Google Street View lands lucky 'real time' view of Ottawa smog conditions

Published Jun 30, 2023 • Last updated 10 hours ago • 1 minute read

The smoke and smog covering Ottawa has been documented in Google Maps – Screenshots of the George Dunbar Bridge show the difference in air quality from June 2023, and September 2022 Photo by Screen capture courtesy of Google Street View

In an odd case of serendipity, Google Maps’ omni-present Street View cameras appear to have documented the capital’s hazy, smoggy air conditions in almost real time.

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At least in one spot.

Alert users have been surprised recently to discover the Street View version of southbound traffic on George Dunbar Bridge, crossing the Rideau River, is moving in the smoggy atmosphere we’ve grown accustomed to.

The identifier on the screen indicates the shot was taken in June 2023.

Travel (virtually) a little further and you’re driving in bright sunshine. That footage was taken in September 2022.

Google media representatives were not immediately available for comment Friday, but there has been much written about the massive coordination required for the huge worldwide project.

There’s no definitive schedule for when Google Map cars will be in a particular neighbourhood. The well-known vehicles, each with ar trademark two-metre camera tower on the roof, basically head out almost randomly.

Street View cars can be delayed by weather, traffic, and other conditions, but, generally, Google Maps updates every one to three years, depending on the location.

More curiously, in this case, stitching together the images is an intricate process that can take weeks or more, making the smoggy capture now on view a bit of an outlier.