Introduction:
Google Maps has revolutionized the way we choose venues by introducing Immersive View. This cutting-edge feature combines machine learning and computer vision to create a realistic digital model of the world. Immersive View allows users to explore indoor spaces with interactive, photorealistic, and multi-dimensional experiences, helping them make confident decisions about where to go.
Capturing Venues in Immersive View:
To create high-quality Immersive View reconstructions, Google Maps utilizes neural radiance fields (NeRFs), a state-of-the-art method for 3D reconstruction and novel view synthesis. With the help of professional photographers, Google captures detailed photos of indoor spaces using DSLR cameras within a short timeframe. These photos undergo automatic scanning and blurring to protect privacy. They are then processed using a structure-from-motion pipeline, which solves for each photo’s camera parameters and enables the NeRF reconstruction process.
Enhancing NeRF Reconstruction:
Google employs various techniques to enhance the quality of NeRF reconstructions. They build on the mip-NeRF 360 model, which consistently produces high-quality results. Additionally, they incorporate low-dimensional generative latent optimization (GLO) vectors and exposure conditioning, providing better accuracy in capturing appearance information and controlling the brightness of dimly-lit venues. NeRF models are trained on TPU or GPU accelerators, constantly improving computation efficiency and reconstruction quality.
Delivering an Immersive User Experience:
With a trained NeRF model, Google Maps can generate new photos of a venue from any viewpoint. To deliver a user-friendly experience, Google designed a controllable 360° video player that allows users to navigate through spaces as if flying on a predefined path. By using videos instead of real-time inference or baked representations, Google ensures scalability and provides a seamless exploration experience for users. The video format also offers better editorial control and easier quality inspection.
Conclusion:
Google Maps’ Immersive View is revolutionizing the way users choose venues. By combining machine learning and computer vision, Google has created a stunningly realistic digital world that empowers users to explore and make informed decisions. With immersive 360° videos, users can virtually experience spaces and confidently plan their visits. Google continues to innovate and improve its techniques to provide even better reconstructions and user experiences in the future.