Fetch a video

Given a valid address or video ID, the lookupVideo method returns URIs identifying a set of Aerial View API videos. The lookupVideo method only returns URIs when Google has already generated a video for that location.

To check if a video exists, use the lookupVideoMetadata method.

How to use the API

Call this endpoint by passing it a URL-encoded U.S. postal address or a videoId.

curl -X GET "https://aerialview.googleapis.com/v1/videos:lookupVideo?key=YOUR_API_KEY&address=POSTAL_ADDRESS"

The API then returns one of the following three responses:

  • If a video exists, lookupVideo returns a processing state of ACTIVE, and a landscape and a portrait URI for every supported media type, and metadata.

  • If the video is in our system, but it still hasn't been fully rendered, lookupVideo returns a processing state of PROCESSING, and a videoId, which you can use to get the video after it's done rendering.

  • If the video doesn't yet exist, then the API returns a 404 status code. In this case, you can generate a new video by calling renderVideo.

How to use the returned video URIs

Call the lookupVideo method once per address or videoID per view. The video URIs in the response are referred to as short-lived URIs and expire after a short time.

Google frequently updates the videos. Therefore, to ensure that you are displaying the latest content to your customers, call the lookupVideo method every time you display a video.

Supporting accessible videos

To support accessibility, Google recommends that you add a transcript or video description when you display an aerial view video to your customers. In that way, a screen reader can announce the transcript or its description to a user.

For example, add a description in the form:

"This is a photorealistic aerial view of ADDRESS provided by Google Maps."

Instead of an address, you could add a description of the video, in the form:

"This is a photorealistic aerial view of the Empire State Building in New York provided by Google Maps."

Save video IDs for later use

Subject to the Service Specific Terms for Aerial View API, Aerial View API video IDs are exempt from the caching restrictions stated in Section 3.2.3(b)(No Caching) of the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service. You can therefore store video ID values for later use.

Example request passing an address

The following code sample requests an aerial view video for the Transamerica Pyramid, located at 600 Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94111.

curl -X GET "https://aerialview.googleapis.com/v1/videos:lookupVideo?key=YOUR_API_KEY&address=600%20Montgomery%20St%2C%20San%20Francisco%2C%20CA%2094111"

Example response

The following JSON examples represent all possible responses to the lookupVideo request.

Video found

If the video you're requesting exists, the API returns a list of URIs, each of which links to a different format or version of the requested video. To learn about the various formats, see What is MPEG-DASH? | HLS vs. DASH.

