Slashdot Mirror


Google Street View Wants You to Direct New Tricycle Imager

An anonymous reader writes "Google is taking suggestions for where you'd like to see the new Street View Trike go. Your favorite park, hiking trail, zoo, school campus hangout or outdoor mall could be going online thanks to Google Street View's new 250 pound tricycle, complete with camera and GPS. According to the press release: 'The Street View trike began as a 20% project by Daniel Ratner, a Senior Mechanical Engineer on the Street View team. "I began thinking about building a bicycle-based Street View system after realizing how many interesting places around the world — ranging from historic landmarks to beautiful trails to shopping districts — aren't accessible by car," says Dan. "When I'm riding the trike, so many people come up to me and ask where it's off to next or how they can get imagery of their favorite spot, so I can't wait to see what our users come up with."'"

2 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Almost a Good idea by silent_artichoke · · Score: 2, Informative
    It's Google's "20 percent time".

    We offer our engineers “20-percent time” so that they’re free to work on what they’re really passionate about. Google Suggest, AdSense for Content and Orkut are among the many products of this perk.

  2. Re:A few ideas by onyxruby · · Score: 2, Informative

    Walk past the tourist trap part and you'll find a pretty decent park that is well worth seeing of it's own right. Problem is that most people don't go past the tourist trap portion and have a warped view of the riverwalk.