create and upload sphericals to Google Maps

[Gregg Childs]

Hi,

 

I stitch spherical panos using PTGui Pro 9 on my PC (Windows 7). I want to start submitting some of my sphericals to Google Maps (Google calls them photo spheres).

 

Being more a photographer instead of a computer specialist, I need some guidance. How do I stitch an appropriate spherical in PTGui Pro that Google Maps will accept?

What size and resolution should the resulting jpeg be? How do I get it uploaded to Google Maps? Do I need a special app? And, where do I get the metadata that Google Maps requires?

 

I sure do appreciate all the help. Thanks.

 

gregg

[Rick Drew]

Good luck. I've spent hours looking into it. If you shoot and stitch from an Android phone, it's built-in.  I'm a "Google Trusted Photographer" and used to shoot business photos and panos for their program. We had a great system back then, but Google pretty much screwed all of us over. 

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[Rick Drew]

Here's the help from Google - https://support.google.com/maps/?hl=en#topic=6275604

You'll see that even with a DSLR, you need to use a phone.  The newest info has you uploading your photos to Google Drive, then using your Android device to stitch and position using their app.

[Rick Drew]

Not that difficult - just did one - 

Install the app on your device.

Upload the stitched, completed pano photo to your Google Drive account. 

Run the app.

Find the photo.

Link the photo.

Publish it.

I published a photo in under two minutes, and it appeared on Google maps almost instantly.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Salon+730+Because+Of+You/@41.8850276,-87.6164972,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-6YcEK0zhBnM%2FWK4Z4cGHTMI%2FAAAAAAAAPIA%2FLYvJo3thebYAteYsCjxACsAmVPJSJDDuwCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-6YcEK0zhBnM%2FWK4Z4cGHTMI%2FAAAAAAAAPIA%2FLYvJo3thebYAteYsCjxACsAmVPJSJDDuwCLIB%2Fw129-h106-k-no-pi-0-ya0-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i5656!8i2828!4m5!3m4!1s0x880e2b582e55cde7:0xb2752ce48cee5f1f!8m2!3d41.8850276!4d-87.6164972!6m1!1e1

[Keith]

I've done this with one of my panoramas to see how it works. Stitched everything as usual, adding a logo at the bottom. No wider than 20° I think, any larger and it might be rejected.

I then added the standard equirectangular image to my Apple photo library and waited until it was copied onto my iPhone (or iPad).

On the iOS device I then open the Google Street view app and find the image to add to Street view.

I can't actually remember where the gps coordinates are added. It will either be embedded in the equirectangular image by yourself, or with the Streetview app.

As an aside, on a recent holiday in Scotland, I used my phone to take some full 360° spheres with the Streetview app, all handheld and the result wasn't too bad. If I had a phone signal I could upload them there and then and publish them to Google maps. By the time we'd got back to our accommodation they'd been viewed quite a few times.

Exploring Google maps with the app I found it quite surprising how many beauty hotspots had no 360° images and it was interesting to add some so quickly.

[PTGui Support]

FYI GPS coordinates can be added in the Metadata window in PTGui (click
the Metadata button in the Create Panorama tab). Or if the source images
have GPS coordinates embedded, PTGui will copy them to the panorama.

Kind regards,

New House Internet Services BV
Joost Nieuwenhuijse

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