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Google rolls out 'biggest update ever' for Street View

The search giant has updated 250,000 miles of road across more than 17 different countries.

Zack Whittaker Writer-editor
Zack Whittaker is a former security editor for CNET's sister site ZDNet.
Zack Whittaker

The Street View Trike collecting imagery of Cambridge Bay. Google

Google said today that it has rolled out the "biggest update ever" to its Street View service.

The street-level image service that allows users to travel around the world from the comfort of their cushy homes and offices now extends to far reaches of the world previously not seen on the Google service.

On the Google LatLong blog, Street View program manager Ulf Spitzer explains that the service now has an additional 250,000 miles of road -- or ten times around the Earth -- in more than 17 countries, such as the U.S., the U.K., Italy, and Sweden.

Some of the new places include Catherine Palace, Russia, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taiwan, and Stanley Park, Vancouver.

For developers, Google has added time-zone functionality to the Maps API allowing for greater local focus features, particularly for businesses that offer services in various countries.

Last Friday, Google Maps for browsers was updated to include Street View for those who can't access the mapping service on their mobile device.

Since iOS 6, the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system for the iPhone and iPad, arrived without Google Maps, the search giant has instead taken to developing a better experience for the mobile Web.