Insta360 Pro Lets Anyone Shoot Their Own Street View Images

If you've ever dreamt of driving around capturing pictures of roads and homes for Google Street View, you now have a way to do that. No, it's not a job and you won't be paid for it; in fact, it'll cost you about $3,500 to buy the Insta360 Pro camera that was just certified for the task. Think of it as a labor of love that helps beef up Google Street View, or maybe just gives you a novel way to waste a few hours.

We've known since the Google Street View-ready project was announced that the Insta360 would be among the certified Street View cameras. As of yesterday, we know that the certification applies to the 8K-capable Insta360 Pro version of the camera, one that can shoot ultra high definition images that are then stitched together into a 360-degree panorama.

Google is certifying cameras into one of four different groups, each with a specific type of certification. In the Insta360 camera's case, Google has certified this model for shooting 360-degree images while mounted on a car — this is similar to how Google captures its road-based Street View content with its own cars.

This makes the Insta360 product the only camera of its kind that is officially certified by Google as 'Auto Ready' for Street View. If you can't afford the camera, you may still have the opportunity to capture your own footage by getting one of the 50 loaner cameras Google will be lending under a loan program. More on the loan program here.

Assuming you buy the camera for yourself, you'll need a device capable of running the related image-stitching app; you'll also need an account to upload the content to Google through its Street View app. Before buying, though, Insta360 lets users download sample content created with the camera.

SOURCE: Insta360 Blog