Does anyone know exactly how to upload DJI drone 360 pics to Google maps? I have tried many methods with my 360 pics and none of them ever actually turn up on Google maps. I’m using a DJI mini three Pro and I use iOS. I have tried directly uploading from Google photos, and from the DJI fly app, I have tried using street view studio, I have tried a couple other methods that I can’t even remember at the moment but nothing seems to work. The only 360 photo that has appeared on Google maps is a static regular flat image and it does have over 300 views now but it’s not what I wanted, I wanted a 360 picture. On a sidenote I can upload these 360 pictures to Facebook and they work just fine as scrollable zoomable 360 pics.
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Maybe we can get @MarcoDavoli to chime in regarding the street view app.
Are you posting the 360s to actual Points of Interest (POI), @Rickyzeigler?
360 images on Maps need to be in the ratio width = height x 2. Exactly.
Try uploading such a photo just as a normal flat photo.
I remember some old guidelines that 360 need to be taken at approximately head height = 2 meters above the ground. So if you try to upload images taken from a higher altitude this could be the issue. You can easily test this yourself.
I’m sure @potaro67 can give you a better answer.
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Hi, yes, I have been assigning them either an address or a city such as Chino Valley or Prescott, and sometimes they do show up as a flat stretched out image but never in 360. Here is a screenshot, picks 1 to 4 are posted as 360 photos, but they do not appear as 360 photos.
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Oh, that is why. We can not upload photos including 360 photos to streets, cities etc. Please try to upload one to a “normal” pin like a business where the button or link to upload a photo or video is available.
Please check this post if you are interested in the difference between normal pins and geographical areas.
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I just did an experiment that was inappropriate.
I gave it an inappropriate listing in Photosphere and uploaded it to Street View using GoThru.
◆Normal
Given a listing for the POI (Peacock) as a tourist attraction (https://maps.app.goo.gl/CyUYxrJaZDC9GreA6):
https://maps.app.goo.gl/zrq8Zrpf5kzcotnj8
◆abnormal
Listings given by the municipality (Okayama Prefecture, Japan) (https://maps.app.goo.gl/4q1mJoaMtoMqPLZv9):
https://maps.app.goo.gl/hYU9tgVseWoe4dZP9
A listing with the country name (Japan) attached.
The status currently shows that it is being processed by Google, and when you access the URL with the coordinates specified, you will get an error message saying “No photos available for user,” and other nearby photos will be displayed.
In fact, in Japan, it is possible to upload Street View photos with listings for local governments.
There are many other examples, such as the ones below.
Street View is processed differently in each country.
I believe I know pretty much everything about how the Street View system works in Japan, but I can’t guarantee that it will work the same way outside of Japan.
The Street View app has already been discontinued by Google.
Currently, the following methods can be used to upload a PhotoSphere to Street View.
- Upload a photo to a POI on Google Maps.
With this method, the coordinates of the photo will be matched to the POI. - Use various third-party upload tools (GoThru, Dean’s tools, etc.).
With these methods, you can arbitrarily set the coordinates and orientation of the photo, connections between photos, etc.
The camera height guidelines are set by Google to prevent people from peering into private residences from above fences.
The official Google Street View car has lowered the camera height due to a change in the standards.
And we contributors should also follow the same standards when uploading photos.
Currently, the recommended camera height is 1.20–1.80 m.
And there are guidelines that say you should avoid taking photos in places where people cannot enter, as well as in schools, military facilities, and private homes.
But these are just guidelines.
In reality, any photo can be published on Street View as long as it doesn’t show nude people or violent or anti-social images.
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Ciao @Rickyzeigler ,
Until February 23, 2023, there was a mobile app called Street View that allowed users to upload 360° photos and video to Google Maps anywhere they liked.
Today, the process is a bit different, especially if you’re uploading to a location identified by a POI (Point of Interest) or to a generic place:
1) Location identified by a POI
This is really easy. You can upload your 360° photo or video just like you would a regular photo or video directly through the Google Maps interface.
