Why Street-level Imagery?
Street-level imagery is an incredibly valuable resource when mapping many different things in Richmond. When we map using aerial imagery, it’s often difficult to see important details like curbs, street furniture, and signage. Additionally, aerial imagery is expensive to collect and therefore isn’t updated very often. State-wide imagery in Virginia is collected on a rolling basis every three years, which makes it difficult for us to observe landuse and infrastructure changes as they occur. Street-level imagery is cheaper to collect, and allows citizens to keep up with our changing landscape.
Getting Started
The easiest way to start is to download the Mapillary app here, and take some photos in your neighborhood.
360 cameras are the best! If you don’t own one, see below to borrow one.
Borrow Camera Equipment
MapRVA is able to lend out GoPro 360 and GoPro Max cameras to community members interested in collecting imagery of roads, trails, and sidewalks. Please reach out to request an equipment loan.
Mapillary
In general we upload our imagery to Mapillary, a website that collects street-level imagery from all around the world. We can then access our (and others’) images on the Mapillary website, as well as in OpenStreetMap editors like iD.
