8 ms·

Love this idea. Now I am wondering why google doesn't have an app to allow individuals to update google street view content themselves. My house was built this

Love this idea. Now I am wondering why google doesn't have an app to allow individuals to update google street view content themselves. My house was built this year and the maps still don't show the road or the new houses. I would love being able to walk around the neighborhood with my phone and get an updated map, at least until the real google car comes by.

076ae80a-3c97-4 9y ago
Whilst that's a nice idea in principle, we all know that it would get be taken advantage of. People would probably try and get themselves/their animals on Street view.
- EA 9y ago
  Maps would be littered with advertisements.
goda90 9y ago
You could instead contribute to OpenStreetCam which is part of OpenStreetMap.
- Mediterraneo10 9y ago
  OpenStreetCam is actually a project by Telenav, not part of OSM per se. However, as Telenav built their business on top of OSM data and their staff are real OSM anoraks, it was envisioned as a way to contribute more data to OSM.
  - quadrangle 9y ago
    correct me if I'm wrong, but I also had the impression that the OpenStreetCam data was licensed in a way that is at least a lot better for the public than Google's totally restricted proprietary terms…
    - toomuchtodo 9y ago
      This is correct. The OpenStreetCam license is superior to that of both Google Street View and Mapillary.
      - quadrangle 9y ago
        The Mapillary situation seems complex. What's clear is that volunteers shouldn't be assisting Google get still further ahead of the more open alternatives.
        toomuchtodo 9y ago
        In my opinion, volunteers shouldn't be assisting any effort that doesn't end up with their contributions available under a liberal open license.
- rmc 9y ago
  As has been mentioned OSC is not "part of OSM", it's part of the OSM ecosystem. There is also Mapillary, which is also part of the OSM ecosystem and is very similar to OSC.
jessriedel 9y ago
The full 360 street view imagery is probably not easy to contribute to since you need a specialized camera and GPS orientation information. But I think Google Maps does accept normal still images from members of the public, at least for businesses.
- kozikow 9y ago
  There are quite a lot of 360 consumer cameras you can just plug into your cell phone. Quality is still so-so, but it's getting better.
pohl 9y ago
One thing about sheep (versus people) is that you don't need to worry about them being griefers who want to pollute your data for the lulz.
- eru 9y ago
  Google is relatively good about filtering malicious submissions.
  - slig 9y ago
    Except on their Android app store.
    - lorenzhs 9y ago
      And the Chrome Web Store.
nerdponx 9y ago
Please don't give your data away for free to a data company. Much better to donate using OpenStreetCam.
- bitmapbrother 9y ago
  Did you read the article? It was a publicity stunt by the tourism board to get Google over there to map their islands. Additionally, the OpenStreetCam domain is owned by TeleNav.
  - Mediterraneo10 9y ago
    While TeleNav staff developed OpenStreetCam, the images are under an open license (unlike Google), and in fact the OSC project was set up after the OSM community complained that Mapillary, a previous open Google Street View competitor, wasn't open enough.
arethuza 9y ago
Out house is nearly 11 years old and doesn't feature in Google Maps Satellite view - in fact I actually rely on Google being wildly out of date so I can compare what used to be hear with a more up to date view from Bing or Apple.
- kozikow 9y ago
  How do you get access to historical here street view imagery?
  - oh_sigh 9y ago
    Top left of the UI is a slider
    - kozikow 9y ago
      Any idea where? Do you mean the web interface? I can't find it anywhere: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nEtxRgXs1yD1bV2-aDjkugc7OcdkBbor/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nEtxRgXs1yD1bV2-aDjkugc7Ocd... .
- freeflight 9y ago
  If you want to compare satellite imagery by chronology then you might find TerraServer [0] quite useful. [0] https://www.terraserver.com/ https://www.terraserver.com/
jasode 9y ago
>Now I am wondering why google doesn't have an app to allow individuals to update google street view content themselves. I've always wondered if Google could partner with the US Postal Service and piggyback off their fleet for continuous streetview updates. Those mail trucks already drive the 99% of roads (that are not highways) every day and the maps would get updated more often. To save money, they also wouldn't have to attach cameras to every truck. Just move them from vehicle to vehicle on a rotational basis to eventually cover 100% of the routes. Heck, Google Inc probably wouldn't even have to pay all of the costs. They could make a convincing case to the Federal government that upgrading the USPS mail trucks with cameras would give law enforcement and civil planners up-to-date geographic data. Therefore, they'd get a multi-billion government grant to implement it. Or, they could also partner with Uber/Lyft. It just seems like the USPS (or FedEx/UPS) fleet has more consistent vehicle dimensions for attaching a multi-camera rig.
- macintux 9y ago
  I'm sure there would be pretty significant concerns about government surveillance were the USPS to be recording every street every day.
  - santoshalper 9y ago
    I'm sure that would go over really well with the gun-nut/infowars crowd.
  - roywiggins 9y ago
    UPS trucks instead? Maybe less reach but still pretty good.
  - jasode 9y ago
    > the USPS to be recording every street every day. Oh, I wasn't thinking that every street every day would get recorded. I don't think Google (or NSA) datacenters have enough storage to keep up with that volume of nationwide photos. (I haven't done a back-of-the-envelope calculation, so maybe I'm wrong and they actually can). I was just thinking that there are many streetviews (especially rural areas) in Google Maps captured in 2007. My street is from 2013. Using another entity's expansive fleet of vehicles, those maps could be updated more frequently... like once a month instead of every 4 to 10 years. Also, the USPS trucks are already burning the gas driving all those roads so it's a waste of fuel to have another car drive the same route just for photos. As for fears of surveillance, it's going to depend on: (1) if the citizens feel they also get benefit from the updated data. E.g. web surfers on Zillow see a house for sale and they would prefer to see a streetview of the neighborhood from last month instead of 5 years ago. Same for scoping out a company's address for a job interview. (2) Are USPS cameras perceived as a minor extension of traffic cameras at every extension that citizens drive through every day and the police car dash cams that record a continuous loop as they patrol the city? Or it's a major step change in data collection that the public would reject. I don't know.
teddyh 9y ago
From the article: “Most images ended up being captured by humans […] Sheepview was charming, but it was at heart a marketing bid […].”
sAbakumoff 9y ago
Have you read "The Circle" by Dave Eggers? :-\0

