Here are some comparison videos I recorded last weekend at Silver Dollar City theme park. I mounted both cameras side-by-side and rode their water-based dark ride, The Flooded Mine. Both cameras were recording in 360 video using the low light mode. I then reframed each to a 4K forward view to make this split screen.
There are two segments to this video. One shows them top/bottom, then the video is repeated side-by-side so you can see more of the horizontal and vertical image.
Next is a test of the single lens mode. The X5 was recording in 4K, and the Osmo 360 has some higher 5K-6K resolution mode. For the comparison video, 4K was used so the Osmo is scaled down to fit. This is a walk through Grandfather’s Mansion:
And a week before this, I visited Lost Island Themepark in Waterloo, Iowa. I was recording the indoor queue to their dark ride, Volcano. I was not intentionally doing a comparison of the two cameras, but I did record it twice, each time using a different camera. I put a short clip together showing this:
More to come… Let me know what comparisons you are interested in seeing.
On Friday I received my DJI OSMO 360 camera from B&H Photo here in the U.S.A. I took it out on a test ride with my Insta360 X5 next to it to try to capture some comparison video. Unfortunately, the quality coming out of the Osmo 360 was inferior, and I learned it defaulted to “Standard” bitrate but had a setting for “High.” Since my X5 was set to “High” bitrate, I believe my first comparison would not have been a fair on.
Because of that, I will be re-doing these tests again, soon.
I also took both the X5 and Osmo 360 to Lost Island Themepark in Waterloo, Iowa yesterday. While I did not do any head-to-head comparisons, I did use the Osmo 360 a few times under low light conditions. It is my understanding that it is a better 360 camera for low light.
I will begin sharing these to my Sub-Etha Software YouTube channel, shortly.
Earlier this week, I read (on REDDIT, I think) about 1.5.6 being released. I checked my X5 and it reported nothing new. I checked again, still nothing. But today, something. If you are the type that likes to update immediately, go for it. Else, give it a week and see if any others have problems with it.
Yesterday, I received a notification from B&H Photo that they had the DJI Osmo 360 camera in stock. Indeed, it seems true, at least at the time of this writing:
This is surprising, since DJI‘s own website has yet shown the item as order-able, at least for folks viewing from the USA.
Meanwhile, Amazon has the camera for sale, but it is through a third-party reseller. Even with it “Shipped by Amazon,” buyers should beware. If this item was not going to be sold in the USA, some reseller could have ordered them from another region to resell here in the States (via eBay, Amazon, etc.). Without knowing if warranties would be honored when purchased this way, or if warranty service/support was possible, I was not willing to order from that reseller. (They may be fine and great, though. I am just speculating.)
So, if you are looking for a well-established place to buy a DJI Osmo 360 in the USA, maybe start with B&H Photo. I have used them a number of times over the past decades, and have yet to have a problem.
When capturing video for Google Street View, Google recommends using 1 frame per second video for walking, and 5 frames per second for biking and lower speeds. A full 30 or even 60 fps video is unnecessarily huge and will take much longer to upload and process … and most of the frames will be discarded by Google anyway.
I had one of the A.I.s (probably CoPilot) automate using the ffmpeg open source command line tool so I could batch convert files in a directory. A very rough work-in-progress version is on my GitHub now:
UPDATE: There is now a third party reseller offering the DJI Osmo 360 on Amazon, but shipping doesn’t happen until mid-September. Since this is not Amazon shipping or an official DJI storefront, buyer beware. Check reseller ratings before ordering anything.
UPDATE #2: More “confirmation” as I check out Facebook posts. I keep seeing posts from folks who have had access to pre-release review units saying “not available in the US for the foreseeable future.” That is unfortunate. It looks like the Osmo 360 might be better for low-light 360 and I’d get one just for that.
UPDATE #3: According to this REDDIT post, which includes a chat response from DJI, there is no official sale of the DJI Osmo 360 in the USA at this time. BUYER BEWARE of any third party sellers offering it in the USA.
This morning at 7am central time, DJI officially launched their new DJI OSMO 360 camera. But, like almost everything else on the DJI website, it is unavailable in the U.S.A.
This situation was predicted by many DJI followers, based on how almost nothing they sell is currently available to purchase in the U.S.A. Basically no drones, no cameras, and no microphones are being sold to the U.S.A. currently.
The reasons speculated by video bloggers are varied, and are all based on speculation. The two top speculations I have seen include:
No Slave Labor – The situation with the Uyghurs (pronounced “weegers”, which you may have heard of) being used as forced/slave labor. Apparently there is something passed by the previous administration that would prevent those items from being brought into the U.S.A.
Tariffs – The situation with tariffs and our current administration. This one does not really ring true, since tariffs would seemingly only make things more expensive. And, plenty of other China-based entities have products available here in the U.S.A. Insta360 products are readily available, and you can still order from Alibaba, Aliexpress and Temu, for example.
Thus, my goal of getting one of these on launch day will be delayed while we figure out if we can get them at all. Instead of a pre-order or long delivery window, they just say “out of stock.” But so does most other things I have spot-checked on the website.
