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Google Street View in 2026

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Re: Google Street View in 2026

#51

Post by RobotToaster »

ks2048 wrote: post #36
modeless wrote: post #10

Street View is such a missed opportunity. In 2007 it was visionary and essential to create the map data that allowed Google Maps to win. In 2026 it is a symbol of Google's stagnation. Essentially zero improvement in user experience for more than a decade, in a time of incredible advancements in computer vision. By now we should all be flying around the planet in a seamless 3D reconstruction unifying street level and…

We need an open version (as OpenStreetMap is to Google Maps). Mapillary ( https://www.mapillary.com/ ) has surprisingly good coverage in some places, but the experience is lacking, partly because most of the images (where I've looked) aren't 360 views.

Is this actually open source? The few datasets I found on there are under non-commercial licenses.

Re: Google Street View in 2026

#52

Post by CamperBob2 »

hmokiguess wrote: post #23

Tangential comment but I still don't understand how we have technology to identify a car license plate from space but we have pixelated images from Antarctica on Google Maps / Google Earth. Why not publish that and make it accessible? Is it true that Antarctica is not easy to scan due to ice and snow?

The high-res imagery on Google Earth mostly comes from aerial surveys, not satellite. If it's not economically worth flying a plane back and forth to survey -- and that's certainly true in Antarctica -- that's when you get the fuzzy civilian-grade satellite imagery or some cheap/public-domain out-of-date aerial photography.

Re: Google Street View in 2026

#53

Post by phreeza »

bgro wrote: post #21
modeless wrote: post #10

Street View is such a missed opportunity. In 2007 it was visionary and essential to create the map data that allowed Google Maps to win. In 2026 it is a symbol of Google's stagnation. Essentially zero improvement in user experience for more than a decade, in a time of incredible advancements in computer vision. By now we should all be flying around the planet in a seamless 3D reconstruction unifying street level and…

I’ve been pointing to Google Maps, drive as specific but not the complete set of fantastic innovation we saw around ~2007 for how great developers used to be. I think the drift is specifically tied to the introduction of leetcode in the interview process. Which may sound like a wild connection at first but I’ve now lived through being blocked and seeing how creative devs can’t get through leetcode gatekeepers who are…

Was leetcode-style interviewing not a thing before that? Cracking the coding interview was published in 2008 so I would assume it was already quite established by then.

Re: Google Street View in 2026

#54

Post by faxmeyourcode »

benbristow wrote: post #41

The workstation paragraph seems like a humble brag. Most of us yearn for a set-up like that! Especially with the price of components going up thanks to AI and corporations buying all the hardware to support it.

Yea, I agree. The dataset is https://duckdb.org/2025/05/19/the-lost-decade-of-small-data

Re: Google Street View in 2026

#55

Post by EarthLaunch »

phreeza wrote: post #53
bgro wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been pointing to Google Maps, drive as specific but not the complete set of fantastic innovation we saw around ~2007 for how great developers used to be. I think the drift is specifically tied to the introduction of leetcode in the interview process. Which may sound like a wild connection at first but I’ve now lived through being blocked and seeing how creative devs can’t get through leetcode gatekeepers who are…

Was leetcode-style interviewing not a thing before that? Cracking the coding interview was published in 2008 so I would assume it was already quite established by then.

My first job, in California, was just transitioning to leetcode-style interviews in 2007 following the industry trend. So it was probably spreading around that time.

Re: Google Street View in 2026

#56

Post by doctoboggan »

Oarch wrote: post #2

Apologies as this is fairly tangential: There's a parallax effect in Street View on Apple Maps that separates out the layers of every image. Things like lampposts or telephone poles all rotate slightly differently to whatever is behind them. And it's such a subtle effect that I still break my brain trying to determine whether or not I've made it up. Imagine expending that much development time and effort for somethin…

I think it's the same tech they use to make the "3d" background photos on the iPhone wallpaper, which is probably also the same tech used for inferring depth when converting a normal photo to a spatial photo for viewing on an AVP.

Re: Google Street View in 2026

#57

Post by dewey »

benbristow wrote: post #41

The workstation paragraph seems like a humble brag. Most of us yearn for a set-up like that! Especially with the price of components going up thanks to AI and corporations buying all the hardware to support it.

The author is known for deep dives on data sets like that (I'm following him on Linkedin for that), so makes sense they always mention their setup even if it doesn't apply to his specific data set.

Re: Google Street View in 2026

#58

Post by taeric »

modeless wrote: post #46
taeric wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could see this as an argument for a heads up display. So, good for projecting directions onto a windshield or for having the glasses thing. But this? I don't see how a VR world helps anyone navigate the real world. That is, you seem to be saying the VR data is needed for AR usage. And I just don't see how those are helping each other too much. I'm fully bought off on the "it would be fun" aspect. I don't see a valu…

A heads up display doesn't need a 3D rendering of the environment around it because the environment is already visible through the screen. The 3D rendering is so you can see what to expect before you get there. If you don't understand why that could possibly be useful then I don't know what to tell you; you'll have to take it for granted that some people's brains work differently than yours and can benefit from seein…

Apologies, I meant my point to be that navigating a place is more helped with AR techniques than it is VR ones. Which, as you say here, is less helped by 3D rendering than it is other things. Indeed, I meant that to be my point.

Do I think it could be useful if you rehearse navigating a place before getting there? Yeah. Ish. I can see obvious military style value adds for that. Average person, though? I still have a hard time seeing the value.

Reminds me when places were offering video tours of places. Is a neat idea. But ridiculously low in actual value.

Re: Google Street View in 2026

#60

Post by [deleted] »

crazygringo wrote: post #48
modeless wrote: post #10

Street View is such a missed opportunity. In 2007 it was visionary and essential to create the map data that allowed Google Maps to win. In 2026 it is a symbol of Google's stagnation. Essentially zero improvement in user experience for more than a decade, in a time of incredible advancements in computer vision. By now we should all be flying around the planet in a seamless 3D reconstruction unifying street level and…

We could be... but why? What's the product? It makes sense they prototyped it. But putting it into production is $$$, way more expensive than current street view. Current street view works well enough. How is a massively upgraded 3D version, that is bloated and slower to use on older devices, going to make Google more money? It feels more like a separate product to license to architecture firms, city planners, video…

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