Google Maps Street View Takes To The Mountains

In its never ending attempt to map out the world in photos, the team at Google Maps Street View have begun taking to the mountains.

So far the world’s largest search engine has taken to the Aconcagua mountains in South America, Mount Elbrus in Europe, Kilimanjaro in Africa, and Asia’s Everest Base Camp.

Those particular mountains are part of the grouping known as the Seven Summits.

In a company blog post, Google explains that the photos were taken with the use of a lightweight tripod attached to a fish eye lens. That process was used in place of a Google Street View car. The tripods and lightweight cameras were used to carry as little weight as possible so Google employees could reach the peaks of each summit.

This is not the first time Google has captured hard to reach places. Google employees deployed autonomous cameras attached to a backpack a few months ago in the Grand Canyon.

Google Street Views has been quick to detach itself from the standard street view model. Google has given tours of the Swiss Alps and traveled to Antarctica, and the search giant has even given a tour of its own data centers.

Today Google users can literally receive “street views” for various non-street based locations. Google walking directions have even begun to enter the inside of malls and other large indoor locations, allowing users to take advantage of indoor directions where needed.

While Google has not yet managed to cover every street in the world, the company is edging ever closer to its goal. Recently Google mapmaker was even used to secretly display several major streets in the secretive country of North Korea.

Google plans to continue the expansion of its Google Maps Street View product. Where would you like Google to take its street views product?