Categories: Mobile

Anyone can add 360-degree panoramas to Google Maps with Android 4.2’s new Photo Sphere feature

One of the most exciting feature announcements to come from yesterday’s Android 4.2 launch and Google’s new suite of Nexus devices is Photo Sphere, a feature that enables anyone to capture full 360-degree panoramas intuitively, which can then to added to Google Maps.

“Inspired by Street View”, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean’s new Camera app allows users to photograph an entire scene in every direction to create a 360-degree “immersive experience”. The images, or Photo Spheres, are stored as JPEGs and all the extra information required to view them in 360-degree format is stored as XML data attached to the images themselves.

Photo Spheres can be emailed and posted on Google+, but perhaps most importantly can be added to Google Maps to help make it more comprehensive and “enable other travelers to get an accurate preview of a location before they arrive”.

Blue circle icons denote user-contributed Photo Spheres on Google Maps for desktop only.

Albizu Garcia

Albizu Garcia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gain -- a marketing technology company that automates the social media and content publishing workflow for agencies and social media managers, their clients and anyone working in teams.

Recent Posts

MWC 2025 Barcelona was the ultimate experiential marketing dream

Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona is the biggest annual event in the mobile technology…

15 hours ago

GAN, Tec de Monterrey partnership highlights cross-border startup ecosystem building in Latin America amid trade dispute

Despite recent tensions between the United States government and Latin American countries over migration and…

5 days ago

This founder started out with US $5K to his name. Now, he owns a multi-million-dollar global business

Meet Nitin Seth, the Co-Founder and CEO of Screen Magic (SMS Magic), a messaging leader…

5 days ago

Building smarter: AI, the ultimate tool transforming an old-age industry

In this Brains Byte Back, we sit down with Hari Vasudevan, founder and CEO of…

5 days ago

When AI Goes Rogue: 8 Lessons from Implementing LLMs in the Healthcare Industry that Could Save the Future

By Santosh Shevade, Principal Data Consultant at Gramener – A Straive company All pharmaceutical companies…

7 days ago

Digital Public Infrastructure will enable public, private entities to control your access to essential goods, services & mobility

Digital Public Infrastructure is a top-down agenda coming from unelected globalists, bureaucrats, and their partners…

2 weeks ago