TourBuilder Brings Google Street View to Black Lives Matter Plaza
This month, the Black Lives Matter Street mural was painted in Washington, D.C., with more streets appearing nationwide in recent weeks.
Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington D.C. renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza on June 5, 2020, in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and as part of the George Floyd protests.
To capture this moment and show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, our team sent out one of our photographers to capture the Black Lives Matter Street in Washington D.C. for Google Street View.
Click here to walk down Black Lives Matter Plaza on Google Street View.
How We Did It
Once the Black Lives Matter Street mural was painted, the Google Street View team and TourBuilder wanted to capture this moment for Google Maps.
We contacted several photographers in the area, and our photographer Scott Goodson was more than willing to go out and capture the Plaza for Street View using a GoPro Fusion. We then uploaded that footage to Street View using TrailBlazer.
“You can tell that [Black Lives Matter Plaza] is sacred ground now,” Goodson said. “Unlike monuments like the Martin Luther King Memorial, it has a more immediate and accessible feel. One simply walks down the street, and there it is. That’s why it has been and will continue to be a venue for the protests as long as these problems exist.”
Goodson noticed that aside from him, the people walking the Plaza were also capturing the moment.
Between documentarians filming interviews, reporters, and people using their phones to capture videos and images, everyone seemed dedicated to commemorating this decisive moment in history.
For Goodson, this was the first time he used a GoPro Fusion. Scott mounted the Fusion to his backpack and seamlessly captured the mural by walking the street and connecting to the GoPro app.
“Walking down the street with a camera on a monopod was more than a little awkward,” Goodson said. “I often use a gimbal, but having never used a GoPro, I was stressed that the footage wouldn’t be smooth enough. Then I remembered that they use this to film skiing downhill and jumping out of planes.”
Uploading the GoPro footage using TrailBlazer was seamless and has now captured this monument on Google Street View forever.
About Scott Goodson
Goodson owns his photography agency, Scott Goodson Photography, specializing in video and 3D tours.
Working with our team since August 2013, Scott is one of our most trusted photographers, making him perfect for this very current and vital project.
Goodson started his journey shooting sports for the high school paper and yearbook. He then studied photojournalism at the University of Texas and continued his journey by photographing commercial property studios and product and fashion photo shoots.
When asked what inspired him to become a photographer, he said, “I’ve always been intrigued by the decisive moment that can only be captured within a still photograph.”
Taking inspiration from magazines such as Life Magazine and National Geographic, his experience, his passion for photography, and how it can be utilized to preserve a moment in time made him a perfect candidate for this project.
Take a look at Black Lives Matter Plaza on Google Street View now.
About The Tourbuilder Blog
The latest news on Google Street View, virtual tours and photography, along with tip and insights from expert photograpers in the virtual tour industry.
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