# Pitch: Use Google Drive/Photos as an Image Cache for Realtime.Earth

## Problem
Users (fire crews, citizens) already store large collections of event-relevant imagery in Google Drive/Photos.  
Today, contributing those to Realtime.Earth requires double-uploading or exporting.  
This conflicts with our **unhosted philosophy** — minimizing our “ownership” of user data.  
We want to tap directly into their existing storage ecosystem so participation feels natural and low-friction.

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## Appetite
**6 weeks.**  
Smallest scope: enable a user to point Realtime.Earth at their Google cache and pull in images (with metadata) for use in an event.

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## Solution
- **Connect**: Authenticate with Google (OAuth for Drive/Photos).  
- **Select**: User chooses folders/albums or filters (time, bounding box, event).  
- **Sync**: Live sync of new media, not just one-time import.  
- **Cache**: Maintain pointers, not full copies. Proxy service generates accessible URLs with auth. Cache metadata + thumbnails/tiles for performance.  
- **Metadata**: Preserve timestamps, GPS, orientation; support both images and video.  
- **UX**: User sees their photos on the shared Realtime.Earth map. Collectively, this renders a fire plume or other event. They gain reputation as a trusted lookout.  
- **Reciprocity**: Optional sidecar calibration/pose data written back into Google storage.  

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## Risks & Rabbit Holes
- **Duplicates** across Drive vs Photos: nice-to-have detection, but not in v1.  
- **Granular Permissions**: Ideal is selective sharing (albums, bounding box, even portions of an image). UX clarity is critical to avoid trust erosion.  
- **API limits & pricing**: Google could throttle/charge at scale — fallback cache strategy needed later.  
- **Licensing**: Must establish clear license transfer — user retains copyright, grants Realtime.Earth rights to reproject, annotate, redistribute.  

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## No-Gos
- No two-way sync of content beyond optional calibration sidecars.  
- No deep duplicate reconciliation or cross-platform support (Dropbox, iCloud) in the first 6 weeks.  
- No offline-resilient backup yet — defer until after prototype.  

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## Success
- Users can authenticate, point to Google cache, and use those images in Realtime.Earth.  
- **<5s latency** for first view, with cached thumbnails/tiles on repeat views.  
- Measure adoption: number of connected users, synced images, and speed of availability during an event.