Google is doing Dundee a “disservice” by failing to update decade-old Street View images, from a time when flumes reached out into the Tay and a 17-storey high-rise dominated the waterfront’s skyline.
Some images on the internet firm’s mapping service have not been updated since 2009, transporting users “back in time”, prior to regeneration, when the £80.1 million V&A Dundee was little more than a pipe dream.
The glitch occurs when turning right or left from Riverside Esplanade on to Slessor Gardens side-street South Crichton Street on the way to V&A Dundee from the Tay Road Bridge/City Quay.
Users suddenly find themselves among the former Hilton hotel, Gala casino, and hugely unpopular former council headquarters Tayside House, often nicknamed Fawlty Towers.
The old Olympia Swimming Pool, where V&A Dundee now stands, can be seen with a sign welcoming customers.
All four of the buildings have since been demolished, as has an overpass dominating the area.
Lynne Short, councillor for Maryfield, said she found the unchanged streets nostalgic but stressed they should be updated to accurately reflect the new Dundee.
She said: “100%, it needs to be changed. It’s like going back in time. Things were so different in Dundee in 2009.
“It’s doing the city a disservice. It seems strange but it is quite funny. I guess it’s some kind of glitch because most of it has been updated in recent years.
“For Google to be so far behind is surprising.”
She added: “Dundee has definitely lost its carbuncle ways in the last 10 years.
“It shows the whole premise of bringing the city together with the waterfront has worked when you compare what it was like then.”
Urban areas are usually updated by the California-based multinational every two to three years.
The images were taken by Google’s street view car in March 2009 and July 2012.
After just a few clicks, users leave the Dundee of old, returning again to River Esplanade and the dominant V&A.
A spokesperson for Google said its street car is scheduled to update Dundee between by October.
She said: “Because of factors outside our control (weather, road closures, etc), it is always possible that our cars may not be operating, or that slight changes may occur.”
