Comments on: The tech behind Google's Street View

How does Google get those really neat 360 photos of the street? The technology is less complicated than you think.

[Mapper99]

Huge list of interesting Google Streetview finds..

Here is a huge list of "interesting" Google Street View finds:

http://www.laudontech.com/StreetView/streetview.html

[ubopp]

Coolest app ever!

You might expect a more sophisticated response from your readers, but Street View is the coolest Google app ever.

My children suggest "Rock on, Google dudes!" but even I think that's a little outmoded.

[Josh.Lowensohn]

sounds plenty sophisticated to me

Yeah, it gets most people to say "wow" or "cool!" the first time they see it, which is a side effect of Web eye candy.

[Davy123online]

Street View for drivers

I've thought for a long time that theaters, restaurants, museums, and other destination sites would benefit from having their location from the driver's eye level (and possibly the passenger's side as an alternate view). If it were to be done in a video, it should begin about a street or two ahead (Hey! Here's what it looks like when you're getting near). For public transportation riders, have a view of the nearest stop and the one just before.

For people who miss turns or transportation stops, include a view of what it looks like just afer missing it (If you see this view, you've gone too far. Turn around.)

I considered putting together such an aide (before GPS and Google maps) in a printed form for visitors to my city, but some locations, particularly museums, have copyrights on their buildings and exteriors, so . . . .

[HHFresno]

Resource intensive?

The camera system should be automatic, taking pictures every x feet with location data, so the vehicle's speed or direction is not important. Put cameras on taxi cabs, buses, delivery vans, etc. and collect the data at the end of the shift or use an aircard for real-time capture.

[geotrotter]

Cool Google Street View

I added here the best Street View http://www.geo-trotter.com/cat-street-view.php

[SeniorMoment]

I didn't recognize streets I know

I was not impressed by the Street View images of parts of Denver, CO, that I am very recently, very familiar with, so I see this service as largely beneficial in understanding freeway interchanges. I couldn't even recognize Lakeside Amusement Park on Sheridan Blvd or the large shopping complex at 52nd and Wadsworth. Some areas were seriouisly color distorted. This service might work better at lower altitudes, since your clear image was from near sea level.

[eacmacro]

I wondered how street view worked until one day recently I was checking "SV" and happened to pan down at a point where the sun was on the opposite side, casting the vehicle's shadow. It was just enough so that I could see the top of it with the camera's apparatus attached. Pretty cool.