LIHU‘E — A few months ago, you might’ve noticed alien-like vehicles canvassing Kauai’s streets. The camera-laden cars and trikes were part of Google’s effort to refresh and expand its collection of photos of Kaua‘i and the rest of the state
LIHU‘E — A few months ago, you might’ve noticed alien-like vehicles canvassing Kauai’s streets. The camera-laden cars and trikes were part of Google’s effort to refresh and expand its collection of photos of Kaua‘i and the rest of the state from the perspective of its streets, valleys and air space.
After a few months of processing, the new batch of panoramic photos taken on Kaua‘i are now available for viewing online at Google Map Street View. Satellite imaging is also included.
Google began Street View as a feature of Google Map five years ago to “create another helpful view of the world; a perfect map of the real world,” said Deanna Yick, a Google spokesperson. The feature was launched in 2007, originally covering five U.S. cities but now covers 40 countries.
Google’s vehicles are equipped with a camera system with 15 lenses to capture different angles. For street views, the camera sits atop a mast. For more remote areas like Waimea Canyon, the camera is on a three-wheel pedicab system.
“It kind of looks like a small ice cream cart,” said Yick. “It’s used in spaces where it’s hard for cars to go.”
The millions of photos that Google has taken are stitched into panoramic views, personal information is taken out, and faces and license plates are blurred before they are placed online, she said.
The feature also offers images of private properties, such as community, educational or visitor-related venues including universities, theme parks, museums and historical places. Interested parties can request these images for free by Googling Google’s Street View Partner Program.
To collect the images, local photographers are contracted on a short-term basis by third-party agencies that are photography-related, said Yick. There were a “handful” of photographers on Kaua‘i during the past collection period, she said.
Google is able to offer these images to the public for free because it is supported by online advertising that “appear against relevent searches on Google and Google Map as well as on a number of our other properties,” said Yick. “They pay a certain amount when the ad is clicked on.” This pay-per-click program is not available on Street View, however, and she said there are no plans at the moment to do so.
Google started in 1999 as a search engine, its goal to help “find what the people are looking for,” said Yick.
And no doubt, there are a lot of people around the world wanting to look at images of Kaua‘i.
