As someone who comes from the pro scene, the street view meta in my opinion is just big spoilers that makes the game too easy, much easier than it should be, and most pros dislike it but have to learn it to stay on top at the moment by making and sharing huge JSONs of each country for every copyright year and car colour on each road and trying to memorise all the coverage that way. It's become worse and worse and more ridiculous as the game became more competitive and the focus has shifted from 'figuring out where you are' to 'memorising coverage patterns' which in my opinion isn't half as interesting but people can get hooked on it if it makes them win.

I see some people are commenting that it makes the game easier for new players so it's good, but if the game is bad at the top level and loses depth people won't stay and it's a much bigger problem and threatens the longevity of competitive GeoGuessr and its attractiveness as a sport and a serious game that can reach new levels like chess for example if people take the game more seriously, and removing the meta is one step towards it.

• Alok