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Google Tricycles To Map Footpaths For Street View
posted by lxnyce
on Tuesday May 19, @06:56PM
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from the peddling-lawsuits dept.
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from the peddling-lawsuits dept.
Slashdot is discussing a cnet UK article on the usage of tricylcles to capture street view imagery in areas where cars can't reach. Here is a snippet of the slashdot summary : "To advance its Street View service this summer, Google is poised to unleash the unstoppable power of human legs. Google will deploy pedal-powered tricycles — the company calls them 'Google Trikes' — mounted with 360 degree Street View cameras to map areas inaccessible by its fleet of Street View cars."
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Google Street ViewTo Reshoot Japan
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Google just can't win. People complain when they haven't published their neighborhood and people complain if they do. From cnet news : "For Google Street View, Japanese version, it's not a wrap. It seems to be more of a wrap on the knuckles.
Google has received so many complaints about the height of its ambition, I am sorry, I mean the height of its cameras, that it will re-shoot all of its Japanese footage again. With cameras of a more modest scope.
According to some critics, Google's eagle eyes were more those of vultures, capturing the meat of rather too many private moments over too many private fences.
In Japan, people are not fond of having even their clean laundry aired in public. And the protests became too great for Google to ignore.
So the company has agreed to bow to these complaints and lower its gaze by 16 inches.
Which will cost a little money, as it has already filmed in 12 Japanese cities, including Tokyo and Osaka."
DIY Google StreetView Project? 1 comment
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Slashdot discusses a story about a do it yourself Google StreetView project.
Their summary: "Does anyone have any ideas for a do-it-yourself Google-Street-View-like project on the cheap? I am planning to visit a few places outside the US that are important to me, and would like to be able to set up a site for friends and family to visit and give them the Street View-like experience so that they could navigate, pan and zoom in the areas I have. Though being able to use GPS coordinates would be great, that's certainly something I can do without. I know I can take pictures and stitch them together to create panoramic views, but I would like to be able to also navigate though some streets. Would it make sense to record it with an HD camera, then batch export frames as pictures? Is there any software in the open source community that I can use?" Ismenio includes links to some related pages: Popular Mechanics' look at the camera tech used for Street View, and a company that claims better panoramic image technology than Google's."
Some related stories copied below.
Major Street View Upgrade - 3D Features [Updated]
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The Google Earth Blog has what seems to be a major scoop on Google Street View. be sure to check out their video. Here is their summary : "Google has just released an update to their Street View application - as viewed in the browser-based Google Maps (not yet available in Google Earth). The update has not yet been announced, and the new features may not be deployed to all country versions of Google Maps yet (based on reports I've had from GEB readers). When you move your mouse around the view in Street View, you now get a "3D" rectangle or ellipse "icon" indicating the position of a view available on the sides of buildings (and other structures), or to move you further down the street. When you double-click you get this animated motion-blur effect as you zoom over to that location and the camera turns to face the location you've picked (turns and tilts). This is a very intuitive, and much more useful, way to move within the Street View imagery. Plus, it looks really cool!"
Update: 06/08 13:02 GMT by S : Here's the official announcement on StreetView's improvements.
New Google Earth 3D Content and Trails Added to StreetView
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The GEB informs us of lots of new 3D content added in Google Earth: "Google has added thousands of new buildings to the 3D Buildings layer including 4 cities in Japan with dozens of city blocks where all the buildings are rendered in 3D, more Disney content for Orlando, nearly 4000 new 3D Warehouse models all over the planet, and more!"
Related, TMR informs us started adding trails to StreetView:
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You can view the StreetView trail directly on this GEB entry.
Google's tricycles were mentioned a month ago.
Technology: Teen spots Alleged Robbers On Google Street View
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Found on cnet news : "Last September, a 14-year-old boy told police in Groningen, Holland, that he had been knocked off his bike and robbed of some money and his cell phone.
What evidence did he have of his alleged assailants? Very little.
Six months later, the Associated Press reports, he was pootling around on Google Street View when he saw an image of himself--and of two males behind him, who, he seemed to remember, were just in the place where he was allegedly robbed."
Google Tricycles To Map Footpaths For Street View
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Seems ot be oflimited use
(Score:2, Funny)( http://www.geowebguru.com/ )
Even on a designated cycle track, something like this is going to tend to mow other cyclists and pedestrians down!
Richard Marsden
http://www.mapping-tools.com
http://www.geowebguru.com