Presenting image transition sequences between viewing locations

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• presenting, by a computing system and to a user, a first image taken from a first location that includes a view of a second location;
• determining, by the computing system, to present a second image taken from the second location in a direction away from the first location;
• and
• presenting, by the computing system, and to the user over a period of time, a visual transition sequence that simulates movement from the first location to the second location, wherein the presenting of the visual transition sequence includes performing zooming during a first subset of the period of time that begins with the first image and progressively increases an amount of zoom within the first image to reach an enlarged portion of the first image, and includes performing blending during a second subset of the period of time that begins with the enlarged portion of the first image and changes from the enlarged portion of the first image to the second image by progressively increasing a relative proportion of the second image that is shown until only the second image is shown, ending with a display of the second image.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that cause one or more computing systems to perform automated operations, the automated operations including at least:

• presenting, by the one or more computing systems and to a user, a first panorama image that is taken from a first location and includes a view of a second location in a first subset of the first panorama image, to allow the user to modify a view direction in the first panorama image to display different subsets of the first panorama image;
• determining, by the one or more computing systems, and in response to an instruction from the user to present a second panorama image taken from the second location, a degree of overlap between a current subset of the first panorama image that is being displayed to the user and the first subset of the first panorama image that includes the view of the second location;
• selecting, by the one or more computing systems and based at least in part on the determined degree of overlap, and from multiple types of transition sequences, a transition sequence type to use to simulate moving from the current subset of the first panorama image to a second subset of the second panorama image in a view direction away from the first location;
• and
• presenting, by the one or more computing systems, and to the user over a period of time, an image transition sequence of the selected transition sequence type, wherein the presenting of the image transition sequence includes performing zooming during a first subset of the period of time that begins with the current subset of the first panorama image and progressively increases an amount of zoom to reach an enlarged portion of the current subset of the first panorama image, and includes performing blending during a second subset of the period of time that begins with the enlarged portion of the current subset of the first panorama image and changes to the second subset of the second panorama image by progressively increasing a relative proportion of the second subset of the second panorama image that is shown.

A system comprising:

• one or more hardware processors of one or more computing systems;
• and
• one or more memories with stored instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more hardware processors, cause the one or more computing systems to perform automated operations to implement at least some functionality of an image locations transition manager system, including at least:
• presenting, to a user, an initial subset of a first panorama image, wherein the first panorama image is taken from a first location and includes a view of a second location in a corresponding subset of the first panorama image, to allow the user to modify a view direction in the first panorama image to display different subsets of the first panorama image;
• determining, in response to an indication to present a second panorama image taken from the second location, an amount of difference between a current view direction of the first panorama image and an inter-panorama view direction from the first panorama image to the corresponding subset that includes the view of the second location;
• selecting, based at least in part on the determined amount of difference, and from multiple types of transition sequences, a transition sequence type to use to simulate moving from a current subset of the first panorama image resulting from the current view direction to a subset of the second panorama image in a view direction away from the first location;
• and
• presenting, to the user over a period of time, an image transition sequence of the selected transition sequence type, including performing zooming during a first subset of the period of time that begins with the current subset of the first panorama image and progressively increases an amount of zoom to reach an enlarged portion of the current subset of the first panorama image, and including performing blending during a second subset of the period of time that begins with the enlarged portion of the current subset of the first panorama image and changes to the subset of the second panorama image by progressively increasing a relative proportion of the subset of the second panorama image that is shown.