“My grandmother taking me to school in 2008.” This is how María Carreon describes a photo of an old version of Google Maps in Granada. Her grandmother went from a town in the Alpujarra, Capileira, to Granada to accompany her during school time. One day, years later, Carreon was looking at the route she was taking to school and there she was, by surprise, with her grandmother. “Having a photo like this seems like a precious memory to me, because there are no cell phones involved, it is a moment captured exactly as it was,” he says now.
Carreon is not the only one who has reviewed the streets of her childhood in search of traces of her past. Street View, the Google Maps application that explores streets around the world, allows you to visit previous versions. There you can see grandparents leaning in doors, unremarkable walks with a pet that recently left, or someone sweeping in front of a store that no longer exists. The Google vehicle (they no longer record only with cars) that records the roads for Street View has a unique point of view: it seems to maintain an alien, blurry look, as if no one had taken that photo and it was just frozen time. Dozens of people regularly share their Maps memories online.
It is a memory that the whole family shares in their memory, but that no one had the idea of reflecting in a photo, except Google’s all-seeing eye, with the addition that the person’s expression is completely banality: no one smiles, no one poses. “My grandfather used to come down from his house to check the garden at my parents’ house. Something that no one in the family would ever photograph, but that is probably in everyone’s memory,” says Jorge, from Madrid, about an image of his grandfather in El Oso (Ávila).
“It’s a strange feeling, in the end they get caught in the daily routine and for a moment it’s as if nothing had changed,” says Cris, from Badajoz, who keeps an image on the door of his grandparents’ and sister’s house. of his grandfather. In this case, the two brothers have already passed away: “The sensation of seeing them at the door of my grandparents’ house is to feel for a moment as if they were still in the present,” says Cris.
Nostalgia is a basic element in these recoveries of the past: “What I feel when I see him now is a lot of nostalgia, seeing him so young makes me remember that time, where I was little and he was so well. I think the difference between seeing it there and seeing it in videos or photos made by ourselves is the point of chance and spontaneity, in an everyday moment and without expecting it,” says Reme Román, from Cádiz.
These findings, most of them accidental, according to the six users consulted by this newspaper, could be a memory of no great importance. After all, all families today have tons of photos and videos of their members. But these photos add a different layer: “For me it is a way to keep them alive. Capturing a moment in space-time that we can travel to whenever we need to. They are real, banal and customary moments. Nobody poses. Everything is real. It is a way of holding on to our memories,” says Juan Antonio Mariscal, from La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz).
In the case of Mariscal, the naturalness is especially striking. His maternal grandmother returned from shopping: “It comes out [en la imagen] with his daily coat and his hair somewhat disheveled because it was windy that day. With a couple of white bags in his hands, where he will probably carry zucchini to fill them, chard for omelettes, anchovies to make moruna or hopefully apples for the cake he used to make me,” he explains.
Not only can time pass for people, but also for buildings, as happened to the grandfather of Alberto González, from Don Benito (Badajoz): “An everyday moment was captured, he is reading a letter at the door of his house that he picked up before entering, and now his house is no longer what it was, and seeing the house as it is, gives an extra homesickness,” he explains.
Google cameras periodically record streets around the world for Street View. Although these images are renewed, all previous versions are accessible. Cris, for example, thought he had lost the image of his grandparents when Maps returned to the town’s streets: “Time passed, the app was updated and I thought it was lost,” he explains, until he realized it wasn’t: “ I found out through TikTok that you could see past dates on Google Maps and I found it again.”
Not all places are renewed with the same frequency. Google Maps and Street View have true devotees. Not only is there a global game based on the application, but there are people who look closely at the facade of their house, the plants in the garden or a bottle forgotten on their porch and wait for a new update.
Although most encounters with the past are casual, there are also, of course, those who search the streets to see if a family member went out that day: “I didn’t know you could do the Street View thing with other dates, And when I read it, my curiosity was piqued and I started walking around my town, and suddenly I thought I saw my grandfather, with his characteristic beret and his crutch, I approached and it was him. He was no longer with us when I discovered this,” says Miguel Allande, from Pola de Lena (Asturias). “A feeling of sadness came over me, but at the same time, happiness and nostalgia as I found another memory of my grandfather that I didn’t expect,” he adds.