2) Generic location (not tied to a POI)
As far as I know, there are two main options:
- UL2GSV:
This is a powerful suite of tools created by Dean Zwikel. It allows you to manage 360° photos as well as Street View videos (the ones that appear as blue lines on Google Maps). Highly recommended if you’re comfortable working with more advanced tools. - Panorra:
A simple and user-friendly app. You just select your 360° photo from your album and upload it. You can manually enter GPS coordinates if they’re missing and add a caption. It’s quick and intuitive.
Just search for “Panorra app” or “UL2GSV” on Google to find them.
Let me know if you’d like more details.
Take care!
Marco
Ciao Jake (@JustJake )
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You can still use Street View Studio https://streetviewstudio.maps.google.com/ to make new street view paths even as a Local Guide. You do not need registration - just a Google account.
Note Street View Studio will only load content to a path that is present on Maps and does not have Street View imagery already.
Paul
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Hi Paul, @PaulPavlinovich ,
are you really sure? Look at this:
Google Maps here:
This is the area of La Maddalena called “Cala Inferno”. There are two TRAIL to reach it. The first (the one you see on the map) is the old one that today (I walked few weeks ago) is almost impossibile to follow. Vegetation / bushes totally cover it. Nature win! There is another trail easier and used since years but I was NEVER able to get the approval from Google Maps. (and I did this many times. almost all the TRAIL in this area were submitted by me). Have a look here
Despite the trail is NOT on Google Maps I was able to create the StreetView
In this “National Park” I have created all the streetview of the trail.
This is another StreetView that has no street/path registration on Google Maps
Maybe we need to write a small guide on what we can upload and how.
On connect I saw many people / many request asking how to. All the informations I saw are really “generic” and confusing
Ciao Marco
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I didn’t catch this at first. Howdy, fellow Arizonian, welcome to Connect!
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This is quite surprising. Years ago, @ErmesT wrote about finding breaks in the Blue Line that signified errors in the road drawn on the map. I would then assume that for a full trail (not just a single photo sphere), there would need to be an unbroken road/trail on the map. Pretty cool!
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Dear Jake (@JustJake ),
yes, surprising. But is not the only one. There are different “blue line” where there is NO street/trail registered/mapped on Google Maps.
I’ve often found myself writing that many of us have accumulated a vast wealth of experience in specific activities, which we’ve learned and discovered independently through trial and error.
I also recall that some time ago (we’re talking a few years back), Ermes ( @ErmesT ) mentioned that perhaps it wasn’t possible to create a Street View where no path or road exists.
However, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve done it more than once.
This leads me to a potential question for Jan ( @JanVanHaver ): “What would you ask the Googlers?” My question would be: “Dear Googlers, is it possible, through the Connect Moderators (who should filter and verify everything), to examine some of our questions and doubts to get an official answer from Google?
This is a typical case: Can it be done or not? To this day, we rely only on guidelines that often use the conditional, with phrases like ‘it might be possible…’. The use of the conditional in a response is never a good thing, as it leaves room for interpretation. Who knows, perhaps Jan can still submit this question, which might lead to a definitive answer?”
Warm regards to everyone
PS: Argh! Unfortunately, I broke the 360-degree camera. Rock 1 - Camera 0.
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Hi @Rickyzeigler , welcome to Connect and thank you for asking.
I see that in the conversation there is a mix-up of different subjects @MarcoDavoli , @JustJake , @PaulPavlinovich
To respond to the initial question
As far as I know the reason is that, while the DJI mini 3 Pro is capable to take “panoramic” photos, such photos are not spherical. Nadir and azimuth are missing from the photo. In this case Google Maps will not consider that photos as “photosphere”. While you can upload the photos on FB, you cannot use them in Maps.
