Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. Google Street View displays street-level imagery of stitched VR photographs. Most photography is captured by specially equipped cars, but other means have been used, including over- and underwater vehicles, as well as on foot.
First launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, Street View has since expanded to include all of the country's major and minor cities, as well as the cities and rural areas of many other countries worldwide. As of 2017, Street View had coverage in 83 countries. Street View has been used for research in fields like urban analytics and geographic information science, as well as in artistic work.
History
Street View had its inception in 2001 with the Stanford City Block Project, a Google-sponsored Stanford University research project. The project ended in June 2006, and its technology was folded into Street View. The technology was launched on May 25, 2007, in the United States.
In May 2008, Google announced that it was testing face-blurring technology on its photos of the streets of Manhattan. The technology uses a computer algorithm to search Google's image database for faces and blur them. Street View was integrated into Google Earth 4.3, the Maps application on the Apple iPhone, and the Maps application for the S60 3rd Edition. In November, the drag-and-drop Pegman icon was introduced as the primary user interface element for connecting from Maps' 2D view into Street View's 3D view. When Pegman is dropped onto a particular set of coordinates in Google Maps for which Street View data is available, Street View opens and takes over the whole map window.
In 2009, a full-screen option and Smart Navigation were introduced. Smart Navigation allows users to navigate around the panoramas by double-clicking with their cursor on any place or object they want to see. In May 2011, indoor views of businesses (Google Business Photos) were announced. After the pilot phase of several months, the project was rolled out in autumn.
With the release of Android 4.2 in November 2012, Google invited users to contribute panoramas of their own using supported devices. Google highlights user-contributed panoramas with blue circle icons on Maps. The company also created a website to highlight places in the world where one can find them. In 2013, businesses such as shops, cafés and other premises can pay a photographer to take panoramic images of the interior of their premises, which were then included in Street View. Google sets up a program to let third parties borrow the Street View Trekker (a backpack-mounted camera). Business interior views are shown as small orange circles. In 2014, Street-level imagery from the past can now be optionally seen, if available, for a given street view.
In 2015, a partnership was announced between Street View and the environmental monitoring company Aclima. Cars carry sensors to detect pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulates. In October, support for Google Cardboard was announced, allowing users to utilize Street View in 360-degree virtual reality.
In 2017, imagery inside the International Space Station was added to Street View. In August 2017, Google also allowed users to create their own Street View-like blue paths for the connected photospheres that are sufficiently close to one another.
On September 5, 2017, Google announced that they were improving the quality of the street view panoramic photo by revamping its mapping vehicles with all-new high-resolution camera systems and artificial intelligence. The new Google cars have been seen in various American cities since March 2017, as well as in Japan since August. The first images taken with the new generation of cameras were available online on September 13. In October 2017, the makers of the Insta360 Pro announced the certification of the first "Street View auto ready" camera for US$3,500; it uses six lenses for a 360° view and comes with Stitcher software. In addition to purchase, the camera rig is also available to qualified entities as part of the Google loaner program, with 50 cameras available to loan.
In 2018, Japan now offers the street view from a dog's perspective. In August 2018, Street View covered two offshore gas-extraction platforms in the North Sea.
On December 3, 2020, Google announced that users could contribute to Street View by capturing video using their augmented reality-supported phones using the Street View app. Google shut down its dedicated Street View app on Android and iPhone and ended support on March 21, 2023. The Street View app allowed users to take and publish their own 360° photos. Google says that users can still upload 360° photos using StreetView Studio.
Implementation
Street View is available as a component of Google Maps and Google Earth, as a web application, and as a mobile application for Android and iOS. Originally, Google Maps used Adobe Flash for Street View. Google overhauled Google Maps in 2013. The newer version uses JavaScript extensively and provides a JavaScript application programming interface. At the time of their release, the new Google Maps and Street View were measured slower than the old version in various setups.The new Street View on Google Maps is very slow (Google Maps Help Forum, 26 February 2014)Tired of new, slow Google Maps? This is how you can switch to the old version! (Geoawesomeness, June 12, 2014) A user can switch to the old version of Google Maps.Switching Back to the Old Google Maps (Netvantage Marketing, 2 January 2014)
The drag-and-drop Pegman icon is the primary user interface element used by Google to connect Maps to Street View. Its name comes from its resemblance to a clothespeg. When not in use, Pegman sits atop or beside the Google Maps zoom controls. Occasionally, Pegman "dresses up" for special events or is joined by peg friends in Google Maps. When dragged into Street View near Area 51, he becomes a flying saucer, and when dragged near the Florida Keys or Hawaii, he becomes a mermaid. When viewing older views, the Pegman in the minimap changes to Doc Brown from Back to the Future.Tan, Alicia Marie (October 22, 2015) Hop into the Google Maps time machine with Doc Brown Mashable, Retrieved June 2016 At Loch Ness, Pegman turns into Nessie wearing a tartan hat, where Street View includes coverage of the lake itself as well as the nearby A82 road and rural areas.
