Photo Spheres seem to be getting a lot of love right now, with the improved Photo Sphere technology in Android 4.3, Google is looking to capture a lot more of them and have them crowd sourced into Google Maps. Yesterday Google released a new site called Google Maps|Views, to make discovering Photo Spheres easier.
Introducing Views: an easier way to discover the best #streetview and #photosphere imagery: http://t.co/vCa1FykbSF
— #GoogleMaps15 🎈 (@googlemaps) July 30, 2013
The Google Maps|Views site allows you to quickly find Photo Spheres that have been uploaded by people all around the world. The site contains highlighted Photo Spheres as well as having a search tool to allow you to look for Photo Spheres that have been uploaded near you. Google has also added a tool in the top right of the page that prompts you to upload photo spheres that you’ve taken to add to the Google Maps experience for others.
Google has also realised that some people have difficulty in creating Photo Spheres and released two things to help you capture the perfect Photo Sphere. First you can check out the Photo Sphere how-to site. Or you can go to the more generic Google Maps Support page on Creating Photo Spheres, it’s not as flashy but has a lot of good info on the how-to of creating Photo Spheres.
Finally, Google has created this video on how to achieve a good Photo Sphere :
I found I got the best results using the Joby Smartphone mount on a tripod, but with the tips in the video you should be able to achieve something similar. So, if you’ve got access to the Photo Sphere capture on your device, get out there and capture some awesome shots and share them with the world.
The uploaded single images on maps or google earth are good, but often feel lacking, especially when you have street view available. Having photospheres in their place will make the whole street view type experience seemless, jumping from photspheres to street view routes.
Found the video kinda ironic with them taking the shot of the google campus outside with the android statues, in the video they tell you to “line the dot up inside the donut”… but they are lining it up on the gingerbread man not the donut!!