Virtual Tour Leading Away From Linked POI?

[Pea]

On another thread I was discussing with @LucioV  the idea of creating a virtual tour to visually display a path. Lucio used the following example to explain https://goo.gl/maps/Sa7r7UgmDp12. 

This virtual tour follows the route of the mapped path 'Via Angelo Orsucci' and it certainly helps users see what that journey looks like. However the tour is attached to the POI 'Fontana della Carlotta' (https://goo.gl/maps/xRkan2stDc62) which is a specific place not a path. Although the virtual tour starts at the linked POI it leads off and ends around 80 meters from the fountain in Piazza Giuseppe Sapeto. That means this shareable image https://goo.gl/maps/4cLVUYMwqRH2 which is titled 'Fontana della Carlotta' is in fact nowhere near the feature that it is officially named after.

So my questions are, should POIs have virtual tours that lead off into the distance such as this example, and if not what's the best way to visually display that path?

[LucioV]

@Pea this is a stretched concept.

I agree with you that the last pano of the tour doesn't have something to do with the starting POI.

This work should be done through the Google Trekker, uploading directly on SV; that's why i asked it, for mapping purposes. Instead of Trekker i've received a Samsung Gear 360, and actually that's the best way to cover a not mapped path.

Consider this as a best effort, to show a place otherwise you cannot visit through street view; don't be so negative in evaluating other people work, please, took a long time in shooting and editing.

We should be able to create path for SV where SV is not present, not attaching to existing POI.

Thanks for your questions.

[Pea]

Really Lucio I'm not being negative indeed I said, it certainly helps users see what that journey looks like. I'm just asking if this is the best way to visually display this journey. Adding the virtual tour to a POI feels a bit like a workaround to show the path and workarounds are usually problematic. If we can discover a best practice it will help everyone map better in future.

[LucioV]

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@PhilipF wrote:

Really Lucio I'm not being negative indeed I said, it certainly helps users see what that journey looks like. I'm just asking if this is the best way to visually display this journey. Adding the virtual tour to a POI feels a bit like a workaround to show the path and workarounds are usually problematic. If we can discover a best practice it will help everyone map better in future.

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Thanks, as i told you, actually, it is a workaround.

This is not damaging anybody, because in the area there are not commercial POI's, and all the people inside has been blurred out, and fills a gap between public Street View paths.

I'm going to cover the entire area with tours like that, attaching to non commercial POI's (i.e. i will never create a path from a restaurant in the area).

Thanks for your suggestions.

[LucioV]

Look at this @Pea: https://goo.gl/maps/TBCTsYqUts32

Google is allowed to create path unlinked to any POI, obviously, and i think we, experienced LG and SVT photographers could be allowed to create path not yet covered by street view.

[Pea]

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@LucioV wrote:

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Thanks, as i told you, actually, it is a workaround.

I'm going to cover the entire area with tours like that, attaching to non commercial POI's

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Hmm, I'm not really sure about using workarounds, the live map is not a sandbox to test personal projects.

I saw on the Fontana POI above you've also attached another 360 tour https://goo.gl/maps/5eCDPCzsA6A2 Does it feature the fountain at all, it seems to be a location some distance away from the POI it is attached to?

[LucioV]

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@PhilipF wrote:

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@LucioV wrote:

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Thanks, as i told you, actually, it is a workaround.

I'm going to cover the entire area with tours like that, attaching to non commercial POI's

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Hmm, I'm not really sure about using workarounds, the live map is not a sandbox to test personal projects.

I saw on the Fontana POI above you've also attached another 360 tour https://goo.gl/maps/5eCDPCzsA6A2 Does it feature the fountain at all, it seems to be a location some distance away from the POI it is attached to?

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@Pea it's exactly what Google asked us and all the LG: 500.000.000 of spheres on maps asap.

Anyway, in the future i will test out (yes!) other ways of putting tours in not yet covered areas; obviously i will never attach a tour to a business poi.

Spheres are not map, so i think this is really not playing in the map sandbox; the world is full of images that have no relation with the business are attached, godzillions of images, many are grabbed out by Google BOT, i think that creating a vt of an uncovered area of Rome and attaching to a fountain couldn't be so bad!

Thanks Philip

[Pea]

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@LucioV wrote:

it's exactly what Google asked us and all the LG: 500.000.000 of spheres on maps asap.

Spheres can be added to the map without adding them to an unrelated POI

the world is full of images that have no relation with the business are attached,

And where they occur they should be reported

i think that creating a vt of an uncovered area of Rome and attaching to a fountain couldn't be so bad!

Creating the VT is great. Attaching it to a POI is not.

Another thought, take a look at the map for the area of your VT https://goo.gl/maps/1QYQxaSJXS62 now click the pegman and see all the StreetView and Photosheres. You have done a lot of excellent work creating a VT up the steps of Via Angelo Orsucci - but nobody knows it is there because no blue circles/line show up.

[LucioV]

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@PhilipF wrote:

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@LucioV wrote:

it's exactly what Google asked us and all the LG: 500.000.000 of spheres on maps asap.

Spheres can be added to the map without adding them to an unrelated POI

the world is full of images that have no relation with the business are attached,

And where they occur they should be reported

i think that creating a vt of an uncovered area of Rome and attaching to a fountain couldn't be so bad!

Creating the VT is great. Attaching it to a POI is not.

Another thought, take a look at the map for the area of your VT https://goo.gl/maps/1QYQxaSJXS62 now click the pegman and see all the StreetView and Photosheres. You have done a lot of excellent work creating a VT up the steps of Via Angelo Orsucci - but nobody knows it is there because no blue circles/line show up.

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Yes Philip, i will try.

This was only an experiment, will fine tune this experience, just this afternoon, in another area.

Anyway, yesterday i tried to add a sphere, done with SV APP, to maps, was this green area: https://goo.gl/maps/L58bSGCXr4t

as proof, i was trying to upload without selecting a POI, but i cannot; the app forced me to choose a POI, so i choose the nearest geographical POI (Oasi Acquatica, is a small lake, mantained by the park rangers); what do you think about adding a VT to this kind of POI? Why this should not be allowed? Again, in the area we have a main POI that is "Parco della Caffarella", and i usually attach the spheres to this POI: https://goo.gl/maps/c4PuU6xwhXQ2 and this POI was not available through the SV App, but only on my desktop, for some strange reason.

As you can see there is a variety of conditions and, as i usually agree that a VT should not be linked to a business POI i think that virtual tours linked to geographical POI should be allowed.

But, at last, what's the problem with you and those virtual tours? The information you are receiving about Garbatella, or Rome, is damaged by those virtual tours? Or are just added values for your discovery? Why don't you stop for a while and think about these simple questions? Nobody here is trying to mess with the maps.

[GusMoreira · Accepted solution]

Hi @LucioV and @Pea,

If a Virtual Tour is leading away, but not long, from a POI is its generally accepted as is falls into the Street View criteria of Geographic Accuracy but if a tour is no where related to a POI and the Trusted Photographer is only using it to get points or link their VT, this can put in risk his Google account.

Also keep in mind that Google Maps is a ever evolving product so whenever we launch a ability to do something you did as a "workaround", you may break things or your contributions my get buried because of it.