Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Pimping Hyperlapse

Teehan+Lax's popular Hyperlapse creates animated Street View drives for any route that has Google Maps Street View data available. The code for Hyperlapse is available on GitHub and has proved a source of inspiration for a number of Google Maps API developers.


Ecolapse is a nice extension of the Hyperlapse library. Using Ecolapse you can create an animated Street View drive with a very clever overhead 'small world' effect. Ecolapse distorts the Google Street View imagery to portray an overhead view rather than the normal Google Maps landscape view.

You can create your own animated Ecolapse drives simply by dropping two map markers onto a Google Map, to indicate the start and end of your journey. When the animation is created you have the option to pause the animation, zoom in and out of the Street View and use your keyboard arrow keys to scroll through the route frame by frame.

Hat-tip: Google Street View World


Skoda has used the popular Hyperlapse Street View animation tool to create a cool promotional website for the Rapid Spaceback.

The Rapid Spaceback website lets you view a number of animated journeys on Google Maps Street View. To spice up the action the site has added a number of filters that you can apply to the animated route, including a kaleidoscope or mirror view. You can also choose from a number of different soundtracks to accompany your drive.

The site includes a number of prepared routes from famous locations around the world. You can also create your own route by selecting a starting point and a destination on a Google Map.


HyperlapseMB uses the depth information hidden in Street View data to add a nice motion blur effect to a Street View animated drive. The motion blur eliminates a lot of the jerkiness in the resulting animation, which is caused by stitching a sequence of still images together. The result of adding motion blur is a much smoother animation.

HyperlapseMB applies the motion blur effect before the Street View animation can be played. Therefore HyperlapseMB is a bit slower than the original Hyperlapse, but it is worth the wait. Not only is the animation much smoother but the controls in the side-panel allow you to adjust the view in the animation and even spin the animation around.

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