BETA
Chapter 1
The birth of Street View cinema
Chapter 2
Desktop documentaries and poetic journeys
Chapter 3
The ethics and future of virtual filmmaking
YOUR GOAL
Master of Cinema made with Google Maps
Ch 1 · The birth of Street View cinema
construyendopaz03 Match Street View frames to discover how artists turn Google Maps into cinema.
choko Street View Cinema
No camera crew, just a virtual drive To find a movie waiting in the street!
choko Street View cinema challenges traditional filmmaking by turning the computer user into an editor of pre-existing footage.
choko Canadian artist Jon Rafman curated striking, unedited Street View images to highlight the poetry and tension of automated photography.
BETA
construyendopaz03 Build a virtual street to discover how artists turn Google Maps into cinematic art.
Fun Fact
Desert camera mounts: Google has captured mapping footage using snowmobiles, ziplines, and even camels in the Liwa Desert.
Glossary
nine eyes (noun)
The original nine-lens camera setup mounted on early Google Street View vehicles to capture panoramic, 360-degree photos of our world. In digital art, it also refers to Jon Rafman's project that curates the strange, beautiful, and accidental scenes caught by these unblinking lenses. Within 'The birth of Street View cinema'—a project exploring movies made inside Google Maps alongside artists like Robert Luxemburg and Razan AlSalah—these nine robotic 'eyes' act like an accidental camera crew, filming raw human stories for artists to discover and turn into virtual cinema.
The original nine-lens camera setup mounted on early Google Street View vehicles to capture panoramic, 360-degree photos of our world. In digital art, it also refers to Jon Rafman's project that curates the strange, beautiful, and accidental scenes caught by these unblinking lenses. Within 'The birth of Street View cinema'—a project exploring movies made inside Google Maps alongside artists like Robert Luxemburg and Razan AlSalah—these nine robotic 'eyes' act like an accidental camera crew, filming raw human stories for artists to discover and turn into virtual cinema.
Quiz
What animal did Google equip with a Trekker camera to map the Liwa Desert in the United Arab Emirates?
BETA
construyendopaz03 Split and stitch panoramic scenes to discover how artists turn Google Maps into cinema.
Glossary
cyberflâneur (noun)
A person who wanders the internet, exploring virtual spaces and digital landscapes without a predetermined destination. In 2010, Jon Rafman adopted this role to source panoramic Google Maps imagery for his melancholic short film.
A person who wanders the internet, exploring virtual spaces and digital landscapes without a predetermined destination. In 2010, Jon Rafman adopted this role to source panoramic Google Maps imagery for his melancholic short film.
Quiz
Which country is the artist Jon Rafman, known for pioneering Google Street View art, from?
BETA
choko Match digital street scenes to learn how artists turned Google Maps into cinema.
Quiz
How many camera lenses did the early Google Street View cars use to capture their 360-degree images?
Quiz
What is the name of Jon Rafman's famous digital art project that curates Google Street View images?