These Google Street View images show the massive changes that have taken place in Edinburgh over the past decade.These Google Street View images show the massive changes that have taken place in Edinburgh over the past decade.
These Google Street View images show the massive changes that have taken place in Edinburgh over the past decade.

These Google Street View images show the massive changes in Edinburgh over past 12 years

When the first Google Street View images of Edinburgh went live in 2008, they were a sensation, but now, more than a decade on from their initial publication, the historical value of those early images has increased tenfold.

Since then, the Street View team at Google have been publishing fresh interactive panoramas of Scotland’s capital on a regular basis.

An accompanying time slider function allows the user to reel back the years and select almost any season they like between August 2008, when the first images were captured, to the present day.

While the technology has clear practical uses, the historical value of the images captured by Google increases with every day, month, year and decade that passes. Never before have we been able to view 360 degree panoramas of our towns and cities as they looked in bygone eras.

So, what has changed in Edinburgh since the year of the financial crash? On a localised level, the changes are too numerous for us to list.

The Capital in 2008 was a very different place. Construction of the troubled tram system had only just commenced, and big budget developments such as the St James Quarter and new Meadowbank Stadium were still years away.

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While the technology has clear practical uses, the historical value of the images captured by Google increases with every day, month, year and decade that passes. Never before have we been able to view 360 degree panoramas of our towns and cities as they looked in bygone eras.

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