Yandex. Panoramas is a service from the Russian search engine of the same name, which allows users, without getting up from the couch, to make virtual trips through the streets of different cities. A distinctive feature of Yandex panoramas is the high quality of the images.
Yandex service. The panorama was launched in September 2009, the well-known Street view technology was used to create it, the first panoramas were shot on the streets of Moscow. In the future, other large cities began to appear, not only in Russia, but also in other countries. To make the streets and sights of cities look like real ones, Yandex takes several thousand photos for each panorama. For shooting, a special system is used, equipped with several cameras with a resolution of 10 megapixels. Filming is carried out on the ground, from the air and even from the water. All shooting is carried out only under favorable weather conditions, which allows you to achieve high quality photos.
Shooting panoramas on the ground
For filming on the ground, a car equipped with a GPS-navigator is most often used, on the roof of which the same device with cameras is installed, and on the body there is a sticker with the Yandex logo. Such a "panoramic car" moves along the streets of cities at a low speed, every 20-50 meters at the same time all 4 cameras take pictures: 3 horizontally and 1 up. Ordinary city streets are photographed every 50 meters, streets of the historic city center are photographed every 20, maximum 30 meters.
In places where it is impossible or impossible to drive by car, shooting is carried out from a bicycle or on foot. The tricycle used for shooting was specially designed for Yandex: 2 wheels are located in the front, the third - in the back. The Panorama Bicycle is equipped with a panoramic shooting system similar to a car one, a computer, a control system and a rechargeable battery. Parks, embankments, pedestrian streets, mountain routes of the Turkish Princes' Islands were removed from the bicycle.
For interior photography of premises or small tourist areas, where a bicycle will not pass, the photographer moves on foot. The panoramic photographer carries a camera with a tripod in his hands, taking pictures on all 4 sides.
On April 1, 2102, Yandex representatives published information about the surveys of the bottom of the Mariana Trench carried out for panoramas. Despite the publication date, some users took it seriously.
Yandex aerial panorama
For filming from the air, the Mi-8 helicopter is mainly used, equipped with cameras looking in different directions and a special device that absorbs vibration. Filmed from a height of 150-200 meters, optimal for good visibility of all sights, buildings and monuments. From photographs taken from the air, spherical panoramas are subsequently created, consisting of five images, the viewing radius of such a panorama is from 2 to 10 kilometers. Before filming, Yandex employees consult with local ethnographers, which allows them to subsequently make panoramas of the most beautiful and significant places in the area.
Initially, Yandex planned to use an airship for aerial photography. The company rented a radio-controlled zeppelin of huge dimensions for several months: 12 meters long and 57 cubic meters in volume, paying almost 4,000,000 rubles for this pleasure. Ufa was chosen as the first city for aerial filming from the airship, but during the testing process technical problems arose that could not be resolved promptly and a full-fledged filming did not work. After this incident, Yandex refused to experiment with the airship.
In June 2013, Yandex filed a lawsuit for 4.3 million rubles against the Rosdirihabl company, from which it rented an unmanned vehicle in 2012.
Shooting from the water
For water photography of the coastal strip, a boat is used with a "panoramic bike" installed on it, which already has all the necessary equipment. The first time shooting from the water was carried out in Turkey, then the shores of Istanbul were photographed.
