Google "Beyond the Map" 360 degree camera

George Ebersole · August 7, 2016

During the last couple of hours I've been playing with Google's "Beyond the Map" showcase of Rio De Janero in Brazil, and the 360 degree "shot" looks like it's a series of cameras that are linked by a high end PC that digitally assembles the images from each camera to make one massive 720 degree image.

Do I have that right, or is there something else going on here?

https://beyondthemap.withgoogle.com/en-us/beyond-the-map/rio

Leo Anthony Vale · August 9, 2016

Yes.

I once saw a Google car drive past after turning off of the Birmingham Bridge.

It had an orange sphere on the roof which had which had lens around its equator and above, with one at the north pole shooting

up. So they're covering a dome.

Didn't think they were actually shooting.

They were coming from the general area of the Google office which is in a former Nabisco plant (cookies!).

Which is near CMU and Pitt, so they grab up computer students from them.

---in TohoScope,

---LV

George Ebersole · August 9, 2016

So, it was a giant 720 degree camera in orange housing? Is that right?

Leo Anthony Vale · August 10, 2016

Here's some pictures I found on google:

https://cdn.brightvessel.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/iStock_000019412382_Small3.jpg

The spheres also come in blue and green.

& a back pack for climbing city steps.

---LV

David Peterson · August 29, 2016

What they use for Google Maps and what they use for exploring in 360 degree videos is very different.

For the videos it is likely 6 or so GoPros in a custom rig arranged in a sphere, which then gets stitched together later on the PC (such as by using Kolor's software).

I do this myself, here is a pic for example of what I've been using:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154017798262909&set=a.10150525021567909.382065.503317908&type=3&theater