Google adds business information to Street View
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Google has added a new annotation feature to Street View to make it easier for users to find basic information about a particular establishment.
Users viewing a specific location in Street View will now see an icon overlaid on an image of a company building. Upon clicking that icon, a dialog box will open, displaying the establishment’s name, address, phone number and website. If the company has a Google Place page, users will be able to find other content, like hours, any deals it’s currently offering, and whatever else the business owner added to the company’s profile.
Google also used the announcement to solicit the help of its users. Those who are viewing Street View images and see the annotation icon out of place can move the marker to the correct location on the image.
The addition of basic information to Google Street View significantly adds to its value. Previously, users were forced to move around an image of a particular street and hope that the pictures were clear enough to determine the name of a respective establishment. The result wasn’t effective and it marginalized Street View’s usefulness. Annotations should help improve the service.
Google’s addition of annotations to Street View comes on the heels of the company’s recent announcement of location-based search suggestions in Google Maps, which should also make it easier for users to identify companies around a particular area.
-- Don Reisinger