In fact 360° is a term that defines a circular photo, but only spherical photos are accepted in Maps. To produce a photosphere with your drone you may need to take multiple photos and then to stitch them with a third party software.
The result will be very similar to this, even if the photo here below was taken, if a remember correctly, with a Mavic
Regarding “how” to upload a photosphere, the procedure is exactly the same used for a regular photo. Google Maps will identify the photo as a photosphere and will display it correctly.
Street View Studio is a platform for uploading Google Street View (blue lines). To do that, we upload a spherical video taken with a spherical camera. The software will then split the video in single images, and connect them in Google Maps by adding the navigation arrows, creating in this way the “blue line”.
You are right, @MarcoDavoli, @JustJake . In some case, like a pathway, the presence of a road is no longer required by Google Maps to create the blue line (but this is not the topic of this conversation).
A photosphere should always be attached to a Listing in Google Maps, @Rickyzeigler , as mentioned by @MortenCopenhagen , but there is not an issue with the eight of the photo, as you can see from the example provided above. That requirement is related to Street View, but not to single photosphere attached to a POI, even if it’s always preferable to take it at the eight of our eyes (or just a bit higher), because you will have a representation of the subject close to what we see in reality
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Ciao @ErmesT ,
When I wrote the post I assumed that, when @Rickyzeigler talked about drones and 360° photos, he was referring to a 360-degree camera mounted on a drone using a dedicated frame.
We often see photos and videos captured this way on Google Maps; and are really great.
Hey @Rickyzeigler , we need some clarification from you!
In my opinion, “should” expresses a recommendation or advice, not a requirement. If Google didn’t want us to upload 360° photos outside of POIs, they could simply block the ability to add them in those cases.
There are several tools that can still get the job done.
Take a look at this photo taken out of a POI.
I still wait to know if my 360 camera could be repair. I need to take my last footage of the National Park and, in this case, I’ll add some 360 photo of the fortification of the island of Spargi.
Take care
Ciao
Marco
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Hi Marco,
@ErmesT is correct, while the wording is “should” the ability to load to other places is there to allow 360 paths to be uploaded. There is clear guidance in the Local Guides rules and the Maps User Generated Content policy. This has been a popular topic at Connect on Googler panel discussions.
People have been removed from Local Guides and Maps for not following this rule, it was popular for a while to upload a photo to a city because you’d instantly get millions of views. You may notice this imagery (and the people who put it there) are just a distant memory today.
Paul
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Hi @PaulPavlinovich
Hi @ErmesT ,
thanks a lot for this explanation.
Just to be clear (I hope I didn’t misunderstand; my English isn’t that good):
even if it’s technically possible, Google does NOT want users to upload photos or videos — including 360° format — in places that are not POIs.
Is that correct?
Thank you very much.
Take care
Marco
Well, @MarcoDavoli
What Google says here is “you can’t upload photos or videos on address or coordinates”
The use of the verb “you can’t” instead of “you don’t have to” has been under discussion in Connect for quite a long time, because it’s ambiguous: you can’t because there isn’t a button, or you can’t because we don’t want you to do that?
Obviously, if Google wanted us to do that, they would have provided a button everywhere.
However there are third party software, and also other Google products, that have the possibility to do that. One of the program was the Street View App, now dismissed.
However it can be difficult to modify a complex software like Google Maps to remove all the permissions. That’s why, IMHO, Google uses the “you can’t”. However the Connect Moderators that were here from the beginning, like @PaulPavlinovich and myself know very well that Google don’t want us to use that workaround.
I will not be surprised if one day Google will remove all the photos that are uploaded in addresses.
