Google is updating Street View images in multiple NWT communities

Google is updating Street View imagery in several NWT communities this month, including Inuvik, 17 years since the previous update.

Emilie Leneveu, the marketing and communications coordinator for the Town of Inuvik, said a Google Street View vehicle was seen in the community on Sunday after travelling north along the Dempster Highway.

She believes the Google team had reached Tuktoyaktuk the previous day before returning south to complete additional imagery along the Dempster Highway, including around Eagle Plains and into the Yukon.

Leneveu said she did not speak with the Google team directly, but was pleased to see the company make the trip north.

“I’m very, very glad that they were here,” she told Cabin Radio, noting current Google Street View images of Inuvik are from August 2009.

“So a great milestone and a great end to the story. It took them a while to come up north, but it’s good that they did eventually.”

Google Street View does allow third-party imagery to appear on maps, although Leneveu said those photos do not provide the same coverage as Street View. Some areas of Inuvik have received third-party updates since Google’s last official capture, including images of Mackenzie Road from 2016.

The town began pushing for Google to update its images of Inuvik on Street View this summer as part of its Map Mondays campaign, which highlighted how much the community has changed over the past 15 years.

At the time, Google had planned to capture imagery along the Dempster Highway to Eagle Plains, but its published plans did not include travel to the NWT.

Leneveu said the town’s request, along with media coverage and feedback from residents on social media, helped generate enough attention for Google to extend its trip.

“I think we created enough buzz that they proceeded all the way to the Arctic Ocean, which is very exciting,” she said.

The update is expected to provide a much more current view of the community – including changes to streets, businesses and other developments that have taken place since Google’s last official visit.

Leneveu said she hopes the new imagery will include most of Inuvik’s main streets and areas that have changed significantly since 2009.

She said she does not yet know when the new images will appear publicly on Google Maps.

A spokesperson for Google confirmed that company staff is “collecting updated Street View imagery in Inuvik this month.”

Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, Yellowknife, Norman Wells and Behchokǫ̀ are among the other NWT communities Google is expected to visit this month to update Street View imagery.