Abstract: A system and method of determining locations which require additional information and sending notifications of the same is provided. The system may make the determination based on a number of factors. The system and method also involve sending users notifications requesting the information. A server may receive geographic location information from a client device and determined if the client device is currently located proximate to a location which requires additional information. If so, the server may send the client device a notification. In response to the notification, the user may, for example, capture an image, upload the image, and receive incentives to maintain user interest.

Abstract: Methods and systems for presenting imagery associated with a geographic location to a user include providing at least one geographic map or panoramic imagery to a client for display in an interface configured for interactive navigation of the at least one geographic map or panoramic imagery, receiving a user selection collected by the interface indicating a location corresponding to the at least one geographic map or panoramic imagery, identifying a plurality of images associated with the received user selection, obtaining at least one user preference associated with the identified images, ranking the identified images based on at least one of the retrieved user preferences, and providing at least one ranked image for display in the interface, in accordance with the ranking.

Abstract: Methods and systems for generating panoramic images using images captured from, for instance, a camera-enabled mobile device (e.g., a smartphone, tablet, wearable computing device, or other device) are provided. More particularly, a panoramic image can be generated from images simultaneously captured from at least two cameras facing in different directions, such as a front facing camera and a rear facing camera of a camera-enabled mobile device. The images can be captured while the photographer rotates the device about an axis. The panoramic image can then be generated from the images captured from the different cameras. The first set of images and the second set of images can be calibrated to accommodate for different positions of the cameras on the device and/or can be processed to accommodate for different resolutions of the images captured by the different cameras.

Abstract: According to one aspect, embodiments of the invention provide a system and method for utilizing the effort expended by a user in responding to a CAPTCHA request to automatically transcribe text from images in order to verify, retrieve and/or update geographic data associated with geographic locations at which the images were recorded.

Abstract: A street-level imagery acquisition and selection process identifies which images are published in a street field view. An imagery database includes panoramas each corresponding to a set of images acquired from a single viewpoint. The panoramas are attached to corresponding positions on a road network graph. The graph is divided into a set of selection paths, each of which includes a topologically linear sequence of road segments. Each selection path is evaluated to select a set of panoramas to be published in the path. Panoramas of interior road segments are selected before panoramas at intersections. Selected panorama identifiers for each interior road segment of the selection paths and each intersection correspond to a position along the road network graph. The selected panorama identifiers are then published in the street field view.

Abstract: The present invention relates to using image content to facilitate navigation in panoramic image data. In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method for navigating in panoramic image data includes: (1) determining an intersection of a ray and a virtual model, wherein the ray extends from a camera viewport of an image and the virtual model comprises a plurality of facade planes; (2) retrieving a panoramic image; (3) orienting the panoramic image to the intersection; and (4) displaying the oriented panoramic image.

Abstract: A panorama viewer is disclosed which facilitates navigation from within the panorama of a larger, structured system such as a map. The panorama viewer presents a viewport on a portion of a panoramic image, the viewport including a three-dimensional overlay rendered with the panoramic image. As the orientation of the viewport within the panoramic image changes, the three-dimensional overlay's orientation in three-dimensional space also changes as it is rendered with the panoramic image in a manner that matches the change in orientation of the viewport.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage device, including a method for providing content. The method comprises identifying imagery associated with an interior of a structure. The method further comprises identifying one or more products or services that are shown in the imagery. The method further comprises receiving a request to provide a panorama of the interior of the structure. The method further comprises providing the panorama including providing the imagery. The method further comprises providing content responsive to the request based at least in part on the identified one or more products or services.

Abstract: The present invention relates to using image content to facilitate navigation in panoramic image data. In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method for navigating in panoramic image data includes: (1) determining an intersection of a ray and a virtual model, wherein the ray extends from a camera viewport of an image and the virtual model comprises a plurality of facade planes; (2) retrieving a panoramic image; (3) orienting the panoramic image to the intersection; and (4) displaying the oriented panoramic image.

