Poor Quality Google StreetView

[nds76]

Google has done some terrible imaging for Google Maps, here's an example:

This is US-45 @ the I-24 JCT in southern IL.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.161426,-88.685562&spn=0.001443,0.00284&t=m&z=19&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=37.161427,-88.686073&panoid=vuycGD_c1zxDpphgRoDy0Q&cbp=12,105.7,,0,3.31

I hope one day they will redo a lot of these. No reason why these have to look like crap when other areas get digital camera quality images.

-- Changed subject title to match subject. -rmf67

[kphoger]

I've always just assumed this kind of shot had to do with the camera glass.  ???

[Duke87]

Just like a windshield will get dirty, so will the lens of an exterior-mounted camera. Especially if it's facing forward (note that if you spin the view around and look behind the car, it's much clearer).

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

Not only that - but they should tell the drivers/operators that when the cameras are on, they should only go west in the early morning and only go east in the late evening...and that they should ONLY go north-south in the early morning/late evening on 2-lane roads.

All too often you get unusable images because the idiots were running the cameras while heading west in the evening or east in the morning.  I mean...come on people, this isn't rocket science.

[empirestate]

Not only that - but they should tell the drivers/operators that when the cameras are on, they should only go west in the early morning and only go east in the late evening...and that they should ONLY go north-south in the early morning/late evening on 2-lane roads.

All too often you get unusable images because the idiots were running the cameras while heading west in the evening or east in the morning.  I mean...come on people, this isn't rocket science.

On the contrary, it seems to me that planning the day's route in such a way that the sun is always behind the car (and still actually getting a lick of work done) would be comparably complex!

[huskeroadgeek]

I can relate to the problems like with the image linked above-many of the images taken around eastern Nebraska have a dirty camera lens. Strangely enough, it seems to me that at least in Nebraska, the places with older images taken in 2007 are clearer than the more recent images taken in 2009. This however is one of the worst images I have seen-the sign for I-24 is completely unreadable. Apparently, they are redoing all of the US imagery in HD but I haven't seen any indication as to when it might be done.

[vdeane]

I'd expect to see I-366 first... with the speed limit at 85.

[Michael]

Apparently, they are redoing all of the US imagery in HD but I haven't seen any indication as to when it might be done.

I'd expect to see I-366 first... with the speed limit at 85.

They redid the highways and major streets in Syracuse, NY this past summer.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's a portion of the NY Thruway near Rochester that was done at night.  Also, note the direction of Pegman; he's backwards!

A few months ago, I was trying to see how a frontage road could be built on NY 17 east of Elmira.  When I went into Street View, I saw another night image.

Even earlier than that, I wanted to see the Chicago Skyway.  It was done at night too, in both directions!

One of my pet peeves with Street View is when I'm trying to read a sign, and one image is too far away, while the other is either right next to it or past it.  With HD, it's much easier to zoom in to read signs.

[mukade]

Not only that - but they should tell the drivers/operators that when the cameras are on, they should only go west in the early morning and only go east in the late evening...and that they should ONLY go north-south in the early morning/late evening on 2-lane roads.

All too often you get unusable images because the idiots were running the cameras while heading west in the evening or east in the morning.  I mean...come on people, this isn't rocket science.

I don't think that works. I believe four simultaneous images are taken by Google at each point. That is how they can stitch images when you rotate your view. So towards dawn or dusk on a clear or hazy day usually would create issues no matter which way the vehicle was travelling. The following two articles show vehicles used by Google.

  Google Street View: Residents block street to prevent filming over crime fears (The Telegraph)

  Google stops collecting Wi-Fi data for Street View (Digital Trends)
 
I would think taking images from 10am to 3pm or on days with a high overcast might produce the best images. As an aside, when some object is in the area that is stitched, you can see the alignment isn't perfect. Look at the bus in the image in this Google Street View in Japan. I've seen worse, but this is one I recently ran across. Anyway, if they stitched images taken at different times, you would see a lot of partial objects when you rotated your view.

[vdeane]

I've noticed the alignment issues get worse the better their picture quality gets for some reason.

[empirestate]

In NYC you can actually find two vintages of high-res imagery, one from 2009 and another from 2011. I've noticed that the stitching is improved with the newer imagery, particularly with a less blurry upward view (so you can actually make out the tops of tall buildings).

[nds76]

I have noticed this as well.

I've noticed the alignment issues get worse the better their picture quality gets for some reason.

[nds76]

Another thing that bugs me is that when your clicking the arrow to move forward on a divided highway the advancement switches its view from eastbound to westbound. Here is an example I found:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.507835,-97.810161&hl=en&ll=35.507937,-97.813975&spn=0.001474,0.00284&sll=35.507835,-97.810161&sspn=0.001474,0.003862&oq=yukon&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=35.507937,-97.81438&panoid=XvTLgCVXHYwbfYHWXe3pFA&cbp=12,267.48,,0,10.56

Click forward once and see what happens.

[empirestate]

Happens on undivided highways too, which can be just as bad if the street you're on is wide. The fact is, as long as you're in an area with the old lo-res imagery, your exact position is crucial if you have any hopes of reading anything, like a sign, but with the new stuff that will eventually take over, it's less of an issue.

Of course, if someone goes and has his house removed from Street View, you could be hosed.

[vdeane]

I still don't get why they allow people to do that.  People who think that stuff on their property that's visible from public right of way is private are idiots IMO.  If you don't want people to see it, don't put it out in public view.

[roadman65]

Another thing that bugs me is that when your clicking the arrow to move forward on a divided highway the advancement switches its view from eastbound to westbound. Here is an example I found:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.507835,-97.810161&hl=en&ll=35.507937,-97.813975&spn=0.001474,0.00284&sll=35.507835,-97.810161&sspn=0.001474,0.003862&oq=yukon&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=35.507937,-97.81438&panoid=XvTLgCVXHYwbfYHWXe3pFA&cbp=12,267.48,,0,10.56

Click forward once and see what happens.

How about when you travel across, lets say the Bayonne Bridge in Staten Island, and you move forward to find yourself on a street below the bridge.  It happens on many grade seperations on many roads too.

[roadman65]

Try going through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in New York where not all the journey in the tunnel is captured and you go from one point at one end to a point at the other without realizing it!  This tunnel is over 9000 feet long yet it has maybe only a half a mile captured.

[Alps]

Try going through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in New York where not all the journey in the tunnel is captured and you go from one point at one end to a point at the other without realizing it!  This tunnel is over 9000 feet long yet it has maybe only a half a mile captured.

That's the MTA at work. Same thing will happen on the Verrazano. I don't know that it's security-related, because you do get fairly deep into the facility before the imagery skips across. The upper/lower thing happens there too - you have four roadways, three captured in Google, and no telling what you'll see on each one as you skip forward.

[roadman65]

Try going through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in New York where not all the journey in the tunnel is captured and you go from one point at one end to a point at the other without realizing it!  This tunnel is over 9000 feet long yet it has maybe only a half a mile captured.

That's the MTA at work. Same thing will happen on the Verrazano. I don't know that it's security-related, because you do get fairly deep into the facility before the imagery skips across. The upper/lower thing happens there too - you have four roadways, three captured in Google, and no telling what you'll see on each one as you skip forward.

I think you only have the inbound tube captured in street view as I tried to go inside the tunnel from I-478 to I-278 EB.  There is another small tunnel from the SB Gowanus to the NB BQE that you cannot get to see the inside of too.  To us roadgeeks thats SB 478 to EB 278, but New Yorkers (especially traffic announcers) call the approachway into the Brooklyn- Battery Tunnel as the Gowanus and the BQE starting off the Gowanus at that location.