Travelling via Google Maps? Just me?

[Naltic]

I had long since imagined myself travelling, going far beyond the commonality of my daily commune and exploring things that are hidden and untraveled, a sort of terra incognita for myself and maybe a friend or two who would have travelled with me. It is with this sense of adventure and much of what it allured that I sought to create my surroundings so as to resemble the things I would have been doing if I could. It was from this "allure" that I stumbled upon a new hobby, without even noticing. The hobby, as the title suggests, involved travelling via Google Maps, utilising its extensive and comprehensive features to my comfort and advantage, and using its Street View to picture myself. To imagine and build this narrative of adventure in my mind. Going with the car, looking up at the giant buildings I would stumble upon in my "travels" and...breathe. Breathed the air as if I was in that street view car or that specific location, looking and gazing at the distant skies and for a brief period...became free of my daily burdens and monotonous school life. Of course, my travels took me to much of the world, for what's the point of not doing so? If one has the freedom and the ability to be anywhere they want on this green earth, would they not then want to be everywhere?

So I ask you, have you ever thought of using Google Maps as a means to "travel"? To explore countries and places you would have otherwise never explored? And if yes, how was it?

 

[Yousef]

I had long since imagined myself travelling, going far beyond the commonality of my daily commune and exploring things that are hidden and untraveled, a sort of terra incognita for myself and maybe a friend or two who would have travelled with me. It is with this sense of adventure and much of what it allured that I sought to create my surroundings so as to resemble the things I would have been doing if I could. It was from this "allure" that I stumbled upon a new hobby, without even noticing. The hobby, as the title suggests, involved travelling via Google Maps, utilising its extensive and comprehensive features to my comfort and advantage, and using its Street View to picture myself. To imagine and build this narrative of adventure in my mind. Going with the car, looking up at the giant buildings I would stumble upon in my "travels" and...breathe. Breathed the air as if I was in that street view car or that specific location, looking and gazing at the distant skies and for a brief period...became free of my daily burdens and monotonous school life. Of course, my travels took me to much of the world, for what's the point of not doing so? If one has the freedom and the ability to be anywhere they want on this green earth, would they not then want to be everywhere?

So I ask you, have you ever thought of using Google Maps as a means to "travel"? To explore countries and places you would have otherwise never explored? And if yes, how was it?

I was under the impression that this is about using GM to help you during travels. I was gonna comment yes, it helped us quite a lot in our travels me and my dad.

 

[Naltic]

I was under the impression that this is about using GM to help you during travels. I was gonna comment yes, it helped us quite a lot in our travels me and my dad.

Yeah, I meant it more as using the street view to picture yourself in that specific location. Maybe worded that wrong in the original post.

 

[Yousef]

Yeah, I meant it more as using the street view to picture yourself in that specific location. Maybe worded that wrong in the original post.

You’re fine. That is an interesting concept too. Especially if I’m stuck and unable to travel to some places.

 

[Naltic]

You’re fine. That is an interesting concept too. Especially if I’m stuck and unable to travel to some places.

That's kinda how it started for me. As I said in the post, it became a hobby that just suddenly started without me even noticing. Whenever I feel down, or feel like I am stuck in the mud of life and the problems I am facing (be it schools stress and exams), entering street view and just going to random countries such as Japan, eastern Russia, Italy, China, etc, really makes me feel...a sort of escapism, and really calms me down and I guess brings in me hope that if I do work hard and commit harder to my dreams that I will one day not have to look at the street view to experience the world, but rather that I can be there. Be in Japan, be in eastern Russia, Italy, China, etc, and breathe the air I metaphorically breathe from just looking at my computer screen.

It's also from this exploring that I have found a lot of hidden communities in the world; towns, villages, cities that nobody really knows about, or that exist in this limbo of being and not being, this is most apparent in the Eastern side of Russia, namely in the Kamchatka region and the kuril islands. In these towns, villages, cities and islands, there exist stories. Stories never heard of by the rest of the world, but that ever more so have laid the foundation of the communities there and have, in their point of view, had a stronger effect than what is going on in the rest of the world right now. One such example is a kindergarten I found in the Kuril Islands. I read about how it faced problems with getting students and how close they are to closing. For us, who live in what I like to call the main "server", we don't really think of those problems that those specific people face, those hidden communities. I very much believe that from my using and exploring the world from Google Maps, I have realised more my place in the world and what I should strive to attain. Life is beautiful, and Google Maps has really shown that to me. More so than anything I have really done myself.

