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Google announced they are now mapping the Grand Canyon.
To do so, they outfit Googlers with backpacks with a camera system to take 360-degree images as they Googler walks through the Grand Canyon. The goal is to get street view quality images of the Grand Canyon in order to map walking directions.
Google Maps said on Google+:
On its first official outing, the Google Maps team is using the Trekker—a wearable Street View backpack with a camera system on top—to traverse the Grand Canyon and capture 360-degree images of one of the most breathtaking natural landscapes on the planet. Read more: http://goo.gl/P7OHUWe’ll keep you posted when the imagery comes live to Google Maps.
Here is a video of MSNBC interviewing Google about this while at the Grand Canyon.
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Pretty neat, don't you think? So they map streets, inside stores, malls, biking directions, sometimes even boats and heck, maybe the moon!
Forum discussion at Google+.
Comments:
ethalon
10/25/2012 02:41 pm
I heard this on NPR yesterday and I love it. I hope the ROI is enough to justify them doing this all over the country. Some really long term projects I would love to see them tackle would be to map various hiking trails on the Appalachian Trail, significant mapping of the walking paths in national parks like Yellowstone and maybe even some river view from the most traveled and/or most beautiful waterways out there. Imagine how much more you could get out of your vacations to these places if you were able to research and plan your route ahead of time; finding what interests you and what you would rather avoid. Good post.
Anon
10/25/2012 08:57 pm
This will save me in gas going to the physical location :D
BDH
10/25/2012 09:20 pm
naturevalleytrailview.com is already using Google Map tech in the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Smoky Mountans