Street View trusted photographer program FAQs

[NatalieP]

Updated: 15 December 2020

We know there are lots of questions circulating about the Street View trusted program, so we have compiled a few FAQs for your perusal. Happy 360 shooting!

How can I become a Street View trusted photographer?

You are eligible to become a trusted pro after you publish 50 Maps-approved 360 photos on Google Maps. After you have published 50 Maps-approved 360 photos, please make sure you have turned on the “Available for Hire” switch found in settings in the Street View App. You will then see an invitation in the Street View app to be marked as a trusted pro.

After accepting, you’ll then receive an email acknowledging your new trusted status and providing you with links to valuable resources for professionals.

It’s important that your images meet our Maps publishing criteria and policies and have a minimum of 14MP otherwise they won’t be published to Maps or count towards your trusted status. (Your contributions page shows all images you submitted including those not published to Maps.)

I’ve been publishing photospheres for a long time. To get the new Street View trusted badge, do I need to delete and republish my photos through the Street View app?

No, all 360 photos that you have published that meet the Maps publishing criteria count towards your trusted photographer status.

How long does it take to get photos approved and published?

All maps-approved 360 photos are published instantly. However, if your 360 photos don’t meet the Maps publishing criteria, they will not be published to Maps. You will still see these 360 photos on your contributions page.

What is the criteria for the 360 photos to be published?

Please check our website for a comprehensive description of our Maps publishing criteria and policies.

Are we allowed to display the watermark/ brand of Street View trusted photographer on 360 photos?

Please read up on our sales guidelines for our policies around the use of the trusted photographer and Street View brand.

I have received the invitation to be a trusted photographer through the Street View App but I cannot turn on the “For Hire” tab.

We are aware of this issue. In the meantime, rest assured that if you have received the invitation, you are qualified as a trusted photographer and will have access to the benefits.

Isn’t Local Guides a program where we are not paid to help contribute to Google Maps? With the Street view trusted photographer, that seems to go against the policy of Local Guides

Please read the guidelines on participating in Local Guides here. If you offer services for hire (such as marketing yourself as a Street View trusted provider), you are not allowed to bundle such services with your Local Guide membership.

Do I get points for the Local Guides program by uploading 360 photos?

Yes, you can earn points by uploading 360 photos, as well as flat photos, to specific business places and establishments via Google Maps. We recommend you visit the Help Center for the steps on how to upload photos.

I want my trusted photographer badge to show in Google Maps instead of my Local Guides badge / Where does the trusted photographer badge show up?

The Street View trusted badge is only displayed in the Street View app at this time.

[ZuhairM_1]

Thank you @NatalieP for this important post.

[DrShaunak]

Hi @NatalieP Thanks for the information. I have uploaded 59 spherical images so far but I cannot turn on the “For Hire” tab.

Help me please.

[Csaba]

Thanks @NatalieP , I have bookmarked this topic for further reference when someone has questions.

[DrShaunak]

Hi @NatalieP

I think my problem is solved now.

Just I am able to switch on Available for hire option in my Street View App. I also got a mail and submitted the form.

Thank you so much for your help.

Shaunak

[JanC_1]

Thank you Natalie for the important information. I have became Street View trusted photographer couple months ago (I use LG 360 CAM) and I’m a Local Guide of 4th Level.

Still I have unclear points about this program:

1. My contact is available on trusted photograph list for my location. So I want to create Google Maps Business View (360-degree virtual tours - link See inside). But I can only upload sphere photos via Street view app in my smartphone and connect them (manually if it doesn’t work automatically). That’s nice. The pictures are presented in the business profile but there is no “orange point” on street view - inside virtual tour. So how can I create the real Google Maps Business View marked as orange point in street view?
2. I know that some “pro” Street View editor web application exists (see videos) but there is no change to get it on. Could I use this application as new Street View trusted photographer**?** Why have we use “light” Street view app on phone? I would like to have a nice desktop application for creating virtual tours…
3. As Local Guide of 4th level I should get a higher "Upgrade your Google Drive storage free", see benefits. But what does it mean in real? Unlimited quota for free? Google normally offers 15GB for free. Nothing has changed in my Google Drive profile and I still have 15GB storage available, the others are paid. Is it OK?

