Google Street View is famous for the mapping cars, but the company also uses Trekker backpacks (seen on video here) and panoramic cameras to reach less-accessible areas of the world and to take us inside buildings. The latest building to see some Google Trekker love is the world’s tallest skyscraper, the 2,722-foot tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai …
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opB1nlkWw2c&w=670&h=411]
Google has upped the ante in the mapping department with a Google Maps enhancement that lets you see high-resolution interior shots of local businesses in the 360-degree freedom. Business Photos for Google Maps, as it is called, was unveiled Thursday at the Social-Loco conference in San Francisco by Marissa Mayer, Google’s top dog for consumer products.
Google plans to crowd-source the 360-degree panoramas from business owners who will be able to submit interior shots of their restaurant or a bar to Google’s servers that will stitch them together in a panorama view of the place. Google didn’t stop there. The company said business owners can invite Google photographers into their establishments to take high-quality shots of their place.
The search monster will roll out Business Photos next week to users in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. More countries are to follow in the following month.