Abstract: Systems and methods of the present disclosure provide techniques for providing user-specified ways of navigating through real-world three-dimensional geographic imagery that spans space and time. An exemplary method includes identifying a plurality of images depicting a geographic location at street level. The images are captured at the geographic location over a span of time. Using a processor, image data is associated with the plurality of images. The image data includes information representing positional data and a time dimension related to the plurality of images. Using the processor, a user's navigational intent to move back and forward through the time dimension is predicted based on a navigational signal. The exemplary method further includes selecting a set of images from the plurality of images based on the image data and the predicted navigational intent. The set of images depict conditions at the geolocation for one or more time periods.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus including computer program products for using extracted image text are provided. In one implementation, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes receiving an input of one or more image search terms and identifying keywords from the received one or more image search terms. The method also includes searching a collection of keywords including keywords extracted from image text, retrieving an image associated with extracted image text corresponding to one or more of the image search terms, and presenting the image.

Abstract: The present invention relates to annotating images. In an embodiment, the present invention enables users to create annotations corresponding to three-dimensional objects while viewing two-dimensional images. In one embodiment, this is achieved by projecting a selecting object onto a three-dimensional model created from a plurality of two-dimensional images. The selecting object is input by a user while viewing a first image corresponding to a portion of the three-dimensional model. A location corresponding to the projection on the three-dimensional model is determined, and content entered by the user while viewing the first image is associated with the location. The content is stored together with the location information to form an annotation. The annotation can be retrieved and displayed together with other images corresponding to the location.

Abstract: Embodiments of this invention relate to detecting and blurring images. In an embodiment, a system detects objects in a photographic image. The system includes an object detector module configured to detect regions of the photographic image that include objects of a particular type at least based on the content of the photographic image. The system further includes a false positive detector module configured to determine whether each region detected by the object detector module includes an object of the particular type at least based on information about the context in which the photographic image was taken.

Abstract: A panorama viewer is disclosed which facilitates navigation from within the panorama of a larger, structured system such as a map. The panorama viewer presents a viewport on a portion of a panoramic image, the viewport including a three-dimensional overlay rendered with the panoramic image. As the orientation of the viewport within the panoramic image changes, the three-dimensional overlay's orientation in three-dimensional space also changes as it is rendered with the panoramic image in a manner that matches the change in orientation of the viewport.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus including computer program products for using extracted image text are provided. In one implementation, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes receiving an input of one or more image search terms and identifying keywords from the received one or more image search terms. The method also includes searching a collection of keywords including keywords extracted from image text, retrieving an image associated with extracted image text corresponding to one or more of the image search terms, and presenting the image.

Abstract: The present invention relates to annotating images. In an embodiment, the present invention enables users to create annotations corresponding to three-dimensional objects while viewing two-dimensional images. In one embodiment, this is achieved by projecting a selecting object onto a three-dimensional model created from a plurality of two-dimensional images. The selecting object is input by a user while viewing a first image corresponding to a portion of the three-dimensional model. A location corresponding to the projection on the three-dimensional model is determined, and content entered by the user while viewing the first image is associated with the location. The content is stored together with the location information to form an annotation. The annotation can be retrieved and displayed together with other images corresponding to the location.

Abstract: Systems, methods and computer program products on storage devices for shape clustering and applications in processing various documents, including an output of an optical character recognition (OCR) process. The output of an OCR process is classified into a plurality of clusters of clip images and a representative image for each cluster is generated to identify clusters whose clip images were incorrectly assigned character codes by the OCR process.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention include a system, method and computer-readable medium for viewing images in a three-dimensional environment. A user is identified. A social graph of the identified user and a plurality of other users is accessed. Based on the social graph, a plurality of images associated with one or more of the other users in the social graph are determined. The plurality of images and data are provided to a client device, wherein the data enables the display of the images in the 3D environment, at the client device.

Abstract: The present invention relates to using image content to facilitate navigation in panoramic image data. In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method for navigating in panoramic image data includes: (1) determining an intersection of a ray and a virtual model, wherein the ray extends from a camera viewport of an image and the virtual model comprises a plurality of facade planes; (2) retrieving a panoramic image; (3) orienting the panoramic image to the intersection; and (4) displaying the oriented panoramic image.

Abstract: A system identifies metadata associated with a document by capturing text of a document and comparing the text of the document with a collection of metadata records. Sets of matches between the text of the document and at least one record in the collection of metadata records may be identified, where each set of matches corresponds to a metadata record in the collection of metadata records. Metadata records corresponding to each set of matches may be scored. At least one of the metadata records may be identified based on the scores of the metadata records. The at least one identified metadata record may be associated with the document.