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The author:(作者)delvpublished in(发表于) 2013/12/28 6:05:04 Look， its street view cars，
Look,-Tencent Tencent's street cars street cars, street map of Tencent, Tencent-IT map information Look, its street view cars
December 26 in Beijing, blue skies and a strong wind blew the night before two days of fog and haze. Sunny Li Yongfeng, and Li gang, it is a good time to go out shooting, down on a two-day car can finally hit the road.
Don't get me wrong, Li Yongfeng, Li is not photography, Tencent streets they gathered members in the team, said they fed not be overstated. In order to obtain the best capture results, they need to squat to keep a good weather out. Beijing now has a total of 5 acquisition vehicle, removing restrictions and ran 4 cars out there every day. Beijing's shooting was mainly updated four-ring in the streetscape, has been going on for 3 months now, to finish level.
Tencent Street acquisition vehicles are usually equipped with two acquisition personnel, one for driving, a charge, like the rally inside a character. Li today take place in the southern ring, his driver meet quite adept, after all, has been working for 5 months. Foot of the Volkswagen Polo car, worth a hundred thousand of the market, but if you count the capture device, it is worth a Audi A8 car with low.
Every day, they will need to mount your camera equipment up over the wire in the vehicle control operations. Li gang is responsible for directing, through dedicated software planning routes, after each capture, are marked on the map, their provisions are provided where the car can go, to capture.
Li gang, when in working condition
The beginning of each section of the road, Li through a computer by pressing the start key, press once again suspended sweeper. Their speed was 30 km high speed minimum except those, but in this case a narrow auto parts city, they still miss the walk speed.
Street view technology
Tencent's most important part of street view car was up on the roof, above a 6 camera and image storage device, Li and his colleagues are handling them once a day, after filming was completed, the most important part will be locked in a tin box.
Most people are curious about the street view car technology, for which I interviewed head of Tencent Street Zhang Xian. Zhang Xian told aifan, the car itself was not complex structures, rear wheels have recording devices 3-5 spin wheels per camera, GPS location and record the time. 6 cameras on top of each shot will generate 6 photos, remove the part overlapping, to form a perfect sphere photo. Street scene that is actually made up of dense ranks of filming on the road, at each point is a spherical photograph.
During filming, synchronicity is important, camera, GPS, wheels live synchronization between these three, if synchronization is not enough the picture is wrong. Shot when the driver is required, in addition to basic uniform, but also to avoid social disturbance of the vehicle to prevent the sight was blocked. She saw in front of the bus, it is best to slow down away from, if there is a car or speed up or slow down to get rid of each other, not side-by-side for a long time.
In order to facilitate the data processing in the late, the car is possible straight lines, each collection begins and ends with the best in the same line, when confronted with a knit line, you'll need every line of every collection. In order to meet this demand, they need to keep the car in reverse, turning, and the driver is a physical work.
Li this afternoon gathering of auto city on the way, there a dozen roads criss-cross, and the base is a single lane, are very narrow. Sometimes in the acquisition process, front and several vehicles to get through, they had to interrupt the gathering, go back to make way for the car.
But Li says it is good, and they had previously collected alleys, roads narrower, to move along the road bike, walking slowly behind kept urging. If you are experiencing "ribs" on top of the hutongs, need to keep drilling drill.
On the main road would be so much easier, and allows shooting while turning, but they're turning in different ways, turn driving time is usually curved, and they demand is a right angle turn. In addition, road, Lane which lanes are provided.
However, the shooting streets form a first step, Zhang Xian to show love range has a full range of programs, a total of four steps, including data collection, data processing, online services and applications. Every step of the way a lot of processes, covering not only the personnel-intensive jobs, and application of leading-edge technologies, some light training before taking up to 2 weeks.
According to Zhang Xian said Tencent streetscape from the beginning of 2011 research and development technology, started out making hardware, through hand-made models, many circuits are manually controlled, constant feasibility demonstration prototype. Team absorb a lot of talent in hardware structure, images, electronic circuits, from doctor to master both. Street view the process as a whole, including circuits, software, client, graphic imaging, pattern recognition and other technologies of composite applications.
