A grieving woman was left in tears after seeing her late father sitting in his favorite spot on Google Street View 11 years after his death.
Katie Scott, 49, discovered she had been immortalized in the search engine’s 360 Street Images this month.
Arthur Scott passed away in 2013 at the age of 83, after being diagnosed with stage three kidney failure.
The Google image captured in 2009 shows Arthur sitting on the bench outside his house where he used to enjoy sunbathing.
In another photo, his German shepherd, Elsa, is seen entering the house. Elsa died four years before Arthur.
“When I found the picture I was so excited,” said Katie, from Salford, Greater Manchester.
‘I cried when I found him. All those memories flooded back.
‘That was his favorite place. As soon as the sun came up, he was on that bench.
Arthur Scott appears in a Google Street View image sitting on the bench outside his home where he loved to sunbathe.
His daughter Katie was surprised to find him immortalized in the search engine’s Street View function.
He added: “It was disturbing but I was happy. I don’t have many photos of my dad, but we were very close.
“I took a screenshot so I could see it all the time.”
Arthur was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2008, when Katie moved with him into their council home to become his full-time carer.
She said: “When he was diagnosed we were told he only had a few years left so I moved in with him to look after him.” He managed to live another five years.
‘It was a shock when he was diagnosed and it was heartbreaking to think about losing him.
‘It was very funny. He had a brilliant sense of humor and our relationship was based mainly on humor. It has been difficult to live without him.
Katie first discovered Arthur’s image just after his passing.
But she was “heartbroken” when Google updated the image shortly after and thought it was lost forever.
However, last month it learned that it could access older images from Google Street View.
Katie (pictured) moved in with her father in his council home to care for him full-time after he was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2008.
Arthur passed away in 2013 at age 83 after being diagnosed with stage three kidney failure.
Katie with her father Arthur as a child. He found his father’s photo while looking at his old house on Google Maps, using the site’s historic Street View images.
Google Maps has a tool that allows you to view historical images from previous years, some of which date back to when Street View first launched in 2007.
Katie added: “Just after he passed away we were looking at old photos and looked at the house on Google Maps and there he was.
‘I looked at it a lot. When it was updated, I was heartbroken thinking I would never see it again. I was still in mourning.
“I discovered on TikTok that you can look at older photos and it was lovely to see it again.”
Many grieving families have found comfort after finding photos of their loved ones on Street View.
Grieving families have found solace in photographs of their loved ones on Street View. One found his late mother, who died in January 2022, during a period when the front of her house was being renovated.
An X user posted this photo of his grandparents returning home with shopping bags, clearly having seen Google’s Street View camera.
One saw his dead mother sitting outside a cafe enjoying a cup of coffee four years before her death.
And another told how his girlfriend had found her grandmother standing at a bus stop waiting to catch a bus in 2008.
Others found their pets using the Google feature.
Another X user, formerly Twitter, was delighted to find his grandparents returning together from a shopping trip, having clearly seen Google’s Street View camera.