Made with
by Olive & Lake
360-photos with a Google Business account
360º photos and Google Business accounts go hand in hand.
Having a Google Business account gives the possibility to showcase online 360 degree photographs. This clearly aims at increasing the online visibility of a business/place and it is an official feature offered by Google for its subscribers.
More than showcasing 360-photos, Google Business accounts also offers the ability to use those images on a business website.
Know that there are some downsides for professional uses of 360º photos with such an account. Learn more in the FAQs.
Technical Characteristics
HQ Images Rendering
Easy Website Integration
Mobile Friendly
Google Maps
Today, using Google Maps is probably the best way to view 360-photos on Google Business accounts.
How to view such 360-photos?
Jump on the photo gallery and navigate to the "Street View & 360º" tab!
Also, know that all Google services are interrelated.
For instance, if you see a 360-photo on the Google Business account (commonly by using Google Maps), you’ll also find this 360-photo on Google Earth, etc.
Check it out and explore
Uses On a Website
When a 360-degree photo is available on a Google Business account, it can also be used on any website. Learn “how to” in the FAQs below.
This type of ‘virtual tour powered by Google Street View’ is very familiar to most users today. Here, the user interface is made by default and includes: navigation arrows, full-screen mode, zoom buttons, floor levels and a compass.
Check out and explore this example as a reference.
Google Trusted Photographer
Google Trusted
Photographer
Know that this program is temporarily closed.
Until 2018, the “Trusted” certificate was automatically awarded to photographers who published more than 50 360º photos on Google’s mapping platforms – Maps, Earth, etc. However, the Google’s AI can’t recognize if the photos were great or awful, and here was (I guess) the breaking point.
Learn more: Welcome to trusted and Street View trusted photographer program
Do you want to know if a self-called “Google Trusted Photographer” is a great photographer? Ask them to show you their official 360 photo contributions to the Google platform!
Google Street View
What is Google Street View?
It's a Google technology featured in the mapping platforms of Google Maps and Google Earth.
Basically, it’s the tech we’re using to view 360-photos/Street View photos on Google Maps and on someone’s Google Business account.
Know that way before promoting 360 degree photos (Street View Photos) on the Google Business account of a place, these photos are first of all a contribution to Google’s mapping platforms.
About my Service
This service is kindly included for clients inquiring for a 360-degree photography service – find my fees.
To carry out this service, I use a professional software that allows me to: geolocate 360° photos on Google’s mapping platforms, link them to a Google Business account and its photo gallery, and add floor levels.
Visit my portfolio of 360-degree photos to see the work of a professional 360-degree photographer.
FAQs
Commonly by using Google Maps.
Research the place you’re looking for, click the first image you’ll find to access the photo gallery, then navigate to “Street View & 360°”.
Step by step process – updated 2023.
- With a laptop/desktop, open your internet browser, jump to Google.com only, and research the place you are looking for.
- On the right side of the screen you’ll see a panel with the Google Business account of the place you searched for. Click on the Google Maps window.
- When the new window is open, click the featured image of the place (top left).
- In the filter bar, navigate to the “Street View & 360º” tab, then select the 360 photo you want to embed.
- At the top left of the 360 photo, you’ll see a small dark window with a few information. Here, click the (3 vertical dots) ⋮ icon and select “share or embed image”.
- When the “share” window is open, select the “embed a map” tab.
- Set yourself the default view you want – by rotating and zooming on to the 360 image. Then click “Copy html”.
Know that:
• The “copy html” code changes each time you move/modify the default view of the 360 photo.
• The “copy html” code can be easily customized such as its size, border, adding CSS, etc. by a webmaster.
• The photo has a Google’s logo/copyright?
Unfortunately, it’s not possible.
Note: using the “report a problem” button is a waste of time and hope. This feature was created to report a lack of privacy and anonymity, offensive content, inappropriate location, etc.
• The photo has someone’s logo/copyright?
Get in touch with that person.
It’s not possible.
This aspect is handled by the Google Business account AI.
It’s not possible.
This aspect is handled by the Google Business account AI.
No, this option is no longer available by the Google platform.
Never!!
Unless, maybe, if you need assistance.
Professionally speaking, the main downsides of this solution is that it is entirely managed by Google’s AI, and which can potentially face different bugs with the uses of 360º photos.
A professional 360-degree photographers should know how to work/deal with this AI. However, and potentially facing a buggy situation with your 360-photos and the Google’s AI, the best option will be to delete the photos and to re-upload them.
Also, any professional 360-degree photographers are clearly limited to the features offered by the Google platform! For instance, ‘changing the default view of a 360 photo’, etc. is not possible to achieve – neither by the owner of a Google Business account -you-, nor by any third-party photographers.
Do you have another question, even technical, to which you'd like to have a clear answer?