6 ms·

Google Maps Streetview Player

38 points by robbiemitchell 11y ago

vadym909 11y ago
This is awesome and exactly what I want sometimes when trying to figure out if a restaurant is in a good area, how parking might be near a destination, or if an apt I'm thinking of renting is in a good area. Its possible to do in StreetView but clicking on the arrows is just a pain. This is much nicer.
Doctor_Fegg 11y ago
This is lovely. Have you encountered any issues with Google Maps' usage limits? (Especially now it's on the front page of HN...)
gcb0 11y ago
wake me up when i can use VR headset and look around :)
- slazaro 11y ago
  You can do that with google cardboard!
- sloreti 11y ago
  I investigated making this recently, however the (free) Google Street View API currently only returns 640x640 images, not the entire equirectangular image [1] that would be needed to create a photosphere for a VR app. So one can make a cool application like OP's here, but creating a panoramic experience would require multiple API calls and your own fancy stitching algorithm. [1] http://wiki.panotools.org/Equirectangular_Projection http://wiki.panotools.org/Equirectangular_Projection
- pyrotek 11y ago
  I've been working on a project to do that, basically I download all the streetview tiles along a route and stitch them back together. Then I turn that into a 360 video and let YouTube handle the rest. See here a video speeding through South Africa : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtWDF8-gRGk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtWDF8-gRGk or rural New Zealand : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9s6Ahxfjmc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9s6Ahxfjmc Fun to use with google cardboard. I'm still not sure what the best speed is, I think I may have them going too fast still.
  - xkiwi 11y ago
    Those videos are so amazing! I wonder how you achieved that!
chad_strategic 11y ago
Very well done. But what do you plan on doing with it?
roryrjb 11y ago
Random teleportation aside, this is a cool idea :)
10dpd 11y ago
It would be awesome if it was possible to interpolate between the frames to provide a smooth experience - for the two locations I tried, it seemed to be a little jerky.
ecesena 11y ago
Really cool - I tried from SF to LA and I found a couple "bugs": 1. when close to a highway exit, some frames show the street below the highway 2. more or less on the bay bridge (SF), at a certain point, the view started to be from the other lane, which looked like I was driving in the opposite direction Beside that, the concept is great! I can see this being pretty useful if you could show a mini-video of the most important steps in the drive, for instance when I have to enter the highway, when I have to switch to another one, when I have to exit... that way I can visually remember my travel. (I'm considering driving, but biking is pretty similar I bet)
lanewinfield 11y ago
Shorter and more artistic, but similar: Teehan + Lax's Street View Hyperlapse http://labs.teehanlax.com/project/hyperlapse http://labs.teehanlax.com/project/hyperlapse
- crisnoble 11y ago
  The demo is down, but here is a fork https://github.com/afang/hyperlapse.js https://github.com/afang/hyperlapse.js of their original github project https://github.com/TeehanLax/Hyperlapse.js/ https://github.com/TeehanLax/Hyperlapse.js/. Working demo can be seen here: http://codepen.io/afang/pen/GpxqLQ http://codepen.io/afang/pen/GpxqLQ
xxxxxxxx 11y ago
Lots of fun, but it tends to drive on the right hand side of the road. Looks very weird on Australian roads.
jnpatel 11y ago
Neat project! Small suggestion: consider using autocomplete on the textboxes to make it easier to find the starting and ending point. https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/places-autocomplete https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/...
- bfolts 11y ago
  Easy win. Will do.
visarga 11y ago
I thought it was going to be a music player with a backdrop of Google Street View that is specific to the music. You go to a street corner in NY and listen to Jazz, another is with R&B, etc.
sandebert 11y ago
Very nice, indeed! I've been wanting something like this for a long time. And if it would be possible to combine with Glympse it would be pretty awesome to see the view of the driver (sort of), from the comfort of my own computer/smartphone.
bfolts 11y ago
I wrote this tool in 2011 or so as a quick proof of concept and it has survived a few google streetview api upgrades. The auto-complete idea should be an easy win. It defaults to cycling as I am a cyclist and originally wrote it so I could get a quick glimpse of cycling routes to see if they would have bike lanes. Still waiting for google to contact me for work! Usually just dutch people though.

