In Google Street View, I can set North in a couple of ways, either using
- the "Pick Landmark method"
- Rotate the panorama, and then hold down the N key while dragging the panorama in the Viewer (documentation), although it can take several clicks and drags
A suggested alternative is to automatically change the bearing such that it displays the next/last connected panorama thumbnail at the crosshair position, by pressing a hot key, eg. Ctrl-X (X marks the spot). This will often be just one click.
Over several hundred panoramas, this will save much time. (N-click drag)x4 is slower than a single click.