TikTokkers are turning Google Street View into a nostalgic time machine

Google’s been driving Street View cars around the world for nearly two decades now. And TikTok has recently discovered that backlog of images is ripe with nostalgia.

There’s a new trend on the app in which folks dig up old Google Maps images showing their homes, meaningful places, or photos from a specific time via Street View to tell a story — this might involve a relative they lost, a past relationship, a childhood moment, or whatever else.

Here’s a TikTok, for instance, of a person showing their now-deceased grandparents working on their lawn in 2008.

Here’s another of a grandmother, this time sitting on their porch.

Here’s one of someone playing with their childhood dog.

Here’s one that’s just stores in someone’s hometown that have closed.

Lots of the comments in these wistful posts are about how nostalgic and sad they are. Some folks have even lamented looking for their deceased relatives and not finding them on Google Maps.