 

[Yousef]

That's kinda how it started for me. As I said in the post, it became a hobby that just suddenly started without me even noticing. Whenever I feel down, or feel like I am stuck in the mud of life and the problems I am facing (be it schools stress and exams), entering street view and just going to random countries such as Japan, eastern Russia, Italy, China, etc, really makes me feel...a sort of escapism, and really calms me down and I guess brings in me hope that if I do work hard and commit harder to my dreams that I will one day not have to look at the street view to experience the world, but rather that I can be there. Be in Japan, be in eastern Russia, Italy, China, etc, and breathe the air I metaphorically breathe from just looking at my computer screen.

It's also from this exploring that I have found a lot of hidden communities in the world; towns, villages, cities that nobody really knows about, or that exist in this limbo of being and not being, this is most apparent in the Eastern side of Russia, namely in the Kamchatka region and the kuril islands. In these towns, villages, cities and islands, there exist stories. Stories never heard of by the rest of the world, but that ever more so have laid the foundation of the communities there and have, in their point of view, had a stronger effect than what is going on in the rest of the world right now. One such example is a kindergarten I found in the Kuril Islands. I read about how it faced problems with getting students and how close they are to closing. For us, who live in what I like to call the main "server", we don't really think of those problems that those specific people face, those hidden communities. I very much believe that from my using and exploring the world from Google Maps, I have realised more my place in the world and what I should strive to attain. Life is beautiful, and Google Maps has really shown that to me. More so than anything I have really done myself.

The places I’d love to visit are Italy, France, Spain, Germany or South America since those would be the hardest to visit for me.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

I travel back to old areas that would just be hassle to get to normally

 

[Carlnshake Carlnshake]

Hell yeah. You should check out geoguessr if you want it gamified www.geoguessr.com

 

[PrismRed]

Basically if somebody asked me why I don't go out and travel around, that's what my answer gonna be.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

I've used it to "revisit" places from my past to see how they've changed before.

 

[Skeetos]

I was talking with my buddies the other day about the small town I used to live in. If I'm frank, I have a lot of terrible memories from that time, but I'd like to go back one day, it's so beautiful out there. I tried looking at my old street with Street View but it's never been logged. Gotta go back one of these days I ain't got shit going on. It'll be nice to revisit without the negativity of the people I was around at the time.

 

[antii antii]

I had long since imagined myself travelling, going far beyond the commonality of my daily commune and exploring things that are hidden and untraveled, a sort of terra incognita for myself and maybe a friend or two who would have travelled with me. It is with this sense of adventure and much of what it allured that I sought to create my surroundings so as to resemble the things I would have been doing if I could. It was from this "allure" that I stumbled upon a new hobby, without even noticing. The hobby, as the title suggests, involved travelling via Google Maps, utilising its extensive and comprehensive features to my comfort and advantage, and using its Street View to picture myself. To imagine and build this narrative of adventure in my mind. Going with the car, looking up at the giant buildings I would stumble upon in my "travels" and...breathe. Breathed the air as if I was in that street view car or that specific location, looking and gazing at the distant skies and for a brief period...became free of my daily burdens and monotonous school life. Of course, my travels took me to much of the world, for what's the point of not doing so? If one has the freedom and the ability to be anywhere they want on this green earth, would they not then want to be everywhere?

So I ask you, have you ever thought of using Google Maps as a means to "travel"? To explore countries and places you would have otherwise never explored? And if yes, how was it?

A Friend of Mine has his whole entire google maps with spots all around the world of places he wants to potentially go to and see i think its crazy dedication i dont even know how he found out about half of these places but his whole map is just dots its crazy

 

[Octopus]

I've used it for that a few times, if only just to see what cities look like in other countries. That's how I learned there's a Pizza Hut like 200 feet away from the Giza Pyramids, which was both wild and also sad to see, and I spent like a good hour or so once or twice going through African cities and as much of the more isolated parts of India as there's GM coverage for.

