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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

3D photo tours on Google Maps

We just launched a super cool new feature: 3D photo tours generated from user photos on Google Maps! You've got to see this one in action (MapsGL required), but it's amazing seeing 2D photos come to life in animated 3D...

"Google just added a cool new feature to Google Maps that lets you see photo tours of 15,000 popular landmarks around the world. If these were just photo tours with a Ken Burns effect thrown in for good measure, of course, this wouldn’t be very exciting news. What makes Google’s photo tours stand out is that the company’s engineers use computer vision techniques to create a 3D experience from public, user-contributed Picasa and Panoramio photos." -- Frederic Lardinois, TechCrunch

"Looking to get a better feel for that Yosemite National Park expedition this summer? Google Maps is looking to go beyond the regular ol' snapshot and offer an experience that feels more like an actual visit -- only you won't have to leave your sofa." -- Billy Steele, Engadget

"Weaving together pictures to make them worth more than a 1,000 words, Google has given life to more than 15,000 landmarks across the world with the release of photo tours for Google Maps." -- Jennifer Van Grove, VentureBeat

"...it lets users feel even more connected to destinations through images, and get a better sense of how the landscape looks." -- Kate Freeman, Mashable

"The end result is quite impressive, especially when you consider that most of the process is automatic." -- Lucian Parfeni, Softpedia

"Google Maps is great for a many reasons that extend far beyond helping you get from point A to point B — and their newest feature is especially interesting. We’re sure it’s even more complicated than it sounds, but the results speak for themselves." -- DL Cade, PetaPixel

"So maybe this is one of the first new Google steps: cool new stuff, if we share enough bits of our lives to power it." -- Kyle Wagner, Gizmodo

Read more on the Google Lat Long blog...

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