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Show HN: Instant Google Street View
- chime 14y agoReally neat. Something's weird with the shortcut links. I get http://qsview.com/7pd0rz6j7bdz-y4zokz1ap http://qsview.com/7pd0rz6j7bdz-y4zokz1ap from the share icon but it 404s.
- kirchhoff 14y agoThat's strange as the generated links are only designed to contain alphanumeric characters - the link didn't work because the regex rejected the hyphen. I've changed it now - does the link correspond to the correct location? If not, please can you let me know the address which generated this link? Thanks
- danso 14y agoI knew what this was coming in and still I was impressed. Nice job. It's been awhile since I've actually used GSV...the images seem much higher-res than I remember.
- ck2 14y agoWell this is freaky, I typed in "white house" and I got an INTERNAL tour of the white house. Awesome. Also try "google campus". What's interesting is the real google streetview needs adobe flash to run, this works with flash disabled.
- wavesounds 14y agoHaha I just did the same thing except I typed 1600 Pennsylvania ave then I was taken inside the lobby looking at a picture of Bill Clinton.
- lathamcity 14y agoThe tour of the white house was pretty interesting. If you typed in "oval offi" it takes you to some gold room that I don't recognize, and if you step outside, there's a big portrait of Hillary Clinton. Do the first ladies all have their portraits?
- newhouseb 14y ago> What's interesting is the real google streetview needs adobe flash to run, this works with flash disabled. Since they've started targeting mobile browsers, they've switched in some places to the projection here (which uses a flat projection that is just translated), which is implemented in straight HTML + JS. In other words, this is official Google StreetView too, just their new embeddable viewer.
- esolyt 14y agoThat's not true. Real Google Street View runs without Flash if you enable WebGL.
- mortenjorck 14y agoThis isn't using either Flash or WebGL, though. It's a pure JS tiling solution, similar to classic Google Maps, but with a Mercator-style 3D-to-2D projection.
- ck2 14y agoI am using Firefox 17 with webgl, when I am in google street view it gives me To use street view, you need Adobe Flash Player version 10 or newer. Get the latest Flash Player. When I try to go to http://maps.google.com/maps?vector=1 http://maps.google.com/maps?vector=1 to enable webgl it goes into an endless loop. This page might explain why: http://support.google.com/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1630790 http://support.google.com/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe... Some low-end integrated GPUs (like the Intel GMA 3100 and 3150) are not compatible
- kelnos 14y agoThere are a bunch more cool ones: golden gate bridge, bay bridge, brooklyn bridge, even lincoln tunnel! This is too much fun :)
- rplnt 14y agoFor the same query I got "White House, TN". Surprising (to me) amount of huge trucks, and quite uninteresting white house.
- missing_cipher 14y agoSame here. I had to refine my search: "white house, washington"
- kirchhoff 14y ago"the white house" also works.
- xando 14y agotry this http://www.googleartproject.com/collection/the-white-house/museumview/ http://www.googleartproject.com/collection/the-white-house/m...
- recycleme 14y agoI typed in google and ended up in a store somewhere.
- senthilnayagam 14y agoWorks in iPhone , I am impressed
- kirchhoff 14y agoSome places you might find interesting: scott's hut shackleton's hut Itsukushima Shinto Shrine
- braco_alva 14y agoThanks for the Shrine suggestion! It really looks very interesting.
- mdda 14y agoThis is the more familiar view (when the tide isn't out) : http://qsview.com/89vp2zksffdz80tzoqz1ap http://qsview.com/89vp2zksffdz80tzoqz1ap
- braco_alva 14y agoThat is a very nice view. I have always wanted to visit Japan, but haven't find the time and the money to do it, but I hope I'll someday.
- balsam 14y agoi almost expected tags on those bottles onMouseOver.
- AngryParsley 14y agoAnother cool one: Osaka aquarium. You go straight from the sky above the Osaka airport to staring at huge fish.
