Google Takes Street View To the Galapagos Islands

Nerval's Lobster writes "In the early days, Street View must have been a relatively easy project for Google to execute, considering the financial resources and employees at its disposal: strap a set of high-tech cameras to a fleet of vehicles and drive the latter around urban areas all over the world, recording every inch for viewers' clicking-and-dragging pleasure. But there's only so much of the world accessible via well-paved roads (or close to gas stations, for that matter), which meant Google had to regress a bit: instead of cars, it began strapping all that fancy camera equipment to human beings, who are a little bit maneuverable over rough terrain and narrow dirt paths than a four-door sedan. Google sent its Street View cyborgs into the Grand Canyon, where they recorded the craggy pathways and steep cliffs. Then it sent them to some of the world's highest peaks. Now comes the next exotic locale: the Galapagos Islands, land of giant tortoises and other unique species, where Charles Darwin researched his famous theory of evolution. 'It's critical that we share images with the world of this place in order to continue to study and preserve the islands' unique biodiversity,' read a May 23 note on the Google Lat Long blog. 'Today we're honored to announce, in partnership with Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) and the Galapagos National Parks Directorate (GNPD), that we've collected panoramic imagery of the islands with the Street View Trekker.' That imagery will appear on Google Maps later in 2013. Nobody's asked the tortoises how they feel about it."

But, privacy?

[TimHunter]

Will they blur the tortises' faces?

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[Nidi62]

Will they blur the tortises' faces?

Does it really matter? If it comes out later this year you can just go to where the picture was taken. The turtle should still be within 10 feet or so.

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[c0lo]

Lonesome George was a celebrity before Charlie Chaplin...I'm sure he's used to it by now.

Used? That should be the under-statement of the year... he's totally exhausted, given that he died in June 2012.

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[Anonymous Coward]

In my day people weren't scared to voice their opinions face to face instead of hiding behind their computers.

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[JustOK]

People hide in FRONT of their computers

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[martinQblank]

Seems to me that all depends on each persons relative lat/long.

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[martinQblank]

>> Fuck me. Yes. Fuck you. Was nothing more than a joke crossing carapace (look it up) with grill (in street speak). Which you apparently are not "hep" enough to comprehend. What happened to a sense of humor? I ask this honestly - would "The Far Side" still be appreciated these days?

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[martinQblank]

For the record - I am NOT comparing my stupid post to the brilliance of "The Far Side".

Poor tortoises

[girlintraining]

Nobody's asked the tortoises how they feel about it."

I imagine they're feeling rather flat [blogspot.com]. How does Google take these 'street view' pics again?

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[lkernan]

How does Google take these 'street view' pics again?

By walking around with a huge backpack in this case.

re-captcha

[Anonymous Coward]

will it now display a finch and you'll have to identify its niche?

Darwin would be upset

[BenSchuarmer]

spent all those months on a ship travelling to the Galapagos, when he could have just googled it.

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[pspahn]

OMG! Apple has been redeemed!

Everyone!!!! To the Apple Store!!!!

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[Gavagai80]

You mean gated neighborhoods?

That said, street view still doesn't have the streets that 3 of my last 4 apartments have been on here in California a couple of hours from google headquarters. It's really only good for big cities or the major streets of smaller towns.

They

[JustOK]

They could automate this with a SHELL script.

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[canadiannomad]

I don't have to think too far back... I think one of the first things they'll see on the Galapagos with their human camera people is cars..... They'll wonder why they didn't just pop it on one of those... Distances aren't particularly walkable short in the galapagos.

One of the things I like about Google

[SpaghettiPattern]

One of the things I like about Google is that they sometimes do stuff for the heck of it or sometimes to scratch a research itch. At most other companies the bean counters would have stepped in. Or a small project would be done to obtain a short term hype to make money. Not at Google, I don't expect the Galapagos will make them anything else than admiration. And as Google employs many, many people I highly respect, I suspect the stuff they make has a certain longevity about it.

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[BasilBrush]

I don't like Google. I can't remember the last time they made a move I liked. But this one is good.

I suspect they do have a profit motive though. We just don't know what it is yet.

I suspect the stuff they make has a certain longevity about it.

Tell that to Google Reader users. And Google Code downloaders. And users of all the other projects they scrapped in the last few months.

In other news...

[FhnuZoag]

GeoGuessr DLC announced?

With so many streets *NOT* done yet...

[nurbles]

...Google has apparently decided to abandon parts of the world they they find boring in favor of exotic locales.

For example, Google covered most of the primary and a few of the secondary roads in South-Eastern New England. Then they stopped. YEARS ago. I can see every back alley and dirt road in some parts of the world, but nothing except satellite views of places where I grew up (SE New England.) I know New England can be boring, but it is at least as much a part of Google's home country as San Francis

Midway Atoll

[Wells2k]

Folks should take a look at the streetview shots of the Midway Atoll. Ducks everywhere, and you get to see the old military installation that the US abandoned years ago.

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[Wells2k]

I left out the link on purpose... get on Google Maps and search for it yourselves as a lesson in Geography!