The Streetview crew from Google Maps strapped on their backpack camera rigs and hit the Bright Angel Trail shooting about 9,500 panoramic images in the process. You can sort through them and take a virtual hike while killing time at work. The images cover more than 75 miles of the trails and surrounding roads. The [ more... ]

Google has unveiled the Street View Trekker giving us one more way to explore the planet without ever having to go outside. Considering all the talk about mining national lands going on during this presidential election (and the lack of talk about protecting the environment), I’m glad that Google is documenting these great trails in the Muir Woods and Grand Canyon in case uranium mines are ever developed near them. At least our children will have access to high-res images. Google Trekkers have been spotted on the Bright Angel Trail and South Kaibab Trail, both in Grand Canyon National Park.

Times Square? Lambeau Field? Nope, it’s Death Valley National Park, followed by Redwood and then Yosemite. The crew at Google Maps looked at search results between May and September to get a sense for what maps Americans were looking up for their vacations. This, of course, doesn’t mean that more people visit Death Valley than [ more... ]

The march to map the Earth at street level has gone under the sea. Google’s turned their street view camera into a diving machine allowing casual web surfers to get a look at some of the most pristine coral reefs on our planet. To get the shots Google partnered with the Catlin Seaview Survey, a [ more... ]

You’ve been able to hop from Antarctica to the Amazon and now you can explore a little closer to home without leaving your cubicle. Google has released their Street View army upon Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Redwoods, Sequoia & Kings, and Death Valley National Parks. Breathing in that recycled office air might be a sad trade [ more... ]

Introducing the Streetview Trekker, a backpack-mounted version of Google’s car-top camera technology that offers street-level views on their Maps product. A Google employee wearing the Trekker can now walk along trails or ski the local hills recording the entire process opening lot of exciting new privacy concerns. If I see someone wearing this thing I’m [ more... ]

A team of scientists employing Google’s Streetview to map the Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s Queensland coast. A special submersible guided by a Scuba diver captures a 360-degree shot every 4 to 6 seconds. The goal is to use the mapping as a tool to gauge the effects of climate change on the reef environment. [ more... ]