Google Maps To Add “Google Store Views”

Chris Silver Smith, February 4th, 2010 at 1:08 pm ET:
Premium member since 01/2009

Barry, out of curiosity, if Google confirms, ask them if they’re using GPS-enabled cameras while doing this!

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miketleads, February 4th, 2010 at 3:51 pm ET:

Wonder what companies that already offer this will do, companies like everyscape.com this is interesting.

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FrankReed, February 4th, 2010 at 4:37 pm ET:

@miketleads – I would be very worried if I was everyscape.com only because of who Google is. If Google is providing the same service it will be very difficult to compete no matter how good they are. It’s just the new Google world order.

Thanks for the update Barry.

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JasonMurphy, February 4th, 2010 at 5:07 pm ET:

This is gonna be tough to roll out, no?
Does the business need to add the pictures moving forward?

Obviously Google won’t be snapping pics for everybody and I doubt most businesses will do this for fear of turning people off before they can meet them in person.

Also – sup with the weird mask that the camera guy is wearing? lol

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NickLatus, February 4th, 2010 at 5:09 pm ET:

It would be awesome if they could do a real-time photo update at my local convenience store so I would know when the milk with the farthest out sell by date was available.

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Josh Marti, February 4th, 2010 at 9:03 pm ET:

Our free Point Inside indoor map and navigation app for iPhone and Android has hundreds of the largest malls with a WGS-84 navigable frame that would love this content

Not sure where this is heading, but kudos to Google for attempting it. Mapping all these indoor venues was difficult, but “Store View” sounds much more tough to manage the churn of stores and products.

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rusty, February 4th, 2010 at 9:43 pm ET:

[ Up-front disclaimer: we have a web site that competes in this space ]

This is interesting news, and potentially a worry for some companies working in this domain. But it’s also validation. If it helps attract more attention to similar, but different types of solutions from other vendors, we’re okay with that.

For example, Oh! Nuts could have taken a different approach. If they had shot a set of organized pictures of their store all by themselves, and used RealPlaces (http://realplaces.com) to create a similar walk-around, they would be in complete control of their imagery. The end result might not connect directly into StreetView (yet), but they would be able to change or update images whenever and however they like. They could also highlight various products of their own choosing with individual zoom-in closeups, add descriptions of products, and/or allow their viewers to add their own comments. As an example, see what a hair salon in Seattle put together:

http://realplaces.com/WA.php?lo=trent&ln=TrentsOn45th

Being in control of one’s own images and allowing your customers to engage is important these days. And with that in mind, we welcome Google’s implicit validation that in-store navigable imagery is desirable and valuable. Thanks Google!

-Rusty, founder RealPlaces, Inc.

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Darrin Ward, February 4th, 2010 at 10:04 pm ET:

I received a call about a month ago from Google employee that wanted to schedule a trip to all 6 of the stores with which I am associated in the NYC area. I didn’t call him back but I do still have his contact information from the voicemail.

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j-mass, February 5th, 2010 at 8:43 am ET:

And no one thinks this is part of a 2010 April Fool’s Day stunt? Come on, people. What a waste of bandwidth.

J

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verbatim, February 5th, 2010 at 9:31 am ET:

The photos show the Boro Park location of Oh, Nuts, while the Google map show the Avenue J location.

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KevinM, February 5th, 2010 at 10:15 am ET:

This just seems like the next logical step in Google indexing the entire planet.

@j-mass Not at all. If you consider the way things are going with mapping, this doesn’t seem all that ridiculous. After all, you can get apps on your phone now that give you details maps of shopping malls. You can also “walk down a street” with Street View, so why not be able to take a left into that Mac’s Milk to check out the Froster flavours on tap?

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smokr, February 5th, 2010 at 11:47 am ET:

My father owns a small store in downtown Los Angeles. He was visited by a guy from google, that asked him if they could take pictures of the inside of his store. I checked it out and it seemed legitimate.

Google said that they would make an appointment and come in for about 15 minutes and photograph the entire inside of the store (public areas only).

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dface, February 6th, 2010 at 9:29 am ET:

Does anyone else get that this may not be a good idea? Now crooks and thieves, possibly terrorists don’t even need to leave their home to scout the place. What’s next, government buildings? How does this benefit anyone? Did I miss something?

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BrianN, March 26th, 2010 at 5:05 am ET:

They came to my store and spent a couple of hours photographing. It’s been what seems like 6 months or so and I haven’t heard anything….hopefully it comes out soon.

As for dface are you serious? Dude you need to put down the joint you are way too paranoid.

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BrianN, March 26th, 2010 at 5:08 am ET:

They spent a couple of hours photographing my store in San Francisco. It’s been at least 5-6 months though and I haven’t seen anything yet.

As for dface are you serious? Dude you need to lay off the weed you are way to paranoid.

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