Discussion:
[TAN] How Google brought Street View to the Pyramids {tan}
June Samaras
2014-09-21 00:47:01 UTC
Permalink
Behind the scenes of how Google brought Street View to the Pyramids

Summary: Google is turning to locals to help build out Street View imagery
as it takes its mapping services to pastures new.

Perhaps best known for its mapping of roads and thoroughfares, Google
Street View also offers 360-degree panoramic images of landmarks such as
Stonehenge
<https://www.google.com/maps/views/view/streetview/unesco-world-heritage/stonehenge-avebury-and-associated-sites/VxzhBNNu-VGQC8HtVIaY3A?gl&heading=109&pitch=97&fovy=75>
and
the Palace of Versailles
<https://www.google.com/maps/views/view/streetview/france-highlights/palace-of-versailles-1/aeHmF2yRGYNu-Z4W2fJr4g?gl=u&heading=21&pitch=93&fovy=75>
, alongside university campuses
<https://www.google.com/maps/views/streetview/university-campuses?gl=us>,
zoos
<https://www.google.com/maps/views/streetview/zoos-and-animal-parks?gl=us>,
and theme parks such as Legoland California
<http://california.legoland.com/explore/google_street_view/>.

Street View — which has been prevalent in the US and parts of Europe for
some time — is also increasingly being expanded to other parts of the
world, with locations in Chile, Cambodia, and Botswana all being added to
the service in the recent months.
New Street View images in MENA

Parts of the Middle East have also been included in this recent expansion.
Earlier this month, Google launched a series of 'Special Collects' in
Egypt, marking the first time street level imagery has been used in the
country.
Read this
[image: Just off Tahrir Square, first companies move into Cairo's new tech
park]
<http://www.zdnet.com/just-off-tahrir-square-first-companies-move-into-cairos-new-tech-park-7000023872/>

Just off Tahrir Square, first companies move into Cairo's new tech park
<http://www.zdnet.com/just-off-tahrir-square-first-companies-move-into-cairos-new-tech-park-7000023872/>

- Read more
<http://www.zdnet.com/just-off-tahrir-square-first-companies-move-into-cairos-new-tech-park-7000023872/>

Covering the Pyramids, along with five other ancient sites, the technology
allows internet users to get a different perspective on some of these
well-known historic locations.

And with the country's tourism industry still struggling to recover to
previous levels, the images may be the only way that some people will ever
see these sites; for others, they could be a trigger to book that trip of a
lifetime.

"When launching a whole country, usually 20 to 30 percent of Street View
views in a country come from abroad," Tarek Abdalla, head of marketing for
MENA at Google, told ZDNet.

"We also know from surveys that Street View is a great source of planning
for tourists and we do hope that more people will be inspired to travel to
the country after viewing the images."

Alongside the Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza, other locations featured in this
launch include The Pyramid of Djoser
<https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8699284,31.2165644,3a,75y,3.13h,90.61t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1s-icwpXL4aJHAMsjmVOV9DQ!2e0!3e5?hl=en-GB>,
which was the world's first pyramid, the historic Hanging Church
<https://www.google.com/maps/@30.0055038,31.2298975,3a,75y,137.31h,106.25t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1s4nuYOyscGBkgQQsDimIP-Q!2e0!3e5?hl=en-GB>,
and
the medieval Cairo Citadel
<https://www.google.com/maps/@30.0286342,31.2619385,3a,75y,318.95h,91.81t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sWMjstR_f84OyhimLASFFcA!2e0!3e5?hl=en-GB>
.

These striking new images from historic sites in Egypt contrast starkly
with earlier efforts in the region, which focused instead on ultra-modern
landmarks such as the beautiful Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
<https://www.google.com/maps/views/streetview/sheikh-zayed-grand-mosque?gl=us>
in
Abu Dhabi, and the world tallest building, the Burj Khalifa
<https://www.google.com/maps/views/streetview/burj-khalifa?gl=us> in Dubai.

*How Google does it*

Given the height of the Burj, and the terrain around many of Egypt's famous
spots, these images cannot be captured via Google Street View cars.

Instead, these contrasting locations were captured by a very different
technology: the Trekker
a wearable (and
rather sizeable) 40lbs backpack with a camera system built into the top.

As Joyce Baz, Google's communications manager for the Middle East North
Africa told ZDNet, this practical solution means that Street View can "go
down footpaths, tracks and narrow pathways to get images of areas of
natural beauty or tourist sites".

The backpack is "a little over a metre in height when set on the ground",
Baz said, "and when worn, the camera system extends above the operator's
shoulders. There are 15 lenses at the top of the mast, each pointed in a
different direction that enables to create a 360-degree panoramic view."

Alongside the need to get off-road, trekkers also had to factor in the
weather conditions in the region, as this too can impact on the digital
imagery. As amateur photographers in the region know, sand, heat haze, and
dehydration are all risks to consider, while humidity can fog your lense
and potentially damage even the most hard of kit (as I've discovered
previously to my own cost!).
Dig deeper

Views <https://www.google.com/maps/views/home?gl=us>, a micro site launched
by Google last year, features behind-the-scenes stories
<http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks> from
some of the technology giants popular Street View collections
<https://www.google.com/maps/views/streetview?gl=us&e=5300021>, offering
video and audio content as well as the expected photographic imagery.

The site allows users to experience what it feels like to stand outside the
Burj
<http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/burj-khalifa/>
tower
in a window washing basket (although if you've seen *Mission: Impossible —
Ghost Protocol*, you may already know what that feels like), or to find out
more
<http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/pyramids-of-giza/>
about
the history of the Pyramids.
What's next?

The presence of Google's cars on the streets of Dubai earlier this year
suggests that a more typical Street View of public roads in the region may
be in the offing, but Google remains tight-lipped about this possibility
and the identity of any future special collects.

Despite sightings of Google's Street View cars in Dubai earlier this year
attracting a lot of excitement among local tech enthusiasts
<http://techview.me/2014/02/google-maps-street-view-car-spotted-in-dubai/>,
the company told ZDNet that it has "no plans to announce Street View in
MENA yet". The company is, however, "very keen" to add these elements to
Google Maps though, Baz says.

With Google Maps now seeing more than one billion users per month and over
20 percent of search queries on Google being location-related, it's likely
that demand for this type of digital imagery is set to grow.

And given that the Gulf region possesses some of the highest levels of
smartphone penetration in the world, and that individuals can borrow their
own Trekker (an intriguing "behind the scenes"section
<https://www.google.com/intl/en/maps/about/partners/streetview/trekker/> on
the Google website explains how), it will be interesting to see if
citizen-led efforts will help develop Google's services in future.

----------------------------------
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : ***@gmail.com

Loading...