Google Maps Goes all 3D on London

Google Maps has given London a 3D makeover, allowing us to fly around the city like never before. Click on the Earth view of the map and, voilà, you are now flying through the virtual city as if in a computer game. All the buildings, bridges and landmarks within London are rendered and their perspectives change as you scroll around.

London is the latest UK city to receive the new makeover, others include Birmingham, Leeds, Reading and Stoke-on-Trent. So now you do not need to go to the top of the Shard to see what London looks like, simply pull it up on Google Maps and move around. What is more, weather will never get in your way. It is am impressive achievement, yet Google plans for more with the release of Project Tango and the desire to create a 3D map of the entire world, inside and out.

These 3D maps are an addition to the Street View panoramas (or photospheres as Google likes to call them). The later still provide the best images from street level, producing interactive virtual tours of cities, like this virtual tour of London. While amazing, the 3D rendering from Google maps looses detail at close zoom, detail which is clearly picked up in panoramas shot at street level like the one below.

Panorama of Trafalgar Square Charing Cross supplied by Panoramic Earth

© Peter Watts, originally written for Panoramic Earth.

St Martin in the Fields Church Virtual Tour

St Martin in the Fields is a famous church in London, found on the north east corner of Trafalgar Square. The current church was designed by James Gibbs in the early 18th century. At the time it was built, the church stood in a field part way between the City of Westminster and the City of London. In 2006 a Roman grave was found on the site, indicating that the site had been used as a religious place of worship for hundreds of years.

This interactive, 360 panorama shows the interior of the church. It was taken by Peter Watts in September 2013.

Panorama of St Martin in the Fields Church supplied by Panoramic Earth

Today, St Martin in the Fields is a popular concert venue, with classical concerts and organ recitals often being held in the church itself. Beneath the church, in the Crypt Cafe, jazz concerts are often held. Being right next to Trafalgar Square, the church is also a popular tourist attraction. It is also the parish church of Buckingham Palace, Number 10 (Downing Street) and the Admiralty.

360 Panorama of London from The Shard

London has a new viewing platform, on level 72 of The Shard, the second highest building in the EU. To celebrate this The Shard has produced an interactive 360 virtual tour panorama showing the view over London. Taken from 245m above ground level, the panorama is peppered with hotspots giving information about various landmarks and places of interest. 

Also within the image are links to various sounds recorded around the city as part of the London Sound Survey Project. There is the famous peal of bells from St Paul's Cathedral, monkeys from London Zoo and MP's (sounding much like the monkeys) from within Parliament.

The Shard is the tallest building in the United Kingdom. It is fully 309.6m (1,016 ft) tall with 95 floors topped out with a spire. You can find out more about it on Wikipedia.

This is not the biggest panorama of London. That honour goes to the massive 320 +Gigapixel image taken from BT Tower, which was the largest ever created in the world. However, I prefer this one for the interactivity and clarity of landscape.

So what is your favourite part of this image?

Largest Gigapixel 306 Panorama Ever Shows London from BT Tower

BT now own the largest 360 panorama in the world. Taken from the top of the BT tower during the London Olympics in 2012, it shows of the heart of the city. To mark the event BT have hidden 3 images of their Buzby mascot within the image. The lucky finders will receive prizes. It beats the 80 gigapixel image of London released in 2010 by quite some distance.

This 320 gigapixel image was created by stitching together some 48,640 individual frames taken with  four Canon EOS 7D cameras. It is hosted by 360 Cities. The image is most impressive in the mid-distance range as the day on which it was taken is quite hazy resulting in loss of clarity at long range. As with all images of this kind, there are increasing stitching errors as one gets closer to the tower, and the office buildings nearby are suffering some a degree of 'flexability'.

All the landmarks are clearly visible, and by the looks of the scarring on the lower end of Regents Park, it would appear that an exhibition event has just left the park. 

A collection of over 300 panoramas taken around the city, linked to Google Maps, can be found on this London virtual tour map.

