Where Street View Fears to Tread

There are still quite a lot of gaps in Street View's coverage around the world. Luckily a number of other providers have created their own Google Maps based Street View applications to try and plug these gaps.

China - with City8

In China City8 have created extensive interactive 360 degree panoramas in 45 of the country's biggest cities.

MapJack

As well as providing Street View type imagery in the USA, Canada, Singapore and Sweden Mapjack has also ventured where Google Street View has so far feared to tread. MapJack has great coverage in Malaysia, Thailand and Puerto Rico.

Norc

Norc has great coverage in central and eastern Europe, including in Poland and Austria, where Google's Street View cars have yet to drive.

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Grand Theft Auto IV in Street View

Grand Theft Auto IV - Custom Street View

I think this might just be one of the most awesome things I've seen ever. This Google Map lets you explore the whole of Liberty City, from Grand Theft Auto IV, in Street View.

GTA4.net have created custom Street Views of the whole of Liberty City and added them to this Google Map. The map shows all the important locations in the game, such as health & weapon pick-up points and all the important mission starting points.

However, once you enter Street View, you will forget about all that and just spend all your time wandering the streets of Liberty City through the amazing custom Street Views of the game.



The Street View option in this Liberty City map works just as it does on Google Maps. Drop the pegman icon anywhere on the map and you can start exploring the game in Street View. You can click on the arrows to navigate around the city and you can use the mini inset map to keep track of your position in the city.

I can't begin to think how many hours went into capturing the imagery for these custom Street Views and then lovingly mapping it all with the Google Maps API. Just ... wow!
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2012 London Olympics Street View

Olympics Street View

I strongly suspect that when the Olympics Park for the 2012 London Olympics opens next year the Google Street View trike will be one of the first visitors.

However at the moment there is no Street View available for the site of next year's Olympics. I therefore decided today to create my own Street View map of the Olympics construction site in east London.

I have to apologise for the poor quality of the photography. I created the Street View panoramas for this map using a free Android app from 360 VTcreator, which, whilst it is a brilliant free app, doesn't really create photographs of a high enough definition for Street View. I advise you not to zoom in!

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German DIY Street View

DIY-Street View

What do you do if Google Maps hasn't got Street View imagery for your neighbourhood and has also announced that they will no longer be collecting new Street View data in your country?

If you are Jan Martin the answer is easy - you go out and shoot your own panoramic images. You then use the Custom Street View function of the Google Maps API and you create your own Street View map.

Jan has taken a number of panoramic panoramas around his home town of Langen and has used Google Maps to provide a virtual tour. Jan's map works almost exactly the same as Google Maps. The blue lines on the map show where custom Street View imagery is available. If you click on a blue line (don't drag the pegman icon) you can enter the Street View.

You can read more about the project on Jan's blog DIY-Street View

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Custom Street Views Brings You Shop View

118 218

French online directory 118 218 has started adding custom Street Views to its Google Maps of shops.

With custom Street Views it is possible to seamlessly add your own panoramic images to Street View with links from Google's own Street View imagery. 118 218 has started adding panoramic 360 degree imagery from inside shops.

Where the custom Street Views are available a small red door icon is added to the Google Street View of the exterior of the shop. Clicking on the icon will take you to the interior panorama.

Currently you can view custom Street Views for the florist Daniel Guittat, the restaurant La maison Géorgienne and the institut de beaute Shyms Nail.

Via: Le blog officiel de Google France

Other Custom Street View Sites

• Kerken Kijken met Street View
• Sherubtse College Campus Map and Virtual Tour
• Bonne Annee 2011

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