Google launches Maps Imagery Grounding for filmmakers

Google on Wednesday at its Cloud Next conference unveiled Maps Imagery Grounding, an AI tool that generates and animates images and short scenes anchored to real-world Google Street View locations. The feature is available in a private preview in the United States and operates through Google’s Gemini Enterprise Agent platform, with animation handled by the Veo video model.

Users enter descriptive prompts in Gemini to produce visuals tied to specific Street View coordinates. Those visuals can be animated with Veo. Google presented the tool as a way to speed early-stage pre-production tasks such as location scouting and storyboarding by reducing the need to send scouts to photograph sites, wait for particular lighting or weather, or build manual mockups.

Google wrote in a statement, “Generative AI has unlocked powerful ways for creative agencies, film studios, and luxury brands to bring social and advertising campaigns to life. Now, we’re helping them anchor their imaginative scenes in the real world with Maps Imagery Grounding.” The company also said the new imagery tools “unlock entirely new possibilities for businesses, data analysts, and urban planners.”

Alongside Maps Imagery Grounding, Google introduced AI tools for analyzing aerial and satellite imagery and launched Earth AI models designed to identify roads, bridges and power lines. Company materials say the updates will help users visualize concepts, plan development and manage disaster response more quickly.

The launch builds on wider use of mapping and spatial data outside navigation. Companies have used spatial scans and mapping data to support robotics and navigation in areas where GPS is unreliable.

The announcement comes amid ongoing debate in the film industry over AI. The actors and writers unions won concessions on some AI uses during the 2023 strikes. SAG-AFTRA publicly criticized an AI-generated “actress” known as Tilly Norwood, calling it a threat to jobs and human artistry.

Actor Sandra Bullock has urged Hollywood to “lean into” AI and use it constructively, while Warner Bros. Pictures co-chair Pam Abdy said AI should be treated as a tool that helps filmmakers and “has to be a tool for the storytellers.”

Maps Imagery Grounding is in private preview in the United States. Google did not immediately provide details on broader availability or on privacy and production-use controls when asked.