Introduction

Google is an American multinational corporation specializing in Internet-related services and products. Most people think that is only a web search engine, but Google is more than that and one of the most fantastic services of Google is Google Maps. Google Maps is a web mapping service and technology provided by Google, offering satellite imagery, street maps, and Street View perspectives, as well as functions such as a route planner for traveling by foot, car, and bicycle or with public transportation.

Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps that provides panoramic views from positions along many streets in the world. The Google Street View project was launched by Google on May 25, 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expanded to include cities and rural areas worldwide. New awesome locations was added lately by Google engineers to Google Street View, like historical and commercial building interiors or under the sea views.

Publisher: Pablo Rodriguez Postigo - 03:30

Technology

The technology behinds Google Street View is technically complicated, but in easy language Google uses computers, tablets, smartphones, cameras, lasers and GPS devices. All that things are put in a car, a snowmobile or even a backpack, how nice!

Google Street View Car

The Google Street View Car, in this case a Subaru Impreza, is a regular car that has an image capture device on the top. This kind of vehicle is used by Google to capture pictures of cities and roads around the world.

Street View Trike

In order to reach some of the narrow alleyways in Europe, like those in Barcelona and Paris, a Google team of engineers built a tricycle-based camera system. This three-wheel vehicle with a camera system on top automatically gathers imagery as the operator pedals along. As a result, Google Street View shared views from locations including theme parks, university campuses, zoos, Stonehenge, and UNESCO World Heritage sites across the globe.

Street View Snowmobile

Pictures from snowy mountains was taken by a Google snowmobile. A Google engineers team was able to successfully mount the Street View equipment on a snowmobile. Mountains and the bumpy snowy terrain of many ski resorts are being explored by the Skiers and snowboarders.

Street View Trolley

When a group of art-loving Googlers wanted to take Street View technology to museums around the world, Google needed to develop a system that could easily fit through museum doorways and navigate around sculptures and all kind of art pieces. To take indoor pictures, Google engineers fit all the necessary equipment onto a push-cart mounted with a camera system, it was be called “The Trolley”. It has not only collected views from inside museums, but also other indoor locations like the White House and sports stadiums.

Street View Trekker

The Trekker enables Street View to feature more places around the world - places no car, trike, trolley or snowmobile can access. This wearable backpack is outfitted with a camera system on top, and its portability enables Googlers to gather images while maneuvering through tight, narrow spaces or locations only accessible by foot. The first images using this camera technology was taken along the rough, rocky terrain of Arizona's Grand Canyon. 

Street View SVII

Finally for underwater mapping, Google uses a self-propelled, diver-controlled underwater camera housing called the SVII. This device uses the same image capture technology that other Street View vehicles. An Android tablet is used to control the device. Google is cooperating with Caitlin Seaview Survey, a scientific study of the world's reefs.

Publisher: Pablo Rodriguez Postigo - 03:00

From Pictures to Street View

To share Street View imagery with us in Google Maps, the Street View engineering team is hard at work behind the scenes. The materials needed to make Street View possible are essentially pictures, but Google also need computers, cameras, lasers, GPS devices and mainly, people with a lot of creativity and talent. It is possible to say that Street View is handmade and made by machine too. The people that work in Google Street View, with all that talent probably could be considered artists in some cases, because they built an awesome thing.

Collecting Imagery

First off the Googlers need to actually drive around and photograph the locations to show in Street View. They pay close attention to many factors, including the weather and the population density of various areas, to determine when and where can collect the best possible imagery.

Aligning imagery

To match each image to its geographic location on the map, Googlers combine signals from sensors on the device -car, trolley, trike, etc. - that measure GPS, speed and direction. This help them reconstruct the car's exact route, and even tilt and realign images as needed.

Turning photos into 360-degree panoramas

To avoid gaps in the panoramas, adjacent cameras take slightly overlapping pictures, and then Googlers "stitch" the photos together into a single 360-degree image. They then apply special image processing steps to reduce awful unions and create smooth transitions between pictures.

Showing us the right image

How quickly the car's three lasers reflect off surfaces tells to Googlers how far a building or an object is, and enables them to construct 3D models. When we move to an area in the distance, the 3D model determines the best panorama to show you for that location.

Publisher: Pablo Rodriguez Postigo - 01:00

Examples

Google Street View offers to us the possibility to visit the world from our home, all the pictures that was taken by the Google team around the world are part of this great service. We can visit cities, roads and buildings interiors. Lately is possible even to visit the ocean. 

We can visit a lot of places around the world, here some examples:

• A magical place
• A historic Place
• A ocean
• A sport building

To see more please visit Google Maps with Street View. Publisher: Pablo Rodriguez Postigo - 00:00