{
  "uris": {
    "IMAGE": {
      "landscapeUri": "https://www.gstatic.com/aerialview/thumbnail/-1202461100507922431.jpg?sqp=CKiU6qIGGPQD&rs=AHRQkOe1j6EA5Q3WzJgDluv8AXbNlZ8M-g",
      "portraitUri": "https://www.gstatic.com/aerialview/thumbnail/2256303413312618497.jpg?sqp=CKiU6qIGGPQD&rs=AHRQkOelSBTTVgOmFrSZ71c1xjyuoSBAAA"
    },
    "MP4_HIGH": {
      "landscapeUri": "https://rr1---sn-p5qs7nzy.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1683655708&ei=KIpaZKvJBpnc-LYP8v6T-AM&ip=0.0.0.0&id=5f50000000000001&itag=375&source=aerial_view&mh=dX&mm=31&mn=sn-p5qs7nzy&ms=au&mv=D&mvi=1&pl=0&susc=av&mime=video/mp4&vprv=1&gir=yes&clen=37357139&dur=40.016&lmt=1683384545351664&mt=1683654760&txp=0011224&sparams=expire,ei,ip,id,itag,source,susc,mime,vprv,gir,clen,dur,lmt&sig=AOq0QJ8wRgIhAOhUzpUZGXThRz481S5YAVoy7d7V29-8GDRWLdDEtzagAiEA5laBMqKNnoPCeTHFVT56FYQ5MZp7pZTtDNp9tSJffyc=&lsparams=mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl&lsig=AG3C_xAwRQIgVqK6hzOoDaTnWt4UmIQgXOyGCc5Pxf4tmp2t6YzwkrQCIQCCOsPpfT2g_BT32Ki_iMwwBb2IhoquVISoHbBMI5_dAw==",
      "portraitUri": "https://rr5---sn-p5qlsn7s.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1683655708&ei=KIpaZJiuBo3g-LYPhtaG6AU&ip=0.0.0.0&id=9f50000000000001&itag=375&source=aerial_view&mh=D3&mm=31&mn=sn-p5qlsn7s&ms=au&mv=D&mvi=5&pl=0&susc=av&mime=video/mp4&vprv=1&gir=yes&clen=11844099&dur=40.016&lmt=1683384626250758&mt=1683654760&txp=0011224&sparams=expire,ei,ip,id,itag,source,susc,mime,vprv,gir,clen,dur,lmt&sig=AOq0QJ8wRgIhAPP030ASCfKrXHpu72d78SBN_3T-7jKQ5_OjAvVzvYLaAiEAhEDAo689v0DWSCkfxxD8oU2iJVifC25Q7gQplx5_25U=&lsparams=mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl&lsig=AG3C_xAwRQIgREl7bSQ_z9Y86A_bRnX1RdQqoIbwgjV2rEkhLlNilBICIQC9amH8IwmRdbbcCUxnSttBjcy_4BwiBBbSd_PM1KgICw=="
    },
    "MP4_LOW": {
      "landscapeUri": "https://rr1---sn-p5qs7nzy.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1683655708&ei=KIpaZKvJBpnc-LYP8v6T-AM&ip=0.0.0.0&id=5f50000000000001&itag=134&source=aerial_view&mh=dX&mm=31&mn=sn-p5qs7nzy&ms=au&mv=D&mvi=1&pl=0&susc=av&mime=video/mp4&vprv=1&gir=yes&clen=3152145&dur=39.999&lmt=1683384843730359&mt=1683654760&txp=0011224&sparams=expire,ei,ip,id,itag,source,susc,mime,vprv,gir,clen,dur,lmt&sig=AOq0QJ8wRAIgVDf8P_aMLthAC6ASciANODNo7p7IqofngIgCUnfUofYCICV7JexvuPTnaqOfShKIL33uhtzIfnfOj2LgfpY0zKdx&lsparams=mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl&lsig=AG3C_xAwRQIhAM2jKSXegkPbIFD4L7H6FeBz5ytYtMkXNfowGlAB9aL2AiA3DQJIeoTfs3EOIPMfDBCGm7v_vWTruRBjXLN4lRIa-Q==",
      "portraitUri": "https://rr5---sn-p5qlsn7s.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1683655708&ei=KIpaZJiuBo3g-LYPhtaG6AU&ip=0.0.0.0&id=9f50000000000001&itag=134&source=aerial_view&mh=D3&mm=31&mn=sn-p5qlsn7s&ms=au&mv=D&mvi=5&pl=0&susc=av&mime=video/mp4&vprv=1&gir=yes&clen=1002125&dur=39.999&lmt=1683384248881200&mt=1683654760&txp=0011224&sparams=expire,ei,ip,id,itag,source,susc,mime,vprv,gir,clen,dur,lmt&sig=AOq0QJ8wRAIgYRyzRjtsGYFcodlU4-SvJ9GRgx97MF1nFlhoY74YtN4CIF5GuHAEnKqPoZBt5qYO2jur46q1OMEjvjtYATwNHMtD&lsparams=mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl&lsig=AG3C_xAwRgIhAPoXkJ5-MQTNCy19W1zJu8Hi8eo-eYw-5kH-AbFpAsuTAiEAi2EmxfUwfYtPlTQe0jWFVxc7yKMMz0Bqidcf2ZRvYU4="
    },
    "MP4_MEDIUM": {
      "landscapeUri": "https://rr1---sn-p5qs7nzy.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1683655708&ei=KIpaZKvJBpnc-LYP8v6T-AM&ip=0.0.0.0&id=5f50000000000001&itag=374&source=aerial_view&mh=dX&mm=31&mn=sn-p5qs7nzy&ms=au&mv=D&mvi=1&pl=0&susc=av&mime=video/mp4&vprv=1&gir=yes&clen=25879743&dur=40.016&lmt=1683384621721411&mt=1683654760&txp=0011224&sparams=expire,ei,ip,id,itag,source,susc,mime,vprv,gir,clen,dur,lmt&sig=AOq0QJ8wRQIhANzPUc2SwvlDZ-nyhxNfY8CGVjyitnfpS7MvbXb_f5kSAiAVArz85QjBBAZw-8ugFPIggKCO54IhR6xDg4rfJIh1Tw==&lsparams=mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl&lsig=AG3C_xAwRQIgJJyNxWDuqLZ89X5wThN1IsVJyvyZ7Qw1Z4jqhCyahjgCIQD9hOjN3hDvX3CN5LiNkoLm-GGAuriUtv0PhtREc7yTVQ==",
