Take a Vacation to the Grand Canyon on Google Maps

Google maps continues to amaze me.  Not only does it help me navigate traffic on the go (for free), give me transit directions in unfamiliar cities, and let me fly a plane, now it lets me take vacations to places I haven’t been able to get to yet.

Behold, the Google Walking Tour of the Grand Canyon (available thanks to street maps).


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I have an odd mental image of them tying all the street-view equipment to a touring donkey.

But don’t worry, no animals were harmed in the filming of this trail.  Google’s gotten its equipment down to the size of a backpack, sorta (called the “Trekker”.

The Trekker is operated by an Android device and consists of 15 lenses at the top of the mast, each angled in a different direction that will enable us to stitch together a 360-degree panoramic view. It took a team of 10 Googlers and 5 Trekkers about 3 full days to adequately capture the main trails of the Grand Canyon’s south rim.

Before I travel, I tend to check out Google Street Views so I can familiarize myself with the landmarks in the area I’ll be in.  It confuses people sometimes when I know where I’m going when driving too, and know odd-exit routes. 

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Tiff and I volunteer to use this on a trek through the Mall of America!

 

About Jeanne Marie Hoffman

Former bartender, still a geek. One equal part each cookies, liberty, football, music, travel, libations. Stir vigorously. +Jeanne Marie Hoffman Jeanne on Twitter

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One comment

  1. That’s so cool. Thanks, google maps!

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