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How Long Until DG Courses get Street Viewed?

JedV

JedV

Double Eagle Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2011
Messages
1,684
Location
Cascadia
Google's new Street View app allows users to create their own content and post it online. You use a 360° camera such as the Ricoh Theta S (https://theta360.com/) or, your phone. I haven't tried this, but the user created content out there so far is pretty slick.

So, it seems that eventually courses will get this kind of treatment (whether on Google's servers, or what I propose that timg turn into DGCR 2.0 before someone else does ;)

I wonder how much bandwidth that would take...
 
I've seen parts of courses on Street View when they border main roads. Lions Park in Shakopee is one of them.
 
Cgkdisc said:
I've seen parts of courses on Street View when they border main roads. Lions Park in Shakopee is one of them.
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This. I was actually on Google Earth playing around and ran across a course because I thought that I saw a basket.
 
http://www.google.com/maps/about/contribute/photosphere/

You can create them with the iOS or Android app, or even a dslr and some software, but it's time consuming.

To make it a street view instead of just a photo sphere, it's suggested that you create them 3' apart. It would definitely be a time commitment to map out a course and connect all of the spheres, but the Theta would make it a lot easier! I'm not sure if it's worth the cost of the camera to start mapping out courses though. The price on the ones you can buy today has dropped quite a bit. I'm sure the first generation ones will get even cheaper when the new Theta's come out in October.
 
The disc golf atlas and 3-D views by Jomez are great but require people to do the work and for little to no $$$ involved/worthwhile. Something like what we do now on DGCR with uploading photos/videos should be used on DGCR. Upload virtual tour option please.
 
rickles said:
The disc golf atlas and 3-D views by Jomez are great but require people to do the work and for little to no $$$ involved/worthwhile. Something like what we do now on DGCR with uploading photos/videos should be used on DGCR. Upload virtual tour option please.
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A counterpoint could be that we wouldn't want regular joe-schmoe out there doing a virtual tour. I'd say a solid 50% of the photos for the courses on this site are just unbearably bad. If those people did a virtual tour, would the results be just as bad? Or would we say that a bad virtual tour is better than no virtual tour at all?
 
ToddL said:
A counterpoint could be that we wouldn't want regular joe-schmoe out there doing a virtual tour. I'd say a solid 50% of the photos for the courses on this site are just unbearably bad. If those people did a virtual tour, would the results be just as bad? Or would we say that a bad virtual tour is better than no virtual tour at all?
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Question is...Would that be better than what you have now? And would you be willing to pay for a service that offers it? I'm not, so amateur photos/video is acceptable to me, but there would need to be better info/directions on how to do it correctly so as to be useful if done.
 
ToddL said:
I'd say a solid 50% of the photos for the courses on this site are just unbearably bad.
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I'd say that is a very conservative estimate. If we could only get the "photographers" to just back up and not try to take photos of the hole while standing on or near the tee box, many photos would at least get to the tolerable level.
 
Doofenshmirtz said:
I'd say that is a very conservative estimate. If we could only get the "photographers" to just back up and not try to take photos of the hole while standing on or near the tee box, many photos would at least get to the tolerable level.
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If we could get the "photographers" to realize the importance of horizontal orientation and taking photos in prime season, many photos would at least get to the tolerable level. I specifically remember one course where someone went out and took photos after a snowstorm.
:wall:

And I wish Timg could put something in the software that rejects any photo that is taller than it is wide.
 
Well it's not much but we began doing aerial walk-through's of the most popular courses in our area.



Although not perfect we try to be helpful by doing these things:

1) Trying to put the drone on a similar as possible flight path to a disc.

2) Taking off from the Tee at eye level so you can see what it would you would be seeing standing at the tee.

3) We started also flying or walking from basket to the next tee, this is so for confusing courses you know where to go afterwards.

4) We started doing them in 4k so you can pause and get a really good picture.

5) Also started doing them with Commentary from local pros that have played the courses hundreds of times.


We plan on hitting up more as we travel more and get to see more courses. Not as cheap as a 3D street-view equipment but to us it's totally worth it.

Check out all of aerial walk-through videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmD3P4I9nQsevryHjvGKZnABdSTLifz03
 
Nice views. Looks like a nice spot. As always, needs a bit of editing to cut the time down. Just my opinion.
 
beereakfast said:
Nice views. Looks like a nice spot. As always, needs a bit of editing to cut the time down. Just my opinion.
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We used to do this, if you watch some of our older videos they are much more sped up. However we feel this should be more of a tool for players and after some feedback from viewers that are playing for the course for the first time, visiting town and need to be tournament ready as possible they loved it but they're request was for us to actually slow it down so they can better see the holes.

BTW love the screen name. :D :thmbup:
 
Doofenshmirtz said:
I'd say that is a very conservative estimate. If we could only get the "photographers" to just back up and not try to take photos of the hole while standing on or near the tee box, many photos would at least get to the tolerable level.
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To drag this thread just a little more off topic...
I hate hate hate hate going to courses on this website and seeing bad pictures. Pictures of a guy throwing. Blurry pictures of your dog standing near the tee box. Pictures of the course while it's still under construction. Pictures of only a few holes. Pictures with bad lighting.

I went out to the newest course in Spartanburg SC the day before our grand opening and spent all evening taking pictures, editing them, and uploading them to make sure I got them up before any other guys could. Not to take too much away from other people -- by all means, please help out and volunteer your time and spread the word. But on the other hand, use a decent camera and please try to do a good job. As soon as I had my pictures uploaded, Russell Schwarz (course designer) contacted me to thank me for the good pictures.

