Blog | 02 May 2024
Why organizations are choosing Street Smart over Google Street View
As a professional, you want to trust the software, hardware, and information you rely on to do your job well. You don't want to risk making unnecessary mistakes when important decisions are on the line simply because the software you are using is not providing accurate information.
Google Street View can be useful for individual users who want to virtually tour streets around the world. However, for businesses it may be inadequate due to limited levels of detail and frequent updates. Not only this, but it is illegal to use or distribute the images for commercial or business purposes. This is why Street Smart offers an alternative solution with more advanced functionalities.
1. Updated imagery
Cyclomedia collects a razor-sharp imagery of entire public spaces within our customer's desired area. These images are updated yearly (as determined by our customer's needs) so that they remain current. This makes Cyclomedia's image data the perfect basis for planning your work and inspecting public spaces from behind your desktop.
Google does not routinely collect new images nationwide every year. This can make it difficult to use the data from those images for your work as they are not reliable and likely won't accurately reflect the present state of any given location. After all, you cannot blindly assume that the data is up to date.
2. Image quality
Cyclomedia 's 100mpx image quality and geometric accuracy is widely used by professionals in business and government. By ensuring that you can see each miniscule detail of any location, you save time and money on site visits and ensure safety once on site due to better preparation.
Google Street View has less geometric correctness and lower image quality than Cyclomedia's Street Smart. This can lead to distortion and hinder accurate measurements and missed details. The deviations can have significant consequences due to relying on assumptions based on what you are able to see.
4. Different perspectives
Cyclomedia offers images from multiple points of view, including aerial and water perspectives thanks to our advanced, patented recording equipment. Data layers can be added, such as trees, road markings and street lighting. This provides our customers with complete digital access to public spaces with reliable image data.
Google Street View offers aerial and street-level views, but lacks the ability to add data layers for contextual elements making it difficult to identify, visualize and separate individual assets of interest.
3. Professional use
Cyclomedia's Street Smart is a business tool that helps you bring the outside in. It provides reliable imagery and data for professional use, allowing you to work smarter and more efficiently. You can legally download and share the images in reports and quotes, so that everyone in your enterprise is working with the same accurate information.
Google Street View is a well-known and free application for consumers, but commercial use or distribution of the images is not allowed. You can not add context to reports or quotes using panoramic or aerial photos. If sharing image data is important to your work, Google Street View is not suitable.
With Cyclomedia's Street Smart, you can be confident your organization is working smarter.
We are very proud of our Street Smart application. Thousands of professionals use it daily for quality insights. Although Google Street View is free for everyone, it cannot be used commercially and the images may not be downloaded. With Street Smart from Cyclomedia you get razor-sharp images, accurate measurements, property inspections, sharing reports, running simulations and adding reliable data layers for important decisions.
Why wait- schedule a free, personalized demo today!