Hello Google Local Guides,
recently I wrote an article in the Slovak language about the creation and implementation of a virtual tour into Google Street View. I decided to briefly translate my article into English.
Contents:
- Photography scheduling
- How To Take 360-Degree Spherical Photographs
- Post-processing
- How to Create a Virtual Tour
- Why to Use Google Street View
You may think that it would be fine just to describe the last part only. However, in order to create a virtual tour in the right and flawless way, taking 360-degree spherical photographs correctly is also necessary. No matter what shooting technology you use, I suggest to follow these principles:
Photography scheduling
Before shooting, we should consider the following factors: weather, cleanliness, and people.
If we want to shoot outside, then we want to have nice and sunny weather in our pictures. The best time for outdoor shooting is when the sun is high in the sky or the time after sunset or before sunrise.
Make sure the area is clean prior to the shoot.
People could be or could be not on the photographs. I prefer to shoot without or with a minimal number of people. The reason is, when we shoot people who don`t know about that, they could be captured with a weird pose which is not desirable for the photo.
How to Take 360-Degree Spherical Photographs
The following tips are more practical and focus on - where and how to stand with your camera on the tripod.
Prior to shooting pictures it is necessary to walk around the whole area which will be in the photographs. We have to think about the spots, from where the photographs will be taken and how many photographs we will need.
A virtual walk copy the natural corridors and create logical lines within the space which is equal to the real world. By natural corridors, I mean the places, where people move. Here belongs aisles, pathways, and places between the furniture.
The connection between the two nearest points (places) should copy these corridors and between the rooms should cross the doors.
The distance between these two points should not be too great (it could be about 1.5m, 3m, or 5m). In a bigger space, it could be more but if we don`t keep these recommendations, the points on the maps might not match with the arrows, which show the direction in the virtual tour.
Another important thing is to have your camera leveled horizontally. The height of the camera is in the height of sight of an average human (160 – 180 cm).
6 recommendations for photographing a virtual tour:
- Consider in advance where you will shoot the photographs.
- Choose places for shooting according to how you walk through space.
- The line between the two photos should copy the corridors and go through the door when passing between rooms.
- The distance between the two points should not be too great.
- The camera should be horizontally aligned.
- The device should be at the level of view of an ordinary person.
Post-processing
Just like in the case of the classic photography, the same applies in this case. Better shooting means less post-processing. However, some necessary editing still has to be done before we could create a virtual tour.
Before and after editing I open all photographs in a special program – browser for 360-degree pictures. Here I can see if everything is OK and if a Photo does not contain any stitching errors or disrupting lens flares. For Post-processing, I am using software Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. A brief comment on individual adjustments follows.
Adjust the resolution of 360 photos – Maximal resolution for 360-degree photos for Google Street View is 13312 x 6656 px. It is not possible to upload a photo in a bigger resolution.
Elimination of stitching errors – For removing stitching errors, I use Photoshop tools - transform and clone stamp.
Remove the tripod from the photo – If we want to have 360 photos without the tripod, we have to think about that during the shooting. If we shoot with a panoramic head and system camera, then we can remove the tripod following these instructions. When we want to blur or replace the tripod with something else, we can use the plugin Flexify for Photoshop. This plugin can transform the photo in a way, that the nadir of the photo will be in the center of the photograph.
Adjustments of exposure, contrast, brightness, color, and white balance – This is a very complex topic that needs a separate article. In short: you have to adjust the photograph in the way it will look better, brighter but still real and reliable.
Blurring the faces and car license plates – Due to Google rules, the car license plates and human faces have to be blurred on pictures. You could achieve this with filters blur or pixelate.
How to Create a Virtual Tour
Our 360-degree photographs are ready for a virtual tour in Google Street View. What else do we need? Definitely the Google account and the Google Street View application for smartphones. This application is necessary for uploading the photographs to Street View. Since November 2020 it is not possible to create connections and routing in the native Street View app.
If we want to connect 360-degree photographs to a virtual tour, then we need to use external software such as GoThru. In addition to a monthly subscription, GoThru offers a pay as you go option, where you pay 10$ for each virtual tour. Less than 4 pictures are for free. A similar software is Panoskin.
After signing in GoThru requests an access to Google Drive and Street View app. Then we can start creating a virtual tour. At the beginning, we choose a specific place on Google Maps where we want to upload 360-degree photographs and create a virtual tour.
Then we progressively determine these parameters to the pictures:
- GPS coordinates – the location of the photo or (blue) dot on the map.
- World sides or orientation of the photo according to world sides. The world side settings affect the display of arrows in the virtual tour.
- Connections with other photographs
After each processed photo, a virtual tour is gradually created according to GPS, the direction of the photographs, and connections. For exact instructions on how to work with the application, see GoThru’s Youtube channel. You should continuously check and save your virtual tour.
When you are done and everything is OK, you can publish your virtual tour to Street View. If you are creating a virtual tour from more than 4 pictures, then you have to pay 10$ before the uploading process will start. A complete upload and correct display on the maps could take 48 hours. Then your virtual tour is ready for sharing with the world.
Why to Use Google Street View
If we want to present some spaces to the general public through a virtual tour, the first and obvious platform for its placement should be Google Street View. There is no reason to not use this platform.
Before I mention all advantages, I need to point out one case when we can`t use Street View and one limit of this platform.
We can`t use Google Street View for virtual tours, aimed at promoting the sale of real estate.
The only one limit of Google Street View is, that it cannot support inserting of interactive elements to the tour such as videos, pictures sounds, etc.
And now advantages why is good to use Google Street View.
- Street View is integrated in Google Maps. Google Maps is connected with Google search. It is proven that using a virtual tour in Google Maps increasing the searchability of the place. In other words: using virtual tours in Google Maps improves SEO.
- Virtual Tour in Google Maps is easily accessible to customers and they could find it simply if they need to see it.
- It is simple to insert a virtual tour into the website with an HTML iframe.
- The big and significant plus is, that placing a virtual tour on Google servers works free of charge.
. Good.