#Microblog Monday 304: Google Travel
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We knew we weren’t going anywhere this summer, but last week, our airline finally canceled our flight, making things official. I had already dealt with the sadness, so I hopped directly to relieved. We’ll try again in the future.
In the meantime, articles about virtual travel keep popping up, but this has been the one that has interested me most. The woman at the heart of the story travels the world through Google Street View, taking screenshots of the sites. She does this because she has agoraphobia and can’t go out, but her method becomes an interesting alternative in this time period when we are all left between a rock and a hard place when it comes to leaving the house.
I tried it, going to places I know and places I don’t know. The images have gotten so much better since the last time I played with Google Earth. She writes:
It’s the opposite of how you normally travel. You don’t have any itinerary, you don’t have a planned holiday. You don’t know exactly where you’re going, you don’t know exactly where you’re going to land. So, many times I would jump in and go, “Oh my goodness, where am I?” and then do some research on the place. Then suddenly you know something about a place that you didn’t know anything about before. It kind of shakes up your idea of travel.
Try it. Start with a place you know, so you can have a sense of how well Google Earth captures it. And then go somewhere new. I’d love to hear where you go. I started in Chincoteague and then went to Corsica.
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8 comments
I’m always doing street view in semi-random (I usually have a reason for looking up an address, but no reason to look up the street view or to wander around a little) places. It’s entertaining to see what I can see.
I haven’t used Google Earth in a while, but I have used it to look up street addresses from old censuses to find the places where my ancestors lived — including in Scotland in the late 1800s. 🙂 I also used it a while back to tour around one of the small towns in Saskatchewan where I lived from 1966-69, when I was 5-8 years old. I haven’t been back since I was 15 years old, but I was amazed that I could still find my way around the main streets & that many of the old familiar landmarks were still there (including the movie theatre!). One of the two houses we lived in is gone now, but the other was still there.
Perfect timing for this post, as this evening I was to get on a plane with my husband to take our kids on a dream adventure. I had so much anticipation for the date June 22. Sigh…
Thanks for this alternative. Maybe I can take a look tomorrow. Today I mourn.
I’ve used Google Earth in school, but this sounds interesting! I use the street view on Google Maps to make sure I’ve found the right address (and sometimes just to be plain nosy). I have it on my school iPad, the fancy version, so I think I will go to Bar Harbor, Maine and then perhaps to Inverness. That will be a fun virtual adventure!
This is a fun idea. But not for today. I’ll bookmark this for later. Today has been frustrating as everywhere we have tried to go (a playground for a socially distant visit with friends, the library to pick up books curbside) has been too crowded with non-distancers. Today we are feeling defeated and down. But google earth will be a fun trip tomorrow!
We were supposed to get on a plane tomorrow (and I am still fighting with the insurance company about it).
Q. has figured out how to make videos using Google Earth (which Google is happy for you to do). It definitely makes your lectures cooler when you can do a flyover across the Colosseum!
Apropos of nothing, if you google earth my street, our local neighborhood marijuana dealer can be seen walking down the street. Yes his face is blurred out, but you can still tell it’s him. I thought this was quite amusing. 🙂
I love that article and I love her photos/screenshots! And I’m laughing at omdg’s comment too.
I recognise that I’m moving into a second stage in terms of attitude. I’m relieved that we have largely eradicated it (so far) from the NZ population (we’re getting new cases but they’re all people who are arriving in NZ from overseas). But as the year goes on, I’m getting frustrated that I can’t plan my next trip, and probably can’t do it next year either. And in the last few years we’ve travelled around NZ quite a lot so not too much new to explore (though I know, there’s always something new to explore). So I really like this idea – a way to travel, and even to plan for new trips (or perhaps a way to eliminate potential destinations?). I’ve always used street view to check out hotel locations etc, but this could take my planning to a new level. Thanks!