Eye2eye Software
Encyclopedia
Eye2eye Software Ltd is a UK educational software publisher which has systematically photographed Britain in 360 degree panoramas and stills, publishing the collection as the school resource and home reference Eye2eye Britain. Using a portable panoramic camera developed by themselves they have followed a 'points of interest' approach--taking panoramas on mountains, beaches, inside parliaments, factories, heritage sites, etc rather than a street (car) based approach like Google street view
.
. Eye2eye Britain may have been partly inspired by 1986 BBC Domesday Project
developed by Acorn Computers Ltd where Martin worked before.
Nov 1998 - first edition of Eye2eye Britain (1.0) published. Supplied on CD-ROM, this mapped out Britain in 10,000 digital photos (no panoramas). Each photo is captioned and indexed using metadata, eg topic, date of heritage sites on a timeline, as well as map location.
1999 - Press interest in Eye2eye Britain.
Jan 2005 - First Panoramic Edition of Eye2eye Britain published. Added 950 full screen 360 by 105 degree panoramas, of England from Leeds in Yorkshire South, to 10,000 photos.
2005-06 - Consumer press critical, better feedback for education.
Jan 2010 - Latest edition - Eye2eye Britain Panoramic 5 - published. 1,500 panoramas and 10,800 photos now cover mainland England, Wales and Scotland plus the largest of Britain's many islands. Edition 5 also supports other school needs such as Virtual learning environment
.
This technology has shaped their approach to panorama-photographing Britain. They have used their portable camera system to capture points of interest panoramas on foot, eg interiors, beaches, tower-top or mountain-top views. Single-click capture copes well with places with movement, eg crowds, waves on beach. This approach has the advantage of covering places of [inter]national interest, but the disadvantage of being labour-intensive, so the quantity of panoramas (currently around 1,500) is less than in car-based projects like Google Street View
. Eye2eye have also been able to write captions and indexes for each panorama.
Google Street View
Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world...
.
History
Eye2eye Software Ltd, based in Cambridge, England, was founded in 1998 by Martin Clemoes, son of the late Peter ClemoesPeter Clemoes
Peter Alan Martin Clemoes was a British historian.Born in Southend-on-Sea and educated at Brentwood School, he originally wished to become an actor and won a scholarship to RADA but the Second World War intervened and he served with the Royal Corps of Signals...
. Eye2eye Britain may have been partly inspired by 1986 BBC Domesday Project
BBC Domesday Project
The BBC Domesday Project was a partnership between Acorn Computers Ltd, Philips, Logica and the BBC to mark the 900th anniversary of the original Domesday Book, an 11th century census of England...
developed by Acorn Computers Ltd where Martin worked before.
Nov 1998 - first edition of Eye2eye Britain (1.0) published. Supplied on CD-ROM, this mapped out Britain in 10,000 digital photos (no panoramas). Each photo is captioned and indexed using metadata, eg topic, date of heritage sites on a timeline, as well as map location.
1999 - Press interest in Eye2eye Britain.
- The Guardian started an article CoastBusters with the line "Ever had an urge to explore the entire coastline of mainland Britain? Put away that sou'wester and boot up your PC instead. For a round trip from John O'Groats to John O'Groats, its not rainwear you need, but software."
- Personal Computer World subtitled a reviewwith "A hugely impressive reference work that focuses on places of note in the British Isles"
Jan 2005 - First Panoramic Edition of Eye2eye Britain published. Added 950 full screen 360 by 105 degree panoramas, of England from Leeds in Yorkshire South, to 10,000 photos.
2005-06 - Consumer press critical, better feedback for education.
- Before 2007 launch of Google street viewGoogle Street ViewGoogle Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world...
consumer press did not see appeal of exploring with panoramas - eg May 05 Computer Shopper review ending with "As no information is provided for people who want to visit the places featured in Eye2eye Britain, it's more suitable as an educational product than for use by day-trippers or holiday-makers." - With whiteboards becoming widely used in UK schools, education press more enthusiastic, eg in Dec 06 Education Guardian article called Bring maps to life and save the world.
