It is wild to think that Street View was once the most futuristic thing on the internet. Now it feels like a digital relic. The idea of a seamless transition from space to the front door has been a demo-room staple for years, yet we still have that clunky 'click to jump' navigation. It is not just about the visuals. It is about the lost metadata. There is so much semantic information in those images that could be powering a much more intelligent map, but instead, it feels like we are just looking at a very large, very static photo album.
That sounds nice, but it turns out nobody actually needs such a map for anything, and you're only using it because it's free.
Also, maps constantly go out of date so it's incredibly expensive to maintain one that's actually reliable and correct.