Thank you very much in advance for help and clarification. This topic is a little bit “fogy” and not only for me , I see…

Have a nice day!

Jan

[NatalieP]

Hello @JanC_1 ,

Thanks so much for articulating your questions and welcome to the trusted program. Below are some answers

1. All 360 photos published by the Street View app or through Maps are represented on the Map with a blue circle. However, I’d like to emphasize that our new image gallery highlights 360 images no matter how they are published. The gallery now has a separate tab for 360 photos, which means spherical imagery is now even more discoverable and accessible on Maps. Which is good news for anyone looking to publish imagery on behalf of a business!
2. We are supporting all new trusted pros with our next-generation tools exclusively in the Street View app.

Have a lovely day!

Natalie

[JARNOC]

Hello ,
I want to upload a photo with 360 ° street view apps, I choose the places on the map, but I do not see how to geo locate my photo.
What are the steps to place a picture of a company to a place on the map?

Where can I find a tutorial on the steps, create an arrow to a entrerprise and load a virtual tour.

thank you for the info

Christian

[JanC_1]

Hi @JARNOC

you are right, there is not described well how to set geo-location of 360 photos in the Street View app for smartphone in the Google help. I have found out this during several months of using the application.

You have 2 options generally how to do it:

1. Before we published photo - we only import photo to the Street View app
2. After we published photo in the Street View app

I created tutorial for this - please see the article how to set geo-location of 360 photo in the Street View app**.**

Cheers

[JanC_1]

Hi @JARNOC

you are right, there is not described well how to set geo-location of 360 photos in the Street View app for smartphone in the Google help. I have found out this during several months of using the application.

You have 2 options generally how to do it:

1. Before we published photo - we only import photo to the Street View app
2. After we published photo in the Street View app

Let’s discover how to set geo-location of 360 photo for these 2 options:

1. After a photo is imported (or taken directly in Street View by external camera), we can see it under the tab PRIVATE

• Then select the photo there

• Click on menu icon in the right upper corner (3 dots below)

• Click on option Set location
  

  

• And here we go, we can set location (red point) on the map now (where photo was taken)
  

  

• Or we can find the object on the map by typing it (big green arrow on the upper picture)

• If the found object is fair away from the selected location on the map bellow (hundreds meters), the dialog for correcting of location will be displayed Do you want change location … ?
  

  

• If we click Yes, the location (red point) will automatically move to the right place on the map (this is good for initial setting of location and then we can tune it manually)
  

  

• If we click No, the location (red point) stays as it is on the map - we can set it manually

• After setting location is done, click on Check sign the right upper corner for saving this

• We are done

2. After a photo was published already in Street View, we can see it under the tab PROFILE

• There exist a new functionality in the Street View app - the connectivity editor. This tool is available only for for Google Trusted Photographs this time! See the full tutorial how to connect photos

• We select 2, more or all the photos of the same album (place)

• After the photos are selected, click on menu (3 dots) and Connect 360 photos link

• We can see the black points on map with numbers - these are photos geo-locations on the map

• We can select photos with click on the point. There is the photo preview in the lower part of the screen

• We can move with the point on the map - change the geo-location
  

  

• We can connect the photos too as it is described in the tutorial

• After setting location is done, click on Check sign the right upper corner for saving this

For the option, that we already published the photo in the Street View app and we are not Trusted Photographs, there is no way how to set geo-location there (or I don’t know about it). We can only change the place by typing and finding it but we cannot directly change the geo-location on map. The solution is that we delete already published 360 photo and import it again and we use process described in option 1).