      "portraitUri": "https://rr5---sn-p5qlsn7s.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1683655708&ei=KIpaZJiuBo3g-LYPhtaG6AU&ip=0.0.0.0&id=9f50000000000001&itag=374&source=aerial_view&mh=D3&mm=31&mn=sn-p5qlsn7s&ms=au&mv=D&mvi=5&pl=0&susc=av&mime=video/mp4&vprv=1&gir=yes&clen=8228161&dur=40.016&lmt=1683384373331986&mt=1683654760&txp=0011224&sparams=expire,ei,ip,id,itag,source,susc,mime,vprv,gir,clen,dur,lmt&sig=AOq0QJ8wRQIgKsfEQB3GbLqYP5tmHwmkMVqVlfcNl7SBiuBqRw748VsCIQDgkwyNF4jOuOjoX5Qw6TgbpdIPhqS-EvCZ2g2JWPYpbw==&lsparams=mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl&lsig=AG3C_xAwRQIgHdDEnopIcI2jzLkRLOaKz8Cq1Pwm2yl3nJzaru1dBEsCIQCgor9bkMfAeULTq3EwjzCGjB_RvGBqhGfhJblbBloJpg=="
    },
    "HLS": {
      "landscapeUri": "https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/hls_variant/expire/1682711042/ei/DSBMZM7qPPPh-LYP9ZWNmA8/ip/0.0.0.0/id/7fffffffffffffff/source/aerial_view/susc/av/playback_host/rr3---sn-aigzrnsz.googlevideo.com/mh/ap/mm/31/mn/sn-aigzrnsz/ms/au/mv/D/mvi/3/pl/0/vprv/1/pacing/0/mt/1682709203/itag/0/playlist_type/LIVE/sparams/expire,ei,ip,id,source,susc,vprv,itag,playlist_type/sig/AOq0QJ8wRgIhAKreaNNOkePt9uVonHcqKIXqUe0TQSA1fcI6BWJexJ2hAiEAv9cj6N9iXI0bH6Ke4fz4XWDtrxVCMgrkGijpsLMpvy8%3D/lsparams/playback_host,mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl/lsig/AG3C_xAwRgIhAMbA_78Uc_HUS8LaVWnJB4Qg7ZKO5IZECuhldckmJ3hPAiEA-GR-0w1zuyFHpvaF1LZBuWgpUM55iosY0KF9MMsePDE%3D/file/index.m3u8",
      "portraitUri": "https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/hls_variant/expire/1682711042/ei/DSBMZM7qPPPh-LYP9ZWNmA8/ip/0.0.0.0/id/7fffffffffffffff/source/aerial_view/susc/av/playback_host/rr3---sn-aigzrnsz.googlevideo.com/mh/ap/mm/31/mn/sn-aigzrnsz/ms/au/mv/D/mvi/3/pl/0/vprv/1/pacing/0/mt/1682709203/itag/0/playlist_type/LIVE/sparams/expire,ei,ip,id,source,susc,vprv,itag,playlist_type/sig/AOq0QJ8wRgIhAKreaNNOkePt9uVonHcqKIXqUe0TQSA1fcI6BWJexJ2hAiEAv9cj6N9iXI0bH6Ke4fz4XWDtrxVCMgrkGijpsLMpvy8%3D/lsparams/playback_host,mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl/lsig/AG3C_xAwRgIhAMbA_78Uc_HUS8LaVWnJB4Qg7ZKO5IZECuhldckmJ3hPAiEA-GR-0w1zuyFHpvaF1LZBuWgpUM55iosY0KF9MMsePDE%3D/file/index.m3u8"
    },
    "DASH": {
      "landscapeUri": "https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/dash/expire/1682711042/ei/DSBMZM7qPPPh-LYP9ZWNmA8/ip/0.0.0.0/id/7fffffffffffffff/source/aerial_view/susc/av/playback_host/rr3---sn-aigzrnsz.googlevideo.com/mh/ap/mm/31/mn/sn-aigzrnsz/ms/au/mv/D/mvi/3/pl/0/vprv/1/pacing/0/mt/1682709203/itag/0/sparams/expire,ei,ip,id,source,susc,vprv,itag/sig/AOq0QJ8wRAIgCClKKnnVXeNnUHirpyxkegs8XSw5bq5e2VHWu-2NGtkCIBvXoHxlfTVmIvB4F9mlxn9EnJxPrcPGo1yIrS-_zbBu/lsparams/playback_host,mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl/lsig/AG3C_xAwRQIhAIU_a8wIuPfzMXy1selgJ1bRz1ffXm0YQeFshe0ijAzhAiAPzhkpOjm-IGubZ-Z7o3W_U7lAjR6OkEpWvNEFCRzUVg%3D%3D",
      "portraitUri": "https://manifest.googlevideo.com/api/manifest/dash/expire/1682711042/ei/DSBMZM7qPPPh-LYP9ZWNmA8/ip/0.0.0.0/id/7fffffffffffffff/source/aerial_view/susc/av/playback_host/rr3---sn-aigzrnsz.googlevideo.com/mh/ap/mm/31/mn/sn-aigzrnsz/ms/au/mv/D/mvi/3/pl/0/vprv/1/pacing/0/mt/1682709203/itag/0/sparams/expire,ei,ip,id,source,susc,vprv,itag/sig/AOq0QJ8wRAIgCClKKnnVXeNnUHirpyxkegs8XSw5bq5e2VHWu-2NGtkCIBvXoHxlfTVmIvB4F9mlxn9EnJxPrcPGo1yIrS-_zbBu/lsparams/playback_host,mh,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pl/lsig/AG3C_xAwRQIhAIU_a8wIuPfzMXy1selgJ1bRz1ffXm0YQeFshe0ijAzhAiAPzhkpOjm-IGubZ-Z7o3W_U7lAjR6OkEpWvNEFCRzUVg%3D%3D"
    }
  },
  "state": "ACTIVE",
  "metadata": {
    "videoId": "-wVXGP6Hkogfqz6sZulUf3",
    "captureDate": {
      "year": 2022,
      "month": 10,
      "day": 24
    },
    "duration": "40s"
  }
}