This is a money-burning effort, unable to commercialization of the project in the short term, but the company hopes to build a competitive barrier. Zhang Xian said, speaking from the breadth and depth of Tencent streetscape far beyond other company's products.
Started in Shenzhen
Li shooting is not the first step to Tencent Street in Beijing, Zhang Xian said Tencent Street is the first stop of Shenzhen, for a simple reason that Tencent is headquartered in Shenzhen, a problem well coordinated, and Shenzhen Customs open, relatively easy to accept new things. The second and the third respectively, Lhasa, Sanya, which is where two Chinese iconic scenery, street view has a promotional effect.
Coverage for each city, their standards are going North for Guangzhou-Shenzhen and other cities to all, including those living in rural and urban area covering second-tier cities, as long as the cars get to the local shooting. If it is too narrow in some places, cars can't go, you'll have to enable manually carrying equipment, acquisition of human resources, sometimes even using horses, boats. In addition, many closed down area also need carry equipment acquisition.
Artificial collection dress up (picture provided by Tencent)
As the different seasons, areas where they collect will vary widely. In their experience, suitable for harvest in autumn and winter in the South and North for summer and autumn harvest, weather of fall and winter in the South, collecting faster, mainly due to screen green considerations of the North, bare winter branches, affecting beauty. Lots of places like Harbin and MoHE in Northeast China was filmed during the summer and autumn.
Sometimes, they take extreme views, such as ice in the Northeast, also specifically in the winter to shoot.
In addition, the visibility is extremely important indicators, fog and haze basic severe weather is not taken, they squat to keep until better air to shoot. In fact, Beijing's bad air does not last too long and often windy and often played Savior. In some areas, dunshou 2 weeks without necessarily sunny, can only keep going.
Once you have a good day, it would be valuable, collection will take shot, or even take a lunch midday is the best time to shoot, relaxation, light, shadows of buildings at least, they will keep on shooting until the afternoon to eat. So the acquisition dependent on crossing the border, not virtual.
Collecting cars privacy issues
Acquisition is still unknown to many people, Li's car was stopped by the auto parts stores, there's people will lay down their job at hand, stop to take a look. Most of the time, even for this novelty a laugh it off, but sometimes trouble, 6 cameras easy to alert security personnel at the top. Li's car was stopped by an Executive asks, however, after explaining the situation, they will soon be released.
Situations such as this, Li met not in short supply, as long as the production of documents, most of the time, they are able to understand and release, but extreme conditions are also not uncommon. For example a high-grade community in Beijing, security has always been not to let them inside, meanwhile, the only thing they can do is to observe, no forced entry.
At the time of induction training, Li and his colleagues are informed of all kinds of unexpected things handle method. Just like Google Street view's troubles, they also will face police questioning, blocking, social workers to report, that they will try to match, if there was no pass will be reported in the first, the company would be resolved. For example, Shenzhen overseas Chinese town, is the letter addressed by the company headquarters, and in some cases arrested-fishing. In General, low profile, flexible principle is they're out there doing things.
Generally shooting a city, the first thing is to go to the local Bureau of surveying and mapping, get filming permits, and reported to the staff member. If you want to enter the school or area, you will need the local tourist Bureau files support requesting the scenic release, higher-level document is available to the Provincial Tourism Bureau.
In short, legal formalities, low-key, friendly, are important considerations of collection operations. Tencent hiring collection even when the candidates pick the bald, long hair, which may be less trouble.
Get me wrong big time in Luoyang, because those cars weird, they were trailing local drivers, alerting is many people have, in the end, they wanted all over the city on the blacklist, in police "capture", there is the local newspaper exposure.
Of course, they welcome people, no less, some businesses or individuals to welcome them to their own shot. Was also curious about "the end of line", leading to that piece of street view full figure, finally left him a few words of encouragement, it's gone.
A huge project
For the collection, due to the need to travel a lot, taking extra care when driving requirements, sometimes it can take up to 7 hours in the car, this is a hard work. However, the day shooting street view was born a small step in the process.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon when the end Li gang shooting, auto parts crank up. After 4 can't shoot them, because the angle of the Sun, and easily back, and shadow of the building is large, affect the results.