- phusuke 14y agoTaj mahal hotel bombay is also cool
- jon_kuperman 14y agoThis is a pretty surreal experience. I really enjoy typing in an address and seeing other towns and cities flash before my eyes. I love the app, but I almost think the sequence of random street views is more enjoyable.
- kirchhoff 14y agoThere's also a random button which shows random views from within the current map.
- opminion 14y agoFor maximum effect try a UK or Canadian postcode.
- jonathanberger 14y agoI'd love to read a post about both the inspiration and making of this project.
- peterjmag 14y agoThis is way too addicting. I've been typing in addresses one letter at a time, just to see what pops up: a beautiful metro station in Saint Petersburg, the graffitied walls surrounding an airport in Brazil, a neighborhood in South Africa, a wooded street in suburban North Carolina, a deserted country road in rural Iowa, the entrance to a gated community in Texas, and finally, my house. What a fun way to explore. Great work!
- svdad 14y agoThe feeling of seeing a sequence of random, unfamiliar locations, followed all of a sudden by a familiar street is really amazing. Especially if you type in the address of a street you haven't lived on for a long time.
- andrewcooke 14y agois it using request ip to provide context? i typed in "europa 2189" and see my own appt in santiago, which is disturbingly impressive...
- andrewaylett 14y agoI'm in the UK, and typing that also gave me an apartment block in Santiago, so I'd say no.
- andrewcooke 14y agohuh, thanks. i never thought my address was so exclusive. (i was once asked to give my address here, started with 'europa', and got the reply 'no, your address here in chile'...)
- genwin 14y agoNice! I added this one to my favorites. As I type it often finds an address elsewhere, until the address is completed, but it's still easier to get to the desired street view than in Google Maps. I even enjoy the extra views.
- nyrulez 14y agoTried some random views and this is where I reached! Beautiful. http://qsview.com/7dsamz1jpf4z3wnzmpz1ap http://qsview.com/7dsamz1jpf4z3wnzmpz1ap
- kevinbluer 14y agoI love that "news" randomly brings up a kebab :)
- shashashasha 14y agoWorth mentioning also is Ryan Alexander's excellent Streetview Stereographic: http://notlion.github.com/streetview-stereographic/ http://notlion.github.com/streetview-stereographic/ (Try hitting the plus to edit the shader on the left)
- cookingrobot 14y agoThis is great! If you zoom with the mouse wheel you can make a "tiny planet" type image. for ex: http://notlion.github.com/streetview-stereographic/#o=-.141,.058,.988,-.011&z=2.083&mz=16&p=47.61152,-122.33682 http://notlion.github.com/streetview-stereographic/#o=-.141,...
- serialpreneur 14y agoThis is really awesome. It feels snappier then the Google maps interface for street view. Curious about the street view API. Do you have to pay for it after a certain usage threshold ?
- kirchhoff 14y agoIt would seem so, but the limit is quite generous and you only have to pay if you exceed it for a prolonged period of time.
- dvulises 14y agoawesome !
- pixie_ 14y agoMy dream is a smooth FPS like street view. Right now it's so disjointed and lagged. Street view could be so much more. I know microsoft had some technology to put photos from different angles together..
- k2xl 14y agohere's a cool one: Wailing Wall
- confluence 14y agoHow long before we have a real time view of the world - with all the millions of smart phones, cameras, public security cameras all pushing data to the web? Kind of feel like those Circle/Social cam guys had something there - a real time distributed camera. There's a startup up there - but maybe instagram has already done it :D
- tsunamifury 14y agodownload lightt: its like seeing through other peoples eyes.
- irollboozers 14y agoTapIn.tv?
- timfrietas 14y agoCool but indexing is off and different fron Google results, strangely. In Seattle, where streets are mapped by compass rose I tyoed in # N. # St., which should mean North, got the results for NE. Great concept, just wish it mirrored Google's results.
