Recently, I have been riding through small local parks on my scooter, taking 360 interval videos and uploading to street view. I am surprised at the number of opportunities there are to be the first to post Street View imagery at some of these local parks. If using the scooter is not allowed, or not practical, then I simply walk through. I’ve added 1/2 dozen small parks in my neighborhood already, and even found one park in Manhattan (on a recent trip) that had not been covered.
Indeed, in some cases it’s not even that small, or local. The entire green outside of the Independence Visitor Center on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, had startlingly little 360 coverage.
The other thing is it’s just a great excuse to get out and take a stroll through the local park. I’m a bit geeky, so I’m willing to wear a helmet with a camera sticking out the top, that’s the easiest way to get it done. If walking, you don’t even need much of an interval, one photo every second takes care of business. I use 1/2 second interval video time-lapse when I’m on the scooter, and ride at a modest speed.
As for gear, although I have a Insta360 One X and just got the Richoh Theta Z1, I’m using the GoPro Fusion for these rides because It can operate entirely on its own, without needing to grab a cell phone. Voice commands and built-in GPS make this possible. Plus, it has a nice large battery, which last longer than the other two cameras, so I can do a long ride—uninterrupted.
Anyhow, I’ve only been doing this for a couple weeks, but have already posted 25 miles worth of new Street View, and a lot of it is paths inside of city parks. It’s a genuinely nice activity, if nothing else, just discovering all the parks that are near you.
Check out the Independence Visitor Center street view here… https://goo.gl/maps/q6RFCwck39fzhCgM6