GOOGLE STREET VIEW allows people to view locations through the comfort of their PC or smartphone, but now there’s another way to immerse yourself in far-off locations.
The latest update to Google Street View app (a separate app to Google Maps) has included support for Google Cardboard, the company’s way of getting virtual reality to people using cheap materials and a smartphone (iOS or Android).
That means that any place that can be visited through Street View can be viewed this way since it uses 360° images (but not in 3D as it doesn’t support that quite yet).
As well as the roadways and streets, there are special panoramic photos of locations that aren’t easily accessible like monuments, tourist attractions and hiking trails.
In its Cardboard app, a Street View demo of Paris was one of the demos included, but while that only brought you through a predetermined path, Street View allows you to move in whatever direction you want.
By clicking the magnet on the side of the headset, you can move forward a few feet and continue looking around.
While that experience is smooth, if you want to move to a completely different area, you will have to remove the phone and select the new location before popping it back into Cardboard again.
If you happen to have Google Cardboard, you can access the new feature now but if not, there are ways to make your own if you’re feeling creative (and have a fair bit of free time).
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say