Google and South African Tourism are on a search for the top three tourist locations in South Africa this summer, to bring images of South Africa’s best rated attractions to the public using Google’s Street View application, which was launched in South Africa on September 1 this year. Google Street View is an extension of the very popular Google Maps, which will allow users to ‘go down to street level’ and see what it looks like at a particular spot on a map. This is great news for tourists and visitors and even armchair tourists, who will now be able to do a “virtual tour” of Cape Town and other great cities through the Google website This comprises a series of panoramic, interactive placed on the exact spot from which they were taken. These images become extremely informative and powerful because Google has created the ability to generate hundreds of thousands of them, each +- 10 m from the next. Strung together, the panoramic images allow you to take a virtual walk or drive down a street in New York, London, and soon, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Because some of the best places to visit are not always accessible by car, the Street View images will be collected using the Google Trike, which comprises three bicycle wheels and a mounted camera. It weighs about 110 kg and comes with a very fit cyclist, who will be hard to miss in his branded apparel. A shortlist of 20 locations has been drawn up for the public to choose from. Now it’s up to you to vote for the places you would most like to be rated as the most popular. This is great news by the always innovative Google to publicize our beautiful country ahead of the 2010 World Cup
This is the chance Capetonians have been waiting for to show the whole country the beauty of places that one can visit from our affordable holiday accommodation, including Simon’s Town, Boulders Beach, Chapman’s Peak , Franschhoek Winelands, and more of Cape Town’s top 100 attractions. The Trike will be available for a short time during the summer. Once it has finished its journey, the images it takes will be made available on Google Maps’ Street View.
Google South Africa head Stephen Newton stated
“We want it to be a really fun, new aspect of the website. Users will be able to virtually tour historical monuments or scenic locations before visiting– or check out which side of a football stadium they need to be on before leaving the house.”
The Google website states :
We're working hard to bring Street View to South Africa, so we've created the Google Trike to go to the amazing tourist spots that can't be reached by cars. We want you to tell us your favourite 3 places that you think the Trikes should visit first. So get voting now!
For more information on this initiative and to cast your vote, visit the website and cast your vote
http://www.google.com/intl/en_za/mobile/trike
Chose from the list of :
Newlands Cricket Stadium
Kruger National Park
Blyde River Canyon
Cathedral Peak
Addo Elephant Park
Simon’s Town and Boulders Beach
St Lucia/iSimangaliso Wetlands
Maropeng and Sterkfontein Caves
Mandela House, Hector Pieterson Memorial and Soweto highlights
Isandlwana, Rorke’s Drift and the Valley of the Zulu Kings
Bloemfontein Houses of Parliament
Franschhoek Winelands
Apartheid Museum
Big Hole, Kimberley
Tsitsikamma National Park
Chapman’s Peak and Cape coastal panoramas
Constitution Hill
Golf course highlights
Durban Waterfront
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