps Surpasses 10 Million Miles of Street View Imagery

Google has just revealed that it has captured more than 10 million miles of Street View imagery for Google Maps, a distance it says would amount to circling the Earth more than 400 times (via CNET). Google also said that Google Earth now has a total of 36 million square miles of satellite imagery for people to browse.

Google maps

“Imagery is at the core of everything we do,” said Ethan Russell, a director of product at Google Maps. “We think of it as the foundation of the entire mapmaking process.” Russell pointed out that Google’s mapping imagery is from public places you’d see while standing in the street or flying overhead.

With more than 1 billion monthly users, Maps is one of Google’s most popular products. The latest numbers mark the first time the company has released figures on how much of the world its services have charted.

To get the imagery, Google uses cars, as well as backpacks called “trekkers” worn by hikers or strapped to camels and sheep. The company generates most of its nearly $140 billion in annual revenue from targeted ads, which are buttressed by user data. That includes ads on Google Maps, though the company doesn’t break out those revenue figures.

Over the past couple of months, Google Maps has received tons of new features, such as language translation, food delivery options, and information on flights and hotel bookings. 

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