One of the more popular questions I see in the Google Maps Help forum is, how do I find out the date the street views or satellite imagery were captured in Google Maps? The answer rarely comes from a Googler and when it does, the response is, they do not provide this information. Why? Well, it can cause major privacy complaints.
But today I spotted a Google Maps Help thread where a Googler said they do provide an approximate date. You just need to know where to look. If you use Google Earth, you can get an approximate date for when the image was captured.
Googler Dave said, "Google Earth does this." He then shared a link to the Google Earth help document that explains what and where:
Google Earth displays the approximate date of displayed imagery in the status bar at the bottom in the 3D viewer. As you mouse over a location, this information depicts the date of the imagery. Note that this date is only approximate.
I've been covering Google Maps since before Google Maps existed and I didn't know Google provided an approximate date.
Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.