This is awesome and exactly what I want sometimes when trying to figure out if a restaurant is in a good area, how parking might be near a destination, or if an apt I'm thinking of renting is in a good area. Its possible to do in StreetView but clicking on the arrows is just a pain. This is much nicer.

Doctor_Fegg 11y ago

This is lovely. Have you encountered any issues with Google Maps' usage limits? (Especially now it's on the front page of HN...)

gcb0 11y ago

wake me up when i can use VR headset and look around :)

slazaro 11y ago
You can do that with google cardboard!
sloreti 11y ago
I investigated making this recently, however the (free) Google Street View API currently only returns 640x640 images, not the entire equirectangular image [1] that would be needed to create a photosphere for a VR app. So one can make a cool application like OP's here, but creating a panoramic experience would require multiple API calls and your own fancy stitching algorithm. [1] http://wiki.panotools.org/Equirectangular_Projection http://wiki.panotools.org/Equirectangular_Projection
pyrotek 11y ago
I've been working on a project to do that, basically I download all the streetview tiles along a route and stitch them back together. Then I turn that into a 360 video and let YouTube handle the rest. See here a video speeding through South Africa : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtWDF8-gRGk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtWDF8-gRGk or rural New Zealand : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9s6Ahxfjmc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9s6Ahxfjmc Fun to use with google cardboard. I'm still not sure what the best speed is, I think I may have them going too fast still.
- xkiwi 11y ago
  Those videos are so amazing! I wonder how you achieved that!

chad_strategic 11y ago

Very well done. But what do you plan on doing with it?

roryrjb 11y ago

Random teleportation aside, this is a cool idea :)

10dpd 11y ago

It would be awesome if it was possible to interpolate between the frames to provide a smooth experience - for the two locations I tried, it seemed to be a little jerky.

ecesena 11y ago

Really cool - I tried from SF to LA and I found a couple "bugs": 1. when close to a highway exit, some frames show the street below the highway 2. more or less on the bay bridge (SF), at a certain point, the view started to be from the other lane, which looked like I was driving in the opposite direction Beside that, the concept is great! I can see this being pretty useful if you could show a mini-video of the most important steps in the drive, for instance when I have to enter the highway, when I have to switch to another one, when I have to exit... that way I can visually remember my travel. (I'm considering driving, but biking is pretty similar I bet)

lanewinfield 11y ago

Shorter and more artistic, but similar: Teehan + Lax's Street View Hyperlapse http://labs.teehanlax.com/project/hyperlapse http://labs.teehanlax.com/project/hyperlapse

crisnoble 11y ago
The demo is down, but here is a fork https://github.com/afang/hyperlapse.js https://github.com/afang/hyperlapse.js of their original github project https://github.com/TeehanLax/Hyperlapse.js/ https://github.com/TeehanLax/Hyperlapse.js/. Working demo can be seen here: http://codepen.io/afang/pen/GpxqLQ http://codepen.io/afang/pen/GpxqLQ

xxxxxxxx 11y ago

Lots of fun, but it tends to drive on the right hand side of the road. Looks very weird on Australian roads.

jnpatel 11y ago

Neat project! Small suggestion: consider using autocomplete on the textboxes to make it easier to find the starting and ending point. https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/places-autocomplete https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/...

bfolts 11y ago
Easy win. Will do.

visarga 11y ago

I thought it was going to be a music player with a backdrop of Google Street View that is specific to the music. You go to a street corner in NY and listen to Jazz, another is with R&B, etc.

sandebert 11y ago

Very nice, indeed! I've been wanting something like this for a long time. And if it would be possible to combine with Glympse it would be pretty awesome to see the view of the driver (sort of), from the comfort of my own computer/smartphone.

bfolts 11y ago

I wrote this tool in 2011 or so as a quick proof of concept and it has survived a few google streetview api upgrades. The auto-complete idea should be an easy win. It defaults to cycling as I am a cyclist and originally wrote it so I could get a quick glimpse of cycling routes to see if they would have bike lanes. Still waiting for google to contact me for work! Usually just dutch people though.