Bouncing around Stone Henge

Everyone loves a bouncy castle, it does not matter how old or young you are, jumping around on these things is just fun. Most people have also heard of Stone Henge. In the summer of 2012 these two were combined and during the London 2012 Olympics, a life sized, inflatable version of Stone Henge toured various parts of London. Turning up for a single day in any location, this built-to-scale, bouncy Stone Henge drew large crowds who queued to jump about on it. Designed by Jeremy Deller and known as Sacrilege 2012, this proved to be an instant tourist attraction wherever it appeared.

Panorama of Inflatable Stone Henge Bouncy Castle supplied by Panoramic Earth

This Stone Henge takes about 4 hours to erect, and has a capacity for about 100 jumpers at any one time. As explained in the video below, the oldest bouncer was over 90 years old. Of course, inflatable objects are, by their very nature somewhat unstable, which makes taking panoramas of them difficult, even more so when people are jumping around on them. This did not stop someone from trying though, as shown above.

Winter Walks in London

Everyone will have their favourite walk round London, and this is but one suggestion that takes in one of the best Royal Parks, stunning panoramic views, fantastic market stalls and pretty boutiques. It will take about 2 hours depending on how much time is spent admiring the views or browsing the stalls.

The walk starts at Great Portland Sreet tube from where it is a short distance to formal, laid out Avenue Gardens part of Regents Park. After this you can either continue up through the northern end of the park or make a (probably not quick) detour left to the Queen Mary Rose Gardens.

Panorama of Regents Park - Rose Gardens in Queen Mary's Gardens supplied by Panoramic Earth

At the top of the par we pass by London Zoo and then cross the Regents Canal and along Prince Albert Road to Primrose Hill. For those inclined, it is a short, but steep, walk to the top for stunning panoramic views over the city. Exit at the north-east corner onto Regents Park Road and continue north along a pretty row of boutique shops and cafes - a good place to grab a slice of cake and drink.

Panorama of Primrose Hill supplied by Panoramic Earth

Continue across the railway bridge and then head right down to Chalk Farm tube where there is a fantastically painted building. At this point you begin the return trip turning south and heading back to Camden Market. This is where you can loose a lot of time browsing the various stalls selling almost anything you could imagine, including a lot of local arts and crafts.

Panorama of Camden Lock Market supplied by Panoramic Earth

The weary can opt to end their walk here or finish it by either wandering up Parkway past the Jazz Cafe and a fantastic health food shop or along Regents Canal. Both routes end up near the north end of Regents Park and from there you head south to end up back at Great Portland Street.

London at Christmas

Once again London has geared up for the run up to Christmas. Once again the lights are on in Oxford Street and ice skating rings have opened up at the Natural History Museum, Somerset House and other venues. The Winter Wonderland has arrived in Hyde Park and thousands of people our out to find various Christmas shopping bargains, enjoy the rides or relax at the Bavarian Village (shown below).

Panorama of Hyde Park - Winter Wonderland Bavarian Village supplied by Panoramic Earth

Every year just before Christmas Oxford Street and Regent Street are closed to traffic, and them promptly fill with tens of thousands of people who descend on the shops. One of the busiest shopping days of the year, it is accompanied by various street entertainment, rides and music, making for a festive atmosphere.

Panorama of Regent Street Christmas Lights 2011 supplied by Panoramic Earth

And yet in the midst of it all on wonders if the Christian meaning behind Christmas has somehow been lost.

Occupy London Campaign

For the past few weeks the tent city of the Occupy London anti-capitalist protest has occupied the space in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London. This is the closest that the protest group could get to the London Stock Exchange, situated just north of the Cathedral. On the day that the Corporation of London came to issue eviction notices to people, Peter Watts, a virtual tour photographer, went down to the site to create a virtual tour of the protest.

Panorama of Occupy London Camp at St Pauls Cathedral supplied by Panoramic Earth

Peter said that he found the site friendly and relaxed. The large 'University' tent provided all kinds of information about the protest and a daily list of events, talks and activities.

Panorama of St Pauls Cathedral - Occupy London supplied by Panoramic Earth

Understandably, Occupy London intend to remain for as long as it takes to persuade people that the status quo in the City can not be allowed to continue, and that issues around corporate and capitalist greed need to be addressed. Also understandably, the City would like the protest camp to move, for media attention to focus on other things and, probably, for them to be able to get on with business as usual.

The precise 'business as usual' that the Occupy London group are intent on preventing.