Li gang, auto parts city shooting distance of less than 2 km, but took 1 hour, speed, street mileage accumulation of how difficult. After 2 years of hard work, Tencent Street mileage has exceeded 2 million kilometers.
Li and his colleagues have the car parked on the roadside, waiting for data on completion of the camera to remove the, put it in a metal box. This collected data all inside, dozens of GB of capacity. But far too early from Li concludes our work for today, he need to get equipment back to the company, data export, backups, this is usually 1, 2, step through the night, because the amount of data is too large, he still want to check for errors.
If you are in the field, they would need to be moved into the hotel, big box, inside the hotel guide data. They carry a lot of the hard drive, usually built up a week later, map of cumulative hard disk will be sent to Tencent's Beijing headquarters, where there are 2 specialist is responsible for sending and receiving your hard disk, than ever before, they get up to dozens of TB of data a day.
These data arrives after the just completed my streetscape one-fourth of the entire process, and there are a large number of data processing and privacy eraser works. Zhang Xian told aifan, Tencent Street late on up to 200 people processing, image shoot online, lasted 2 months.
It can be said that street view the whole process complicated, entire works can be described as vast. And because of that, its high barriers to entry, the small team is not easy to do, and only big companies like Tencent has the financial means to support.
According to Zhang Xian said, streetscape project investment in billions each year, there are currently 50 street cars, each worth close to millions of dollars, there are more than more than 100 collection. Counting the collection and data processing staff, Tencent's street team used human more than 300 people.
