Google Street View South Africa is here
The previous post written only yesterday about Google Maps Navigation has just been indexed and might begin ranking any time soon. Yesterday I also mentioned that street view is available but now it is official.
What is Street View?
Street View takes Google Maps to a new level, allowing you to visually explore and navigate a neighbourhood through panoramic street-level photographs. It enables you to view and navigate 360 degree street level imagery of various cities around the world, providing greater understanding of a specific location or area. We are delighted to have brought Street View to South Africa so that both locals and people around the globe will be able to explore the buzzing cities and stunning landscapes of South Africa right from their computers.
Johannesburg, 8th June 2010 – It’s not every day that you find an elephant in Street View, or for that matter get to visit most of the new soccer stadiums in one day. But from today people can do both with Google’s newly released Street View images and 3D models in Google Earth.
Seven of South Africa’s new football stadiums, including Soccer City in Johannesburg, Peter Mokaba in Polokwane and Moses Mabhida in Durban are now available to explore from pitch-level in 360 degrees, both inside and out. These detailed images were collected over the last few months, using the Google Street View Trikes and some serious pedal power!
Street View images are also available of around 27 South African towns and cities including Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth, helping tourists get to know the local area or navigate their way to their hotel. Top tourist attractions can now be explored in detail too – there’s dramatic coastal scenery in the Cape; the urban buzz of Soweto, home to Nelson Mandela; or the world renowned Kruger National Park, to wander at your leisure.
Julie Taylor, Communications Manager for Google South Africa, said: “This is a first for Africa, and a really exciting development for South Africans, who can now explore their country in new ways, whether a local neighbourhood in the city or a scenic coastal route they’ve never seen. But it’s also going to be a massive bonus for the tourism industry, especially with all the international visitors arriving in South Africa. Tourists will be able to take a look at sights and stadiums before they get here, while the rest of the world can enjoy the view from their mobile phone or PC.”
Roshene Singh, Chief Marketing Officer at South Africa Tourism added, “We’re delighted that Street View has arrived in South Africa. Whether you’re looking at Cape coastal scenery, the Blyde River Canyon, or at our state-of-the-art new soccer stadiums, Street View is going to be an excellent tool for the tourism industry at large.”
If you want to read the full press release continue reading here or just enjoy this video explaining exactly how Google Maps Street view works.
Seeing that the following natural areas tourists to South Africa love have been mapped with street view trikes shouldn’t we call it Google Maps Safari View?
- Cape peninsula
- Natal Midlands
- Kruger
- Addo
- Tsitsikamma
- Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens
- Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
- Midlands
- Tsitsikamma
- Wilderness
- Harkerville Forest
- Kagga Kamma Nature Reserve
- Blyde River Canyon
Have you seen the elephant?