Google Street View Integration
Exporting your iGUIDE to Google Street View (commercial properties only).
What is Google Street View (GSV)?
Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets worldwide.
Exporting your iGUIDE to GSV
GSV is only available for commercial properties that have an address associated with them.
Exporting an iGUIDE to Google Street View requires a few extra steps on the iGUIDE Portal. The data must be sent to Google after the iGUIDE is created. This process is called exporting and is done directly from the iGUIDE Portal.
Starting January 1, 2021, the Street View Add-On will be free for all newly created iGUIDEs.
To add this feature automatically on all iGUIDEs you create, you may need to enable it in your iGUIDE Defaults. This can be found on the iGUIDE Portal under user Settings. You can also enable these features on any iGUIDE at any time by enabling them under Package & Add-ons.
This process requires you to have a Google Business profile. If the business you are shooting does not have a listing on Google Maps (Google Business Profile), you or your client must create one. It may take several days to appear, so it’s best to check availability and create it as soon as possible.
Below is a step-by-step guide describing how to prepare and export an iGUIDE to Google Street View. Make sure to follow along closely so that you don’t miss any key details.
How to Prepare for Exporting to Google Street View
1. Survey a property
Use your iGUIDE camera and Survey app to capture a property. Include more panoramas to increase walkability. Make sure that every panorama is within view of another. The panos should follow a continuous path.
2. Stitch the iGUIDE
Copy your Survey data to your computer and open it in Stitch. Align and adjust your scans as usual, then save and export.
3. Create the iGUIDE on the Portal and submit your Stitch data
Check the Google Street View box on the Create iGUIDE page(See Figure 1). This is under Paid Add-ons and must be selected for Standard and Premium iGUIDE Packages. If you forget to check the box at this stage, you can still do it later on the Package & Add-ons page. Now, just upload the stitch.tar file as you usually would.
4. Wait for the iGUIDE Report
When processing is complete, you will receive the iGUIDE Report. Once this occurs, the iGUIDE will be ready to export to Google Street View. The iGUIDE Report will include links to floor plans and gallery images, just as you would expect for any other iGUIDE, and the option to download the photospheres created.
5. Press the Street View button
On the iGUIDE Portal, a button that says Street View will be visible (See Figure 2). Press this to take it to a screen showing any existing Street View Projects. From this screen, you can also delete data that has been exported to Google Street View. You can re-export the data as often as you like to make changes.
6. Press New Project
Press the New Project button to start the process. See Figure 3.
7. Click Start after reading the warning
All 360 photos (panos) will be uploaded to Google and stored by Google under your own Google account. Planitar only provides software tools for uploading content to Google and is not responsible for the uploaded content and its compliance with any policies regulating such content.
It is your responsibility to respect the privacy of others and to comply with any policies by Google and other entities that regulate the public availability of such content. In particular, you should not publish imagery from personal residences. Imagery from other private locations should not be published without the owner’s consent.
It is your responsibility to blur any faces or license plates if affected persons do not want such images published. 360-degree photos of nightly rental properties are acceptable for publication, provided no personally identifiable information is provided. Imagery from long-term rental properties, such as monthly rentals, apartments, etc., is prohibited from publication.
Google Street View Image Acceptance & Privacy Policies
Google Maps User Contributed Content Privacy Policy
Export to Street View in 5 Simple Steps
1. Select Floors and Panos for Export
3. Align Floors on Google Maps
1. Select Floors and Panos for Export
This is where you decide what will be shown on Street View. Double-click on any panorama you wish to hide from view. Double-click on any hidden panorama to show it. Press the pencil icon beside the name of any floor to open a pop-up window. Here, you will see the option Show in iGUIDE. If the box is checked, the data on this floor will be exported. See Figure 4.
Warning: For exceptionally large properties, keep the number of panoramas exported to an absolute minimum. In other words, choose only panos that are absolutely necessary. Trying to export too many may cause the export to fail, requiring you to restart and try again.
2. Arrange Floors
Click and drag floors up or down in the list. Please place the floors in order from top to bottom as they appear when viewing the building in elevation. Drag and drop floors to organize them. The floor considered to be the Ground Floor is indicated by an orange dot. Make sure that the correct floor is chosen. See Figure 5.
3. Align Floors on Google Maps
Click and drag the floor plans to move them. There will be a floor plan for every level of the property that is being exported. Click and drag on the circular arrow to rotate the floor plans. Left-click and drag outside of the floor plan to move the surrounding map. For multi-floor properties use the floor selector in the top-right to show or hide floors by clicking on the eye icon. Clicking the eye will only toggle which floors are currently visible on the screen, not which floors will be exported. See Figure 6.
4. Select Google Place
Enter the business name in the Search field and scroll through the list provided to find the proper business associated with your data. If no Google Business profile appears in the list, you or your client will have to create one. This may take several days. See Figure 7.
5. Export to Google Maps
First, You must sign into Google to allow youriguide.com to submit the data. Once you are signed in, press Export. This is the final step in the export process. See Figure 8.
Finished!
As soon as you have pressed Export, the project will begin configuring.
Keep an eye on this for about an hour. If, after an hour, the project still shows “Configuring panos…” the export has likely failed. If this happens your only course of action is to delete the existing project and restart the export process. Reduce the number of panos that you are trying to export every time the export fails. Once the export is complete, the panoramas will be available on Google Maps. The Google Street View version of the tour can be shared via a link or embedded into a website.
Note: Panoramas will usually appear quickly but it may take several days for Google Maps to link them completely together into a tour.
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