
Street View: We can trike wherever you like - alexandros
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/street-view-we-can-trike-wherever-you.html
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davidw
I want to see them attempt Venice; although technically 'street' view would
not be accurate. It would not be easy, between canals, pathways, and
especially all the bridges: foot traffic only, with stairs, and you'd have to
keep the camera steady somehow.

The results, though, would be very cool.

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mseebach
I don't think holding the camera steady it that big a deal. In the video, he's
biking a non-paved hill-path, and the outcome is fine. A bit of shock-
absorption and a fast shutter is all that's needed.

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legooolas
I expect this is part of the reason they only have pictures from bright and
sunny days in most places.

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TrevorJ
I wish Google would make a web interface that pre-cached the street view
frames and implemented a better mouselook and keyboard controls so you could
'drive' the streets. It would be a great way to explore and learn the layout
of new areas.

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SamAtt
I suspect the problem Google has with a lot of things is scale. To take this
for example it might not seem like a big deal to pre-cache images but when you
look at the millions of people who probably use Google maps and assume that a
lot of that cache will be wasted (people closing the site, people only going 1
of possible 3 ways at an intersection, etc...)

So even though each individual is only caching a few wasted images per visit
the end result is probably terrabytes of wasted bandwidth for something that's
a fairly minor feature (I agree it would be nice but it's not a "must have")

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TrevorJ
Oh, I agree, but it _would_ be cool :)

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goatforce5
Oh - I saw what I guess was a prototype of this about a year ago on Memorial
Drive in Cambridge, MA. The rider was stopped and fiddling with something.
Didn't look as slick as the one in the pic, but it did have some big Google
stickers on it.

I should have taken pics of it, because people I told about it didn't really
believe me.

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nym
I have a project that is doing the same thing, long before Google invested in
a Trike:

<http://openviewproject.org/>

Our goal is to make this kind of tech available to anyone who wants to put it
together, with a solid software infrastructure to do interactive panoramas.

If you're interested in helping and have Python / Django experience, please
contact me!

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markbnine
Wherever we like. . . Really?

How about a shanty town? Or a drug compound deep in the Colombian jungle? Or
just a plain ordinary war zone? Come on Google. Where's your balls?

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_ck_
I wonder when they will start mapping the inside of public buildings.

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DannoHung
I wonder when they'll start combining street view with infrared depth sensing
to create high detail street level 3d projections...

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steveklabnik
They seem to be more keen on crowdsourcing the 3D part, with that new Sketchup
plugin.

