It doesn’t have to be Google

All the world is talking about Google streetview and in Germany they even go through heated debates. What many overlook is that Google isn’t the only provider of services of this kind. In this article I want to introduce you to some alternatives, some of which are still in early development but hold a lot of potential.

1. Bing Streetside (Microsoft)
Microsoft’s version of streetview consists of a mix of Microsoft material and user created pictures. The developers in Redmond are currently working on an advancement, called Streetslide: spherical panorama pictures are composed into an almost seamless view accessible from multiple perspectives to gain an edge on the Google service. At the moment the problem with the service is the requirement to use the Silverlight Plugin to view it in your browser.

2. NORC (eXtreme Soft Group)
The Street-View service of Romania based company eXtreme Soft Group is available for selected cities in Austria and Eastern Europe. Similar to Google the imagery was recorded with special car-mounted cameras. Yet, the navigation of the scenes doesn’t work as good and intuitive as the Google equivalent.

3. MapJack
This service looks and feels similar to Google streetview but the image quality seems to be quite a bit better. If bandwidth is a problem you can tune down image quality. That might come in handy for mobile web users. A specialty is that cities/regions can apply for coverage on a reasonable price tag. Currently they cover some cities in the US and Thailand. What we don’t like is their lacking concern for privacy: Number plates are not pixelated and can be read by everybody.

4. EveryScape
EveryScape employs a different concept. Even though you have the familiar street walking ability the whole service is more geared towards local businesses. A major part of the experience actually happens indoors – in shops, restaurants and hotels. This might have some interesting marketing implications with some sort of check-in rewards which you can earn at home. When you chose to “walk into” a business you might be interested in its services, so why not offer them on an exclusive discount.

5. Sightwalk (Panogate)
Sightwalk mainly offers walkable panoramas of selected places of tourist interest in some cities of Germany. I like the integration of further information for places and sights through highlighted buttons in the visual interface.

6. Navteq (Nokia)
Navteq, the navigation map provider, now part of the Nokia group plans to start recording streets in Great Britain and France this year. Through laser based scanning (Lidar) they create a three dimensional model of geo referenced coordinates. This model will then be “decorated” with a multitude of pictures to create a realistic impression of the scenery which you can navigate freely. As map provider for navigation devices mobile integration is a must for Navteq.

Limited by their geographic coverage most services aren’t really anywhere close to being a competition for Google. Some of them, like EveryScape, have an interesting concept, which might well be worth exploring. Bing Streetslide and Navteq are both in development and the future will show if they have the functional appeal to attract a significant number of users.

So, as of now it’s save to state that there are no “real” alternatives to Google streetview besides donning your shoes and having a look yourself.

Stephan de Paly