Using Google Street View and a 360 Spherical Camera to Showcase your Small Business
I recently picked up a Ricoh Theta SC 360 Spherical camera from Amazon for around $200. The camera comes with a great app for my Android phone that let's me setup the camera on a tripod and take the photo remotely via the app. The camera has it's own WIFI hotspot that my phone can connect to in order to remote control the camera and store the output images. The camera takes 360 still images as well as video.
This camera and its output are part of Google's VR (Virtual Reality) View strategy. VR view allows you to embed 360 degree VR media into websites on desktop and mobile, and native apps on Android and iOS. This technology is designed to enable developers of traditional apps to enhance the apps with immersive content.
I am still looking at the best ways to share and view these images. Google My Business & Google Maps accepts these types of images. You can check out some the inside views of Tyler Brothers Carhartt Store which is located in Wagener, SC.
Third Party / Social Sites for Storing and Sharing 360 Spherical Photos
Facebook also accepts these images and very recently began allowing you to use these 360 / Panorama photos for your cover photo as well. I tried this and to my surprise found that, at least currently, Facebook would not allow me to set the starting view of the image. Yet when I uploaded the image as a post, I was able to control this.
Theta360.com is a website and app that comes with the Theta camera. Login to Theta360 using the app or on the Web using your Facebook login. I was able to upload from the phone app but never found a way to upload directly from a desktop Web browser. Here are a couple of examples posted on Theta360.com:
Here's one of those images embedded on this page:
The Broadstreet office. Tom Sliker, Connie Jeffcoat, & Jim Shaw. Wagener, SC. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA
Memento is another website available for sharing these 360 images.
I signed up for an account and uploaded a photo. The system seems incomplete at best - not recommending it. https://momento360.com/ There is no actual embed code available, but here is a link to the image: https://momento360.com/e/u/52cb0a0d3a75439fa2c0adea516595c0
Here's an example of using embed code from Flickr. When embedding, it only creates a snapshop image, but when you click on the image it takes you to the Flickr page:
Embedding a Google 360 Spherical Image in my Drupal Site
The coolest thing I've done with the 360 images is learn to embed these images on my Drupal Website. There are several approaches one could take, but here's what we looked at to implement this code on our Drupal site:
- https://developers.google.com/vr/concepts/vrview
- https://developers.google.com/vr/concepts/vrview-web
Here's the image displayed interactively her on my Drupal site.
I am looking forward to using my new 360 camera, and looking for more ways to help our clients improve their online presence with this technology. For more information check out this blog post: https://havecamerawilltravel.com/photographer/how-to-share-360-degree-photos
Next steps for me and this camera are:
- Learn to connect in-store 360s and how to connect to Google Street View
About the Author:
Tom Sliker
President / CEO / Lead Consultant
Tom Sliker serves as the ringleader for the Broadstreet team and has managed to build a diverse, talented, multi-faceted team that has performed a wide range of projects. With over 30 years of software development and integration experience, Tom brings a wealth of technical and business knowledge to his customers and his team.