Hooniverse Asks: Do you see your car on Google Maps?

Kamil Kaluski

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Google Maps is one of the greatest things to happen to internet since pr0n. And with Street View™ one can sort of go traveling to faraway places without ever leaving their bedroom. Street view also allows us to see the various cars that are in the given section of the world, which is always entertaining.

I was recently killing the time I don’t have and browsing around the neighborhood that I lived as a little kid – Ursynów, in Warsaw, Poland. My father still lives there, as my parents have split up before my mother came to the United States with me. Then, suddenly, bam! I see my father’s 2016 Lada Niva. Yes, he’s old school, as very few people buy new Ladas in Poland this day and age.

Today we ask – how you ever seen your own car on Google Maps? Bonus points if it was in traffic and not your driveway.

About

Kamil Kaluski

Kamil Kaluski

East Coast Editor. Races crappy cars and has an unhealthy obsession with Eastern Bloc cars. Current fleet: 4Runner, Integra, Regal, Lada

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33 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: Do you see your car on Google Maps?”

  1. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    That’s how I date their overhead shots. What car at what house.

    Reply
  2. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    In the driveway, sure.

    I should be visible on the road in front of my office on the Apple maps equivalent of Street view whenever that goes live.

    Reply
  3. Lokki Avatar
    Lokki

    Well, I see the Bank’s car parked in front of my place…. does that count?

    Reply
    1. nanoop Avatar
      nanoop

      _Your_ place?

      Reply
      1. ptschett Avatar
        ptschett

        “While the property taxes are paid. And by the way, you’re in a special assessment district for the street rebuild 4 blocks over, so there’s another $3000. …What, you thought that 1-percent sales tax for infrastructure was actually *for infrastructure*? LOL.” -the city

        (Sometimes the special assessment numbers have several more significant digits, as in my coworkers’ plight… https://www.inforum.com/news/4432074-fargo-couple-gets-relief-sky-high-specials-still-plans-sell-house )

        Reply
  4. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Funny, just last week I got one of these camera cars driving towards me very close to my house. I was driving in classic EV mode: Half asleep, steering the car in roughly the right direction, so I noticed it a bit late. Pictures are not online yet. But I got the Stream and Camry in our driveway, and the 10 year old Google Maps photo of my glorious Volvo 145 in front of my student home.

    https://i.ibb.co/F6jPNYB/Camry-Stream-Heime.png

    https://i.ibb.co/CBH3fXh/S-ndre-Skogveien-V145.png

    Reply
    1. neight428 Avatar
      neight428

      When the first satellite images were published on the web back in the late 90’s, the easiest way to quickly spot my house was to look for the white brick of a landmark parked behind it that was a 1964 Imperial Crown that my step father had acquired in trade for something. The other guy got the better deal, unless there was a disease exchanged in the transaction.

      Reply
  5. mdharrell Avatar
    mdharrell

    Three of my SAABs are still visible at my previous address, as the image hasn’t been updated since 2011. I only own one of them at this point, though.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/39a62813803b4d47b6cd5ff502444328eb67f5eed70ed17e5128a67573288c90.png

    Reply
  6. ptschett Avatar
    ptschett

    My new(er) Challenger is in my workplace’s parking lot in the satellite image, but the old one is there in street view.
    Street view also has my pickup in the ‘driveway’ at home.
    A fun thing here in Fargo is that Google Maps has LIDAR elevation data built in, so you get weird ephemeral vaguely car-shaped lumps in parking lots and on the roads when looking at it in 3D mode. e.g.:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d70b005ae199fecb679de51d83da302ef0ade7de4a20c9103018afe082dc6040.png

    There used to be a satellite image of one of my dad’s farm fields where you could see the same tractor twice, parked in one instance and at work in the other instance, which was fun. Probably still available with the history slider in Google Earth.

    Reply
    1. Monkey10is Avatar
      Monkey10is

      “weird ephemeral vaguely car-shaped lumps in parking lots…”

      I think that is the current Toyota range?

      Reply
    2. ptschett Avatar
      ptschett

      The two-places-at-once tractor lives on!
      (It’s a Case IH MX220 Magnum pulling a ‘land roller’ – big smooth steel drums on axles, used after planting a field to soybeans in order to mash rocks back into the ground so the combine won’t pick them up in the fall, because you want to cut soybeans really low to get all the bean pods, becuse having rocks go through a combine Is Bad And You Will Not Go To Space Today.)
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c4d83b876cea9d7f8b3711a58425072f31a7b7072351f5bf7a9fded9164c928e.png

      Reply
  7. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    I can’t be certain, but that matches my Mazda2, at the dealer I bought it from, during the month I bought it, and they didn’t carry that many 2’s.

    Other than that, so far, the only time I’ve found my current car is in front of my work (I park underground at home), but we’ve been passed by several times since I started with my current employer, so it’s pretty well documented.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/36aa787c68f57481faba6027cd575379b32ccd2d1690b4abcd754b9262901973.jpg

    Reply
  8. Troggy Avatar
    Troggy

    A few times, mostly at the racetrack where I volunteer, and streetview caught the Corolla (may it rust in peace).
    The Mighty ‘Rolla:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3967ab72c1a341e364e6455254c5347e782d5dc909b5e7e981922d6353bda8e8.png

    And little old me, sitting in my spot in the ‘crossover at Morgan Park Raceway (I drive the recovery van – this was taken during Australian Superbikes)
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/11ab90def795664adf08c725ee51525bdce5e0e3e2ef442c57040fcc5b2212e5.png

    And a few years ago in the pits at Morgan Park The smaller grey splotch above the van is my bike.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03c28390d66e867e884ce10a46042550fc499e51eba1f31e800257f7389f3ea9.png

    Reply
  9. outback_ute Avatar
    outback_ute

    Yes still shown at my old place, in the driveway on streetview and on the road in the aerial shot.

