Google Maps is one of those essential apps that you have on your smartphone. It is great for finding your way. It is great for planning your journey in advance. It is a great tool for finding out points of interest around any location. But you probably wouldn’t have thought that all of Google’s efforts with Street View mapping and photography would help people get closure after the deaths of their loved ones. Social media seems to be in love with this discovery, after Twitter user Leslie Barraza (@yajairalyb) tweeted a video that shows Google Maps showing an image of her grandfather sitting at his farm in Mexico—he had passed away a few years ago.
“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,” says her emotional tweet with the screen recording video that illustrates what she is saying. It wasn’t a planned discovery though. Leslie tells CNN that her sister was actually showing her the 13-second Street View visuals of the streets near her grandfather’s farm, and then they found this visual of him sitting just outside his home. She remembers how she never got to say a final goodbye to her grandfather.
Barraza’s tweet started a lot of chatter on Twitter. A lot of Google Maps users reported spotting their loved ones too, who had passed away at some point in the past.
Another user @RufussMom posted a tweet which showed a Google Street View image of her grandfather sitting outside his home. “My grandpa too! Marked 8 years on December 2019 since he’s been gone,” she says. Twitter user @KizziRock_ posted how she saw her grandmother sitting in her front yard, thanks to Google Maps. “I randomly googled my grandma's address once last year when I couldn't stop thinking of her... this was what I saw I couldn't stop crying! My grandma was chilling in her front yard... I miss my ole gal!” she writes in a tweet. In a reply to the original tweet by Barraza, another Twitter user @HoangryAF tweeted out images of her pet dog Buddy, who passed away a few years ago. @Thomas_Wayan also shared how he saw an image of his two pet dogs, presumably not with him now.
The thread which became quite popular following Barraza’s tweet did not go under the radar. Google Maps official Twitter handle responded saying, “Our tissue box is officially empty. Thank you for sharing this.”
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