It seems Google Street View will go anywhere these days to capture beautiful images. Since long, its Street View car have been trampling the pavement for a walking view of different places across the globe, now they are riding the train along the famous UNESCO World Heritage Albula/Bernina railway line that is over 100 years old and is still an important link between Italy and Switzerland with Street View cameras attached.
Over the years its special 360-degree cameras have been snapping parks, airports, malls, the Great Barrier Reef and, more recently, parts of the Amazon basin. In fact, the latest images show part of the Swiss Alps and are set to be another hit with armchair travelers in need of some fresh air.
In the past it has also captured many controversial photographs, but for this, Google partnered with UNESCO and Rhaetian Railways in Switzerland for the project, allowing them to secure a Street View Trike to the leading wagon of a train. The overall journey covers a distance of around 128 km track criss-crossing through the Swiss Alps, the trike then captured 360-degree imagery of assorted views of more than 196 bridges and through 55 tunnels, like what you see in the view below as the train passes Lago Bianco at Thusis, Switzerland.
“We are sure that the virtual visit will inspire people in Switzerland and worldwide to visit us and take a ride between snow-covered mountain tops and palm trees,” said Reto Schmid, head of e-business and distributions at Rhaetian Railway. Palm trees?!? Yes, apparently they have palm trees in snow-covered Switzerland.
The project began last year, using the Street View trike to capture the scenery. And fortunately for this project, Google did not forced some poor soul to cycle the length of the line, dodging oncoming trains along the way. Rather, Google clamped its trike onto the wagon of a Rhaetian Railway train and took its images from there.
As a matter of fact, trains offer a exceptional scenery because the stretches of land you see are not really accessible via car or foot. It may just be easier for you to enjoy the train’s-eye-view via the Street View collection that Google Maps has put together.
Moreover, as the trike was mounted on front of the train car and elevated by the makeshift bicycle-dolly hybrid the Google Maps team have for pushing it around, you might wonder if there was a collective gasp of fear as the train passed through the Ruegna-Tunnel.
The images can be viewed in a special gallery here or by accessing Google Maps in the usual way. And just last week, Google released Street View images taken along the Amazon river and through rainforest trails.
Below is a video Google Maps put together that shows how the team put together the image collection.
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