Google Maps is great for a many reasons that extend far beyond helping you get from point “A” to point “B” — and their newest feature is especially interesting. Dubbed “photo tours,” the new Google Maps feature allows users to take 3D tours of 15,000 different, well-known landmarks; all of which are highlighted when you follow a special link from Google.
In order to create the experience you see demoed in the above video, Google goes through a complicated process of compiling sourced photos from Picasa and Panoramio, finding overlapping photos, generating a 3D rendering based on those photos and then choosing a path through the landmark. We’re sure it’s even more complicated than it sounds, but the results speak for themselves.
Innovation is why we love companies like Google. Several times a week, it seems, the company comes out with another program or product idea that makes us all smile (and secretly wonder how long we have until they’ve achieved world domination). Their best ideas, however, involve their user base — and their latest expansion idea for Google Earth does just that. Read more…
This past Saturday marked the centennial of French photographer Robert Doisneau, and Google celebrated with a creative photo doodle on its home page. Doisneau is considered one of the fathers of photojournalism and street photography, alongside fellow French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. Read more…
Google recently brought its Street View camera inside the White House for the Google Art Project’s documentation of the artwork found within. In addition to displaying the art itself, the website also features a Street View-style museum view of the White House, allowing you to walk around inside virtually. Earlier this year Google did the same thing for photography mecca B&H Photo Video in NYC.
If Google’s vision of the future pans out, we may soon be snapping and sharing photographs using augmented reality “glasses”. The company is working on a product that’s currently going by the code name “Project Glass“. As the concept video above shows, the aim is to have a wearable “computer” that can project useful information about the world directly into the user’s eye, allowing people to constantly interact with the Internet throughout their everyday lives. The glasses would even be able to snap photographs based on voice commands, and then instantly upload them to the web. Read more…
The private photographs on your phone might not be as private as you think. Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that iOS has a loophole that allows third-party apps who have access to location information to also access (and copy) your entire photo library without any further notification or warning. A couple days later, Android was also found to have a loophole that’s even worse — any app that can access the Internet can copy photos to a remote server! Both companies have acknowledged the privacy flaws and are currently working on fixes for them. Welcome to the scary world of Internet-connected cameras!
New service called the Catlin SeaView Survey is planning to do for the ocean what Google Street View has done for land. Using a special camera, the joint venture between the University of Queensland, Google, and insurance firm Catlin Group will use a specially designed underwater camera to capture interactive 360-degree panoramic photographs. The purpose will be to carry out one of the most intensive studies of reefs ever, starting with Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. It’ll go into full swing starting in September, but some sample imagery is already viewable over at the SeaView website.
To keep itself lean and focused, Google is planning to do some spring cleaning and shut down a number of non-critical projects and services that don’t attract enough attention to keep alive. One of the services marked for termination is Picnik, the online photo editor that Google acquired back in 2010. The service will remain online until April 19, after which the team will be folded into the Google+ team.
We’ve seen that Google Street View imagery is capable of winning photojournalism awards, but how would the camera-equipped cars do as fine art photographers? Photographer Aaron Hobson has a fascinating gallery of fine art-style photographs found in Street View — cinematic photos that would look great blown up and exhibited on museum walls. Read more…
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