The FOMO is real!
If you get one here in the U.S.A., please leave a comment and tell us where and how you got it. This isn’t even listed on Amazon… yet.
After some “research” (which you can assume means “googling” and “asking A.I.”) I learned that there can be gaps in GPS data that make the movement appear to spike. I found a Mac Store program called GPX Editor which I purchased for the wonderful price of $4.99 so I could look at the data closer:
GPX Editor showing spikes in the GPS data.
This program allowed me to look at my data in a much finer (i.e. zoomed in) way than Google Maps does. I could see spikes in the data that looked as if I suddenly popped to another location, as if I went from walking to zooming at 17 mph. This may have been caused by a GPS glitch as I walked under a bridge or some other obstacle that affected the GPS reading.
While you are looking at that screen shot, notice on the right side you can see how much time there is between GPS entries. Google Street View wants 5 seconds or less, I believe, so when gaps appear at 8 seconds, that will also cause an error and the GPX file will be rejected.
What to do, what to do…
Google wants real GPS data, but it seems fixing an obvious glitch like this should be acceptable. Basically, just moving a point back to where it was. I am sure there are tools like GPX Editor that would allow moving one point and fixing it.
But I am lazy, and wondered if there was an easier way.
I ended up looking for a tool to interpolate the GPS data. Here is the one I found:
It will read a GPX file and then smooth out the points. Here is the example screen shot from that Github repository:
The black dots are actually GPS entries, and the red is where it can create new entries. For slow data, such as walking, this should work really well. And, I notice it has the ability to limit how often the data ends up in the file:
interpolate GPX files using piecewise cubic Hermite splines
positional arguments: FILE GPX file
optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit -r RES, --res RES interpolation resolution in meters (default: 1) -n NUM, --num NUM force point count in output (default: disabled) -s, --speed save interpolated speed
Running gpx_interpolate on macOS
Side note: To get this running, I had to install a few other things. In order to install them, I had to use some a “virtual environment” for Python so the stuff I installed was isolated from the Python that came with macOS (or so I think). Here were the commands I ran:
cd Movies ***OR WHEREVER YOU WANT TO INSTALL THIS*** python3 -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate pip install gpxpy pip3 install numpy pip3 install scipy
After that, I could “python3 gpx_interpolate.py -r 1 my_gpx_file.gpx” and get the interpolated file.
The instructions I used (from Google’s A.I.) said I would need to “source venv/bin/activate” each time I started a Terminal and wanted to use this. I will update this as I learn more and understand what this is all about.
The results…
Perhaps I could use the “-r” option so it drops a marker every 1 meter or so. As long as I was walking at a regular pace, that should make new data that is much smoother without the jumps and gaps.
GPX Editor showing less spikes in the GPS data after applying interpolation.
This file now seems to have much more consistent entries, and still follows the walking path closely.
I was able to upload the video file and this new interpolated GPX file and it is now live on Google.
2025-08-03 – added new error “GPS timestamps do not overlap with Video timestamps.”
2025-09-03 – added “GPS data contains gaps greater than 5 seconds in between GPS points.”
2025-06-15 – added “Inaccurate GPS.”
This is another research article which I am posting so others may find it in the search engines.
Uploading to Google Street View involves uploading a video file with embedded GPS, or a non-GPS enabled video file and a separate .gpx file containing the GPS data.
Here are some of the errors I have been getting:
GPS data contains gaps greater than 5 seconds in between GPS points. 32 sec gap found after 0 seconds
This was from two separate recording where the Insta360 GPS Remote did not embed GPS data. Instead, I used a .KML file generated by an iPhone app (Geotag Photos 2) I was using for my digital camera photos. I tried to use the KML file as a backup, but apparently there are data problems in it that Google will not accept.
Video does not contain more than 10 GPS points. Only 0 GPS points found
This one is problematic because the GPX file contains hundreds of GPS points. I had converted my video file down to 1 frame per second, per Google recommendations. One theory was that the points in the GPX file did not line up enough times with a specific frame in the video, and thus the file gets rejected. Google Gemini says this should not matter, but a different file I uploaded at 1 fps did not have any issue, and resubmitting the same erroring file converted to 5 fps did not receive this error.
GPS time range (9/12/24, 8:35 AM to 9/12/24, 8:39 AM) does not overlap with Video time range (7/20/25, 6:49 PM to 7/20/25, 6:53 PM)
This was caused when I converted a video file to 1 fps using Apple Compressor. The resulting file had a different creation date, and thus did not match the GPX file. It looks like Apple Compressor cannot be used by itself to get the requested 1 fps, 5fps or other frame rates to Street View.
GPS data jumps around a lot
This one puzzles me the most. If I convert the GPX file to a KML file for uploading to Google Maps…
…that file displays on the map and looks quite accurate to the trail on the map:
GPS timestamps do not overlap with Video timestamps. GPS time range: (6:00:00 PM UTC-6 to 6:00:00 PM UTC-6). Video time range: (6:00:00 PM UTC-6 to 6:00:00 PM UTC-6).
