Now You Can Try Street View in VR Using Google Cardboard
If you’re something of a sofa loafer who enjoys going on vacation via Street View rather than by plane, train, or automobile, then for an even more immersive experience, read on.
Google has just rolled an update for its Android and iOS Street View apps that lets you explore its massive database of 360-degree imagery using Cardboard, the company’s cheap-as-chips virtual reality headset.
So whether you’re up for a leisurely jaunt through the English countryside, a wander through the busy backstreets of Bangkok, a quick look at the view from the southern tip of Africa, or any number of curated adventures available right here, with Cardboard pressed up against your face the experience should feel a whole lot more real.
Related: Microsoft’s VR kit to challenge Google Cardboard for entry-level VR dominance
In another update announced on the Google Developers Blog on Monday, the Mountain View company said it’s increased availability of the Google Cardboard app, taking it to more than 100 countries in 39 languages – on both Android and iOS.
“With more than 15 million installs of Cardboard apps from Google Play, we’re excited to bring VR to even more people around the world,” Google “stereoscopic sightseer” Brandon Wuest wrote in the post.
Finally, improvements have been made to Cardboard’s software development kit, giving developers even better tools for creating new VR apps, as well as improving existing ones.
Related: Fantasy meets reality – the best ways to entertain yourself in VR
Monday’s news follows Google’s recent announcement that it’s working to take its school-focused VR Expeditions initiative to more classrooms around the world.
The next best thing to a real-life field trip, the Expeditions Pioneer Program, to give it its full name, takes students to far-flung places around the world using VR gear.
The classroom kit includes a Cardboard headset and accompanying phone to use with it, while the teacher gets a tablet for directing the adventure.
