Google expands Street View coverage with largest update ever

Google has added 250,000 miles worth of Street View coverage to Google Maps as part of what is being called the largest update since it was introduced seven years ago. The search giant has also doubled the number of special photo collections that give users a 360-degree view of various attractions like international landmarks and parks. Street View now has more than 20 petabytes of data collected from nearly 50 countries across the globe.

Specifically, Google points out that Street View has been expanded in a number of countries including Canada, Denmark, Great Britain, Italy, Macau, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand and the US. The feature also includes new special collections in Brazil, France, Japan, Mexico, South Africa and Spain, just to name a few.

On the walls of Elsinore Castle, nestled on the northeastern coast Helsingør in Denmark, Bernardo and Francisco uttered the opening words to William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy. The castle known locally as Kronborg and immortalized by Hamlet, provided the setting for the Prince of Denmark to play out his personal battle with madness, grief and searing rage. Today we’re also launching images from inside Kronborg and its surroundings, so you can discover for yourself the inspiration behind Shakespeare’s masterpiece.

The updates come just weeks after Apple decided to drop Google Maps from devices running iOS 6 in favor of their own maps application. Cupertino moved to an in-house solution because Google doesn’t support voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions.

Apple Maps garnered numerous complaints from consumers and a wealth of attention from media. Apple CEO Tim Cook personally addressed the issue by apologizing for shortcomings and promising to work overtime on Apple Maps until it lives up to the standards that people expect from Apple products.

For what it's worth, Street View was recently made available via web browser which means iOS 6 users can once again enjoy the service through Safari or another browser of their choice.