Ricoh Theta V - Street View video mode. How-to for new users

Google Maps tips & tricks
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Hello @StephenAbraham
You showed a very straightforward example and contributed to many users!
I want you to continue research so that we can use THETA!:movie_camera:

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How nice! Thanks for sharing this.

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You are doing a great job with your brand new Ricoh Theta V @StephenAbraham !

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Hi @StephenAbraham ！

I am using INSTA 360 ONE.
We are considering purchasing THETA.

Thank you for providing information.

Best,

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Thanks for the great guide. One addition info/question. From the connect live event 2018 I noted that they explained to better position the camera in line with the street. So basically that the lenses are facing left and right. The explanation was that then they would get the most detail on the nearby stores, locations on the street. And for the street itself (with not so much detail) they can live with the corners, not so detailed photo areas.

Did somebody else remembers that?

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@meshworx not sure, but I will try it out the next time.

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@StephenAbraham i tried it now ones https://goo.gl/maps/xHzUHsyDCg62

And it seams to work. But because it’s my first time with video I cannot compare. But maybe you can, and see pro or cons? :thinking:

Because till now I made only still photos and connected them. And there I also faced the camera to the front.

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Thank @StephenAbraham for sharing! I will try it.

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Dear @StephenAbraham , hope all’s well.

Thanks for the information. Awesome story.

When you upload the Street View video does Google automatically add new roads to Maps if there’s none there previously?

Also, what’s the picture quality like for things like reading street names, building numbers or store names on shopfronts?

We first heard about Theta V from @PaulPavlinovich on YouTube. He’s got a nice tutorial for Street View video :slight_smile:

Thanks Stephen. Kind regards from Osaka78 :smiley:

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Hi @Osaka78forTRUMP I can answer some of those questions while we wait for @StephenAbraham to respond as well.

Are new roads added automatically? - no they’re not, but if you add a Street View Line and then send feedback about a missing road and include in the comments that the missing road as a Street View run added on then it seems to help as I’ve had one local road added recently. Interestingly our own State Government mapping body (Land Victoria https://land.vic.gov.au/ )didn’t know about this one although the Local Government body did (I suppose they would, they made the street sign) so the process has fallen down someplace. I’ve submitted it to be added by Land Victoria as well but haven’t had much joy from them.

What’s the picture quality like? The image quality is reasonably good as long as you follow some criteria:

  • Keep your speed down
  • Try and stay at least four to five metres away from the signs (close things blur out)
  • Face the camera lenses to the sides rather than forwards.

I’m planning on trying an experiment - plenty of small rural towns are barely mapped at all (usually only the land base, cadastre, and streets) but not businesses. I’m going to head to one of these places and try and Make Street View runs through the town then later on at home after the videos are processed into individual images add all of the businesses using the details I can see and search. To avoid wasting time I will probably back this up either with 4K flat video that I can time stamp match in Black Magic Resolve (my video editor) - I can add a flat and 360 video as separate streams and it will match them up timewise.

Regards Paul

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@Osaka78forTRUMP @PaulPavlinovich Thanks for sharing all the notes. :slight_smile:

As Paul mentioned already, Street View video mode does not add roads.

Theta V best resolution and quality is in the middle of each lens. Whichever direction gives best benefit of the higher quality, then the lens should point in that direction.

Also, the latest SV app and latest Theta V firmware will turn on 5.4K video (instead of 4K), albeit at 5fps, which is good for smaller uploads with higher quality output. Read more about it here.

https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/Street-View-Camera-Lab/Tips-and-tricks-improve-your-360-photos-quality-with-5-4K/m-p/1181416

Also regarding quality, my observation is video mode always has less quality vs static photos, which is understandable since frames are extracted from video which goes through frame and motion compression vs a static photo. Video mode is a super easy way to create public road Street View with sufficient quality for use. (but best in good lighting)

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Thanks @StephenAbraham I missed that article. Great to know about the update to the firmware and changes to how it is processed. I’m updating my camera right now and will go map some no blue line streets today and see what happens. I look forward to smaller files as it will make doing this for longer runs much more practical.

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Hey @StephenAbraham ,

I am moving your post in the How-tos board.

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@PaulPavlinovich , thank you. Your tutorial on YouTube has sparked our passion for adding new roads to Maps.

In case you decide to go ahead mapping a town with Theta V, please document and share your experiences. We’re very interested.

Getting new roads onto Maps has been hit and miss for us lately. Using Theta V to quickly create Street View looks like a huge step forward for getting local knowledge published on Maps.

Thanks Paul. Kindest regards from Osaka78 :smiley:

Ps Please link us to Street View from Theta V video with street signs. We’d love to see an example of picture resolution for reading street names :+1:

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Thanks for the update @StephenAbraham . Can you please tell us, is it possible to improve the picture quality? In the sample you shared, street signs were unreadable. Is there a way to improve the resolution? Kindest regards from Osaka78 :slight_smile: Ps @DavidTito have you tried mapping new roads with Street View created with ThetaV yet??

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@Osaka78forTRUMP yes I have done it actually and I’m targeting new developed roads and I’m doing them in sections

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@Osaka78forTRUMP Most of the information have been shared in the replies. It’s an automated process, so, we don’t get to tweak the output before uploading. Here are few things we could do to help ensure better quality.

Others can share their tips also, here are my thoughts and opinions.

  1. Shoot in good lighting and where possible prefer not in super high contrast (for example too bright sunlight with lots of shadow).

  2. Make sure the center of each lens faces the direction you want the best quality for. Ie, if we want to capture stores along the road, then both lenses should face sideways and let the stitchlines be front and back direction.

  3. Have the latest firmware and app versions, and try to use the highest bitrate for video, such as the updated 5.4K video.

  4. Drive consistently at a slow to medium speed to reduce shake, vibration, sudden direction changes, and control of motion blur

  5. Hold the camera straight upright and keep it steady without rocking front and back when the car is moving.

  6. Clean the lens occassionally to ensure no smudges etc.

These are the notes that come to my mind.

*Possible reason you could not read the road sign in my example because my lens were facing back and front and the stitchlines on the side.

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DavidTito said: “@Osaka78 yes I have done it actually and I’m targeting new developed roads and I’m doing them in sections”

You champion @DavidTito . Congratulations for your initiative. Please keep us updated how you go.

Please link us to any of your ThetaV Street View where there’s street signs with road names. We’re trying to figure out if ThetaV is a fast way to map places and new roads. Is the camera resolution recording place names, street numbers and street names?

Let us know in case you want to meet-up over Christmas. We’re always back and forth with family during December and January. Kindest regards from Osaka78 :slight_smile:

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Ok @StephenAbraham . We would be very glad to see any Street View from ThetaV with street names and numbers. Please share if you know any. Thank you for all your advice and findings here, it’s very encouraging to see new ways to contribute to Maps. Kindest regards from Osaka78 :slight_smile:

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Hi @Osaka78forTRUMP are you one person or many? You use “we” a lot where I expected “I”.

Remember missing roads won’t automatically get created just because someone puts a blue line there. You still have to submit the missing road report.

You can read the street signs in this shot

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