GlobalVision Shows Off 360-Degree Video Street View
Eric Calouro | Dec 17, 2009 | Comments 1
We received quite an interesting press release this morning in our inboxes from GlobalVision, based out of Geneva, Switzerland. The pitch was entirely reminiscent of the YellowBird project we reported on back in August of this year. Hell, it’s even reminding me of my post dating back to October, in which I suggested some sort of video street view should make its debut.
So — have you guessed what I’m on about? It’s Video Street View. The concept is exactly what you may think it is. If you’re familiar at all with Google’s Street View product (or Bing, et al), you know that the standard makes use of panoramic cameras which stitch each frame together.
But GlobalVision has taken it one step ahead with a project aptly named Video Street View. As opposed to displaying still images from the street level, the demo will actually allow users to select a particular route (albeit limited to the streets of Switzerland), and watch the video. Best of all, end users can pan around during the video for that full 360-degree visibility.
It’s certainly going to be interesting to have this type of technology come into the states — and you can bet it will. But who do you think will be first: Google, Yahoo, Bing, or another?
Filed Under: Technology
They will have quite a fight with privacy protection groups in some places, starting with Switzerland and Canada, which don’t even like Google Street View because it doesn’t protect privacy enough. And I can imagine that if you’re trying to catch your spouse coming out of a building where a suspected lover lives, this could be a pretty useful tool! But that a lot of people will oppose its wide use for that reason.