Tag Archives: street view
Android users can now shoot and publish their own Street View images
Apple Maps’ Street View-like feature expands to cities in Japan
Google tests interactive location listings in Street View
Google Maps satellite images cover 98 percent of the world’s population
Google makes its mapping products more informative and immersive with the use of imagery, and now the tech giant is giving us a deeper look into its map-making process. The tech giant says it has captured over 10 million miles of images for Street Vi...
Google Maps’ AR adds navigation hints to the real world
Google Maps has made navigating unfamiliar cities on foot much easier than the days of pulling out a paper map — but it's not perfect. The blue dot that signifies where you are standing can vary wildly from your actual position because GPS is b...
SheepView 360º is Like a Wooly Street View
Durita Dahl Andreassen and some of the other 49,188 people who live on the Faroe Islands, a remote archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean want people to come visit. I guess if you had to see the same 49,000 people day in and day out, you’d want visitors too. Since Google won’t get out there and do a Street View to lure in tourists, Andreassen and her helpers decided to do it themselves.
However, they didn’t stick cameras on their cars or wear backpacks to do this. Since the Faroe Islands have about 80,000 sheep roaming around, Andreassen chose five of the wooly critters and strapped a harness onto the sheep that contains a solar panel and a 360-degree camera that stores GPS coordinates.
The sheep then roam around, certainly wondering just WTF that is on their backs as they captures images of their surroundings. I mean, I’m pretty sure that sheep wearing a camera in the photo isn’t in the road for fun, he’s like “Hey, you! Get this thing off me!”
[via Engadget]
World’s Largest Model Railway Captured by Google’s Tiniest Street View Vehicles
Located in Hamburg, Germany, Miniatur Wunderland is the world’s largest model railway, occupying nearly 14,000 sq.ft. and inhabited by more than 200,000 Lilliputian citizens. Now we can check out its sights and details at our leisure, thanks to Google’s first ever mini-Street View.
Google partnered with interactive maps specialist Unilabs to create tiny camera-toting vehicles that roamed around Miniatur Wunderland’s roads and tracks. The Street View car above is just a model made to mark the attraction’s documentation. Here’s what the actual mini-Street View vehicles look like:
Here’s the result:
Pack your miniature bags and head to Google Maps for a full tour.
[via Google via Laughing Squid]
Google Acquires Digisfera to Make Street View Better
The tech giant is looking to continuously improve its products, and the acquisition of 360-degree photography startup Digisfera suggests that Street View will become better in the foreseeable future.
Founded in January 2011 by António Cabral and his son Manuel Cabral, the Portuguese startup focuses on panoramic images. Google is mainly interested in one of the two sets of tools developed by Digisfera, specifically Marzipano (which truth be told, really sounds like an Android version). Some of Digisfera’s past work, which surely caught Google’s eye, were the large-size panorama of the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, during the 2014 World Cup and a 360-degree view of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the US president.
One of the immediate consequences of the acquisition is the discontinuation of PanoTag, DigiSfera’s other tool, which enabled photographers to tag their panoramas, and thus increase their potential of going viral on social networks. The PanoTag servers will remain operational until October 31.
Marzipano, on the other hand, allows photographers to create virtual tours via a set of panoramas. Most importantly, the virtual tour can be exported as a web application. “In the coming weeks,” Google intends to open-source Marzipano, a move that “will benefit the panoramic photography community,” according to Digisfera.
The startup’s engineers will be working on Street View, which really was the entire point of the acquisition, but it is currently unknown whether the two founders will join Google, as well. Other details pertaining to this transaction, such as the acquisition price, are currently unknown, mainly because Google has declined to comment them.
Here is Digisfera‘s announcement:
“We’re excited to share that Digisfera is joining Google. We started Digisfera almost five years ago and have had the opportunity to work in many interesting projects involving 360º photography over the years. We’re excited to join the Street View team at Google to continue building great experiences using 360° photography.
As we move on to our next adventure, it will no longer be possible for us to keep developing PanoTag, so it is being discontinued. We are planning to open-source our Marzipano viewer in the coming weeks and hope this will benefit the panoramic photography community.
Thank you to all of our customers and friends who have supported us along the way!”
Between this and the continuous development of Mountainview’s driverless car, it’s getting clear that Google Maps has a very bright future ahead. If only offline turn-by-turn navigation was implemented earlier.
Google’s acquisition of Digisfera may also have an impact on the tech giant’s desire to bring Street View photography into the classroom via virtual field trips. This acquisition didn’t pass unnoticed, and some feel that Google should spend more time and money on making their Earth and Maps 3D views better, instead of focusing on 360-degree virtual tours for Street View.
Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Google’s acquisition of Green Throttle Games, or Google’s acquisition of Lift Labs, maker of tremor-canceling smart spoon.
[via VentureBeat | International Business Times]
Adam Savage’s Awesome Man Cave Hits Google Street View
If you have ever watched an episode of Mythbusters, you know who Adam Savage is. He is the ginger that builds so many of the contraptions that smash myths – or prove them correct – on the show. He also has an awesome man cave, as you might guess.
If you ever wondered what his personal workshop looks like, thanks to Google Maps Street View, you can now check it out. It’s a very cool place complete with full-size C-3PO and Chewbacca statues, an Atari Millipede arcade game, and thousands of awesome and creepy props and masks from movies, TV shows and commercials.Heck, he’s even got Hellboy in his bathroom.
Savage also has a YouTube video up where he goes over exactly what is hidden away in his space. Check out the video below and see all of what this sweet place of things manly and geeky has to offer – then head to Google Street View and start exploring for yourself.
[via The Mary Sue]