076ae80a-3c97-4 9y ago

Whilst that's a nice idea in principle, we all know that it would get be taken advantage of. People would probably try and get themselves/their animals on Street view.

EA 9y ago
Maps would be littered with advertisements.

goda90 9y ago

You could instead contribute to OpenStreetCam which is part of OpenStreetMap.

Mediterraneo10 9y ago
OpenStreetCam is actually a project by Telenav, not part of OSM per se. However, as Telenav built their business on top of OSM data and their staff are real OSM anoraks, it was envisioned as a way to contribute more data to OSM.
- quadrangle 9y ago
  correct me if I'm wrong, but I also had the impression that the OpenStreetCam data was licensed in a way that is at least a lot better for the public than Google's totally restricted proprietary terms…
  - toomuchtodo 9y ago
    This is correct. The OpenStreetCam license is superior to that of both Google Street View and Mapillary.
    - quadrangle 9y ago
      The Mapillary situation seems complex. What's clear is that volunteers shouldn't be assisting Google get still further ahead of the more open alternatives.
      - toomuchtodo 9y ago
        In my opinion, volunteers shouldn't be assisting any effort that doesn't end up with their contributions available under a liberal open license.
rmc 9y ago
As has been mentioned OSC is not "part of OSM", it's part of the OSM ecosystem. There is also Mapillary, which is also part of the OSM ecosystem and is very similar to OSC.

jessriedel 9y ago

The full 360 street view imagery is probably not easy to contribute to since you need a specialized camera and GPS orientation information. But I think Google Maps does accept normal still images from members of the public, at least for businesses.

kozikow 9y ago
There are quite a lot of 360 consumer cameras you can just plug into your cell phone. Quality is still so-so, but it's getting better.

pohl 9y ago

One thing about sheep (versus people) is that you don't need to worry about them being griefers who want to pollute your data for the lulz.