    Reply
  10. Fuhrman16 Avatar
    Fuhrman16

    There’s no street view of any of my cars that I can tell. They haven’t gone by my old house or workplace, and they haven’t driven past my new place/job for over a decade. They did go past the place I lived in back in college, but a few months before I lived there (though they managed to catch my old roommates battered Oldsmobile). In the satellite view however you can see my old Renault parked in front of my house, suggesting it hasn’t been updated since ~2016.

    Reply
  11. dr zero Avatar
    dr zero

    I can find my previous car parked at Sydenham station. I used to have the Focus in the middle of the image.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5a06610b0464aa3781aa47e0e31e198a5ed33786c69304edd14c18e3ececaa1f.png

    Reply
  12. Ed Avatar
    Ed

    The image has been updated since but they did capture my red 330Ci on
    the road near my development. I got the screenshots before they updated
    it!

    Reply
  13. juergenZwo Avatar
    juergenZwo

    Once I found my old BMW E32 on Google maps, I owned this car until 2009, but Google maps label said streetview picture was from 2016. So how do we know when those streetviews were actually shot? Google is deceiving the public here, for whatever reason.

    Reply
    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      Our streetview picture says “image capture 2007” at the bottom, which shows cars we owned that year (but not the following). Our overhead satellite image is labeled “imagery copyright 2019”, but based on my E28 in the driveway and the size of our front trees that have since been cut down, the picture was obviously taken either fall of 2017 or 2018.

      Reply
    2. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      Our streetview picture says “image capture 2007” at the bottom, which shows cars we owned that year (but not the following). Our overhead satellite image is labeled “imagery copyright 2019”, but based on my E28 in the driveway and the size of our front trees that have since been cut down, the picture was obviously taken either fall of 2017 or 2018.

      Reply
  14. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    You can see the origin of my rant against owning (or more precisely, selling) a manual transmission equipped non-enthusiast vehicle (an ’07 Civic sedan), but perhaps more interestingly, you see yours truly leaning over a fender of my hopeless Corvette project.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c4672d68d202beccd58ef53a0bb9e9668bbae663acb48a1c090fc30bedb16a4f.png

    Reply
  15. longrooffan Avatar
    longrooffan

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cd837488ebdd2d12c2f4fe604cd7041780d8bc9ad18861ffb735e6adc1eb603a.png

    Reply
  16. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar
    Peter Tanshanomi

    About a year ago, my wife and I saw a Google Maps car going the other direction. Sure enough, when we thought to check the Street View of that section of road a few months later, we saw my wife’s gray Sienna in the other lane.

    Reply
  17. longrooffan Avatar
    longrooffan

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cd837488ebdd2d12c2f4fe604cd7041780d8bc9ad18861ffb735e6adc1eb603a.png

    Reply
  18. longrooffan Avatar
    longrooffan

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cd837488ebdd2d12c2f4fe604cd7041780d8bc9ad18861ffb735e6adc1eb603a.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cd837488ebdd2d12c2f4fe604cd7041780d8bc9ad18861ffb735e6adc1eb603a.png

    Reply
    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      If that’s your Comanche, then consider me officially jealous. I love those trucks. Too bad the local ones have been oxidized to nothing (damned Midwest!).

      Reply
  19. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
    SlowJoeCrow

    We could tell when Google’s satellite view updated by the different car in our driveway.

    Reply
  20. je zalanka Avatar
    je zalanka

    the one time the camera car almost got me was when I was loading my weapons into the truck for some range time up north. quick as a bunny shut the garage door. missed me. did get the blue canoe while I was at work. everything else stays in the garages. It is so nice to have a place to work not connected to the house so the solvent stink stays out in the garage and not migrate into the house.
    a day without turbocharging is like a day without sunshine.

    Reply
  21. wunno sev Avatar
    wunno sev

    ain’t she a beaut.

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/3JgvzGx5Gpexk3Mj9

    Reply
  22. salguod Avatar
    salguod

    One particularly hot day in 2016, in bumper to bumper traffic I discovered that the fan in my 318ti was not working. I managed to get it to the side of the road and while waiting for it to cool down and traffic to clear, the street view car came by.

    https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1087456,-83.086967,3a,37.5y,245.6h,84.6t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sk0O4bkJH8Mdf6gAVm_pMqw!2e0

    For some reason, it’s pretty hard to find. Almost all of the images from that section of I-270 are from different days. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/44f754737d447aae9d94587abc9cab93d00c8c365bae19880bbdc69be15e011a.jpg

    Reply
    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      Hell, I may have very well driven right past you and didn’t stop. Sorry, dude!

      Reply
      1. salguod Avatar
        salguod

        This would have been the morning rush hour, about 7:30 I’d guess. I can’t see the date info on my tablet, but I seem to recall that it was August.

        Reply
  23. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/72a8da57598f0472803a8647c9fd9992f1944decb12fa09ebe03ce47fb484ccb.png

    Reply