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May 31, 2007

Technology Behind Google StreetView - Immersive Media

Immersive Media Camera for Google StreetViewDuring Where 2.0 yesterday, the company which is behind the technology of Google Maps StreetView presented - Immersive Media. One of the many secrets behind their technology is a patented 11 lens camera system that simultaneously takes photos in 11 directions based on a dodecahedron geometry. They can capture 30 frames a second of high resolution photography. That's right - we're talking high resolution video in digital 360. You can stop, start, back up, single-frame, etc. And they even showed technology where you can add 3D objects into the video scene (augmented reality). This technology has been used for things like planning state visits of dignitaries for security planning. The demonstration was very amazing to watch. There were lots of "oohs" and "ahhs" in the audience. I have to say it was the most awesome technology I saw demonstrated at Where this year. I managed to grab a small bit of the presentation with my camera (watch it all the way through, it is very cool!):

Posted by FrankTaylor at May 31, 2007 09:42 AM

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  • Comments

    The early relative of the Google Eye - http://www.in8years.com/in_8_years/2007/04/google_eyes_aka.html

    Thanks for keeping all us Geo-Geeks updated from the front lines Frank!

    Posted by: Jonathan at May 31, 2007 10:33 AM

    wow...just wow!

    Posted by: o o at May 31, 2007 11:26 AM

    Amazing cool stuff....

    Posted by: Remco at May 31, 2007 12:48 PM

    Oh. My. God.

    Can I chuck it all and just operate one of these things?

    Posted by: Daniel at May 31, 2007 02:22 PM

    Posted by: smokeonit at May 31, 2007 09:13 PM

    This is an old story. GOOGLE does not use this technology and dropped it after only a month or two. It wasn't "high resolution" in fact the images sucked which is why they use different cameras now. I don't see 30FPS anywhere even the company website only sows 12-15FPS video that is blurry and tiny.

    Posted by: matt at May 14, 2008 02:24 PM

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