eru 9y ago
Google is relatively good about filtering malicious submissions.
- slig 9y ago
  Except on their Android app store.
  - lorenzhs 9y ago
    And the Chrome Web Store.

nerdponx 9y ago

Please don't give your data away for free to a data company. Much better to donate using OpenStreetCam.

bitmapbrother 9y ago
Did you read the article? It was a publicity stunt by the tourism board to get Google over there to map their islands. Additionally, the OpenStreetCam domain is owned by TeleNav.
- Mediterraneo10 9y ago
  While TeleNav staff developed OpenStreetCam, the images are under an open license (unlike Google), and in fact the OSC project was set up after the OSM community complained that Mapillary, a previous open Google Street View competitor, wasn't open enough.

arethuza 9y ago

Out house is nearly 11 years old and doesn't feature in Google Maps Satellite view - in fact I actually rely on Google being wildly out of date so I can compare what used to be hear with a more up to date view from Bing or Apple.

kozikow 9y ago
How do you get access to historical here street view imagery?
- oh_sigh 9y ago
  Top left of the UI is a slider
  - kozikow 9y ago
    Any idea where? Do you mean the web interface? I can't find it anywhere: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nEtxRgXs1yD1bV2-aDjkugc7OcdkBbor/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nEtxRgXs1yD1bV2-aDjkugc7Ocd... .
freeflight 9y ago
If you want to compare satellite imagery by chronology then you might find TerraServer [0] quite useful. [0] https://www.terraserver.com/ https://www.terraserver.com/

jasode 9y ago

>Now I am wondering why google doesn't have an app to allow individuals to update google street view content themselves. I've always wondered if Google could partner with the US Postal Service and piggyback off their fleet for continuous streetview updates. Those mail trucks already drive the 99% of roads (that are not highways) every day and the maps would get updated more often. To save money, they also wouldn't have to attach cameras to every truck. Just move them from vehicle to vehicle on a rotational basis to eventually cover 100% of the routes. Heck, Google Inc probably wouldn't even have to pay all of the costs. They could make a convincing case to the Federal government that upgrading the USPS mail trucks with cameras would give law enforcement and civil planners up-to-date geographic data. Therefore, they'd get a multi-billion government grant to implement it. Or, they could also partner with Uber/Lyft. It just seems like the USPS (or FedEx/UPS) fleet has more consistent vehicle dimensions for attaching a multi-camera rig.

macintux 9y ago
I'm sure there would be pretty significant concerns about government surveillance were the USPS to be recording every street every day.
- santoshalper 9y ago
  I'm sure that would go over really well with the gun-nut/infowars crowd.
- roywiggins 9y ago
  UPS trucks instead? Maybe less reach but still pretty good.
- jasode 9y ago
  > the USPS to be recording every street every day. Oh, I wasn't thinking that every street every day would get recorded. I don't think Google (or NSA) datacenters have enough storage to keep up with that volume of nationwide photos. (I haven't done a back-of-the-envelope calculation, so maybe I'm wrong and they actually can). I was just thinking that there are many streetviews (especially rural areas) in Google Maps captured in 2007. My street is from 2013. Using another entity's expansive fleet of vehicles, those maps could be updated more frequently... like once a month instead of every 4 to 10 years. Also, the USPS trucks are already burning the gas driving all those roads so it's a waste of fuel to have another car drive the same route just for photos. As for fears of surveillance, it's going to depend on: (1) if the citizens feel they also get benefit from the updated data. E.g. web surfers on Zillow see a house for sale and they would prefer to see a streetview of the neighborhood from last month instead of 5 years ago. Same for scoping out a company's address for a job interview. (2) Are USPS cameras perceived as a minor extension of traffic cameras at every extension that citizens drive through every day and the police car dash cams that record a continuous loop as they patrol the city? Or it's a major step change in data collection that the public would reject. I don't know.

teddyh 9y ago

From the article: “Most images ended up being captured by humans […] Sheepview was charming, but it was at heart a marketing bid […].”

sAbakumoff 9y ago

Have you read "The Circle" by Dave Eggers? :-\0