Helvensteijn.com » Street View http://helvensteijn.com Some fancy, yet to be devised subtitle goes here... Sat, 26 Jun 2010 01:20:53 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Google Street View in 3D http://helvensteijn.com/blog/2010/04/01/google-street-view-in-3d/ http://helvensteijn.com/blog/2010/04/01/google-street-view-in-3d/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:31:09 +0000 Colin Helvensteijn http://helvensteijn.com/?p=1284 new 3D control in Google Street View

Google Street View 3D

Funny, but not sure if it’s an April Fools joke. :) Just looking at some Street View imagery, when I noticed a little orange guy with 3D glasses right underneath the controls, as can be seen to the right. Turns out that when you click it, it will show you the imagery in — yeah, you guessed that right ;) — 3D. You do need a pair of those red/green 3D glasses though. Which of course, I don’t have. That figures… :(

So, unfortunately I can’t try it out right now, but if you do happen to have some 3D glasses laying around, you could, for instance, have a look at the entrance of the Efteling, which is a theme park a few kilometers from here. I have no idea how extensive this 3D coverage is, but it might just be available everywhere, just some feature Google’s camera cars have had since the beginning but they just haven’t told us about. Anyway, I didn’t do an extensive search, but I have yet to discover a Street View area that hasn’t got 3D imagery.

Next up on my todo list: fashion some 3D glasses somehow, or just get a pair somewhere. :P

Update (April 9th, 2010)

Apparently, it was just an April Fools joke after all. The option is now gone.

]]> http://helvensteijn.com/blog/2010/04/01/google-street-view-in-3d/feed/ 0 Google Street View in my home town http://helvensteijn.com/blog/2009/08/13/google-street-view-in-my-home-town/ http://helvensteijn.com/blog/2009/08/13/google-street-view-in-my-home-town/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:23:15 +0000 Colin Helvensteijn http://helvensteijn.com/?p=952 This morning, I saw a Google Street View car driving around in my home town Oosterhout (map). I it was a black Ford Focus (if I’m not mistaking), and it had a German license plate from Hamburg (HH). Unfortunately, I was unable to take a photo of it. However, I might encounter it some more in the coming days, since I’m a taxi driver (so driving around a lot), and it’s perfect weather (dry, but not too sunny) for Street View photographing these few days. So I may get another chance.

I knew Google was busy in the Netherlands, they already have Street View for Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Groningen available. And they’re also photographing touristic attractions by bicycle right now. What I didn’t know is that they are actually photographing smaller municipalities. Oosterhout is relatively small, it has just over 50,000 inhabitants.

It’ll probably be a couple of months before the pictures are online, but it’d be nice to be able to see my home with Street View, or show it to others. I may even find myself (or my taxi anyway) in one of those pictures. :P

Update (November 12, 2009)

Apparently, Google hasn’t really done my home town, just the freeways and a couple of local streets. Either that, or they still have to process the photos. In any case, Breda, the nearest larger city, is now extensively covered in Street View. You can use the link above and zoom out a bit to see what’s covered in my neighborhood (drag out the little orange figure above the zoom bar; covered streets get a blue outline).

Update (March 12, 2010)

Google has been busy again. Pretty much whole of the Netherlands is now covered, including my home town. I can now virtually visit my own home. :)

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