TY - JOUR
T1 - Do-It-Yourself street views and the urban imaginary of Google Street View
AU - Cinnamon, Jonathan
AU - Gaffney, Alfie
PY - 2022/3/7
Y1 - 2022/3/7
N2 - Google Street View (GSV) is the de facto platform for street-level visual representation in most settings; however, its coverage is highly uneven due to a range of political, legal, technological, and economic factors. GSV’s spatiotemporal disparities are most evident within cities, and this advances a distorted urban imaginary of absences, fragments, and obsolescences. This paper traces key developments in 360° imaging poised to expand the production and consumption of street-level imagery, including new actors, platforms, technologies, and data production approaches. Then, engaging with consumer-grade imaging technologies and the notion of do-it-yourself urbanism, this paper develops a DIY street view approach as one new mode of producing street-level imagery. Drawing on the findings of a pilot study, the paper considers key practical issues for street-view production, the benefits and risks of DIY approaches in relation to corporate and crowdsourced imagery initiatives, and the politics of urban representation in 360°. Findings suggest that the DIY approach offers the potential for a more “careful curation” of space in 360° street-level representations; however, there are considerations specific to this “third way” that require further attention.
AB - Google Street View (GSV) is the de facto platform for street-level visual representation in most settings; however, its coverage is highly uneven due to a range of political, legal, technological, and economic factors. GSV’s spatiotemporal disparities are most evident within cities, and this advances a distorted urban imaginary of absences, fragments, and obsolescences. This paper traces key developments in 360° imaging poised to expand the production and consumption of street-level imagery, including new actors, platforms, technologies, and data production approaches. Then, engaging with consumer-grade imaging technologies and the notion of do-it-yourself urbanism, this paper develops a DIY street view approach as one new mode of producing street-level imagery. Drawing on the findings of a pilot study, the paper considers key practical issues for street-view production, the benefits and risks of DIY approaches in relation to corporate and crowdsourced imagery initiatives, and the politics of urban representation in 360°. Findings suggest that the DIY approach offers the potential for a more “careful curation” of space in 360° street-level representations; however, there are considerations specific to this “third way” that require further attention.
KW - DIY imaging
KW - Panoramic photography
KW - Street View
KW - platform urbanism
KW - urban visualization
UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10630732.2021.1910467
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105364058&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10630732.2021.1910467
DO - 10.1080/10630732.2021.1910467
M3 - Article
SN - 1466-1853
VL - 29
SP - 95
EP - 116
JO - Journal of Urban Technology
JF - Journal of Urban Technology
IS - 3
ER -