But of course they will have to find a way to do that avoiding to remove all the 360° photos that were uploaded using a way offered by Google: the street view app
とても興味深い議論が続いていますね。
ストリートビューシステムは国によって動作を変えています。ですから、誰かがそのご自身の環境で確認できたことが全世界にも同様に適用できると考えることは、間違いです。
また、「常識」は各個人ごとに異なっていることも認識する必要があります。
もし、一般的には不可能だと言われていることが、あなたには処理可能である(実現できた)ことを示したい場合には、ぜひ、その具体的なサンプルを1つ以上ご紹介ください。
もし、ある事柄について、Googleがその判断基準を示しているガイドラインが存在するならば、そのURLと、現時点での該当部分のスクリーンショットを提示してください。(ガイドラインも頻繁に変更されます)
そして、「禁止ではないが推奨されていない」「必須ではないが推奨されている」などの判断がグレーである事項についての意見は、どちらかが譲歩しない限り、どちらもがその議論の勝者です。決して、どちらかが屈服する必要はありません。
もし、すでにその件についての議論がなされている場所をご存知の場合には、そのURLを提示していただけると嬉しいです。
もちろん、ストリートビューシステムの理想的な姿を議論していくことは悪いことではありません。
Googleからの公式な案内が存在していない仮説については、それらのすべてが単なる個人の狭い経験からの推測であり、なんの裏付けも存在していないことを知っておく必要があります。
そしてもし、その仮説が現在のストリートビューシステムの実態に即した正しいものであったとしても、明日にはGoogleは現在の仕様を予告なしに変更します。
---------- 以下は、私が世界各国で経験したことから推測している、ストリートビューシステムの挙動です。 もちろん、私の推測が間違いであるという意見を私は歓迎します。
青線は、どこの国でも、基本的にはvideoを撮影した座標の通りに配置されます。
しかし、日本以外の国では、20m以内にGoogleマップ上に道路が描かれている場合には、青線はその道路に"snap"されます。
私がイギリスで描いた青線は、イギリスのGoogleのルールに従って描かれています。
ですから私は、道路ではなくて、鉄道の線路上に青線を描くことは出来ましたが、その20m以内に道路が存在している場所では、青線は不自然にsnapされています。
日本では、ユーザーがアップロードするSV写真に対して、国名のリスティングを付与することは出来ません。
過去には、それを付与することが出来ました。そして、私も、実験的にそのようなSVを作成していました。
幸いなことに私のアカウントはbanされずに、私の実験のための写真である、日本をリスティングに持つSV写真は、他の写真とのリンクを持ったまま、削除されました。
上記のSVを真っすぐ進んだ場所にあったはずの私のSV写真は、「日本」のリスティングを持っていました。現在も、その写真に向かっている矢印は残っていますが、私の「日本」のSV写真は閲覧不可能です。
ユーザーの操作ではなく、Googleの操作によって、ユーザー作成の写真が国名のリスティングを持つことは可能です。
もちろんそれは、ユーザーがコントロールできることではありません。
しかし、県名をリスティングとして持つSV写真は容認されています。
私は昨日、実験のためにそのようなSV写真を作成しました。
上記のように簡単に作成できます。
県名とは、米国で言うところの州名に該当するものです。
また、県の1レベル下の組織名である市町村名についても同様です。
そして、私が住んでいる赤磐市では、そのPOIの「ストリートビューと360度ビュー」の写真の半数以上が、私(potaro67)が撮影したものです。
(上記内の私のSV写真は、リスティングは市名ではなくて他のPOIの名称のままですが、市名のPOIの中でも表示されています)
カメラの高度の要件( How to upload DJI drone 360 pics to Google Maps? - #6 by potaro67 )は、GoogleがGoogleの公式撮影車に課している、裁判忌避のための要件だと私は考えています。
もちろん、Googleは、上記の記事に書かれているカメラの設置の高さをユーザーにも推奨しているのでしょう。
しかし、その高さ制限をあなたが守る必要はありません。
そして、Googleは、写真の著作権は、その写真の撮影者に帰属すると明言しています。ですから、あなたが撮影したSV写真がプライバシーの侵害であると訴えられた場合に、その裁判を闘う義務があるのはあなたです。
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