Hi everyone!
We’ve been improving Mapillary’s Time Travel experience to make it easier to explore how places change, from new buildings and road layouts to changing vegetation and street signs.
Time Travel is now available for many more images than before. Recent improvements to the accuracy of image locations and camera orientations help us identify suitable comparisons that previously went unmatched. If you couldn’t use Time Travel at a favorite spot before, it’s worth another look!
What else is new?
- Updated UX. A refreshed comparison sidebar makes it easier to browse captures, see their dates and identify the selected image. Both images have clear contributor credits, and simpler entry and close controls help you move between Time Travel and regular browsing.
- Compare what you’re actually looking at. Time Travel uses your current viewing direction and framing to find relevant historical captures, rather than simply offering nearby photos that might face somewhere else.
- Better alignment between captures. Images share a common viewing direction, with image-based matching helping correct heading and tilt differences where reliable matches are available. This makes it easier to distinguish real changes from differences in camera orientation.
- More flexible 360° comparisons. Compare panoramas with other panoramas or regular photos. Panorama pairs also benefit from improved alignment as you look around.
- 3D transitions where supported. Suitable regular-photo pairs use reconstructed geometry to add perspective motion as you move the slider. Other pairs stay in 2D, which you can also choose manually.
- More useful historical choices, fewer duplicates. Improved discovery makes the comparison list more consistent. Grouping images from the same capture outing and removing repeat uploads keeps it focused on distinct visits.
- Smoother browsing. Switch comparisons without distracting flashes, zoom in and drag to inspect details, and keep your manual zoom and 2D/3D preference while browsing.
Try these examples:
- Autumn colors to spring flowers in Japan, captured by tm3594.
- A construction road becomes a finished residential street in France, captured by zimmy.
To explore your own location, open an image, look toward the scene you want to compare, and select the Time Travel icon on the right side.
Matching isn’t perfect. Different viewpoints, limited overlap and reconstruction errors can still affect the results. Please share your favorite comparisons, or links to places where the experience could be better.
Thank you to everyone who keeps returning to capture the same places. Those repeat visits are what make Time Travel possible!
- Boris,
Product Manager, Mapillary
These improvements are greatly appreciated. I think, I may also have spotted some new textured mesh rendering when playing with the slider but maybe it is just something that I did not catch before. Anyhow, good job so far.
