Google Street View vs GoThru

Google Street View combines panoramic images to represent places virtually in Google Maps. Users can explore locations and inspect historical imagery to see changes over time. Images come from Google and contributors, and may be months or years old rather than current. People with compatible cameras can capture 360 videos and upload them through Street View Studio, which supports multiple uploads, previews, imagery statistics, and capture-route planning. Businesses can publish indoor or outdoor imagery and virtual tours for location previews. Developers can add Street View to Android, iOS, and web applications using the Maps Embed API or Maps JavaScript API. The Street View Image API supplies static panoramas, while the Publish API sends 360 photos with position, orientation, and connectivity metadata. Contributed imagery receives automatic face and license-plate blurring, with requests available for additional blurring. The service is free; Static API usage is billed per panorama and requires billing plus an API key or OAuth token.

GoThru provides tools for creating custom virtual tours, publishing 360 images to Google, and viewing tours in VR. Its tour creator supports themes, plugins, multilingual content, a side menu, and usage statistics. The Street View Moderator accepts direct panorama uploads and imports from Google Drive or Dropbox; users can connect images, preview tours, and publish to Street View. It includes a tool to blur faces, license plates, and other private details. Photo Studio is a freemium desktop app for viewing, organizing, editing, and publishing 360-degree images on macOS and Windows, with no trial or subscription required for its free offering. It supports AI image tools and can publish to GoThru, Panorra, or Google Street View. A free Chrome extension retrieves Google Business identifiers and Street View panorama details. GoThru is available on Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, web, and as an extension. Pay As You Go costs nothing; Street View/Blue Line tours cost 14 USD per tour, while tours with four images or fewer publish free. Basic costs $15 a month. Custom tour links stop working if a subscription ends unless users pay per tour or download and host the tour themselves.