Using old photos as a basis for streetview google maps - google-maps

I've recently picked up some old photos of my city, and I was wondering if it is possible to use Google earth/maps to recreate the parts of the city that my photos show.
Most pictures are in street view, so it would be really great to have the old photos as a basis of a street view google map. Some are aireal photos so the "ordinary" map view is also interesting.
Is it possible? What's my first step?

Check out the docs on how to create a custom streetview panorama here:
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/streetview#CustomStreetView
There's also an example of a custom "street view" in the docs, using the reception area of Google's Sydney office here:
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/streetview-custom-simple
That example only uses a single source image:
It looks like the hardest part will be creating either the "stitched" panorama image, or the individual tiles. Unfortunately Google leaves that to the reader, but there is a link to Wikipedia with some panorama tools that may help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_photo_stitching_applications_(software)

Related

Load Street view tiles faster

I have created a tool, in which there are different links for different street views.
But, my client says, when going from one street view to another, some tiles of previous street view doesn't disappear immediately. I told him its normal. I tried to find the solution for it, but there's nothing written to improve the loading time in the documentation. And, couldn't find on any other site/blog.
Can i do something like flash version of Google Maps? In Google Map's flash version it shows the whole street view as blurred image and then loads the tiles one by one. I don't know how to do that in v3 which is based on Javascript. (I'm using Google Maps API v3)

how to display the street view area in the google map

I have implemented the street view of the google map using the google javascript api v3 and i want to show the blue shadow area in google map according to their corresponding street view display.
Can anyone help me out to resolve this problem.
The "StreetviewOverlay" is not available in v3. If you would like it, you can star (vote for) this Enhancement request
(doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in it, only 9 stars so far)

JavaME LWUIT: is there appropriate map lib?

I am developing JavaME LWUIT application which needs to display some data on map.
And I'd like to use Google Maps for this.
I thought about the requirements to the maps and their user interface. They are
listed below:
Pannable map. It should be possible to scroll the map using the touch interface or navigation arrow buttions which are displayed on the map.
Zoomable map. At the best, there should be appropriate +/- buttons displayed on the map.
Search location by address and move to it (menu command).
Remember the last visited location.
Marker for the current location.
Markers with customable icon and text which is displayed when select the marker (click on it or select somehow).
I spent some time searching for appropriate Map Library for JavaME/LWUIT.
I expected to find a free library and map service (ha-ha).
See my results below:
MIDMaps library. URL: http://www.jappit.com/blog/midmaps-google-maps-java-me-library/
That library uses the Google Static Map Service. Not bad... but it needs a lot further improvements...
I found the follwoing issues with that library:
Markers: impossible to customize marker's icon and text. Displaying the marker's text on click/selection is not supported.
Map Panning: no UI controls for this (arrow buttons). Doing panning with menu commands is not a user-friendly.
Map Zooming: no UI controls for this (+/- buttons). Not so important...
License: not permitted to use in a mobile app if not a Google Premier User. Not a problem...
Nokia Maps API for JavaME. URL: http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/Maps/Maps_API_for_Java_ME/
Did not try. But looks like that lib fulfills all my requirements.
I am not sure about the following things:
Quality of the maps.
How much does it cost? I mean the cost of using the map service.
Nutiteq lib which uses OpenStreetMap service. URL: http://www.nutiteq.com/map-api
Not free the lib, but the map service.
Guidebee Map API. URL: http://www.guidebee.biz/
It's not free.
Now it's a time for me to ask questions. What should I do? Are there any advices?
Maybe I missed some possibilities or lib/services?
Thank you for your help!
See the Makeover demo in SVN (I updated it to use Google maps instead of Yahoo maps API which was killed off). The GoogleService API should be available in the SVN history it was (deleted because of licensing nonsense) within the IO services directory and it includes local search etc.
Terrence has a a demo that includes allot of interesting features including a browseable map.
You can also look at Waze although I haven't checked it myself, I saw people using open street map and AFAIK there is an open source mapping application based on that (although the license might not be appropriate for you but it might still be useful as a learning aid).
After some additional investigations I decided to use Nokia Maps. And now I have a working application which displays interactive map with my data markers on it and also my current location.
I chose Nokia Maps API because it provided real dynamic maps (panning, zooming, tiling) and fulfilled all my requirements, except "Remember the last visited location" (can be implemented on my own).
I met the following problems:
Using the maps from LWUIT, not from an ordinary MIDP application. I used the approach shown here Nutiteq SDK with LWUIT and also implemented my own MapWidget class for LWUIT.
Displaying additional info on marker click. There is no support for this in the lib. I had to implement it on my own. Details are here JavaME Nokia Maps API: how to display additional info on marker click
Additional info related to the choosing proper map library can be found here Discussion on Nokia Forum

Google Maps streetview shows awesome panoramio photos in China - can we do this?

If you have a look at Google Maps and search for some place in China like Tiananmen Square for example, then drag out the little streetview man, he does not go on the roads like normal... instead there is a scattering of little blue dots where he can stand and get a view.
This is similar to a panoramio layer but much slicker, and it lets you click between photos taken within the same field of view.
This is all great, except when I turn on the streetview control with Google maps API v3 on the website I'm developing (which is about tourist destinations in China), it lets you drag the man around but then he turns grey like there is no data. There are no blue dots and he can't see anything.
I'm wondering if there is a way to turn on that same streetview panoramio mode that they have in maps.google.com? Possibly they won't let us have access to that yet....
I could add a normal panoramio layer but I am really wanting to have that really nice blue dot thing happening.
Pretty sure no. v3 of the API implements streetview with HTML5/canvas etc - ie native in the browser.
That 'lookaround' viewer, is implemented in flash.
I suppose you could try v2 of the API, that still uses a flash client.
... otherwise just add a request to the Google Maps API issue tracker - it tracks suggestions.

Google Street View

How do I embed google street view to my site
I want to show a user location upon visiting my site.
Updated: Is there any clear tutorials or links for Google Maps
You can do it with Google Maps API2
and here is the Google Maps API2 Documention on Street View
Just keep in mind it needs Flash.
update:
and to get the user location, you can use 'The Geolocation API Specification [which] is [a] part of the W3 Consortium’s standards But be warned: it hasn’t been finalized as yet.' consider looking at this question for an example code and more details.
Besides of using the latest Google Maps API version, you Can embed any panoramic view of Google Street View very easily. Being in Google Maps while browsing in Street View, you will find on the left page upper corner the street name and next to the marker a 3 dots vertical line.
You need to click on the 3 dots which are shown next to the street name info and then a form will pop up to give you the option to embed a html iframe with size options on the panoramic view wanted.
I hope it helps.