While Google is the largest player in street view imagery, there are several other projects/products that are attempting to photograph the world. I will examine these options in terms of data licensing, software licensing, and project/product ownership.

Google Street View

  • Predecessors: Stanford CityBlock Project
  • Released: 2007-05-25
  • Ownership: Google LLC
  • Content License: All rights reserved, Other
  • Server Software License: Proprietary
  • Collection Client Software License: Proprietary
  • Viewing Client Software License: Official Google Maps clients have proprietary licenses, but many SDKs are released under Apache License, Version 2.0

Apple Look Around

  • Predecessors: None known
  • Released: 2019-09-19
  • Ownership: Apple Inc.
  • Content License: All rights reserved
  • Server Software License: Proprietary
  • Collection Client Software License: Proprietary
  • Viewing Client Software License: Proprietary (client-side JavaScript is available in partially-minified form, though)

KartaView

  • Predecessors: Formerly called OpenStreetView and OpenStreetCam
  • Released: 2016 (similar project called OpenStreetView started in 2009, but need to do more research on it)
  • Ownership: Grab Holdings Inc. (acquisition announced 2019-12-12)
  • Content License: CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Server Software License: Formerly MIT License, now seemingly proprietary (last Github update 2019-12-12)
  • Collection Client Software License: Formerly MIT License, now seemingly proprietary (last Github commit 2019-12-12)
  • Viewing Client Software License: Formerly MIT License, now seemingly proprietary (last Github update 2019-12-12)

Mapillary

  • Predecessors: None known
  • Released: 2013-09
  • Ownership: Facebook Inc. (acquisition announced 2020-06-18)
  • Content License: CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Server Software License: Proprietary
  • Collection Client Software License: Official clients have proprietary licenses, but the iOS SDK is released under the MIT License
  • Viewing Client Software License: Proprietary

In terms of data openness, there is a good bit to be happy about here. Every image in KartaView and Mapillary is under an open license. The software for capturing, hosting, and interacting with this data, however, is no longer free (as in freedom). I would love to work with the free software community in the coming years to build open alternatives to the products listed above. Perhaps the result could be integrated into the free software underlying Qwant Maps to create the respectful, hackable, radical map software of the future! Please contact me if you’re interested in collaborating.