Thanks to a new and improved smart navigation, Google Street View has taken away one of the mild impediments to full enjoyment of my addiction to the service. Pancakes. Yes, that’s what’s made me spend even more time traipsing around the world’s greatest cities. Okay, not traipsing but clicking through.
Getting from one point of interest to the next is now pretty painless thanks to the smart “pancake-like” dots that I can drag around. The video below give a great example of how it all works. Soon, with this speed and ease-of-use you’ll all be as enthused as I’ve always been.
And now with the Google Trike moving into the UK, I’ll soon have more narrow alleyways and pedestrian bridges and historic landmarks to scope out. With the on-the-beaten-path narrow passages of Italy and warmth of the Italian countryside now complete, the Trike has headed across the channel to bring the treasures of Britain’s to the online world. In a partnership with tourism promoter VisitBritain, an online contest is happening to help decide which of the plethora of British landmarks will be lifted from the fog on its first passage this summer.
Here are a few interesting tidbits about the Google Trike:
• The trike weighs nearly 18 stone! (about 114 kilos)
• They will use specially trained super fit Google employees and contractors to ride the Trikes.
• The "trikers" wear Google cycle helmets and clothing
• There are 5 categories under which people can submit their ideas. The categories are: Castles, Coastal paths, Natural Wonders, Historic Buildings & Monuments and (Sports) Stadiums.
• As with all Street View imagery in the UK, they will apply face-blurring and license plate blurring to all these images to protect people's privacy. People will be able to report images for removal in the same way as they can now by clicking on 'report a problem' on the bottom left hand corner of the image. From here they complete a short form where they indicate the precise image to be removed.
Photo credit: Robert Andrews - Flickr