This one happened after I used Apple Compressor to reduce the video file down to 5 fps. There are some settings I was told about on Reddit that should allow the metadata to pass through to the converted file. That helped get past an earlier error, but now this one shows up.
Inaccurate GPS
This one surprised me since I recorded using a dedicated hardware GPS logger (Columbus P-1 Mark II). This unit appears significantly more accurate than using my phone or a GPS remote. After over a week of processing, I simply was told “Inaccurate GPS.”
Can you help?
Please leave a comment with any solutions to these errors, and I will update this page.
This is one of my research pages, which means it will be edited and updated as I learn more.
Street View
You can use an Insta360 X5 (or other camera) to record 360 video and upload it to Google Street View. After some processing (mine seem to take 3-7 days each) it will appear in Google Street View as a blue line that others can view. Your account name will show up as the uploader. Here is one of my first contributions, documenting some of the bike/walking trails here in Des Moines, Iowa:
According to the Google pages, if you upload footage of a “blue line” that is newer than what Google has, they may show your contribution first and previous Google (or user) contributions will show up in the “See other dates” selection:
Google requires and requests a few things:
GPS data is required. It should either be embedded in the video file (the Insta360 cameras do not do this), or provided as a separate GPX text file that can be uploaded separately (the Insta360 Studio has a checkbox for exporting this separate GPX file when exporting the video). Since the X5 does not have a GPS receiver, you must use an external source such as the Insta360 App on a phone or one of the GPS Remotes they sell. If you use the phone all, you have to connect to the camera then start recording from the phone app. The app must remain active the entire recording. Or, you can use the GPS Remote and start recording from that remote. I have tested both, and they both worked for me.
Turn off gyroscopic calibration. This is the FlowState Calibration feature in the Insta360 app or desktop studio. Just uncheck this before expiring your 360 video to an .mp4.
Reduced frame rate. While Google can handle an 8K 30fps video file, if you export with high quality, a short video of a few minutes could still be several gigabytes in size. This takes much longer to upload, and muck longer for Google to process (and potentially reject if there was an issue). There is no way to record lower than 24 fps with the X5, so this requires an extra step. Free tools like ffmpeg can be used to convert an .mp4 file to a lower frame rate, or commercial software such as Apple Compressor can achieve the same thing. Google has these guidelines for which frame rates to use:
Under 5 mph or 8 km/h for 1 FPS. (I use this for walking.)
Under 30 mph or 45 km/h for 5 FPS. (I use this for biking or scootering.)
Under 45 mph or 70 km/h for 7 FPS.
Image quality guidelines. There are also note about the quality level they will accept, and notes on what can be in the video. For example, if the camera is mounted to the top of a car, it should be in the center and not out a window on the side. Google does allow using a nadir logo image, but the size of that image (or the visible car roof or bike or whatever) has to be under a certain size to be allowed in Street View.
My workflow using an electric scooter is this:
X5 is mounted to a fully extended selfie stick, connected to my Best360 backpack behind me. This gives a third-person view that looks like a drone was flying above and behind me.
I record in 8K 30fps mode, using the phone app or GPS remote to start the video and begin capturing GPS data.
In Insta360 Studio I trim the video as needed and then export it out with:
FlowState Stabilization OFF.
Color Plus ON (you may or may not want this, but I like the brighter colors).
Add Watermark ON set to my logo.
Export as a 360 Video using a high bitrate as h.265 and Export GPX File ON.
Once the file is exported to mp4, you can then upload it to Google Street View. It will complain that there is no embedded GPS data, then you can click the “three dot” menu in the upload window and upload the corresponding GPX file (same filename as the video file, with .gpx as the extension).
That has worked for me over the past half dozen attempts, but to save time, converting the mp4 down to 1 fps or 5 fps can be done. I will discuss my steps to do this as soon as I get them working reliably. I converted three files the same way, and Google accepted one, and gave me “Video does not contain more than 10 GPS points. Only 0 GPS points found” errors on the other two. From searching, it seems others are having the same problem — including having Google reject the video a few times, then suddenly accept it later with no changes.
TODO: I will update this with steps using ffmpeg (and a script that helps automate it a bit) and Apple Compressor.
PhotoSpheres
This one is easy, with no special processing or steps needed.
You can also upload 360 photos to any place in Google Maps, such as a business or park. These photos will appear in that entry’s listing under “Photos & videos” in the “Street View & 360” category:
Google used to have a way to upload a PhotoSphere (360 photo) to any location. It would appear as a small blue circle. These could appears inside or outside of a building:
…but I believe this was done through their Street View App which has been discontinued.
You can still upload PhotoSpheres associated with a specific map location by using third party tools, such as this website:
You must log in to your Google account, then you can browse to a 360 photo and upload it. If that photo contains GPS data, the map will show that location. If the photo does not contain GPS data, or the image location was inaccurate, you can manually click to change the location, or type in the LAT and LON to set it.
These will show up quickly, but the blue circles either do not appear any longer, or just take a really long time. A test photo I uploaded can be seen when I look through images of a nearby business, but no blue circle is showing up for me yet.