• Occupy London on Facebook
• Occupy London on Twitter
• News reports on Occupy London
  

Welcome to Henry Stuart and Spherical Images Ltd

Henry Stuart is one of the latest photographers to join the growing list of contributors on Panoramic Earth. He has over 5 years experience in the industry and is the founder of Spherical Images Ltd, 'a London-based virtual tour company, providing HD quality virtual tours...allowing clients to bring their venues to the customer with unparalleled impact and quality'.

Through his work and passion, Henry has photographed many of the top locations within the UK, including the top of the Swiss Re (Gherkin) building, Royal Albert Hall and the London Aquarium. As shown below, he is not adverse to working in challenging and dangerous conditions.

Say Hello to a Komodo Dragon

Komodo Dragon (c) Henry Stuart, used by permission

Henry says one of the most scary asignments he has done was creating a Virtual Tour of the Komodo Dragon, Raja, at London Zoo. The experience involved getting close up and personal with the dragon, which attacked the camera and then chased the curator round the enclosure as he tried to rescue the camera gear from a very sticky end. Henry says the kit had to be chemically disinfected by zoo specialists and still smelt of Komodo spit months later!

They had just one take, which caught this amazing image of the dragon head on. In the end, completing the shot in the Komodo Dragon enclosure was too risky, and the image was super-imposed on a tour created of the less-life-threatening, adjacent turtle enclosure, which explains the presence of the turtle in another part of the virtual tour.

Some of his favourite images can be found Spherical Images with many being uploaded also on Panoramic Earth.

Panoramic Earth Supports Pestival and Termites

Pestival 'celebrates the art of being an insect through awe-inspiring hands-on and multi-platform events and ideas, leading up to a biennial festival with a local and global reach.' As part of the project they created the Termite Pavilion - a model of the inside of a termite mound, scaled up to human size from a 3D scan of a termite mound from Namibia.

Inside Pestival's Termite Pavilion. 360 panorama (c) Peter Watts - all rights reserved

The resulting structure, made from sustainable Austrian spruce laminate, currently stands in London Zoo, one of the top London attractions, next to the Bird Display Area and close to the Bearded Pig enclosure and London Zoo restaurants.

London Zoo is a ticketed attraction in London and very popular. London Pass holders get free entrance to the zoo and jump the queues.

This virtual tour was kindly taken for Pestival, fee of charge, by Peter Watts and Panoramic Earth is pleased to be able to support this project with free image hosting and distribution.

A Taste of Spain, London 6th June

On the 6th of June London will see the Taste of Spain festival occupying the whole of Regent Street, between Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Street, in the heart of central London.

Supported by the Spanish Tourist Office, The Daily and Sunday Telegraph, the free festival will welcome many of the Spanish regions who will add colour and flair to the capital. With giant paellas, flamenco music, medieval food markets and a range of interactive sports challenges and events, visitors will be whisked away for a day to Spain's sunnier shores.

On the 24th and 25th July the Taste of Spain festival can be found on The Mound in Edinburgh.

Virtual Tour of London

This is an example of the tours from Panoramic Earth that may be used in any website for free. You will get an interactive virtual tour of London with over 100 panoramic images linked to a google map of the city. Tabs give access to the local descriptions for the locations and other local information. As new images are added to the London content, so they will automatically be added to this tour here.

The Tour:



If you are interested in having this tour in your own site then follow the 5 simple steps below:
Step 1: Register with the site (http://www.panoramicearth.com/register.php)
Step 2: In your account select the Embedded Tours option
Step 3: In the table put London Map in the Title box (near the bottom), and click list and then click on option given.
Step 4: Enter the name of the domain you wish to run the tour in and click ‘Save’
Step 5: Simply copy the code you are given and paste it into your own web code

Et Viola, one tour code to simply put where you want and the tour is your, free. In fact, these tours can start at any individual location and panorama, making the potential options vast. Visit the Embed a Tour for more information about this.

