Woman sees grandfather on Google Maps Street View years after he died

It’s the go-to navigational app for many people around the world, and now Google Maps has helped one woman to see her grandfather - years after he passed away.

Leslie Yajaira, from Charlotte, North Carolina, discovered an image of her grandfather using Google Maps’ Street View feature.

She tweeted a video of her discovery, writing: “My grandpa passed away a few years ago. We didn’t get to say goodbye to him.

“Yesterday we found out google maps finally drove through his farm and as we were curious going through it, where the road ends, there is my grandpa, just sitting there.”

Her tweet has garnered over 448,000 likes, and many viewers responded with similar stories.

One user replied: “Same with my dad. About to be 3 years”, while another added: “My grandpa too! Marked 8 years on December 2019 since he’s been gone.”

And one wrote: “My great abuelo passed away last month, exactly 1 year after my great abuela also left us. To see him here walking to our old house brings back so many childhood memories.”

Google’s Street View is essentially an enormous collection of photos of locations round the world, snapped by the Street View car.

Google explained: “To match each image to its geographic location on the map, we combine signals from sensors on the car that measure GPS, speed and direction. This helps us reconstruct the car’s exact route, and even tilt and realign images as needed.”

Since 2008, Google has blurred the faces of people in its Street View images.

However, Ms Yajaira’s story shows that while faces may be blurred, it’s often still possible to spot loved ones in the images.