Street view

[EWAC]

Can some one tell me why the photo images used in google earth can't be used with VR for a more realistic street experiance please ?

[andybak]

I don't understand what you're asking. Google Earth VR has both 3D textured buildings and 360 Street View photos (I much prefer the former - I got bored of 360 photos back when I had a cheap Google Cardboard headset)

[EWAC]

Am I wrong or can you still land on any street and walk as if you are there. For instance, the other day I went to where I lived ( in non VR) when I was 10 tears old and walked all the way to my school,About 2.5 miles. I have been unable to do this in VR with my htc vive.

[andybak]

> Am I wrong or can you still land on any street and walk as if you are there.

I'm going to assume you're talking about 3D textured buildings and not 360 photos as you still haven't made that clear.

Most major cities in Europe or North America have 3D textured buildings and you can zoom in close (there's an option that you need to disable to get really close) and "walk" through them.

If you are talking about 360 street view photos then I'm not sure what you mean by "walk" - each photo is taken at an interval so you have to jump a few meters at a time.

In both cases - it's always been like this.

[SilentCaay]

To use StreetView in VR, look at the bubble on your left controller. Once it's showing the thing you want to look at, whether it be StreetView or a 360 photo, stick your head inside it. If it's StreetView or a series of interconnected 360 photos then you can point with your left controller and click to move around. You will see arrows on the ground to indicate that you can move in that direction.

I have a series in Google Earth VR, if you need an example (timestamp 1:59 for moving around in StreetView):
https://youtu.be/ziBnLcP7MGs?t=119

[Starvingartizt]

i htink he means when NOT in street view use those images...thats crazy talk ;)

[andybak]

Originally posted by Starvingartizt:

i htink he means when NOT in street view use those images...thats crazy talk ;)

They are used. The existing 3D geometry and textures are generated from aerial photography and street view imagery.

Source: One of the Google Maps team I spoke to last week.

[SilentCaay]

He said he uses it in Google Earth but can't use it in VR so he's most likely taking about some feature that's already implemented. There aren't any features that only work on the desktop version that I know of, though, aside from 2d photos which don't show up in VR.

[EWAC]

Sorry all I made a mistake. Must be getting old. Thanks for all the replies.

[Slacker]

Originally posted by EWAC:

Can some one tell me why the photo images used in google earth can't be used with VR for a more realistic street experiance please ?

What did you expect? That it would be GTA V experience? People and cars pass you by, sun is shining down your face and your driving in your brand new lamborghini down the sunset boulevard street. Bro we ain't there yet, you'll have to wait.