HMS Ark Royal in London

Some 360° panoramas from the HMS Ark Royal:
Flight Deck | Bridge | Under Flight Deck | Superstructure

There are times when a unique opportunity arrives, one that you know will never be repeated again. The presence of the HMS Ark Royal in London during the National Falklands 25th Anniversary Commemorative events in June of 2007 is just such an opportunity. For six days the HMS Ark Royal lay moored off Greenwich Pier and the Isle of Dogs on the River Thames. The unique opportunity was to be able to board her and take a series of panoramic pictures from various parts of the ship. The panorama from the front end of the flight deck give a truly unique view of Greenwich and the surrounding area. Only a few hours later the pictures from the ship were available on Panoramic Earth.

Trafalgar Square gains a Lawn

For 2 days Trafalgar square was graced with a grass lawn. It seemed very popular with people and totally transformed the feel of the square from a vast area of paving to something much more relaxing. It is a shame that this was only for 2 days. There are two 360° panoramic photographs of this event: Panorama of the Trafalgar Square Lawn | Panorama from Nelson's Column.

This is just one of many panoramas taken from London, the complete list is found in the London Index of Panoramic Earth.

Panoramic Earth v2.0 Launched (new and improved)...

Panoramic Earth version 2 has finally arrived. As I mentioned in March, we have been working on updating the site to make it more useful to everyone. The new version was made live on the 19th April, marking the end of months of effort and time.

So please feel free to explore. I would be really interested in any comments or observations anyone has. Let me know about any difficulties you had getting around, was it easy to use, did things load and run properly etc. Leave your comments about the site as comments to this post here.

• On the new site you will find a growing number of panoramic images of different places from around the world link to a Google map. Each place will have it's own description too.
• Submit your own panoramic images and descriptions of places you have visited to Panoramic Earth.
• If you want to comment on any of the locations you find on the site then feel free to do so. On almost every page you will find a comment box near the bottom. You will have to register with Panoramic Earth in order to access this.

To get you going here are a few of the many places you can explore on Panormaic Earth:

London | Budapest | Rome | Vienna | Bangkok | Singapore

Otherwise, visit the home page go from there. Your comments will be taken into account as the site continues to develop.

St. James Park - London

This photo of the view from St. James Park in London is part of one of the panoramic images found on the PanoramicEarth.com Tour of London. There are over 100 images taken from around London linked to an interactive map.

Plan your visit to London by taking advantage of these London Hotel Specials or Thomson City Breaks. Get the most of London with these London Guide Books

St. James Park is one of the Royal Parks in London and forms a triangle. At one end is Buckingham Palace and the park is bordered by The Mall, Horse Guards Parade (which passes Downing Street) and then Birdcage Walk. St. James Park is one of the smaller Royal Parks, covering only about 95 acres of land

A lake runs almost the full length down the centre. The lake is populated by a variety of fowl, including the geese you see here feeding off the grass. There are two islands in the lake (Duck Island and West Island, and a large fountain close to Duck Island at the eastern end. There is a lovely bridge which spans the lake in the middle linking the two sides of the park and offering great views back towards Westminster.

St James Park is mostly grassland with trees, although there are some flower plantings, especially towards the east end of the park, near to Horse Guards Parade. The Mall, which runs down one edge, links Buckingham Palace with Trafalgar Square, passing through Admiralty Arch. This road is closed to traffic on Sundays, bringing calm to the whole area and allowing this part of London space to breathe. Within the park is also a bandstand, and often live music, and a restaurant, close to where this picture was taken.

In the summer the park is generally full of people taking advantage of a space to relax and catch a bit of the sun. The eastern skyline is now dominated by the London Eye, whose pods rise above the top of Whitehall.

Like most of the Royal Parks, St. James Park owes it’s history to Henry VIII who brought the land for hunting. The area was marshy and often flooded by the Tyburn. Over the next 200 years various changes were made to the park, and the final shape that we have today settled into place. John Nash was one of the planners who worked on the layout of St. James Park.

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The nearest tube stations include St. James Park, Westminster and Charring Cross. Green Park Tube is also close by.

The full panoramic image taken from the junction of St. James Park can be found on the London tour by PanoramicEarth.com. An enlargement of this photo can be found on Flickr. You can also find a marker for resturant in St. James Park on Tagzania.

For more articles on London see the London Index or select one of the labels at the bottom.

Southwark Bridge - London

This photo of the view of Southwark Bridge London is part of one of the panoramic images found on the PanoramicEarth.com Tour of London. There are over 100 images taken from around London linked to an interactive map.