- julianz 14y agoI wanted to be all "yeah, whatever" about this, but it's fantastic. Seeing it load places from all over the world as you type in an address, and seeing how much the streets look exactly like what you might expect, is fascinating. Cool hack indeed!
- therandomguy 14y agoReally well executed. I was ready to be not impressed and was blown away.
- mortenjorck 14y agoThis project does something subtle, yet amazing with perception, including one's perception of technology. We've had Street View for half a decade now; the novelty of the fact that you can pull up an instant 360-degree panorama for a significant percentage of street addresses in the developed world has worn off. Yet this makes it new again – I found myself laughing like a child as I slowed down my typing, watching my screen be transported to a completely new location with each keystroke. It made me appreciate anew the technology at work, while also appreciating the daftness of it all, jumping around the world en route to my destination as if propelled by some sort of Douglas Adams-style teleporter. Fantastic work.
- joonix 14y agoNovelty hasnt worn off for me!
- startupfounder 14y agoAgreed, street view has always amazed me. But what this does differently, which is very useful, is that it gives me the ability to download a large image quickly of a location. I can use this for work and it removes some friction from my workflow. Thanks for sharing!
- bambax 14y agoUpvoted for the lyricism and poetic nature of your comment; I'm not very receptive to the magic (or usefulness) of this, but your comment made it worthwhile! ;-)
- davecyen 14y agoContrary to what some of the commenters said about this being non-useful and just novelty, I think this brings forward one of the best features of Google Maps by cutting out a lot of (potentially frustrating) steps in the UX. Here’s the typical flow for finding street view when searching on maps.google.com: 1. Submit search query 2. Review results list 3. Repeat 1-2 in case user did not find their intended target 4a. Drag the street view marker onto the map OR 4b+5. Click “more” from the results list, then Street view Instant Google Street View reduces this to just one easy step, and makes it much more fun along the way. I think the benefit of this is similar to the benefit of Google’s instant search results - making the UX fast, efficient, and fun to discover what you’re looking for. The creator of this should definite consider expanding this to also include street view and satellite view (surprised Google hasn’t done this already). And I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a call from Google soon for an interview… either for a job offer or a acqui-hire. Cheers, nicely done.
- maxprogram 14y agoThis made me think of how awesome it would be to be teleported to a random place in the world like this, just walking on the street. You wouldn't know where at first, and you'd have 24 hours before being transported to a new location. <Any script writers out there?>
- underwater 14y agoSounds similar to "One Day" http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vFART6ZMeEA http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v...
- SoftwareMaven 14y agoI didn't realize that Google didn't bother to look at my cul de sac for street view. I don't think I'm too sad about that. Regarding TFA, well done. Though it's a little weird to look at my back door from a street over while typing in my address.
- OzzyOsbourne 14y agoThis is totally awesome. BTW, I've been meaning to ask for a while though: what sort of algorithm is running that detects edges and orientation so when the mouse is moved, the small white circle or quadrilateral seems to touch the objects in the image?
- Stratoscope 14y agoThe Street View cars have LIDAR which which gives them distance data. They must be constructing a 3D model from this data.
- OzzyOsbourne 14y agoAre you sure? How do you know it is not an image processing/edge detection algorithm running? If they were indeed constructing a 3d-model, I'd be interested in seeing it, even if it is a low-poly approximation...
- Stratoscope 14y agoI didn't have the reference handy when I posted, but here is some info about how they use the lasers to make the 3D model: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/learn/turning-photos-into-street-view.html http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/learn/turning-ph...
- lambda 14y agoHow come this is so much faster than Google's own Street View interface? I feel like whether I use Flash or WebGL, Street View always feels a bit clunky and laggy, while here it's really instant. I suppose one of the things that helps is that this doesn't do the "zoom" effect that looks ugly and slows you down navigating.
