the new Google Streetview trike

the new Google Streetview bike

In 2008 Google, the UK’s most popular search engine, started on a mission to improve the amount of detail available on it’s Google Maps service. Several cars mounted with cameras drove around 25 of the UK’s major towns and cities taking full 360o images of the roads and streets.

When the images finally went live a large portion of the media jumped onto concerns regarding privacy although the majority of concerns raised were addressed extremely quickly by the search engine. It is now such a popular integration into the service that it is now part of the Google Maps Navigation app on Android Phones with the latest firmware update (v1.6 and above), although at the moment it is only usuable in the United States.


Lyme Park in Stockport, Cheshire. The setting for the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice

Lyme Park in Stockport, Cheshire. The setting for the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice

Last year Google organised a partnership between themselves and VisitBritain to use their new Streetview Trikes around some of the UK’s more famous heritage sites. From Stonehenge to Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, the tricycles were ridden around the landmarks by National Trust riders who took panoramic photographs as they made their way to and from the selected tourist spots.

The sites were chosen last year from a list of categories which included Castles, Coastal paths, Natural Wonders, Historic Buildings & Monuments and (Sports) Stadiums. However, there was only limited time for the trikes to dash around the British Isles in summer before the weather and light disappeared for the winter.

Google have also taken their Streetview cameras to numerous UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage sites across the world including the banks of the river Seine in Paris, from the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral to The Eiffel Tower, the Palace and Park at Versailles, the historical Roman city of Pompeii and the Centre of Prague.

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