Three-dimensional annotations for street view data

A system, comprising one or more computing devices configured to:

• receive content to be associated with a selected portion of a first street-level, panoramic, photographic image;
• extend at least one ray from a determined focal point of the first image through a point of the selected portion to project the selected portion onto a projected portion of a three-dimensional model, at least some of the three-dimensional model representing content of the first image, the determined focal point being a camera viewpoint corresponding to a camera used to obtain the first image and a focal length associated therewith;
• determine a location in three-dimensional space of the projected portion in the three-dimensional model based on camera viewpoint and focal length, wherein the location is a geometry in the three-dimensional space defined by coordinates or a triangular mesh;
• associate the content with the location in the three-dimensional space of the projected portion;
• store the content with the location to form an annotation;
• receive a request for a second street-level, panoramic, photographic image having a different camera viewpoint than the first street-level, panoramic, photographic image;
• retrieve configuration information about the second street-level, panoramic, photographic image, the configuration information including information on links within the second street-level, panoramic, photographic image to other images;
• and
• generate the annotation for display in a second street-level, panoramic, photographic image at a position corresponding to the location using the configuration information about the second image.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium on which computer readable instructions of a program are stored, the instructions, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method comprising:

• receiving content to be associated with a selected portion of a first street-level, panoramic, photographic image;
• extending at least one ray from a determined focal point of the first image through a point of the selected portion to project the selected portion onto a projected portion of a three-dimensional model, at least some of the three-dimensional model representing content of the first image, the determined focal point being a camera viewpoint corresponding to a camera used to obtain the first image and a focal length associated therewith;
• determining a location in three-dimensional space of the projected portion in the three-dimensional model based on camera viewpoint and focal length, wherein the location is a geometry in the three-dimensional space defined by coordinates or a triangular mesh;
• associating the content with the location of the projected portion;
• storing the content with the location to form an annotation;
• receiving a request for a second street-level, panoramic, photographic image having a different camera viewpoint than the first street-level, panoramic, photographic image;
• retrieving configuration information about the second street-level, panoramic, photographic image, the configuration information including information on links within the second street-level, panoramic, photographic image to other images;
• and
• generating the annotation for display in a second street-level, panoramic, photographic image at a position corresponding to the location using the configuration information about the second image.