The Conversation (0)
Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has launched a new Street View mobile app that makes it easier to use Google Map’s 360-degree imagery and contribute your own pictures to enhance the overall user experience.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has launched a new Street View mobile app that makes it easier to use Google Map’s 360-degree imagery and contribute your own pictures to enhance the overall user experience.
According to TechCrunch:
The app, which is actually an update and rebrand of Google’s older “Photo Sphere Camera,” combines the same feature set that was available previously, which included the ability to create panoramic “photo spheres” and share them back to Google Maps, along with new features, like an improved ability to explore photo spheres shared by others as well as browse through Google Street View collections.
As you may recall, Google introduced the Photo Sphere Camera just over a year ago, with the goal of giving users a fun tool to take panoramic photos, while also offering Google a way to tap into that user-generated content for its own purposes.
However, that app ended up having niche appeal – after all, there were already a number of third-party tools for taking panoramic photos, and iOS itself includes a panoramic photo feature, too. The app is currently ranked #363 in the Photo & Video category on the iTunes App Store. Or, in other words, it hasn’t been a breakout hit.
For comparison’s sake, Google Maps is the #8 most downloaded iOS app of all time.
That’s why it makes sense that Google is now attempting to leverage its better-known “Maps” brand and the popular Street View feature with this app’s makeover.