Google’s second announcement, timed to coincide with the anniversary of Street View, is a new, more portable camera for shooting 360-degree imagery. Currently, the search giant uses dedicated cars and large camera-equipped backpacks (dubbed Trekkers) to photograph the world, but the new camera condenses all of this functionality into a device weighing just under 15 pounds (approximately 6.8kg) and being “roughly the size of a house cat,” according to Google’s blog post.
The camera is intended to make it easier for Google to acquire Street View imagery around the world, allowing the company to provide more frequent updates. Instead of paying to carry dedicated camera-equipped vehicles, Google could just retrofit its new camera into an existing truck. And, given that Street View data has already been obtained by putting existing heavy cameras on everything from snowmobiles to Venetian gondolas, it’s easy to picture a wide range of new vehicles Google could tie the new camera to.