Plan your visit to London by taking advantage of these London Hotel Specials or Thomson City Breaks. Get the most of London with these London Guide Books

Southwark Bridge spans the River Thames in London linking the City of London with Southwark. The next bridge downstream is London Bridge (often confused with Tower Bridge), while upstream is the Millennium Bridge (for pedestrians only) and then Balckfriars Bridge.

There are many important sites close to Southwark Bridge, especially along the southern bank of the Thames. Proceed upriver and you will quickly pass the Rose Theatre Exhibition, the Globe Theatre and then the Tate Modern. Travel in the other direction and you will find the Clink Prison Museum, Golden Hind replica boat and then Southwark Cathedral. St. Paul’s Cathedral is not too far away on the northern side of the river. It is easy to spend most of the day here, and some of the attractions are free with the London Pass.

The first bridge crossing the Thames at this point was not built until 1819. It was an iron bridge designed by John Rennie (who also designed the Serpentine Bridge in Hyde Park), and featured in Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit.

The current Southwark Bridge opened in 1921 and is now maintained by the Bridge House Estates, which is a charitable trust overseen by the Corporation of London. Southwark Bridge is often used as a coach park at the weekends, and it can be hard to find a place to look up or down the Thames given the number of coaches that can be parked here.

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The nearest tube stations include Mansion House, London Bridge and Cannon Street.

The full panoramic image taken from the junction of Southwark Bridge can be found on the London tour by PanoramicEarth.com. An enlargement of this photo can be found on Flickr. You can also find a marker for Southwark Bridge on Tagzania.

For more articles on London see the London Index or select one of the labels at the bottom.

Serpentine Bridge - London

This photo of the view of the Serpentine Bridge London is part of one of the panoramic images found on the PanoramicEarth.com Tour of London. There are over 100 images taken from around London linked to an interactive map.

Plan your visit to London by taking advantage of these London Hotel Specials or Thomson City Breaks. Get the most of London with these London Guide Books

The Serpentine Bridge spans the Serpentine in Hyde Park at the north end of Exhibition Road. This road then becomes West Carriage Way, which continues north and separates Hyde Park from Kensington Gardens. From the Serpentine Bridge you get a great view down the Serpentine east, towards the West End of London.

The Serpentine is a man made lake covering some 40 acres, created by Queen Caroline in the 1730 by damning Westbourne Stream. Unlike other man made lakes of the period, the Serpentine was given a natural curve, a design that was quickly copied in most other grand gardens of the time. The Queen also took about 300 acres of Hyde Park and to make Kensington Gardens to go with Kensington Palace. Hyde Park was then separated from Kensington Gardens by a ha-ha.

Like the rest of the parkland, the lake here officially divides into two. The area towards the West End is the Serpentine (situated in Hyde Park), while the lake on the other side of the bridge is called Long Water and lies in Kensington Gardens. The Italian Gardens are at the far end of Long Water and there is also a statue of Peter Pan. The first wife of Percy Shelley, a famous 19C writer, drowned herself in the Serpentine in 1818. Percy later married Mary, who wrote Frankenstein.

The bridge itself is more recent and dates from around the 1820s by John Rennie when King George IV was renovating the park. Near to the bridge you will find the Serpentine Gallery, Diana Memorial Fountain and the Albert Memorial.

If you follow Exhibition Road south out of the park then you will be taken towards South Kensington and the Museum district where you will find the Victoria and Albert, Science and Natural History Museums (along with the Earth Galleries).

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The nearest tube station is Hyde Park Corner, while South Kensington is about 10 minutes away down Exhibition Road.

The full panoramic image taken from the junction of the Serpentine Bridge can be found on the London tour by PanoramicEarth.com. An enlargement of this photo can be found on Flickr. You can also find a marker for Serpentine Bridge in Hyde Park on Tagzania.

For more articles on London see the London Index or select one of the labels at the bottom.

Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens

This photo of the view of the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens, London is part of one of the panoramic images found on the PanoramicEarth.com Tour of London. There are over 100 images taken from around London linked to an interactive map.

