I started contributing to the Street View imagery on February 4, 2018, using a Ricoh Theta V. At that time, I did not have the interest to upload the video to Street View as it takes lots of effort. First, you have to record video, and then you have to upload large files, you have to wait a few days until the videos get processed.
When I went to the Connect Live 2018, I was lucky enough to participate in a session dedicated to Street View. In that session, the representatives of Street View told us the importance of uploading update Street View imagery to provide a better experience in AR mode in Street View, which was not launched at that time. Also, they explained other benefits and showed us how others are using the Ricoh Theta V camera to capture 360 videos. I was excited, and I thought I should contribute to the Street View when I return to my country.
With Arjun Ramanu of Street View team
After that session, the Local Guide program surprised 150 participants of the Connect Live 2018 by giving them a Richo Theta V 360 camera free of charge. We were delighted.
Once I returned to Sri Lanka, I wanted to contribute to the Street View, but I could not give priority to this until January 2019. Then I started adding regularly. First, I tried to upload the streets around my city. Whenever I travel, I kept in my that I can help lots of people by updating or adding new Street View imagery once the AR mode is launched. Therefore where ever I go, I tried to update the main streets, town areas.
Very recently, I was preparing for a meetup I was going to host, and I realized the Street View is missing around the Sigiriya World Heritage Site. Since this is one of the main tourist attractions in Sri Lanka, I thought I should update it. This situation has resulted in hosting first Blue Line meetup in Sri Lanka. I covered more than 20km during the meetup. This contribution was something special for me. If you want to know more about this, please read the recap of that meetup “[Recap] Sigiriya Blue Line Meetup – Almost 20km of Street View imagery”. I am an archaeology lover, and I decided to update the Street View imagery of world heritage sites in Sri Lanka. Recently, I completed the second Blue Line meetup in Polonnaruwa World Heritage site and covered over 7km. Please read “[Recap] Polonnaruwa Blue Line Meetup - Almost 7km of Street View imagery” for more information.
Screenshot of my contribution
The outcome of Sigiriya Blue Line Meetup
The outcome of Polonnaruwa Blue Line Meetup
Here is the recap video of the Sigiriya Blue Line Meetup.
I am keeping a log to track the uploads I do to Street View. Today I was going through the my Street View contribution log.
I was surprised, I have added 100km of Street View imagery to Street View, which counts over 87,000 photos.
I am proud, and I am glad that I could help many people in their day to day life.
I want to finish this post by quoting two sentences of reply from @PaulPavlinovich on my contribution to Sigiriya street view imagery.
“SV contributions are true altruism because there are no points - just the kudos from a job well done.”
I want to thank @Rumal95 @Udithakw and @lahirusu for participating in the Blue Line meetups.
