New camera for Photo Spheres

A trip we’re planning for this coming summer triggered me to replace my Nexus 7 tablet with a newer device with a better camera and cellular capability. Specifications enabled me to narrow my choice to either the iPhone 6 Plus or Nexus 6P, but the Nexus 6P’s camera functions tipped the balance in its favour.

The Photo Sphere function I’ve been using in the N7 tablet’s native camera app does a decent job, but the faster processor and additional sensors in the Nexus 6P make quite a difference. Instead of ~2 minutes to capture and about the same to process, the N6P takes ~45 seconds for each stage — and the stitching is significantly better. In the photosphere below, just a part of the road sign and a mis-matched rail very close to where I had been standing show any stitching errors. With the Nexus 7, any more than a slight tilt as the camera captured the frames would result in stitching errors even on distant objects.

Bridge over the upper Quyon River in Thorne. by Eric Fletcher

This post also tests a new method I’ve discovered to embed a photosphere directly into a blog post.

In the above image, click and drag within the image to move it around and up & down; click the +/– buttons or Ctrl-Roll the mouse to zoom in & out. Click on the expand button in the upper right corner to show the view full screen without leaving this blog page.

Links within the box in the upper left corner will open new browser tabs: my name opens to my G+ public profile; the marker icon opens Google Maps to the photosphere's location; and the “View in Google Maps” link will display it in a full Maps window.

Unfortunately, the embedding method is not particularly straightforward. I first copied the Google Maps photosphere URL, and then used Herman Stankov’s GitHub code (here) to create a very basic HTML “page” to load to my website. I then used Tony Redhead’s tip (here) to reference the page within an iFrame code snippet that embedded into this blog post.

Note: this method relies on the unique pano id embedded within the Google Maps URL. I can only assume that it would not be in Google’s interests to cancel the pano id because it would make the link invalid here and in their StreetView and Maps products.