Google Street View now a Toronto time machine

Google Street View has taken a historical bent, one that should give us some perspective on the massive amount of development that's taken place in Toronto over the last few years. Set to be introduced today, the time capsule feature allows users to peruse previous iterations of Street View imagery, which date back to 2007 around these parts. Google has compiled 360 degree photography of Toronto multiple times over the years, so it's possible to track the development boom in relatively short intervals using this new layer.

While the six year interval between the first and last scans of the city doesn't sound like much, I suspect there will be lots to see when one navigates over to Liberty Village or Queen and Lisgar, where change has been profound over this short span. Another intriguing stretch to explore will be Lake Shore Blvd near Park Lawn, where the now demolished motel strip once was. The current imagery still shows the Beach Motel (now long gone), but if you go back to 2007, the last bit of motor lodge culture will be still clinging to life. I can't wait to have a look.

At the moment I hit publish on this post, the feature is yet to go live in Toronto, though the folks at Goolge assure it's happening today. In the meantime, I'll be hitting refresh and failing to do get any work done. Check out the video below for a demonstration of how it works. And should you find particularly dramatic before and after images once the layer is available, let us know in the comments and we'll roundup the best ones.