Beijing updates at this time will soon be over, Li gang shooting may have to take the field next year. Zhang Xian said street view cars now resources are 50% in large urban and the rest 50% is used to develop the prefecture-level city, such as Cosmos such well-known areas. There are some key attractions will enter, and more very seasonal colors.
瞧，腾讯的街景车 - 腾讯街景车,腾讯街景地图,腾讯地图 - IT资讯瞧，腾讯的街景车
12月26日的北京，晴空万里，前一晚的劲风刮走了持续两天的雾霾。晴天，对于李勇锋、李刚来说，是外出拍摄的好时机，趴了两天的车终于可以上路了。
别误会，李勇锋、李刚可不是玩摄影的，他们是腾讯街景采集队伍中的成员，说他们靠天吃饭并不为过。为了获得最佳的采集效果，他们需要蹲守一个好天气再出动。目前北京总共有5辆采集车，除去限行，每天有4辆车在外面跑。这次北京的拍摄主要是更新四环以里的街景，现在已经持续了3个月，到了收尾的阶段。
腾讯街景采集车通常配两名采集人员，一个负责驾驶，一个负责指挥，就像汽车拉力赛里面的角色一样。李刚今天拍摄的地方在南四环，他和司机配合的相当娴熟，毕竟已经工作了5个多月。脚下的这辆大众Polo车，市面价值十几万，但如果算上采集设备，它抵得上一辆低配的奥迪A8。
每天他们都需要把摄像器材安装上去，通过线缆在车内控制操作。李刚负责指挥，通过专门的软件规划路线，每次采集过后，地图上都会有标注，他们的规定是只要车能开到的地方，都要采集。
李刚在车内的工作情况
每到了一段路的开始，李刚就通过电脑按下开始键，扫完再按一次暂停。他们的车速一般是30公里，高速最低限行除外，不过在这个狭窄的汽配城里，他们的速度还赶不上步行。
街景技术
腾讯街景车最重要的部分在车顶，上面有6个相机和图像存储设备，每天李刚和同事都要把它们装卸一次，拍摄完后，最重要的部分会锁在一个铁盒子里。
一般人都会好奇街景车的技术，为此我采访了腾讯街景负责人张弦。张弦告诉爱范儿，车子本身构造并不复杂，后轮有记录设备，轮子每转3-5圈相机拍摄一次，同时记录下当时的GPS位置。每次拍摄顶部的6部相机会生成6张照片，除去重叠的部分，就形成了一张完美的球形照片。街景实际是由道路上密集排列的拍摄点组成的，每个点上都是一张球形照片。
在拍摄过程中，同步性非常重要，拍照、GPS、车轮三者实时同步，如果同步不够图片就会错位。拍摄的时候对驾驶员也有要求，除了最基本的匀速行驶外，还要尽量避免社会车辆的干扰，防止视线遭到遮挡。比如看到前面有公交车，最好是减速远离，如果后面有车，要么加速，要么减速摆脱对方，不能长时间并行。
为了方便后期数据处理，车子要求尽量行驶直线，每次采集的开始与结束最好是在同一条线上，遇到交织的线路时，就需要每一条线路挨个采集。为了满足这种需求，车子需要不停的倒车、转弯，驾驶员是个体力活。
李刚这天下午采集的汽配城就是这样，里面纵横交错了十几条道路，而且基本都是单车道，十分狭窄。有时候采集过程中，前面来了几辆车过不去，他们不得不中断采集，车子退回去让路。
不过李刚说这已经算是好的，他们以前采集过胡同，里面路更窄，要挪动路旁的自行车，走慢了后面还不断有人催。如果遇到“肋条”形的胡同更要命，需要不停的钻进钻出。
在主干道上会简单很多，而且允许拍摄的时候转弯，不过他们的转弯方式不同，通常驾驶时候是弧形转弯，他们要求是直角转弯。另外，如何并道，多车道的时候走哪个车道都有规定。
不过，拍摄只是街景形成的第一步，张弦向爱范儿展示了全套的程序，一共四步，包括数据采集、数据处理、线上服务、产品应用。每一步都分很多流程，不仅涵盖了人员密集的工种，还有尖端技术的应用，有些工作光是岗前培训就长达2周。
据张弦说道，腾讯从2011年初开始研发街景技术，最开始是做硬件，通过手工做模型，很多电路都是手动控制，不断论证原型机的可行性。团队吸纳了很多硬件结构、电子电路、图像方面的人才，从博士到硕士都有。街景整个一套流程下来，包括了电路、软件、客户端、图形图像、模式识别等各项技术的复合应用。
这是一项烧钱花费精力、短期内还无法商业化的项目，但腾讯希望借此来打造竞争壁垒。张弦透露，从广度和深度上讲，腾讯街景都远远超过国内其他公司的产品。
起步于深圳
李刚拍摄的北京并不是腾讯街景的第一步，张弦透露，腾讯街景的第一站是深圳，原因很简单，腾讯总部位于深圳，出了问题好协调，而且深圳民风开放，较容易接受新事物。第二、第三分别是拉萨、三亚，这是中国两个风景标志性的地方，对街景有着宣传效应。
对于每个城市的覆盖范围，他们的标准是北上广深等一线城市全部覆盖，包括农村，二线城市城区覆盖，只要车子能到的地方就拍摄。如果有些地方太窄，车子进不去，就得启用人工背负设备，进行人力采集，有时候甚至动用马、船。另外，很多不通车的景区也需要靠背负设备采集。
