May 20, 2026 15:22:00

Google Street View and Google's interactive world-building tool, Project Genie, now work together to generate realistic worlds based on real-world images.

In January 2026, Google announced '

Project Genie ,' a web app that allows users to create their own interactive worlds. At Google I/O 2026, held on May 19, 2026, a new feature was revealed that would allow users to integrate real-world locations into Project Genie using Google Street View.

Simulate real-world places with Project Genie and Street View
https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/google-deepmind/project-genie-expands/

Project Genie is a web application that combines the world model ' Genie 3 ' with the image generation AIs 'Nano Banana Pro' and 'Gemini 3,' designed to allow users to directly experience an immersive world model. The virtual world is created based on text input prompts and uploaded images, and the path ahead is generated in real time as the user moves.

Google releases 'Project Genie,' which allows users to create and explore their own interactive virtual worlds - GIGAZINE

Project Genie has now added a location-based feature that utilizes Google Street View. By tapping a pin on the map to select a location within the United States, and then specifying a style such as 'desert' or 'Stone Age,' or a character such as 'animals' or 'monsters,' you can generate a virtual world based on actual images from Street View.

A demo showing the actual generation process has also been released. Click 'Choose a location from Google Maps'.

Search using a place name or other keywords, select an image from Google Maps Street View, and then click 'Use this location.'

Select the characteristics of the world to generate. In the demo, 'Underwater Drive' was selected.

Click 'Create world' to generate a world.

A world was created where the scenery of the highway had been submerged in the sea.

Below is a demonstration of creator Bilawal Sidhu's use of the Street View feature. The style remains unchanged, and the character is moving within a real-world landscape.

Woot! You can now simulate real world places by grounding Genie 3 experiences with Street View imagery.

Google sitting on the mother lode of real world data, and is starting to put it to work!

Let's dive into some prompts & locations I tested... pic.twitter.com/TlXSWNx08h

— Bilawal Sidhu (@bilawalsidhu) May 19, 2026

Aleksander Holynski, a Google DeepMind researcher and professor at Columbia University, posted, 'I've always wanted to be an elephant riding a motorcycle through my hometown. Now I can finally do that.'

My whole life, I've wanted to be an elephant riding a motorcycle through my hometown.

Now, it's finally possible. https://t.co/kwOUNrzOhB pic.twitter.com/0fkLfWPqvQ

— Aleksander Holynski (@holynski_) May 19, 2026

Additionally, Ben Poole, a research scientist at Google Brain, released a video in which he generated a watercolor-style world from Street View images of Hawk Hill in San Francisco and showed a frog riding a bicycle through it.

By connecting Google's massive-scale Street View imagery to our most powerful world models, we unlock more realistic simulators for agents and new creative opportunities in your favorite locations. Here's a watercolor version of sweater frog on a bicycle at the top of Hawk Hill: pic.twitter.com/41IWq0w41w

— Ben Poole (@poolio) May 19, 2026

Project Genie's Street View feature is currently available in several areas across the United States, with plans to expand its coverage area in the future.

Furthermore, Project Genie was an experimental prototype, and access was limited to Google AI Ultra users aged 18 and over residing in the United States. It has been announced that it will be gradually rolled out to Google AI Ultra users worldwide starting May 19, 2026.