Enhancing Experiences and Bringing Reality Closer through 360 Images on Google Maps and Street View

Let me start off with showing a 360 photo from 2015, of Coorg hills in Karnataka, India. It took 24 individual photos from a friend’s DSLR and then has been stitched on photoshop. Even then, it is more of a panorama than a 360. Click here to view this image in Google Photos 360 viewer

forward one more year, 2016, when I got my first android Mobile. A curious tech enthusiast, I rooted the phone immediately and started tweaking the phone and exploring apps. That’s when I came across google’s photosphere. This beauty, that was way ahead of its time, showed me that I can do the impossible, capturing 360 photos from a very basic android phone, when 360 cameras were almost non-existent at that point of time. The possibilities of this amazing technology piqued my interest.

Studying in Kanchipuram, the city of thousand temples, and living at one of the highest points of the town, I captured my first public 360 photo of my penthouse with the view of the city, which now has around 3.2 million views on Google maps. Click here to view the photo on Google Maps

But back then, I don’t even remember uploading this image to google maps. The only thing that mattered to me, was that I could show people a new way to experience the world through a digital medium, beyond just photographs. The responses I got from the people when I first showed it to them, included not just surprise or disbelief or wonder, getting a little creeped out was also common before they got used to this format.

When I took up an internship in goa, at a backpacking hostel, I made a 360 photo of the interiors of the communal space in the hostel. Just this one single photo brought down 1.5x the guests than the hostel would generally attract. That is the impact of 360 photos. Click here to look at it in 360 viewer

As a Backpacking nomad, I get to travel and have breathtaking views of places that very few other people get a chance to experience. I took it upon myself to bring these experiences down to the lesser fortunate people, who cannot physically be there and experience them. and make them experience these places, as if they are present there, thanks to DIY cardboard VR lenses.

Over a span of 3 years, still equipped with a basic Android camera, I was able to capture at least 200 images in 360, and bringing them closer to the people who can’t reach these places. People have been requesting me to capture their shops, homes, interiors and also special requests such as capturing a pilgrim spot in 360 for my grandparents who were too old to get there. Click here to view it in 360 viewer

Thus, my contributions to google maps have been to enrich the experiences of people, and bring immersive experiences closer to lay people. I am still discovering new and innovative ways to bring technology closer to common people, and what better a platform than Google, where this work comes closer to a huge public that I have no possibilities to reach other ways!

P.S: If you want to look at all the 360 photos I’ve captured from my phone so far, Here is a Public 360 Album from my Google Photos