I used to publish my 360° (spherical) photos through the Google Street app, but since that app was discontinued I’ve been searching for alternatives. I enjoy photography as a hobby and I love contributing to Google Maps with my pictures from different places I’ve visited during my travels.
Since I don’t work professionally in this field, I’m looking for a free app or tool that would let me publish multiple 360° photos directly to Google Maps or Street View.
Do you know of any reliable free options or methods to continue sharing 360° photos with the community? Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Welcome back to Connect, @MWitarsa
Well, it is easier than what you think: a photosphere is uploaded in Google Maps exactly like a regular (flat) photo.
Let me explain. A lot of things have changed since the Street View app was discontinued. Previously, photo spheres could be uploaded anywhere on Maps, including the exact coordinates where they were taken. Now, photo spheres must be uploaded to a Google Maps listing. Previously, the Street View app allowed you to take photos with your phone. Now, to create a photo sphere, you need to use a different app or a 360° camera. Previously, the Street View app allowed you to link photo spheres together, creating virtual tours (indoors) or Street View experiences (at street level). Now, the two processes are completely separate:
To link images for virtual tours, you need to use third-party software.
To create Street View content, you capture 360° video (as explained in the links you shared in your post) and upload it via Street View Studio, a web interface provided by Google Maps.
That is why I am distinguishing between individual photospheres, virtual tours, and Street View.
happy to see you back here in Connect. Hope you enjoy this place and… the people.
Like you, I was using StreetView app on my mobile phone but, as you know, on March 2023 Google has closed the support and also the usa of this app.
The desktop / web version of StreetView Studio, even if reports video and photo, is for video only.
Actually you can upload a 360° image ONLY in where there is a “place” but not where you want. Maybe you find a really interesting area that you want to share but the POI do not exist, so, no upload allowed.
In this case you need an alternative; the one that StreetView gave us times ago.
But there are some alternatives and I use one with lots of satisfaction.
Look for “Panorra 360”. Totally free
It allow you to choose your 360° Photo, to fix or add the GPS coordinate, add a short description / caption and upload both on their system and to Google Maps.
Thanks for the detailed explanation. That distinction between photospheres, virtual tours, and Street View content makes sense.
However, my experience was a bit different when I tried uploading a 360° image directly to Google Maps. In my case, Google Maps treated the file as a regular flat photo rather than recognizing it as an interactive photosphere.
For example, this image was uploaded from a DJI Mavic 2 Pro panorama and is displayed as a standard photo instead of a navigable 360° sphere:
Another challenge I encountered is that I was not able to review or choose the exact location (latitude/longitude) where the photosphere should be placed. In the past, the Street View workflow provided much more control over the positioning of the content.
Is there any specific metadata requirement (XMP GPano tags, DJI export settings, etc.) that Google Maps currently expects in order to recognize an uploaded image as a photosphere? Or is this functionality no longer supported for individual user uploads?
Thank you very much for the detailed explanation and for sharing this alternative.
It is unfortunate that Google removed much of the flexibility that the Street View app used to provide, especially the ability to publish photospheres at their exact location.
Panorra 360 sounds exactly like what I have been looking for. The possibility to add or adjust GPS coordinates before publishing is particularly interesting.
I will try Panorra 360 later today with some of my DJI Mavic 2 Pro photospheres and see how it works.
Thanks again for your help. I will report back here with the results.
Thanks for the clarification. The panorama you mentioned was uploaded yesterday as a test using PanoCool. The tool has some useful features, such as verifying and adjusting the photo’s geolocation (latitude/longitude) and creating links between 360° photos. The downside is that the free version of PanoCool adds a visible watermark to the image.
However, the beach panorama that was not recognized as a 360° photo was also captured with the same drone (DJI Mavic 2 Pro). The difference is that I uploaded that photo directly to the beach’s point of interest in Google Maps, without using PanoCool or any other third-party publishing tool. That’s why I’m trying to understand why Google Maps recognized the PanoCool upload as a 360° image but displayed the beach panorama as a flat photo.
To publish without the watermark, a paid PanoCool subscription is required, which costs approximately USD 90 per year. Since I already have several high-quality 360° panoramas captured with my drone, I was hoping to find a workflow that would allow direct publication to Google Maps while preserving the GPano tags, without requiring an annual subscription.
That’s why I’m still exploring alternative publishing workflows and tools. Thanks for your insights.
That was the reason I mentioned Panorra otherwise you can only upload in a specific POI with NO control of where your photo is taken.
Meters are doing the difference in some case.
The photo shared by me was taken with a Insta360 and uploaded directly in the POI in Google Maps.
When I can’t use a tripod (in some place is not permitted) I take the photo directly with my phone. The photos App is making the stitching and create the proper tags for the photo to be recognised as a pano.
So maybe the issue is in the way you manage the stitching in post production. Which software do you use for the post production?
Have you checked the help page of DJI to see if the issue is reported by someone else?