Curved spherical streetview images

[Willem Waver]

Except for Chrome all browsers deliver streetview version 3 with
curved or spherical images. See the difference I made of the address
Nazarethstraat 108 Best Netherlands for both version 2 and version3 of
Streetview API:
http://www.qvision.nl/Public/Images/Nazarethstraat%20108%20Best%20Streetview%20Version%202-3.jpg
The upper image is clearly straight and according reality (straight
building). In version 3 however the building is curved and displayed
spherically and obviously not according reality.

But also Google's example of streetview itself is curved in all
browsers except in Chrome:
http://code.google.com/intl/nl/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/services.html#StreetView

Is there a switch in V3 to turn on warping?

My question is "How can I get the straight V2 display while using the
V3 API"?

[Grok Lobster]

You should report it as an issue,
http://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/list

On Aug 16, 4:56 am, Willem Waver <wil...@qvision.nl> wrote:
> Except for Chrome all browsers deliver streetview version 3 with
> curved or spherical images. See the difference I made of the address
> Nazarethstraat 108 Best Netherlands for both version 2 and version3 of

> Streetview API:http://www.qvision.nl/Public/Images/Nazarethstraat%20108%20Best%20Str...

> The upper image is clearly straight and according reality (straight
> building). In version 3 however the building is curved and displayed
> spherically and obviously not according reality.
>
> But also Google's example of streetview itself is curved in all

> browsers except in Chrome:http://code.google.com/intl/nl/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/ser...

[William]

I think they might be using something available in HTML5 like 3D
transformations to make it look right in Chrome, otherwise it's just
displayed as a regular 2D image which doesn't account for
perspective. Here's another side-by-side comparison looking upwards
at a tall building:

http://www.william-map.com/20100817/1/comparison.htm

...

[Thor Mitchell (Google Employee)]

We warp the imagery to correct the curvature only in browsers that can
do so fast enough to deliver a good user experience. As other browsers
improve we will enable warping for them too.

Many thanks,

Thor.

[William]

On Aug 18, 10:58 pm, "Thor Mitchell (Google Employee)"

<t...@google.com> wrote:
> We warp the imagery to correct the curvature only in browsers that can
> do so fast enough to deliver a good user experience.
>

Thanks for the explanation. At the moment, is Chrome the only browser
fast enough or are there other browsers that correct the curvature?

..

[Willem Waver]

Thanks Thor,

We prefer though a correct and non-distorted imagery above a good user
experience. The buildings really look distorted. Since I have no idea
how long it takes for other browsers to improve, is there a way I can
force the warping switched on for my website? i mean would it be
better to leave the choice at the web developper?

Regards Willem.

On 18 aug, 14:58, "Thor Mitchell (Google Employee)" <t...@google.com>
wrote:

> > ...- Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht niet weergeven -
>
> - Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht weergeven -

[Grok Lobster]

Hmmm. The imagery is warped in every browser I tried - Chrome, FF,
IE8, Safari, Opera.

I'd still call it an issue.

On Aug 18, 5:58 am, "Thor Mitchell (Google Employee)"

> > ...- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[William]

On Aug 19, 12:46 am, Grok Lobster <discgolfm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hmmm. The imagery is warped in every browser I tried - Chrome, FF,
> IE8, Safari, Opera.
>

thats interesting, which version of Chrome do you have? Looks like
there was a major step forward in performance for version 5, with the
V8 javascript engine going from v1 to v2:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome#Release_history

...

[Grok Lobster]

5.0.375.126

[Grok Lobster]

Just installed ver. 6 and it's the same.

[Ben Appleton]

At present there are 3 rendering modes:

• 'html4': Street View tiles are rendered as HTML <img> tags without warping.
• 'html5': Street View tiles are rendered using Canvas 2D.
• 'webgl': Street View tiles are rendered using WebGL (aka Canvas 3D).

WebGL uses your graphics hardware so it is extremely fast - we've seen 100 frames per second with perfect geometric correction.  WebGL is available on the nightly builds of all modern browsers, but has not been released to the public yet.  We hope to see it launched later this year.

Canvas 2D is currently implemented in software on supported browsers.  Even so it has reasonable performance in Chrome Windows and Chrome Linux.  Canvas 2D performs poorly in Chrome OSX and Firefox, so we have not enabled it by default in these browsers.  With WebGL coming down the pipe we may remove the Canvas 2D rendering mode in future.

By default, Chrome on Windows and Linux use mode 'html5', all other browsers use mode 'html4'.  If you want to try different modes, StreetViewPanorama has an undocumented property 'mode' that you can set to 'html5', 'webgl' or 'html4' to override the default.  Of course if you want to try mode 'webgl' you will have to download the nightly build for that browser.

Undocumented properties are subject to change without notice.  For 'mode' in particular, we may choose to ignore it as browsers improve in the near future.

- Ben

> --
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>

[Grok Lobster]

Well, except for Chrome, the problem still exists in FF, Safari, and
IE8 with any mode setting on my computer (6 mos. old). Seems like we
are getting the run around. I guess I'll avoid v3 for any sites
requiring street view.

Willem - your page still exhibits the problem (for me) even in
Chrome.

On Aug 18, 5:30 pm, Ben Appleton <apple...@google.com> wrote:
> At present there are 3 rendering modes:
>

>    - 'html4': Street View tiles are rendered as HTML <img> tags without
>    warping.
>    - 'html5': Street View tiles are rendered using Canvas 2D.
>    - 'webgl': Street View tiles are rendered using WebGL (aka Canvas 3D).

