ITWire

Quoting a Google executive: Raul Vera, Engineering Manager, Google Australia.

We're learning about the latest and greatest thing in Google Maps, which was developed in Australia.

Google Wave is another Aussie development, but Google Maps remains a big focus - with developments in real estate, advertising on Google Maps, directions and more - Google is committed to making Google Maps more and more useful for Australia.

Street View cars busily driving around getting much higher quality new imagery - it'll be more fun and more useful than it is today. Street View takes mapping beyond mapping, letting people see what places look like, find a place to park and more. Street View is an extension of Google Maps.

We've been careful to preserve privacy, we take pictures on private roads, blur faces and more.

We've seen the Colonel Sanders face, which appears on top of KFC restaurants, is blurred. That's because it's a face!

We take down Street View imagery people don't want to see.

We now have the Street View trike.

The trike can go where cars can't - this lets us capture pedestrian places - walkways on the harbour, images within campuses and more.

What is the Street View trike? It's a 20% project by Dan Rattner of Google.

It can fit just about anywhere a wheelchair can.

You can see people holding up cameras wherever the trike goes, as there are people taking pictures of "us".

What's the trike doing at Taronga Zoo? It's the first member of our Street View partner program.

We look forward to working with more partners to get Street View trike imagery into Google Maps.

Where next? More places in Australia! City life, natural wonders, hidden gems and more - Google is asking Australians for suggestions as to where the trike should be sent next. Australians will be asked to vote on the best locations..

Overseas, we have Loch Ness, Millennium Stadium, Stonehenge and more that have been captured on the trike.

And that is basically it! Google's new "trike" will be used to capture Street View imagery as never before. Pictures of the trike are below.