If you have an Android phone or DSLR camera, you can now create your own Street View, which is laid on top of a Google Map. You can even embed the image on your website.

To create your street view, all you need to do is make something called a "photo sphere" (which is basically a moving panorama photo). For more detail on this, Google explains how to make photospheres.

Once you have made your photo sphere, you have to first put it on your Google+ photo storage, and then upload it to Google Maps.

Then on that same page, select all the photos using the tool provided and attach them all together. Viewers will then be able to "navigate between them on Google Maps".

Android users can share directly from the photo Gallery to Google maps, uploading the 360º geotagged photo sphere.

A feature like this has many potential uses. Maybe you would like an interactive view of your business or perhaps an environmental charity would like to show the countryside areas that they are responsible for looking after.

Google have also collected some examples, if you would like to see some user-made photo spheres in action. You can also check out the Google+ #Photospheres hashtag.

On the whole, Street View is an amazing resource, but it is not updated by Google on a regular basis (at least outside North America). This feature will enable users to provide up-to-date Street View images in different weather conditions or for various cultural events.

Source: Google Maps