>
> WebGL uses your graphics hardware so it is extremely fast - we've seen 100
> frames per second with perfect geometric correction.  WebGL is available on
> the nightly builds of all modern browsers, but has not been released to the
> public yet.  We hope to see it launched later this year.
>
> Canvas 2D is currently implemented in software on supported browsers.  Even
> so it has reasonable performance in Chrome Windows and Chrome Linux.  Canvas
> 2D performs poorly in Chrome OSX and Firefox, so we have not enabled it by
> default in these browsers.  With WebGL coming down the pipe we may remove
> the Canvas 2D rendering mode in future.
>
> By default, Chrome on Windows and Linux use mode 'html5', all other browsers
> use mode 'html4'.  If you want to try different modes, StreetViewPanorama

> has an *undocumented* property 'mode' that you can set to 'html5', 'webgl'

> or 'html4' to override the default.  Of course if you want to try mode
> 'webgl' you will have to download the nightly build for that browser.
>
> Undocumented properties are subject to change without notice.  For 'mode' in
> particular, we may choose to ignore it as browsers improve in the near
> future.
>
> - Ben
>

> On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 11:29 PM, William <william.g...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Aug 18, 10:58 pm, "Thor Mitchell (Google Employee)"
> > <t...@google.com> wrote:
> >> We warp the imagery to correct the curvature only in browsers that can
> >> do so fast enough to deliver a good user experience.
>
> > Thanks for the explanation. At the moment, is Chrome the only browser
> > fast enough or are there other browsers that correct the curvature?
>
> > ..
>
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>
> "Google Maps JavaScript API v3" group.> To post to this group, send email to
>
> google-map...@googlegroups.com.> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
>

> google-maps-js-a...@googlegroups.com<google-maps-js-api-v3%2B­unsub...@googlegroups.com>
> .> For more options, visit this group at
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/google-maps-js-api-v3?hl=en.
>
>
>

[William]

On Aug 19, 10:30 am, Ben Appleton <apple...@google.com> wrote:
> By default, Chrome on Windows and Linux use mode 'html5', all other browsers
> use mode 'html4'.  If you want to try different modes, StreetViewPanorama

> has an *undocumented* property 'mode' that you can set to 'html5', 'webgl'

> or 'html4' to override the default.  Of course if you want to try mode
> 'webgl' you will have to download the nightly build for that browser.
>

Thanks for the detailed explanation!

I tried html4 and html5 modes which show the difference in perspective
when looking up at the bank of china tower in hong kong:

http://www.william-map.com/20100819/1/mode.htm

...

[William]

On Aug 19, 10:30 am, Ben Appleton <apple...@google.com> wrote:

> By default, Chrome on Windows and Linux use mode 'html5'
>

I noticed a bug with html5 mode, if you drag this example quickly
downwards:

http://www.william-map.com/20100819/1/sv.htm

Error in Chrome:
Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'Hb' of undefined

Error in Firefox (when mode='html5')
E is undefined (164 out of range 41)

...

[Willem Waver]

Thanks Ben for reveiling the *undocumented* mode switch.
As far as I can see the switch happens to be heavily dependent on the
browser used.
For example it worked nice in FF, but did not in IE7. I didn't tried
other ones,
but the fact that it is browser dependent we cannot use it.
Our conclusion is that for streetview we will stay on v2 for a
while.....
Willem

On 19 aug, 02:30, Ben Appleton <apple...@google.com> wrote:
> At present there are 3 rendering modes:
>

>    - 'html4': Street View tiles are rendered as HTML <img> tags without
>    warping.
>    - 'html5': Street View tiles are rendered using Canvas 2D.
>    - 'webgl': Street View tiles are rendered using WebGL (aka Canvas 3D).

>
> WebGL uses your graphics hardware so it is extremely fast - we've seen 100
> frames per second with perfect geometric correction.  WebGL is available on
> the nightly builds of all modern browsers, but has not been released to the
> public yet.  We hope to see it launched later this year.
>
> Canvas 2D is currently implemented in software on supported browsers.  Even
> so it has reasonable performance in Chrome Windows and Chrome Linux.  Canvas
> 2D performs poorly in Chrome OSX and Firefox, so we have not enabled it by
> default in these browsers.  With WebGL coming down the pipe we may remove
> the Canvas 2D rendering mode in future.
>
> By default, Chrome on Windows and Linux use mode 'html5', all other browsers
> use mode 'html4'.  If you want to try different modes, StreetViewPanorama

> has an *undocumented* property 'mode' that you can set to 'html5', 'webgl'

> or 'html4' to override the default.  Of course if you want to try mode
> 'webgl' you will have to download the nightly build for that browser.
>
> Undocumented properties are subject to change without notice.  For 'mode' in
> particular, we may choose to ignore it as browsers improve in the near
> future.
>
> - Ben
>

> On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 11:29 PM, William <william.g...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Aug 18, 10:58 pm, "Thor Mitchell (Google Employee)"
> > <t...@google.com> wrote:
> >> We warp the imagery to correct the curvature only in browsers that can
> >> do so fast enough to deliver a good user experience.
>
> > Thanks for the explanation. At the moment, is Chrome the only browser
> > fast enough or are there other browsers that correct the curvature?
>
> > ..
>
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>
> "Google Maps JavaScript API v3" group.> To post to this group, send email to
>
> google-map...@googlegroups.com.> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
>

> google-maps-js-a...@googlegroups.com<google-maps-js-api-v3%2B­unsub...@googlegroups.com>
> .> For more options, visit this group at
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/google-maps-js-api-v3?hl=en.
>
>
>