Is Photosynth Microsoft’s answer to Google Street View?

With Microsoft’s announcement of its multi-image Photosynth technology being integrated into Virtual Earth, Google's Street View might have a commercial rival. Photosynth was launched last August allowing users to take large collection of photos of a place or object, and displaying them in a reconstructed 3-dimensional space.

With Microsoft’s announcement of its multi-image Photosynth technology being integrated into Virtual Earth, Google’s Street View might have a commercial rival.

What is Photosynth?

Photosynth was launched last August allowing users to take large collection of photos of a place or object, and displaying them in a reconstructed 3-dimensional space. Photosynth allowed people to transform regular digital photos into a 3-dimensional, 360-degree experience.

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Photosynth now commercially available with Microsoft Virtual Earth integration:

This means that businesses will be able to create detailed, browsable 3D views of anything – homes, places, products, hotels, and embed them with Microsoft’s Virtual Earth maps.

Microsoft will not take pictures itself. It will rely on people to upload images and create the interactive Photosynths. This is unlike Google Street View that doesn’t let you create anything on your own, with a regular digital camera.

Over 12 million photos have already been uploaded as over 350,000 Photosynths.

How can this be used?

It can be used for:

  1. A range of business, such as estate agents showing prospective buyers the inside and outside of properties
  2. Shops letting customers to browse stores and products in detail
  3. Local governments illustrating services or land use
  4. Internal use, such as insurance risk assessment and claim processing.

This surely does not mean that Microsoft is halting the use of the FREE Photosynth. You can still continue to use Photosynth for your personal projects. The new commercial option will allow Microsoft to partner with big brands and to help more people discover how great a Photosynth experience can be.

Link: Photosynth

(Source: Tech Crunch | msdn blog)