Jan 2010 - Latest edition - Eye2eye Britain Panoramic 5 - published. 1,500 panoramas and 10,800 photos now cover mainland England, Wales and Scotland plus the largest of Britain's many islands. Edition 5 also supports other school needs such as Virtual learning environment
Virtual learning environment
Defined largely by usage, the term virtual learning environment has most, if not all, of the following salient properties:* It is Web-based* It uses Web 2.0 tools for rich 2-way interaction* It includes a content management system...
.
Panorama technology
Eye2eye's approach to panoramic photography depends on two technologies they have developed themselves:- A portable panoramic camera system capturing a 360 by 105 degree panorama in a single click.
- Panorama rendering software for the PC that syncs with screen refresh, rendering a perspective view frame for each screen refresh (e.g. 60 frames per second) for smooth panorama movement.
This technology has shaped their approach to panorama-photographing Britain. They have used their portable camera system to capture points of interest panoramas on foot, eg interiors, beaches, tower-top or mountain-top views. Single-click capture copes well with places with movement, eg crowds, waves on beach. This approach has the advantage of covering places of [inter]national interest, but the disadvantage of being labour-intensive, so the quantity of panoramas (currently around 1,500) is less than in car-based projects like Google Street View
Google Street View
Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world...
. Eye2eye have also been able to write captions and indexes for each panorama.
See also
- BBC Domesday ProjectBBC Domesday ProjectThe BBC Domesday Project was a partnership between Acorn Computers Ltd, Philips, Logica and the BBC to mark the 900th anniversary of the original Domesday Book, an 11th century census of England...
- Google Street ViewGoogle Street ViewGoogle Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world...
- Google EarthGoogle EarthGoogle Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
- MapquestMapQuestMapQuest is an American free online web mapping service owned by AOL. The company was founded in 1967 as Cartographic Services, a division of R.R. Donnelley & Sons in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1969. When it became an independent company in 1994, it was...
- Immersive MediaImmersive MediaImmersive Media Company is a digital imaging company specializing in spherical immersive video. The parent company Immersive Ventures is headquartered in Kelowna, British Columbia with Immersive Media Company offices in Dallas, Texas.- History :...
- MapJackMapJackMapJack is a map feature introduced in 2007 that is similar to Google Street View, but has less coverage than Google Street View though much better image quality. Its current headquarters is in Hong Kong, and is in the beta stages. The site currently provides these types of views of various...
- driveme.in street view
- Aspen Movie MapAspen Movie MapThe Aspen Movie Map was a revolutionary hypermedia system developed at MIT by a team working with Andrew Lippman in 1978 with funding from ARPA.-Features:...
(oldest project of this type)
- Digital mappingDigital mappingDigital mapping is the process by which a collection of data is compiled and formatted into a virtual image. The primary function of this technology is to produce maps that give accurate representations of a particular area, detailing major road arteries and other points of interest...
- Location ViewLocation ViewLocation View is an interactive website developed by Tokyo-based company LocationView Co. offering registered users a street-level view of selected cities in Japan. It features 360-degree horizontal and 180-degree vertical panning, zoom, and virtual mobility in which the user can control speed...
- EveryScapeEveryScapeEveryScape is an online mapping service that allows its users to view panoramic images from various locations. The site currently has images of 47 cities and towns:...
- Bing Maps
- CycloMediaCycloMediaCycloMedia is a Dutch company specialised in the large-scale and systematic visualisation of environments based on 360° panoramic photographs. Using specialized technology, large public areas are photographed and stored in an online database...
- Seety
- WikiMapiaWikimapiaWikiMapia is a privately owned, online map and satellite imaging resource that combines Google Maps with a wiki system, allowing users to add information, in the form of a note, to any location on Earth. Users may currently use this information for free...
- earthmineEarthmineearthmine, inc. is a company located in Berkeley, California devoted to "indexing reality". The company uses vehicle mounted camera rigs to capture imagery and three dimensional data of the urban environment...
- VideoStreetViewVideoStreetViewVideoStreetView.com is known for being the first web-platform to publish a full-motion 360° immersive video StreetView. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with an office in Saïgon, Vietnam.-History:...