Have you always wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, but you couldn’t because you weren’t experienced in the great outdoors or didn’t have the funds for the trip? Now you can explore the Grand Canyon in Arizona via Street View, without having to leave the comfort of your own home. The interactive images from the Grand Canyon cover more than 75 miles of trails and surrounding roads. This makes the map of this area even more comprehensive, accurate and easy to use than ever before.
Google’s team strapped on the Trekker, a wearable backpack with a camera system on top. The Trekker is walked through pedestrian walkways or trails on foot, and automatically gathers images as it goes. The Android-operated 18-kilogram backpacks carried the 15-lens camera system and wound along the rocky terrain on foot. Enduring temperature swings and a few muscle cramps along the way, more than 9,500 panoramas of this masterpiece of nature are now available on Google Maps.
Want to go to landmarks such as the famous Bright Angel Trail (above), the Colorado River, the South Kaibab Trail, Meteor Crater or any scenic overlook, and see it in full 360 degrees? A click of your mouse or tap of your finger will transport you any of these places. To access any of these images, you can simply search for the Grand Canyon in Google Maps, and once you’ve zoomed in on the area, drag the orange peg man icon on the left of your map screen onto an area that becomes highlighted in blue. From there, you’ll be able to pan around and check out the imagery in 360 degrees.
When asked why they used the Grand Canyon as an example for Street View, Google said, “The Grand Canyon was the perfect place to debut the Trekker because the narrow trails, ridges, and pedestrian-only access demonstrates exactly why the Street View systems have evolved from a Car to a Trike to a Snowmobile for the slopes and now to a Trekker. The imagery of various trails along the South Rim is now available online through the Street View feature in Google Maps, enabling anyone across the world to virtually experience the Grand Canyon and its majesty.”