Article Image

IPFS News Link • Technology: Software

Who Needs Roads? Google Street View Goes Vertical

• http://www.pcmag.com, BY STEPHANIE MLOT

One more to check off your bucket list: Climb Yosemite's El Capitan. Virtually, at least.

Google today launched its first vertical Street View collection, taking users on a 3,000-foot hike up the world's most famous rock wall. But Google's team couldn't make the trek alone; they brought pro climbers Lynn Hill, Alex Honnold, and Tommy Caldwell to help capture footage.

"Climbing is all about flirting with the impossible and pushing the boundaries of what you think … can be done," Caldwell wrote in a blog post. "Capturing Street View imagery 3,000 feet up El Capitan proved to be an extension of that, especially when you take a camera meant for the inside of a restaurant and mount it thousands of feet up the world's most iconic rock wall."

Once situated with their bulky accessories, the crew created two sets of vertical Street View content: One of Hill, Honnold, and Caldwell (pictured) in various spots along the ascent; the other of the entire vertical route of "The Nose" on El Cap—once considered impossible to climb.


ContentSafe