Google Streetview Going to the Galapagos Islands

The Google Streetview folks are going to the Galapagos Islands!  When I heard this, I imagined those little cars bumping disastrously over volcanic rocks and giant tortoises.  But no! They are outfitting hikers with 42 pound computer backpacks (!) and those round balls you see on the cars. Inside the balls are an array of 15 cameras pointing in all different directions to give you the "surround" image you get with Streetview.  These intrepid hikers are called "trekkers," and will give those of us who will probably never tour the Galapagos ourselves a chance to tool around the ocean, beaches, rocks and even a volcano!

See the article I selected from the Washington Post, though there are a gazoodle out on the Internet right now.  The article mentions that they are processing the images right now. But I didn't know that they have already expanded beyond streets, with views of the Amazon rain forest, the ocean floor and Arctic.  Between using the satellite images, and Streetview, it's a very interesting way to explore our world.  The Post article mentions that they are hoping to use this new imaging technology to watch how tourism is affecting the environment in the Galapagos.  Interesting.

The image comes from the Google folks, and appears at multiple news sites. This was downloaded from the Toronto Star http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/05/23/google_street_view_to_add_galapagos_islands.html version of the AP story written by Jason Dearen.