A bit of a tangent, but if I don't ask now, I never will - has anyone applied the internet wayback machine to google maps - so a kind of "time machine" meets street view, and you see what your neighbourhood looked like 6 years ago before that condo blocked your scenic view? Would be a neat idea. If anyone's come across a solution, please share.
I looked around on the Wayback Machine a bit but it seems like images are not always stored.