Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Google’s new Street View app lets you add panoramic imagery and browse collections

By

googles new street view app lets you add panoramic imagery and browse collections 2015
Google
Stay-at-home vacationers who prefer a comfy sofa to a cramped seat in coach can now even more easily explore all the world has to offer via a new Android and iOS app rolled out by Google on Thursday.

Street View – yes, that’s the name of the app – is designed to encourage regular folks to contribute their own 360-degree content, while new galleries offer easier access to Street View’s vast collection of global imagery.

Recommended Videos

The newly named app essentially replaces slightly different versions of what mobile users may already have been using, but for users of those earlier apps, the changes will be noticeable.

Related

User-generated photo spheres

For starters, you can now easily publish your own photo spheres from around the world, or, as Google says, “from around the block.” These spheres will be added to Google’s existing collection of Street View imagery, allowing you to make a real contribution to the Web giant’s effort to mapping the planet with 360-degree pictures.

The newly launched Street View app lets you create the photo spheres directly from your Android handset or iPhone, and also supports spherical cameras like the Ricoh Theta S and NCTech iris360.

street view app for android and ios
Google

This should certainly prove fun for users who want to be a part of one of Google’s most popular products, contributing their own imagery for the service – and yes, Street View imagery remains part of the separate Google Maps app, so your work will be seen there, too.

Of course, for the Mountain View company the feature is a cost effective way of  expanding its image collection even further, from yet-to-be-photographed streets and trails to the interiors of cafes, bars and beyond. Let’s just hope the company has someone on hand to check the posted content, or it could end up in an unfortunate Map Maker-type mess.

Explore

Other features include a new Explore section offering smartphone and tablet users quick access to Street View’s vast database of imagery, including curated galleries so you can “explore world landmarks, discover natural wonders, and step inside locations such as museums, arenas, restaurants, and small businesses,” the Web giant says.

So if you’re looking for some inspiration for your next big trip, or simply want to see more of the world from the comfort of your own couch, be sure to check out the new Explore gallery featuring Google’s most popular Street View collections from Maps as well as the photo spheres contributed by the likes of you and me. It’s all there, from the interior of the world’s largest passenger plane to the top of the Eiffel Tower to the Great Barrier Reef. Enjoy.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Google is launching a powerful new AI app for your Android phone
Google Gemini app on Android.

Remember Bard, Google’s answer to ChatGPT? Well, it is now officially called Gemini. Also, all those fancy AI features that previously went by the name Duet AI have been folded under the Gemini branding. In case you haven’t been following up all the AI development flood, the name is derived from the multi-modal large language model of the same name.

To go with the renaming efforts, Google has launched a standalone Gemini app on Android. Moreover, the Gemini experience is also being made available to iPhone users within the Google app on iOS. But wait, there’s more.

Read more
The iPhone’s new Journal app is worse than I thought
Apple Journal app on an iPhone 15 Pro.

One of Apple’s recent focuses on iOS and watchOS is mental health and wellness. In the most recent watchOS 10 and iOS 17 updates, Apple added Mindfulness capture, which lets you log your mood for the day or how you feel at a particular moment. Similarly, it also launched a new Journal app.

Though Apple announced the Journal app in June’s WWDC23 keynote, Journal was absent from the initial iOS 17 release. With iOS 17.2, Apple finally released Journal to the public as another tool for better mental health and wellbeing.

Read more
The 10 best apps for your 2024 New Year’s resolutions
An app folder on an iPhone titled "New Year's Apps."

Now that the holidays have come and gone, it’s time to look forward to the new year. And you know what that means — 2024 New Year’s resolutions!

I know that we all try to make some resolutions each year, but it’s hard to stay on top of it. Whether it’s trying to eat healthier and exercise more, managing your budget better, or even just trying to form better overall habits and break bad ones, there are apps to help you stay on track.

Read more