- lambda 14y agoSelf reply to mention that one reason it feels so "instant" is that in many cases, it has already auto-completed and started displaying your destination before you finish typing. For instance, I typed "golden gate bridge", and probably by the time I had typed "golden ga" it could start loading, and everything was loaded by the time I finished typing "bridge." Also, what panoramic viewer is this? Is this something provided by Google, something off the shelf, or something custom written by them?
- guard-of-terra 14y agoToo bad it does not produce an URL to share with location built in. Or am I missing something?
- Renaud 14y agoThere is a share button on the top right corner that gives you a short qview-based URL.
- agumonkey 14y agoI'm surprised how fast it is to switch, seems the integration in maps.google.com is a bit taxing .. anyway great idea and realization.
- hornetblack 14y agoOnce I got to my suburb. Wow that's my car. Very smooth.
- gmaps 14y agoCool. http://showmystreet.com/ http://showmystreet.com/ has been doing this for a couple of years.
- majke 14y agoIt looks like it's in Javascript, not Flash as usually. Cool!
- louisa 14y agocompletely wonderful!
- efremjw 14y agoAny idea why typing in 568 Broadway NY gives you an inside view of the Armani Exchange store across the street from the actual correct address? This works on both qsview and showmystreet...so I assume there's an error in the Google database.
- kirchhoff 14y agoThe Street View lookup seems to favour interior views - sometimes this works well (search for "tate modern"), and other times not..
- vitalique 14y agoMeta: as a test, I tried looking for the street where I live. I never tried to visit my street before. As the Street view rendered the destination, I was nearly shocked: it happens that the moment the Google car was cruising the street there also was a funeral right there. With a poor dead guy in the coffin and a procession. Doesn't Google filter such things out? Not that I insist, but this is a really sad experience. I'd prefer this part of the street cut our from GSV completely. Recommending using Street view to friends from my neighborhood is going to be hard.
- allsop8184 14y agoUndoubtedly one of the coolest things I've seen in 2012.
- hnriot 14y agoYou need to get out more!
- playhard 14y agoNice! Also try http://mapcrunch.com http://mapcrunch.com. It takes you to random places! They have been live for 2 years!
- joelcarranza 14y agoThis is really quite wonderful. For a while now, I've wanted to hack together a system for rapidly flipping through a set of street views based on a list of locations I provide. This seems like a great start. Is any of the code open source?
- siavosh 14y agoThis is particularly nice for quickly screening potential real estate buys. A good complement in a second browser window next to trulia/zillow.
- dysoco 14y agoApparently my internet is too slow to enjoy this, it's not "instant" :(
- hnriot 14y agoUnfortunately it doesn't work on the iphone because the input field doesn't call up the keyboard. Probably pretty easy to fix this.
- kirchhoff 14y agoI have no iOS device to test unfortunately - difficult to debug!
- mehdim 14y agodeveloper version of qsview.com :) http://webshell.io/prototype/OWFiO/2 http://webshell.io/prototype/OWFiO/2 and don't forget to run it!
- cpeterso 14y agoThe view of "mozilla" gave me the chills.
- simarpreet007 14y agoThis is absolutely phenomenal! Blows my mind!
- georganos 14y agoI'm curious, is there any kind of ranking being done on the candidates for an imprecise address? Any kind of image analysis to determine which ones are the more 'interesting'? Asking because it seemed to me that when the address is imprecise, it's mostly more prominent locations that are being shown. [later edit] It's probably just using GMaps' suggest feature I guess?
- snip596 14y agoJust messing around... "A": Nothing "AB": Fine "ABC": Fine "ABCD": Where am I?
- amartya916 14y agoEven though lots of people have praised the creator, I couldn't leave without saying well done :). This is absolutely fantastic work. There is something amazing about being able to jump across the world a keystroke at a time. I loved the attention to detail with the "Share", "Download" links... this is going to come handy during house-hunting time :).
- fuzzythinker 14y agoThis is the first time I wished I can have a fat pipe like Kansas residents can.
- reledi 14y agoInspired by YouTube Instant? http://ytinstant.com http://ytinstant.com