The Aerial View API is a service that lets you create and display photorealistic 3D aerial videos of any physical address within the United States. The videos simulate footage taken by a drone circling overhead.
Google has already created a dataset of pre-rendered aerial view videos for you to use. They cover large buildings and landmarks throughout the United States. And we're adding more aerial view videos all the time. You can simply use these existing videos or, if a video does not yet exist for an address, you can request that Google generate a new one for you.
Why use Aerial View API
Here are some reasons why you might want to use Aerial View API.
You want to explore 3D data, but you're not comfortable using 3D Tiles, or with working with a renderer
You like the context of satellite imagery, and the ability to recognize a building facade from Street View
You've considered hiring a drone operator to film your property
You want to use cutting-edge, innovative technology
You're comfortable embedding video in your web site
What you can do with Aerial View API
Here's a list of some of the things you can do with Aerial View API.
Provide birds-eye awareness of a building by highlighting nearby roads, parks, or bodies of water
Give a prospective renter or home buyer a sense of what a property is like
Set the scene for a short-form video showing the viewer where you are
Highlight attractions or points-of-interest when helping users plan a vacation
Help delivery drivers or shoppers find your place of business
How the Aerial View API works
There are two approaches that you can take to use the Aerial View API.
| Approach | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Lookup a generated video | All of the aerial imagery that you need has already been rendered by Google (Google's pre-rendered dataset). |
| Generate a new video | You need aerial view imagery that hasn't already been pre-rendered by Google. |
Coverage areas
Aerial View API only supports postal addresses in the United States where Google is able to render 3D videos.
How to use the Aerial View API
| 1 | Review the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service | Note that you cannot download, store, or cache the aerial view videos. For more information, see the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service. |
| 2 | Get set up | Start with Set up your Google Cloud project and complete the instructions that follow. |
| 3 | Retrieve an aerial view video's metadata | Send a US postal address or videoId to the
lookupVideoMetadata() endpoint to return an aerial view
video's metadata.
See Retrieve a video's metadata. |
| 4 | Fetch an existing aerial view video | Send a US postal address or videoId to the
lookupVideo() endpoint to return a pre-rendered
aerial view video.
See Fetch a generated video. |
| 5 | Generate a new aerial view video | Send a US postal address to the renderVideo() endpoint to
request the generation of a new aerial view video for the specified address.
See Generate a new video. |