To access videos, you must allowlist the following domains:

  • *.gstatic.com
  • *.googlevideo.com

Video not found

There are two possible "Video not found" responses, depending on whether or not 3D imagery is available for the location.

Not rendered

The video hasn't been previously rendered, and therefore is not yet in Google's database.

{
  "error": {
    "code": 404,
    "message": "Video not found.",
    "status": "NOT_FOUND"
  }
}

No 3D imagery

Google attempted to render the video already, but failed because 3D imagery isn't available for that address.

{
  "error": {
    "code": 404,
    "message": "Video not found: No 3d imagery.",
    "status": "NOT_FOUND"
  }
}

Rendering in progress

The system is still processing your render request, as defined by the state being set to PROCESSING. You get a videoId, which you can then use to get the video by calling lookupVideo.

{
  "state": "PROCESSING",
  "metadata": {
    "videoId": "u-zlVPiScvcD8BYmIVyxoF"
  }
}

The rendering process can take anywhere from an hour to a few hours. If the video is still processing, you can use lookupVideo to poll the video status until it returns a state of ACTIVE.

To poll, make a request to lookupVideo, passing the videoId. Rendering can take several hours, so use exponential backoff to space out your calls.

Example request passing a videoId

If you call lookupVideo and discover that there is no aerial view video for the address, then you can call renderVideo with that address. renderVideo returns a VideoMetadata object, which contains the videoId. You can later use the videoId, rather than an address, to get the video by passing it to lookupVideo.

The following code example demonstrates how to call lookupVideo, passing it a videoId.

curl -X GET "https://aerialview.googleapis.com/v1/videos:lookupVideo?key=YOUR_API_KEY&videoId=VIDEO_ID"