Facing the targeted building with Google StreetView

Question

My question is very straightforward.

I need the heading value to know how to target the POV.

sv.getPanoramaByLocation() in this case returns a data variable containing the heading of both the arrows in which direction you can go further.

However it doesn't give me the heading value for which way to look at the building. However it is possible to use a marker in streetview to target your building! example

Can anyone help me with this? I can make whatever dump you people want.

Answer 1

Geocode the address of the building you want to "look at". Use the geometry library computeHeading(from:LatLng, to:LatLng) function to calculate the heading between the StreetView location and the building.

(assumes that the geocoder returns a "rooftop" geocode)

example (Statue of Liberty)

another option, use the directions service:

related question: Request main road StreetView panoramas instead of back alleys from API

code snippet that uses the directions service to get a location on the road to use for street view "camera" location (works better now that you can get "interior" streetview locations returned):

var map;
var berkeley = new google.maps.LatLng(37.869085, -122.254775);
var sv = new google.maps.StreetViewService();
var geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
var directionsService = new google.maps.DirectionsService();
var panorama;
var myLatLng;
var address = "525 Beacon St. Boston, MA";

function initialize() {

  panorama = new google.maps.StreetViewPanorama(document.getElementById("pano"));


  directionsService.route({
    origin: address,
    destination: address,
    travelMode: google.maps.TravelMode.DRIVING
  }, function(response, status) {
    if (status == google.maps.DirectionsStatus.OK) {
      // myLatLng = response.routes[0].legs[0].start_location;
      sv.getPanoramaByLocation(response.routes[0].legs[0].start_location, 50, processSVData);

      var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
      position: response.routes[0].legs[0].start_location,
      map: map,
      title: "Directions"
    });
      map.setCenter(myLatLng);

} else document.getElementById('info').innerHTML += "status:"+status+"<br>";
  });

  geocoder.geocode({
    'address': address
  }, geocoderCallback);
  
  // Set up the map
  var myOptions = {
    zoom: 15
  };

  map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById('map_canvas'),
    myOptions);
}
google.maps.event.addDomListener(window, 'load', initialize);

function processSVData(data, status) {
  if (status == google.maps.StreetViewStatus.OK) {

    panorama.setPano(data.location.pano);
    var camera = new google.maps.Marker({
      position: data.location.latLng,
      map: map,
      draggable: true,
      title: "camera"
    });
    var heading = google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeHeading(data.location.latLng, myLatLng);
    document.getElementById('info').innerHTML += "heading:"+heading+"<br>"
    + "location: "+myLatLng.toUrlValue(6)+"<br>"
    + "camera:"+data.location.latLng.toUrlValue(6)+"<br>";
    
    
    // alert(data.location.latLng+":"+myLatLng+":"+heading);
    panorama.setPov({
      heading: heading,
      pitch: 0,
      zoom: 1
    });
    panorama.setVisible(true);
  } else {
    alert("Street View data not found for this location.");
  }
}

function geocoderCallback(results, status) {
  if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
    myLatLng = results[0].geometry.location;
    map.setCenter(myLatLng);
    if (results[0].geometry.viewport) map.fitBounds(results[0].geometry.viewport);
    else if (results[0].geometry.bounds) map.fitBounds(results[0].geometry.bounds);
    else map.setZoom(15);
    var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
      position: myLatLng,
      map: map,
      title: address
    });    

  } else {
    alert("Geocode was not successful for the following reason: " + status);
  }
};

html,
body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}
#map_canvas {
  height: 100%;
}

<script src="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?libraries=geometry"></script>

<div id="pano" style="width: 425px; height: 400px;float:left"></div>
<div id="info"></div>

<div id="map_canvas" style="width: 425px; height: 400px;float:left"></div>
<div id="map_center"></div>
<div id="streetview_pov"></div>