I was shocked to spot a Google Street View pic of my late father in his driveway – it’s a way to keep him by my side
A DAUGHTER was shocked to discover a photo of her late dad in his driveway when she was looking online at Google Street View.
Susie Yeo, from Manchester, discovered the picture of her father when she looked at an old version of Street View while searching for her parents’ home.
She said the little-known feature was a “quirky” way to keep is memory alive.
Ms Yeo added that she wasn’t previously aware that Google Maps had this feature but was delighted about the “unexpected” discovery.
She said: “I never thought about doing this and didn’t know it shows older images.
“I googled my parents’ house and my late dad is standing on his drive.
“I’ve got hundreds of photos of dad, this was just a lovely discovery.”
Ms Yeo revealed that she only found out about the feature having come across a thread on X, previously Twitter, about it and added it had provided some comfort with her “life-altering grief”.
She said her dad Tony was originally from Singapore, but moved to Northern England in the 50s, where he met his future wife Florence.
She said: “I’d googled my parents’ house before, but never noticed the ‘see more dates’ feature.
“Most of us have lots of photos of family, but it was a particularly joyous discovery and unexpected.
“I’m a ‘grief novice’ – I had no concept of how it could possibly feel. Dad was 89 and I was 56 when we lost him, and I realised very quickly that his age/my age/the commonality of parent loss made no difference to the life-altering grief.
“So to have quirky little events like this, are just poignant ways of ‘keeping’ dad with me.”
Another user was also grateful for the Google feature as he had come across his grandfather “forever waiting” at a bus stop on his way to the library.
A post by @Tadhg, from Scotland, on the social media site said: “A lifelong advocate for taking the bus, I find it strangely touching that my granddad is captured on Google Maps forever waiting on his daily trip to the library.”
The online thread quickly became hugely popular as people posted pictures of loved ones they had spotted of loved ones from Google Street View.
Users chipped in with their own thoughts too, saying it was “a lovely thing to be able to see” and described it as a “lovely moment in history”.
Another user posted: “I knew another gardening man immortalised by Google Street View. Sometimes I check up on him and it warms my heart.”
Google Street View started in the United States in 2007 and was rolled out across other countries in the following years.
Since 2014 though, users can use the Street View mode in maps and then click on “see more dates” which appears beneath the address on the top-left panel.
Users can then click on the different dates on the timeline to see past versions of that location.
There are likely to be more images of urban areas compared to rural locations, with Google Maps vans taking a new image every couple of years or so while the gap between images for rural areas could be several years.
Poet Sherri Turner was also unaware of the feature until she came across the thread on X, saying she often looks at her childhood home.
She said: “I look at my mum’s old house on Google Maps Street View, the house where I grew up. It says ‘Image captured May 2009’.
“There is a light on in her bedroom. It is still her house, she is still alive, I am still visiting every few months on the train to Bodmin Parkway.
“I take a Screen Print of the house, with the light on, because it won’t last forever, and one day the Google van will go back down that street and replace her house with someone else’s and though there may be a light on in the window it won’t be her.”
Her post attracted a huge 205,000 likes along with 21,000 comments, many of which were other X users to explained she can always go back and view the image.
For comedian Howard Walker, it was a bittersweet moment discovering his late mum sat on a bench outside her old home.
He said: “For some reason, the other day, I looked at my mum’s house on Google Street View.
“She only passed away in January, I suppose she was on my mind.
“I drive past it most days as I live so close – I know what her house looks like, but for some reason I then clicked on street view.
“She is sat outside on her bench. I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach whilst being cuddled.
“It’s so sad, yet so wonderful. I’m glad they drove past that day.”