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javascriptgoogle-mapsgoogle-maps-api-3google-street-view

Google Streetview API Indoor panorama.setPosition() redirects to start position

I am working on a Google Streetview indoor application using the Google Maps JS API. I am using panorama pictures that are available on Google Streetview. I sometimes want to programatically change the position, for instance when somebody clicks on a position in a small map. However, when I call panorama.getPosition() I automatically get redirected to a different position. I can actually see the position_changed event being triggered twice.

I already sort of found the cause of this issue. It has something to do with the starting/entrance positions Google maps uses for Streetview Indoor.

Google Maps screenshot

The two orange circles depict the two possible starting/entrance points into the building. When dropping the pegman over these circles you will enter the building in Streetview Indoor.

It looks like when these starting points exist, the Google Maps API does not let you programatically set the position to some position other then any of the starting points. It will always redirect you to one of the starting points. This is obviously not what I want.

//The starting/entrance position is lat: 52.089988, lng: 5.178041
//The position I want to go to 
var goToPosition = {lat: 52.0898852, lng: 5.1780344};

//Position changed EventListener
google.maps.event.addListener(panorama, 'position_changed', function() {
    var newPosition = panorama.getPosition();
    console.log('changed position to:', newPosition.lat(), newPosition.lng());
});

//Calling setPosition with goToPosition
panorama.setPosition(goToPosition);

//Will result in two console.logs directly printed after another:
changed position to: 52.0898852 5.1780344 //goToPosition
changed position to: 52.089988 5.178041 //starting position

The console.logs show that it looks like the position is being changed twice directly after each other, ending the position at the starting position.

I'm wondering if any body else has encountered this problem and if there is a known workaround for this. I am in contact with the photographer that uploaded the panorama pictures to Google. Maybe there's something in the way these pictures are uploaded to Google and configured. I wonder if this can even be fixed in my application code, or if it's an API problem or even expected behavior.

Thanks!

Solution

  • I found the solution for my problem, partly thanks to @LilDevil's answer.

    Each panorama for a position has a panorama ID. If you know the panorama ID in advance, it can be used to move to that position using setPano().

    I store panorama ID together with the lat,lng of a position. When clicking on the map I calculate the known position that is nearest to the clicked position. I can then look up the panorama ID that belongs to this position and use it to move to that panorama using setPano().

    This doesn't seem to be a very clean way to solve the problem, because the panorama ID might change over time (for instance when new panorama pictures are uploaded to Google Streetview). However, I couldn't find anything in the documentation that says this method shouldn't be used. The documentation says that this method should be used when dealing with custom panorama pictures, which is not the case in my situation. Also, in this specific situation we are in control of when new panorama pictures will be uploaded (because it's for Google Indoor) so I can change the stored panorama ID's if that happens.