Camp, N., & Jo, E. (2025). Streetscapes at Scale: Mapping Platform APIs as a Tool to Sample Space. Social Cognition, 43 (3), 257-275.

Abstract

We introduce a ubiquitous but overlooked resource for studying the psychology of space: street-level imagery—streetscapes—from mapping platforms such as Google Street View, Apple Maps, and Mapillary. Relative to other sources of stimuli, streetscapes are unique in their ecological validity, their spatial resolution, their geographic scope, and their scale. To capitalize on these strengths, researchers can repurpose tools that mapping platforms maintain for software developers. Using these Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), one can sample a massive number of streetscape stimuli with minimal cost. This tutorial introduces the reader to a programmatic approach to sampling streetscapes with mapping APIs. We provide the reader with both concrete examples in the most common mapping platform, Google Street View, and a general procedure they can tailor to their platform and research question of choice.

Keywords: Application programming interface; Computational methods; Environmental psychology; Social cognition; Stimulus sampling; Street View imagery.