Coverage
Google announced in May 2017 that it had captured more than of Street View imagery across 83 countries. Maps also include panoramic views taken underwater such as in West Nusa Tenggara underwater coral, in the Grand Canyon, inside museums, and Liwa Desert in United Arab Emirates, which is viewed from camelback. In a ten-day trek with Apa Sherpa, Google documented Khumbu, Nepal with its Mount Everest, Sherpa communities, monasteries and schools.
Google also added landmarks in Egypt, including the Pyramids of Giza, Cairo Citadel, Saqqara, Monastery of Saint Mina, and the Citadel of Qaitbay in the 9 September 2014 release.
In June 2022, Google announced the company is relaunching their Street View service in India. The announcement came six years after the feature was banned in India over security concerns. The company has partnered with local technology businesses Tech Mahindra and Genesys to aid in the relaunch of the service. , the service is live in 10 cities in India.
+Official coverage made by Google (excluding third parties or unofficial)RegionNormal street coverageLandmark coverageEast AsiaJapan, Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, South Korea, TaiwanChinaSoutheast AsiaCambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, VietnamSouth AsiaBangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri LankaAfghanistan, PakistanCentral AsiaKazakhstan, KyrgyzstanWest AsiaCyprus, Israel, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, IraqNorth AfricaTunisiaEgyptCentral AfricaSão Tomé and PríncipeWest AfricaGhana, Nigeria, SenegalMaliEast AfricaKenya, Réunion, Rwanda, UgandaBritish Indian Ocean Territory, Madagascar, TanzaniaSouthern AfricaSouth Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, NamibiaWestern EuropeAustria, Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, SwitzerlandNorthern EuropeDenmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, United KingdomSouthern EuropeAlbania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, SpainEastern EuropeBulgaria, Czechia, Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, UkraineBelarusNorth AmericaBermuda, Canada, Greenland, United StatesSt. Pierre and MiquelonCentral AmericaCosta Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, PanamaCaribbeanCuraçao, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, US Virgin IslandsMartiniqueSouth AmericaArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, UruguayFalkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsAustralia and New ZealandAustralia, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, New ZealandMelanesiaVanuatuMicronesiaGuam, Northern Mariana IslandsPolynesiaAmerican SamoaPitcairn IslandsAntarcticaAntarctica
Data capturing equipment
Street View imagery has come from several generations of camera systems from Immersive Media Company, Point Grey Research (now FLIR Systems), and in-house. The cameras contain no mechanical parts, including the shutter; instead, they used CMOS sensors and an electronic rolling shutter. Widely deployed versions are: R2: the earliest after Immersive Media. The photos were captured with a ring of eight 11-megapixel CCD sensors with commercial photographic wide-angle lenses, cameras with the same specifications as those used for the Google Books project. Ladybug2 cameras (resolution 1024 × 768 pixels) by Point Grey Research. R5: uses a ring of eight 5-megapixel CMOS cameras by Elphel with custom low-flare lenses, plus a camera with a fisheye lens on top to capture upper levels of buildings. R7: the first completely in-house-built camera; it uses 15 of the same sensors and lenses as R5, without the fisheye effect. Data-recording equipment is usually mounted on the roof of a car. A trike (tricycle) was developed to record pedestrian routes, including Stonehenge and other UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In 2010, a snowmobile-based system captured the 2010 Winter Olympics sites. Shopping trolleys have also been used to shoot the insides of museums, and in Venice, the narrow roads were photographed with backpack-mounted cameras, and canals were photographed from boats. A portable backpack-mounted Google Trekker is used in outdoor terrain. For instance, the six main paths up Snowdon, United Kingdom, were mapped by the Google Trekker in 2015.
In 2017, Google used eight 20-megapixel cameras. Two cameras were facing left and right to read street signs and business names. Laser range scanners from Sick AG for measuring up to 50 meters at 180° in the front of the vehicle are used for recording the actual dimensions of the space being photographed. LIDAR scanners from Velodyne were added in the 2017 update. It is mounted at 45° to capture three-dimensional depth information and positional information. Accurate positioning was done via a Global Positioning System, a wheel speed sensor, and inertial navigation sensor data.
In September 2018, Google announced it would integrate air quality sensors from Aclima into its global fleet of Street View vehicles.
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