Plan your visit to London by taking advantage of these London Hotel Specials or Thomson City Breaks. Get the most of London with these London Guide Books

The Serpentine Gallery is surrounded by Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, just a short distance form the Serpentine. It looks nothing like a traditional gallery, being housed in a Grade II listed former tea pavilion that was built in 1934. In 1998 the Serpentine Gallery was refurbished with a £4 million grant.

The grounds at the entrance to the Serpentine Gallery house a permanent work dedicated to Princess Diana, former patron of the Serpentine Gallery. This piece was made by Ian Hamilton Finlay and Peter Coates.

In contrast to the classical surroundings, many of the exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery feature modern artists, and the list of those who have exhibited here is long and prestigious, including Henry Moore, Bridget Riley, Andy Warhol, Man Ray, Damien Hirst and Rachel Whiteread to name a few.

Unlike many other galleries in London, the special temporary exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery remains free for all to visit. The gallery used to only be open during the summer months, but this may now have changed. Check the Serpentine Gallery website for current exhibition information and opening times.

Given the patronage of the late Princess Diana of the Serpentine Gallery, it is fitting that the Diana Memorial Fountain is just across the road from the gallery near to the Serpentine lake. Also near to the Serpentine Gallery are the Albert Memorial and the Royal Albert Hall, while Hyde Park Corner, and the Wellington Arch, are just a few minutes away.

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The nearest tube station is Hyde Park Corner, while South Kensington is about 10 minutes away down Exhibition Road and past the V&A and Science Museums.

The full panoramic image taken from the junction of the Serpentine Gallery can be found on the London tour by PanoramicEarth.com. An enlargement of this photo can be found on Flickr. You can also find a marker for Parliament Square on Tagzania.

For more articles on London see the London Index or select one of the labels at the bottom.

Parliament Square - London

This photo of the view of Parliament Square in London is part of one of the panoramic images found on the PanoramicEarth.com Tour of London. There are over 100 images taken from around London linked to an interactive map.

Plan your visit to London by taking advantage of these London Hotel Specials or Thomson City Breaks. Get the most of London with these London Guide Books

Parliament Square is, as the name suggests, just outside Parliament and the Palace of Westminster. The square is surrounded by official and imposing buildings including Westminster Abbey and St. Stephens Tower (containing the bell Big Ben). Also here is Protcullis House containing the offices for many of the MPs, completed in 2001.

Parliament Square has often been used as a platform for protest or publicity. Here the two collide as the banners, erected during the 2012 London Olympic bid promote the event, while along the ground are the posters and placards erected in support of Brian Haw and the peace protest against the War in Iraq. The latter are not welcome by the establishment and in May of 2006 the police removed most of it in a late night operation. Ironically, this action was overseen by a statue of Winston Churchill, defender of British freedoms, which is being photographed by the lady in the foreground.

Equally ironic is the proposal for a statue of Nelson Mandela, another champion of freedom, to be placed in the square. One can only speculate about his opinion of the State’s treatment of the current protest there. There is also a statue of Abraham Lincoln in Parliament Square.

The effectiveness of the Brian Haw protest (virtually unbroken since 2001) resulted in a new clause being introduced into the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act of 2005 banning all forms of public protest from the square without permission from the police. It is really difficult to imagine how this protest in Parliament Square constitutes a serious organised crime, but it is evident that people in power do not want him there.

Parliament Square has often been the destination for marches protesting or demonstrating in London for one thing or another. It was ‘reclaimed’ in May 2000 by the Reclaim the Streets protest group and turned into allotments. Other notable protests to focus on Parliament Square include those in opposition to the War in Iraq in 2003, and the Countryside Alliance in opposition to the ban on fox hunting.

Parliament Square became surrounded by traffic in 1926, and is now very busy almost all the time. During New Years Eve it is filled with people waiting for Big Ben to bring in the new year, and often now caught in the midst of firework displays from the London Eye and the Thames.

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The nearest tube stations include Westminster and St. James Park.

The full panoramic image taken from the junction of Parliament Square can be found on the London tour by PanoramicEarth.com. An enlargement of this photo can be found on Flickr. You can also find a marker for Parliament Square on Tagzania.

For more articles on London see the London Index or select one of the labels at the bottom.