 

[Naltic]

I was talking with my buddies the other day about the small town I used to live in. If I'm frank, I have a lot of terrible memories from that time, but I'd like to go back one day, it's so beautiful out there. I tried looking at my old street with Street View but it's never been logged. Gotta go back one of these days I ain't got shit going on. It'll be nice to revisit without the negativity of the people I was around at the time.

I am kinda in the same boat as you, I also want to go back and explore my childhood town. I just wonder how it will be after how much I have grown and all, it will be exciting to see.

Post automatically merged: Jun 25, 2025

A Friend of Mine has his whole entire google maps with spots all around the world of places he wants to potentially go to and see i think its crazy dedication i dont even know how he found out about half of these places but his whole map is just dots its crazy

I am doing the same thing, lol. I have bookmarked a lot of places in Japan, Russia, China and more that I want to visit. It's interesting, and really nice at the same time.

Post automatically merged: Jun 25, 2025

I've used it for that a few times, if only just to see what cities look like in other countries. That's how I learned there's a Pizza Hut like 200 feet away from the Giza Pyramids, which was both wild and also sad to see, and I spent like a good hour or so once or twice going through African cities and as much of the more isolated parts of India as there's GM coverage for.

The pyramids of Giza are just for tourism atp, idk, it would be nice to travel there and look at them, I guess, but it's not really on my bucket list.

 

[nobitakun]

I use Google Maps to travel since it existed. But it's funnier to look at the past pictures.

But it's a good way to look around your next destination to live :)

 

[Pearly]

Google maps works great as a GPS for driving or walking pretty much anywhere google maps has thoroughly documented. I just wouldn't suggest travelling to somewhere with poor mobile data as the map won't update as frequently as you'll need to use road signs and such.

 

[Another Iori]

When I need to go to a place I've never been before, I use this service to figure out where it is and how I can get there in the most convenient way possible.

The reason I've never gotten lost in it, is because at the time of this writing, it lacks the convenient controls of a home console you'd plug into a TV, but above all the experience is severely limited: you can't touch what you see; you can't interact with the place or the people in front of you and there are no smells; no chance to eat; no real sounds to hear or temperature to feel.

And finally, you aren't even allowed to go off the rails that Google has laid out for you.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I used to do that in Encarta 99, but I'm honestly outside so much and for so long each and every day that the last thing I want is to imagine myself even more in the wild.

That said... It's fun just looking at a random street just to get a feel for it through what Google has chosen to highlight. I have found that their SV pictures can make you appreciate your own hunting grounds in a whole new way just due to the time of day the pictures were submitted or what was going on at the time -- I once even saw the parked car of someone I used to know to the right of a street I haven't been to in ages and it was a wonderful "spark".

 

[Naltic]

I used to do that in Encarta 99, but I'm honestly outside so much and for so long each and every day that the last thing I want is to imagine myself even more in the wild.

That said... It's fun just looking at a random street just to get a feel for it through what Google has chosen to highlight. I have found that their SV pictures can make you appreciate your own hunting grounds in a whole new way just due to the time of day the pictures were submitted or what was going on at the time -- I once even saw the parked car of someone I used to know to the right of a street I haven't been to in ages and it was a wonderful "spark".

This may connect with what you said; with seeing your surroundings via the SV because (and maybe this influenced my desire for travelling with Google Maps) I have actually seen the SV car and it has taken a picture of my neighbourhood and me and my dad. It's in Google Maps right now, but I won't say where for privacy reasons. But yeah, that was a really cool experience with my dad not knowing why I was so excited, and tbh it was kind of surprising for me to see the car because I don't really live in a popular area.

I think we often forget the simplicity of the things that surround us, we often feel gloomy and see life as this dull grey canvas where nothing exciting happens or where one can't live in the moment they want to live in. But I think one shouldn't wait to have those moments, but rather should actively seek to live them, because life never waits for you, and so you should never wait for it. It is with this in mind that I think SV gives you a sort of choice and guides you into living in those moments you want to live in. One should know the choices before making the decision.