Google launched a new map feature today for San Francisco, Miami, Las Vegas, Denver and New York. It's called Street View.
And it rocks pretty darn hard. It's a souped up version of the now defunct A9 project that was called Blockview. It's up and live as of this afternoon. The announcement was made today at the Where 2.0.
In those four cities, the 3D views are available along major streets and points of interest. Google worked on portion of this with Immersive Media to produce the views. Some of this, however was done with Google Earth's own technologies. San Francisco and South Bay, for example are at very high resolutions and done completely by the Google folks.
Why It's Called Street View
For now, the Google experience only allows you to move along at street level, thus the name. But the full experience of looking up and around can be found at the Immersive Media site.
The image to the right links to this google Street View map along South Las Vegas Boulevard. It's right in front of my favorite hotel, The Bellagio. This is a truly interactive 3D experience. You can change your angle of view and move along the street while maintaining that angle. If you head north in my map example, you can actually turn into the Bellagio driveway and go right up to the valet entrance.
The word in the tech industry is that they've got a whole bunch of other cities already mapped, so look for some updates quick on the heals of this announcement. Talk about Localism!
The consumer experience in these cities has been greatly enriched today. Go check it out for yourself. You can bet this interactive geotagging is only going to become more common.
Oh... and there's already a goofy youtube video from Google.
Jeff Turner aka respres
Oh man, this is great! Especially when you don't know the area. You can get the street map and familiarize yourself with the surroundings. I just found the club I'm playing at the end of June in San Francisco. Now at least I know what the area looks like.
Thanks for the info, Jeff.
Google Launches the "Street View" - Can it be used for Real Estate???
Randy... the consumer really wins in this one.
Sally... I can't imagine the camera crews for this aren't pulling for Oahu to be their next destination.
Leigh... you can count on that.
Justin... Can it be used for Real Estate? Oh yeah. See this post. We've been Google map fans at RES for a long time. Our users will be able to copy and paste the Street View URL into their Location field and link directly to the Street View images. For some localism Shows, it will rock.
I hope this will not help the future terrorist with their planning.
On another note I have to admit zooming in a reading the sign was pretty cool.
Wonder how long before this comes to Hurricane, WV? ;o)
Now that is really cool! Thanks
Hey - since you're a YouTuber, you might want to check this out... There's a video company that's recruitingYouTubers and if they like your stuff, (and they should) they will actually pay you when your video gets a hit.Here's their ink...www.flownetworkproductions.com/videorevenue.htm. It's about time the people who makethe videos get some of the money instead of it all going to YouTube!
Sarah... I heard Hurricane was right after Chicago. At least, that's the rumor I just started.
Janie... sure. Send me an email and I'll do my best.
Laurie... how did Los Angeles not make the first cut?
Missy... Ann Arbor won't be far behind. College Campus tours will be HUGE for them.
Suzanne and Jennifer... just play. The ideas come out better when you do that. Something about the mode of "playing" help the brain be more creative.
Lenn... I think this will end up being like paper and computers. I worked for Standard Register many years ago and the folks there were so worried that the computer was going to do away with paper. The computer has multiplied paper use. I can see the same thing happening with travel. It may make people go places they never would have gone to before. Like Hurricane, WV. :)
BJ... I'm not sure any of my videos would qet the hits needed to make more than enough money to buy some coffee. Except for the video of my son in Say Firetruck
Diane, Susan and Brian... Google is a force to be reckoned with.
Tim... my thoughts exactly.
Bryant... luckily we chose Google long ago as our map of choice and we made it possible to input any map URL... so it's available right now!
Oh My Gosh! I can see my office! I can see my camera store next door! I can see my smiling face behind the drivers seat in my car! I can see my roots! :) just kidding - this is my natural color.
kk
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Steve ~ we can now go online and refuse to take listings if they don't have "Google Curb Appeal!" ;)
I found it a little squirrelly though, one click and I found myself in Brazil! Now if Google can do that physically I'm all over it! Time travel, breakfast in Brazil, lunch at that sweet little Cafe in Paris, than than home in the evening to show a prop! Cool, go Google!
kk
Steve ~ now you got me worried. Freezing is not a good thing for people who ride in HOT air balloons. Hope you have a soft landing! :)
kk
{SVW Hubba}...
Bingo...Let the world domination begin. I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. LOL.
That's a whole lot of "knew its" from "The Lovely Geek" :)
Ah. Ha...The Turner Tomato. SVW.
TLW...ROAR!
Nice post Jeff. I played around with this for WAY too long yesterday. I heard the same thing about them having other cities in the can, ready to go.
They even managed to get local eccentric personality Frank Chu in one of the photos. hahaha!
Hey - since you're a YouTuber, you might want to check this out... There's a video company that's recruiting
YouTubers and if they like your stuff, (and they should) they will actually pay you when your video gets a hit.
Here's their link... www.flownetworkproductions.com/videorevenue.htm. It's about time the people who make
the videos get some of the money instead of it all going to YouTube!Wow...it's amazes me what they keep doing. Google is taking over the world. The creator will be running for President in 2012!
KK: You are too funny. It would freak me out if you could see all that. They probably have the technology to do so. Just not for public use!
Begins to remind me of the Denzel movie Deja Vu (probably why they call it Deja Vu)
Tie this in with MS Surface - and bring the video up to real time...well that is next year.
Part of what is interesting in watching (and sometimes investing in) companies like Google is that they drive innovation. Microsoft had gotten out of the habit - I will be glad to welcome them back to the arena.
Bobby, don't hesitate to hyperlink right in the comments. I won't mind. :)
However, the streetview toggle on/off button is not working for me on the site. On a Mac, in Firefox on OS X 10.5.
http://www.kevintomlinson.com/condo-map.php
Jeff ~~ Now I start to wonder: what can't they "google up". The way technology has been progressing, it seems that nothing is impossible.
Thanks for sharing, as always.