Cheers

[JARNOC]

Thank you very much for your very clear explanation!
I’m at level 4, I published the 50 photos 360, it must reach level 5 to have the tools that you have told me?

thanks again

Christian

[Csaba]

Hi @JARNOC ,

You need to be either a Level 5 Local Guide or a Trusted Photographer (of course, you can be both).

Update: since the latest version of the SV App, everyone has access to the new (cool and improved) connectivity editor.

Now as you have reached 50 published photo spheres, keep on sharing (some may disappear in the future pushing you back below 50) and it’s just a matter of time that you become a Trusted Photographer (to me, it took about a week after I passed the 50 limit).

As you are also Level 4 Local Guide, you can also expect to become Level 5 any time soon (reaching 500 points is not that hard anyway).

So you should not be far from reaching either goal and accessing the connectivity tool (it is really handy, cool and easy to use).

[Rupert]

is this ‘add virtual tour’ option showing in google.mybusiness.com new? I don’t recall seeing it before as an option, and wondered how long it had been around for. Also, what is likely to happen once I selected ‘request a quote’?

This did show as ‘add virtual tour’ or something before I clicked through, on locally verified pages it shows in the dashboard, in the header area next to ‘manage photos’.

As Trusted myself, and one of only very few locally, am I likely to get the request to provide a quote or schedule the shoot? I did expect to be shown some choices, from those who are local and listed for hire. So was surprised to get the pop-up that a stated a photographer would be in touch to schedule a shoot, skipping the quote stage altogether.

Am I also, as a SV TP, am I likely to be ‘booked’ to schedule shoots with those clicking this link? As I’ve yet to receive any in the few months I’ve been listed as ‘for hire’. Or, do these requests only go to the old TP’s who still have access to ‘See Inside’ and desktop editing tools for virtual tours?

[Rupert]

Just had the above confirmed by an ‘old’ SV|TP, that this is only for them. There’s a form linked to, from their private support community, where they can apply for access to quote requests in their area. This feature appears to have been added in the last week or so, so it’s pretty gutting to discover new features are being developed for them, yet ‘we’ (newly created TP’s) are excluded from such features and relegated to a second tier, without any dedicated support channel and lack of full functionality.

I could say a lot more… but, I’m going to keep the rant internal

[vipizone]

Hi @NatalieP ,

Thanks for your Information,

I received the prompt and filled out the forms one week ago but haven’t been listed in this list https://www.google.com/streetview/hire/ , Please have look.
Thanks
Vipin Vasudev

[dbateser]

Admirable restraint @Rupert - wish I could say the same…I tried to do a virtual tour for my own business after I became a “made” photographer only to receive several spammy adds from local agencies shopping their services. Not a single personal inquiry. Low and behold as a second generation GTP I can’t even create my own official tour. Go figure.

[IrvanD]

“Trusted pros can use the Trusted badge, word mark, and branding elements, including Google, Google Maps, Street View, or any other related logos.”

i read that in branding guidelines which mean i can use google maps , street view or red pin logos in social media to tell people that i was Google Street View Trusted Photographer. can i ? i mean i use that logos for promotion of my self that im really Street View Trusted Photographer. its ok ?

[Anonymous_2033424a63be9bc88f808ed5b32cebb5]

Спасибо большое, мне понятно, что мне нужно сделать

[Sariga]

New tab for Contribute 360 and live preview /capability to adjust exposure .

Local guides above level 5 is supposed to be testers and new features are not communicated by Google .

No tester oppening was given to local guides . Even 360 is given only 1 Point and It was better if the 360 works from clicking below the contribution tab .and Google Plus is not a friendly platform to display 360 images.

[IlankovanT]

@NatalieP I’m a Google Trusted Streetview Pro. I got my street view badge last year July (2016) and noted that I have no access to the Google Street View Trusted Group to learn, participate Hangout training, etc.

Also, I’m not allowed to check any posts and when I try to access, I’m notified that “You must be a member of this group to view and participate in it. You cannot view this group’s content because you are not currently a member”