science

Google Street View

Google Street View is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Google Street View rather than just read about it. In short: Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. Google Street View displays street-level imagery of stitched VR photographs.

Key takeaways

Google Street View belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Google Street View to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Google Street View from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. Google Street View displays street-level imagery of stitched VR photographs. Most photography is captured by specially equipped cars, but other means have been used, including over- and underwater vehicles, as well as on foot. First launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, Street View has since expanded to include all of the country's major and minor cities, as well as the cities and rural areas of many other countries worldwide. As of 2017, Street View had coverage in 83 countries. Street View has been used for research in fields like urban analytics and geographic information science, as well as in artistic work.

History

Street View had its inception in 2001 with the Stanford City Block Project, a Google-sponsored Stanford University research project. The project ended in June 2006, and its technology was folded into Street View. The technology was launched on May 25, 2007, in the United States. In May 2008, Google announced that it was testing face-blurring technology on its photos of the streets of Manhattan. The technology uses a computer algorithm to search Google's image database for faces and blur them. Street View was integrated into Google Earth 4.3, the Maps application on the Apple iPhone, and the Maps application for the S60 3rd Edition. In November, the drag-and-drop Pegman icon was introduced as the primary user interface element for connecting from Maps' 2D view into Street View's 3D view. When Pegman is dropped onto a particular set of coordinates in Google Maps for which Street View data is available, Street View opens and takes over the whole map window. In 2009, a full-screen option and Smart Navigation were introduced. Smart Navigation allows users to navigate around the panoramas by double-clicking with their cursor on any place or object they want to see. In May 2011, indoor views of businesses (Google Business Photos) were announced. After the pilot phase of several months, the project was rolled out in autumn. With the release of Android 4.2 in November 2012, Google invited users to contribute panoramas of their own using supported devices. Google highlights user-contributed panoramas with blue circle icons on Maps. The company also created a website to highlight places in the world where one can find them. In 2013, businesses such as shops, cafés and other premises can pay a photographer to take panoramic images of the interior of their premises, which were then included in Street View. Google sets up a program to let third parties borrow the Street View Trekker (a backpack-mounted camera). Business interior views are shown as small orange circles. In 2014, Street-level imagery from the past can now be optionally seen, if available, for a given street view. In 2015, a partnership was announced between Street View and the environmental monitoring company Aclima. Cars carry sensors to detect pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulates. In October, support for Google Cardboard was announced, allowing users to utilize Street View in 360-degree virtual reality. In 2017, imagery inside the International Space Station was added to Street View. In August 2017, Google also allowed users to create their own Street View-like blue paths for the connected photospheres that are sufficiently close to one another. On September 5, 2017, Google announced that they were improving the quality of the street view panoramic photo by revamping its mapping vehicles with all-new high-resolution camera systems and artificial intelligence. The new Google cars have been seen in various American cities since March 2017, as well as in Japan since August. The first images taken with the new generation of cameras were available online on September 13. In October 2017, the makers of the Insta360 Pro announced the certification of the first "Street View auto ready" camera for US$3,500; it uses six lenses for a 360° view and comes with Stitcher software. In addition to purchase, the camera rig is also available to qualified entities as part of the Google loaner program, with 50 cameras available to loan. In 2018, Japan now offers the street view from a dog's perspective. In August 2018, Street View covered two offshore gas-extraction platforms in the North Sea. On December 3, 2020, Google announced that users could contribute to Street View by capturing video using their augmented reality-supported phones using the Street View app. Google shut down its dedicated Street View app on Android and iPhone and ended support on March 21, 2023. The Street View app allowed users to take and publish their own 360° photos. Google says that users can still upload 360° photos using StreetView Studio.

Implementation

Street View is available as a component of Google Maps and Google Earth, as a web application, and as a mobile application for Android and iOS. Originally, Google Maps used Adobe Flash for Street View. Google overhauled Google Maps in 2013. The newer version uses JavaScript extensively and provides a JavaScript application programming interface. At the time of their release, the new Google Maps and Street View were measured slower than the old version in various setups. A user can switch to the old version of Google Maps. The drag-and-drop Pegman icon is the primary user interface element used by Google to connect Maps to Street View. Its name comes from its resemblance to a clothespeg. When not in use, Pegman sits atop or beside the Google Maps zoom controls. Occasionally, Pegman "dresses up" for special events or is joined by peg friends in Google Maps. When dragged into Street View near Area 51, he becomes a flying saucer, and when dragged near the Florida Keys or Hawaii, he becomes a mermaid. When viewing older views, the Pegman in the minimap changes to Doc Brown from Back to the Future. At Loch Ness, Pegman turns into Nessie wearing a tartan hat, where Street View includes coverage of the lake itself as well as the nearby A82 road and rural areas.

Coverage

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Google Street View

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Google Street View claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Google Street View before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Google Street View ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Google Street View

In research: Google Street View appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Google Street View in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Google Street View is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Street View, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Google Street View outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Google Street View in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Google Street View means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Google Street View out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Google Street View in simple terms?

Why does Google Street View matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Google Street View?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Google Street View.