Maps Back in Time
When researching family histories, we often come across addresses that our ancestors lived in. If you are anything like me, you are sure to have typed the address into Google Maps to see what the dwelling looks like today and whether it could possibly be the same one.
Let's try that now with an address I looked up recently.
Type this website address into your internet web browser: https://www.google.com/maps
and next, where it reads: "Search Google Maps" in a white box, type this address: 468 Woolwich Road, Charlton
Entering the address into maps search
Now press Enter on your keyboard or click/touch the magnifying glass to the right of where you typed. You should be transported in the map to Charlton and see an image of what the address looks like now, or at least, the latest one Google Maps provides.
If you now click on the image of the address (the picture you see above), it should fill the screen with a bigger version.
So, we can see it's a pub but how frustrating that we can't really see the building for all of the construction works going on there. We do have another option, however.
Click on the little down-pointing-triangle (known as a drop-down) circled, and you are presented with a list of previous photographs taken by the Google Maps, cars back in time.
The dropdown that we use to change the date of the image
To select another date, drag the larger circle onto one of the tiny ones - you will see the dates and images change as you do so.
Choosing an alternative date
Enter your text here ...
I dragged mine to May 2017, then clicked on the small photograph just as we did earlier, and it selected that one. If you look down the bottom of the screen, you should also see the date: May 2017.
A better picture of the address.
That's a whole lot better! You can now pan around with your mouse or touch screen to get a better look.