Google Maps' "See Inside" and sphere photos

Russinating

Russinating

Russinating

Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2005
Posts
17,315
Location
Bristol
Does anyone know how sphere photos are taken professionally, as used in Google Maps' "See Inside" tours? I mean my Nexus 4 can do photo spheres that are compatible with Google+ but they're obviously not as accurate, especially when dealing with short distances. Are they taken with any old camera and then stitched manually or automatically with proprietary software? Or taken with an automated camera/ball head?

Also how does Google Maps know which sphere is located where when browsing around a shop?

If you don't know what I'm talking about then as an example go here - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d800!2d-2.620977!3d51.45527 - grab the orange stick man and drop him on any of the orange dots.

Any help appreciated, including how to get approved by Google!
 
Oh and I forgot, I found one that's looking into a mirror so the setup for this particular shoot was as below. Would be interested to know exactly what that is!

hHvFbHu.png
 
Ta. I've just submitted an interest form with Google about it - they say you need a "custom fisheye lens and pano-head" but that's it.

Judging by their requirements I'm guessing they absolutely grind you to the ground for not a lot of money but we'll see.
 
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Well, just to tail this thread, we're almost a Google Trusted Photographer!

Through all the selection process anyway, got a Q&A conference call with my Google contact on Tuesday and then we've just got to submit one test pano (just of our office or something) to be quality checked by Google.

Not sure if the criteria has changed since you were contacted tommo but we're very much a business and they seems to be what they're looking for; more contacts, more scalability, dedicated sales team etc.

Anyway, it's quite exciting! Will see how it sells but with existing kit the outlay has only been about £900.
 
Yeah it must have changed. Most of the initial assessment questions were regarding scalability so.

No they, though after doing 10 business they list you here: https://www.google.com/maps/about/partners/businessview/get-started/. Otherwise it's down to you, but having the Google name behind you obviously adds a significant amount of weight.

I think the only think that makes it worthwhile is being able to do upwards of 6 businesses per day if you just book them in blocks as each shoot only takes 1-2 hours.
 
^^ Whatever that was, it wasn't for Google Business. You can't even use any old camera for that, they have a list of about 15 that are approved for use.

But yeah I can do 360 panos on my phone (and most other new phones) so it's interesting, just lower quality and less consistent across multiple stores (the manual settings are very strict too).
 
Sorry I was on my phone when I posted that and thought someone had already said. We got the Nodal Ninja UR10 v2 which is one of only two they require (can't remember the name of the other). That sould arrive today and the 8mm lens arrived yesterday so we should be able to submit the first test shot later.
 
All sorted, we're now officially...!

f3Y1zXS.png

After the first 5 we're listed on their website and the first 10 all have to go through Google QC but other than that good to go!
 
Yeah I think it's either going to be a bit of a waste of time and money (though the outlay was relatively small) or quite lucrative. I don't think there'll be any middle ground as we probably won't bother with it for a bit here and there other than people coming direct to us which is unlikely.
 
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