Every hole has the tee sign, a shot from the tee, and a reverse shot from the pin. Basket locations are circled in red, tee locations are circled in red in the reverse angles. Mid-fairway shots are provided when you can't see the pin from the tee. Colors, brightness, and contrast were all adjusted a little bit. It took a little time, but it always does to do it properly.
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=7576#
 
Thanks for the details...

Turns out that now in 2017 there ARE courses that have been "street viewed", sorta. Not by Google themselves but just like previously mentioned/posted, by private individuals.

Dunno if/how links work in this forum as this is my first post, but if you do a Google maps search for "Santa Cruz River Disc Golf Course, Tucson, AZ" you'll find that you can click on the "pegman" at the lower right of the screen to show photo spheres(the street view kind...) of the first four holes/tees. Clicking on the "blue marbles" takes you into the photo sphere. Works just like street view with the ability to move to the next view/location by clicking on an arrow/pointer on the ground. Only through the first four holes so as to not rob the actual player of his/her own sense of "discovery" about what lies next.

Also done with another Tucson disc golf course "Groves Park Tucson Arizona". Google maps, click on pegman, again the first four tees/holes available as photo spheres.

Also, on either course the photo spheres can be reached by clicking on/opening the photo sphere next to the "regular" photos. Go to the first tee and then click the arrows to navigate through the first 4 baskets.

Surely Tucson, Arizona can't be the first/only town in the nation to be doing this, right??
 
Last edited:
Slightly related:
Bear creek dgc in grapevine TX shows up on google maps, but not just as a label on a park like most courses I've seen. Rather, Bear Creek DGC has the fairways and (somewhat accurate) pin postions shown on the regular google maps layer when you zoom in close enough. Has anyone seen other courses with this feature on google maps?
As someone who travels to courses a lot I frequently use DGCR's course maps but how nifty would it be if they just showed up google? I'm not sure how it compares to the 360 streetview idea in terms of difficulty to produce or benefit to players but would be cool to see more of both.
 
Maybe as drones become cheaper dedicated reviewers and DGCR users will start doing fly overs and uploading them to the media section on the course page. It seems like a natural evolution. Although I'm sure the man hours of an 18 hole drone view with editing is likely many more hours than I would assume.
 
LarryM said:
Turns out that now in 2017 there ARE courses that have been "street viewed", sorta. Not by Google themselves but just like previously mentioned/posted, by private individuals.

Dunno if/how links work in this forum as this is my first post, but if you do a Google maps search for "Santa Cruz River Disc Golf Course, Tucson, AZ" you'll find that you can click on the "pegman" at the lower right of the screen to show photo spheres(the street view kind...) of the first four holes/tees. Clicking on the "blue marbles" takes you into the photo sphere. Works just like street view with the ability to move to the next view/location by clicking on an arrow/pointer on the ground. Only through the first four holes so as to not rob the actual player of his/her own sense of "discovery" about what lies next.

Also done with another Tucson disc golf course "Groves Park Tucson Arizona". Google maps, click on pegman, again the first four tees/holes available as photo spheres.

Also, on either course the photo spheres can be reached by clicking on/opening the photo sphere next to the "regular" photos. Go to the first tee and then click the arrows to navigate through the first 4 baskets.

Surely Tucson, Arizona can't be the first/only town in the nation to be doing this, right??
Click to expand...

Awesome. Thanks for the update. I like how they did it.
 
First??? 0_o Say it ain't so....

JedV said:
Awesome. Thanks for the update. I like how they did it.
Click to expand...

My thanks goes to you, JedV, for starting this thread as well as the other contributors. (Truthfully, I wasn't really expecting to get much of a response due to the age of the thread...) You see I'm the same "LarryM" who made/published the photo spheres on Google Maps. I used this thread/posts in my research prior to actually doing them. Seemed like what was mentioned here made good sense. If you liked the way it was done then all who posted can take some deserved credit for the way they turned out. ^_^

I'm a disc golfer but not a member of my local DGA. I just like to play disc golf. Instead of playing one round I took pictures instead. Camera and tripod together cost less than $100. I didn't use a camera that does everything inside the camera like the "theta". I did all the other stuff on a desktop with 100% free software. Just my way of "giving back" to a game that I've enjoyed since 1978.

I've heard it said, "Disc golf is the fastest growing sport that no one knows about." The photo spheres are my way of helping to change the way some people learn of it's existence. I, myself learned of the sport years ago and probly the same way most people do- someone who had played the sport told me about playing at a course and then tried their best to explain what the game is. Then I went to a course...loved it too. Good method to expand the number of enthusiasts but it's limited by that "one-person-fostering-another".

Since publishing the spheres in Feb 2017, the two courses have been viewed over 10,000 times. (Note: I, personally, do not get or expect to get any "reward" for those views...) Likely that persons viewing the spheres are mostly "new" to the game. (Why would someone who already knows where the course is and has played there be viewing the spheres?) Hopefully after seeing the course in what I call, "My-own-Boots-on-the-ground-mode", some of those views translate into them grabbing what they got (even a whammo frisbee would do...) and heading out to the course for that first round ever.

I'll be doing (Photosphereing????) more courses here in Tucson as well as some in Phoenix later this year. Constructive criticism is welcome as you might see something I'm missing or can do better. Also looking forward to seeing how any others are doing this. In particular, I'm doing the spheres 100 ft apart as a general rule and only the first 4 baskets as a "preview". Would really like to know from someone who's done all 18 exactly how many viewers start at Tee 1 and go all the way through to Basket 18.
 
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