On 4 August 2008, the long-anticipated image collection of Australia was introduced. At this time, 18 camera icons were added. Extensive mapping of New Zealand was included on 1 December 2008. On 9 December 2008, Darwin, Australia, and other locations were included.
On 30 October 2009, GoogleAustralia announced that they would be sending its fleet of cars back on the road from November 2009 to update Street ViewAustralia with new images.
In June 2010, Google Street View ceased operations in Australia after its Street View cars were found to have been collecting Wi-Fi data from home Wi-Fi networks.[1] In May 2011, GoogleAustralia stated that they had removed all the Wi-Fi sniffing equipment and that they planned to shoot Australian roads again, but did not provide a specific timetable.[2] Driving did not recommence in Australia until 2013. On 27 July 2011, major urban and regional centres of Australia were updated with the new HD imagery.
In February 2015 another update of Australia with HD imagery was released, as part of the first update in Northern Territory after the low-resolution imagery. It also affected parts of Western Australia and Queensland. However, some places still have only low-resolution imagery or don't even have Street View coverage at all. As of April 2024, the updates of Australia footage are ongoing, with most areas now having high-quality, recent imagery.
All these countries have photospheres, 360 degree panorama photos similar to the streetview photos, accessible in Google maps, but they are either unofficially made by other companies or by singular people that are not associated with Google.