Google Earth is Taking on Nature

Google maps is now taking the technology which has allowed us to spy on our neighbors out in nature.  They have decided that they are going to start to film famous hiking trails.  The first one is the Grand Canyon.  The official statement is this:

Today, we’re taking another step forward with our Street View Trekker. You’ve seen our cars, trikes, snowmobiles and trolleys—but wheels only get you so far. There’s a whole wilderness out there that is only accessible by foot. Trekker solves that problem by enabling us to photograph beautiful places such as the Grand Canyon so anyone can explore them.

The goal is to record every major (read famous) hiking trail in the world.  OK, I have to admit, it is pretty cool that they are doing it.  On the interview with NPR, they listed a ton of places that they wanted to film and of course the big one was Everest.

The backpack weighs about 40lbs, which I did not think was too bad. It contains 15 cameras that take pictures from all directions.  The battery life of it is one day and it can only be filmed during good weather.  

 

Outside did an interesting article last month.  It talked about how an outdoors person can no longer tell the tall tales.  Modern technology has killed it.  This is going to make it even worse/harder.  Plus, it is just one more reason for people not to go outside.  Why go on the hike when you can just stay at home and do it from the comfort of your own home.  Go modern technology!

Give me the trail any day.  It could however be interesting to see what it looks like and what they capture.