Google announced today that it is launching 360-degree, interactive photos for 167 of the 294 restaurants participating in NYC Restaurant Week (next week).

Google Maps summer intern Evelyn Chang writes on the Google Maps blog:

Let’s say you’re in New York City, home to over 25,000 restaurants, just before the start of NYC Restaurant Week (TM) (July 22 – August 16). You can quickly narrow down the choices by picking from a list of eateries participating in their summer’s Restaurant Week.

Google Maps lets you see the interiors of more than 50% of participating restaurants with Business Photos, so that you can make sure you’re choosing the right setting for your meal out. Street View allows you to take a closer look at the exterior of any destination, and even virtually stroll through the surrounding neighborhood.

Earlier this week, we looked at the process of getting business photos onto Google, talking with one of Google’s Trusted Photographers, who provided a great deal of insight into how they get your businesses photos into Google’s local search results.

In January, Google announced that Google Business Photos were being used by 100,000 businesses. This has no doubt grown significantly since then. A couple months ago, Google announced the expansion of business photos into seven additional countries.