Google Street View now includes interiors • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Street View now includes interiors

#111

Post by nkurz » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 8:49 AM UTC

cpeterso wrote: post #84

nkurz wrote: post #42

Here's another one: http://maps.google.com/?q=Scream%20Sorbet,%20Oakland,%20CA This one's my business. They came to shoot the interior as a perk for participating in a "Google Offer". I think this is how they are rolling it out, at least in the Bay Area. To me, the results came out fine, although I worry that it now makes "casing the joint" a little easier. It took them two visits to get it right. The first time appa…

How did a Hacker News reader happen to open a sorbet shop?? Opening my own ice cream shop (in the south Rockridge/Temescal neighborhood, no less!) has been my (half-joking) dream job if I decided to switch careers. When Scream Sorbet opened in Temescal, I was both excited and frustrated that someone saw the same market opportunity! <;)

I opened it through strange circumstances. I was getting ready to launch a likely ill-conceived movie recommendations business with a couple friends, when I got West Nile Virus. Recovery was slow, and I thought I'd do a small farmers' market sorbet business with a friend while (literally) waiting for my brain to recover enough to do linear algebra again.

The product was great, and while the margins were OK, a few farmers' markets a week proved not to be enough to cover all the various overheads. The friend dropped out because he needed something that would pay his rent, others got involved, and we kept adding markets. Then a fantastic location next to Bake Sale Betty came open, so we jumped on it. Now I just need to figure out how to get it to the point where it can sustain itself so I can get back to recommendations engines!

Feel free to stop by and say hi. If you're serious about a career change, would be a better manager of a sorbet company than I am (not hard), and don't need to make much money, maybe we can work something out. I'm proud of the product quality, but I'm sure there are people who could run it as a better business than I can. :)

Re: Google Street View now includes interiors

#112

Post by NakedRobot » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 9:05 AM UTC

nkurz wrote: post #110

felideon wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you describe what the contraption looks like? Is it pretty much like the Google Car but a tripod on wheels instead?

I actually wasn't present during the shoot, although I saw her setting up. It seemed like a semi-pro digital still camera on a tripod. Perhaps it was on wheels? I think it was a fisheye lens? It seemed very low tech. I think all the fanciness is with the post-processing to stitch the photos together and correct the perspective. You can see the tripod legs if you look down on any shot by clicking the "Down" arrow on t…

It appears to be a DSLR, a fisheye lens, and a 360precision Atome panoramic tripod head.

Re: Google Street View now includes interiors

#113

Post by NakedRobot » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 9:09 AM UTC

exogen wrote: post #62

I'm most impressed with the stitching and lack of the typical fisheye distortion effect that plagues 3D views like this. Almost every possible view looks like a normal photo. Well done!

The "fisheye distortion effect that plagues 3D views like this" that you describe is nothing of the sort. You are talking about a very wide angle of view. These images have a limited FOV, and it's not possible to zoom out so much that you get such distortion.

Actually it is not fisheye distortion that you describe at all - it is a rectilinear projection, and it's this type of projection that looks bad in a wide FOV. A fisheye projection looks much more natural if you are looking at a view with 110º FOV.

These things are not "distortion" at all but merely different projections of a spherical image on a flat surface. There is no "correct" way.

You can right-click on this panorama to change projection and understand more what I'm talking about. http://www.360cities.net/image/a-busy-morning

Re: Google Street View now includes interiors

#114

Post by al_james » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 11:05 AM UTC

johnbatch wrote: post #78

felideon wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you describe what the contraption looks like? Is it pretty much like the Google Car but a tripod on wheels instead?

Looks like he caught himself on camera here http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Gruhn+Guitars+Inc&hl=en&#3... Edit: and here http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Scream+Sorbet,+Oakland,+CA&#38...

Love the motion blur effect around his body.

Re: Google Street View now includes interiors

#115

Post by mrmasa » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 12:28 PM UTC

Wow, if those shown stuffs will be searchable and we can run e-commerce, such technology might completely change our world. Interesting.

Re: Google Street View now includes interiors

#116

Post by johnbatch » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 2:06 PM UTC

eogas wrote: post #102

johnbatch wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like he caught himself on camera here http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Gruhn+Guitars+Inc&hl=en&#3... Edit: and here http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Scream+Sorbet,+Oakland,+CA&#38...

Woah. Did you happen to look out into the street from the location in that first link you posted? Trippy stuff.

Yeah, that face detection blur kinda fails when it's a crowd of people.

Re: Google Street View now includes interiors

#117

Post by mrmasa » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 2:43 PM UTC

This will be "Earth Mall"

Re: Google Street View now includes interiors

#118

Post by Yevgeny » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 4:01 PM UTC

jwallaceparker wrote: post #91

joshu wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't figure out how to get inside your store. I feel a bit like I am playing badly-designed video game. Also, you own a food business!?? I am fascinated by the idea, can you talk more about it?

> I can't figure out how to get inside your store. I feel a bit like I am playing badly-designed video game. lol me too.

A video game which makes me want sorbet...

Re: Google Street View now includes interiors

#119

Post by exogen » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 9:56 PM UTC

NakedRobot wrote: post #113

exogen wrote: post #62

I'm most impressed with the stitching and lack of the typical fisheye distortion effect that plagues 3D views like this. Almost every possible view looks like a normal photo. Well done!

The "fisheye distortion effect that plagues 3D views like this" that you describe is nothing of the sort. You are talking about a very wide angle of view. These images have a limited FOV, and it's not possible to zoom out so much that you get such distortion. Actually it is not fisheye distortion that you describe at all - it is a rectilinear projection, and it's this type of projection that looks bad in a wide FOV.…

I realize that, just wasn't sure of how to describe it which is why I tacked on "effect" (might not be the actual type of distortion, but to a user the appearance is similar). From a user's perspective it most definitely does look wrong even though there is technically no "correct" way. Thanks for the link!

Re: Google Street View now includes interiors

#120

Post by recampbell » Fri, Oct 28, 2011, 12:00 AM UTC

Someone wrote: post #107

recampbell wrote: post #55

The most interesting part comes when they start indexing these images so that you can search products (and prices) within stores. The tech is mostly there (see google goggles). Then you can answer the question "Where's the closest store with jumper cables?" Or really, "show me where the jumper cables are." A very big map reduce job, but seems feasible.

Feasible? Until you realize they would have to visit each shop at least once a month, for many weekly or even daily.

Retailers will just buy or rent robots to do this stuff.