人工采集装扮（图片由腾讯提供）
随着季节的不同，他们采集的地区也会有很大差异。以他们的经验来看，南方适宜秋冬季采，北方适合夏秋季采，南方秋冬少雨，采集速度会更快，北方主要是出于画面绿化的考虑，冬季树枝光秃秃的，很影响美感。东北很多地方比如哈尔滨、漠河都是在夏季、秋季拍摄的。
有时候，他们为了拍到极端的景色，比如东北的冰封，也会特意在冬季去拍摄。
另外，能见度也是极其重要的指标，雾霾严重的天气基本不拍摄，他们会一直蹲守到空气好转再拍。事实上，北京的坏空气并不会持续太久，经常性的刮风常常扮演救星。而有些地区，蹲守了2周还不见晴天，只能硬着头皮拍下去。
一旦遇到好天，那将是弥足珍贵的，采集员就会抓紧拍摄，甚至顾不上午饭，因为正午时分是拍摄的最佳时机，此时光线最足，建筑物阴影最少，他们会一直拍摄到下午再吃饭。所以说，采集员靠天吃饭，此言不虚。
采集车的隐私问题
采集车对很多人来说还是陌生事物，李刚的车在路过汽配城每一家店面时，里面的人都会放下手头的工作，驻足观望。大部分时候，旁人对于这种新奇事物一笑而过，但有时候也会找麻烦，顶部6个摄像头容易让安保人员警觉。李刚的车被一位管理人员拦住询问，不过在说明情况后，对方很快就予以放行了。
像这样的情况，李刚遇到得并不少，大部分时候只要出示文件、工牌，对方都能理解并放行，但极端情况也不少见。比如一家北京的高档小区，保安始终不让他们进去，这时候他们唯一能做的就是遵守，不可强行进入。
在入职培训的时候，李刚和同事们都会被告知遇到各类突发事情的解决方法。就像Google街景遇到的麻烦一样，他们也会遭致交警盘查、阻挠，社会人员的举报，这种情况他们都会尽力配合，如果当时没有通过，则会第一时间上报，让公司出面解决。比如深圳的华侨城，就是公司总部出函解决的，有时候他们还进局子里捞过人。总体来讲，低调、灵活是他们在外处事的原则。
一般要拍摄一个城市，第一件事就是去当地测绘局备案，获得拍摄许可证，上报工作人员身份。如果要进入学校或者景区，则需要当地旅游局的文件支持，要求各地景区予以放行，较高级别的文件可至省级的旅游局。
总之，合法手续，低调、友善，是采集员作业的重要注意事项。甚至腾讯在招聘采集员的时候，不会挑选光头、长头发的应聘者，这样可以少惹麻烦。
误会较大的一次是在洛阳，由于车造型古怪，他们被当地司机尾随，不少群众还进行了报警，最终，他们上了全城通缉的黑名单，在被警察“捕获”前，还被当地报纸曝光。
当然，对他们欢迎的人也不少，有些商家或个人会欢迎他们去自己家拍摄。还有人好奇一路“尾行”，导致那段街景全程都有此人的身影，最后他留下几句鼓励的话就走了。
浩大的工程
对于采集员来说，由于需要经常出差，采集时格外注意驾驶规定，有时候需要长达7小时坐在车里，这可是一项苦力活。不过，一天的拍摄只是街景诞生过程中很小的一步。
在下午4点的时候，李刚今天的拍摄结束，恰好汽配城也拍摄完毕。4点之后就不能再拍了，因为太阳斜射的厉害，容易逆光，而且建筑物阴影很大，影响拍摄效果。
李刚算了一下，汽配城拍摄的总路程不到2公里，但是耗时1个多小时，这样的速度来看，街景里程的累积难度可想而知。经过2年的努力，腾讯街景里程已经突破200万公里。
李刚和同事把车停在路边，等数据保存完毕后将摄像头拆下，装进铁箱子里。里面有今天采集的数据，容量高达几十个GB。但距离李刚今天的工作结束还早得很，他需要把设备带回公司，将数据导出、备份，通常这步会持续到夜里1、2点，因为数据量太大，他还要检查错误。
如果是在外地，他们就需要把大箱子搬进宾馆，在宾馆里导数据。他们携带了很多硬盘，通常积累了一个星期之后，会将累积的硬盘寄到腾讯地图所在的北京总部，在那里，有2个专人负责收发硬盘，最多的时候，他们每天接收的数据多达几十TB。
这些数据到达公司之后，只是完成了街景整个流程的四分之一，后面还有大量的数据处理，隐私擦除的工作。张弦告诉爱范儿，腾讯街景后期数据处理的人数就多达200人，图像拍完后到上线，要历时长达2个月。
可以说，街景的整个流程繁琐复杂，整个工程可以用浩大来形容。也正因为如此，它的进入门槛高，小团队不容易做，也只有像腾讯这样的大公司才有财力去支撑。
据张弦透露，街景项目每年有过亿的投入，目前有50辆街景车，每辆价值接近百万元，还有100多名采集员。算上采集员和数据处理人员，腾讯街景团队动用人力超过300人。
这一次北京的更新很快就结束，明年李刚可能要去外地拍摄。张弦透露，现在街景车的的资源投入是50%放在更新大城市，其余50%用于开拓地级市，比如大同这类知名地区。还有一些重点的景点会进入，以及拍摄更多季节性很强的景色。
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