Google Street View goes off-street with pedal power

Stephen Withers
Monday, 19 October 2009 05:16

Your IT - Home IT

Google Street View is already well known for its panoramic images of streets stitched together from photos taken from moving cars. The company has begun adding off-street images taken from a specially equipped tricycle.

The Google Street View trike is the brainchild of Street View senior mechanical engineer Daniel Ratner, who began the project in his 20% time. (Google allows employees to spend one-fifth of their working time on side projects.)

"I began thinking about building a bicycle-based Street View system after realising how many interesting places around the world - ranging from historic landmarks to beautiful trails to shopping districts - aren't accessible by car," said Ratner.

The result was the Street View Trike, a 250lb (113kg) monster equipped with cameras and GPS.

Earlier this year, Google collected imagery from UK locations including Stonehenge and Warwick Castle. The trike is now in action in the US - it's already covered a selection of Californian locations including Legoland, San Diego State University, and Santa Monica Pier - and the company is inviting suggestions for other US locations that should be covered.

The categories are Parks & Trails, University Campuses, Pedestrian Malls, Theme Parks & Zoos, Landmarks, and Sports Venues.

Nominations close on October 28, and there will be a public vote to choose the locations to be added to Street View.

If you want to see the trike in action, there's a YouTube clip here.