Scene - Blogs - Cheap Geek Dates Take a trip to the Grand Canyon with Google Maps Street View

Cheap Geek Dates: Take a trip to the Grand Canyon with Google Maps Street View
Published: 1/31/2013 7:00 PM
Last Modified: 1/31/2013 3:28 PM

A beautiful look at the Grand Canyon from Google Street View

There's a lot more to the experience of a vacation than just the destination, but Google still thinks it should be easier to actually see where you're going. While they've done really well in the last several years of bringing the whole world to your computer through Google Street View - the feature of Google Maps that puts you right there in the street - there are certain places we've never been able to see because you can't get there by car.

Until yesterday, the Grand Canyon was one such place. Now that's no longer the case.

Using a 40-pound backpack called the Trekker, Google has been getting some fantastic shots of the Grand Canyon and many of the trails and rivers that run throughout. Since at least October of 2012 the Google Maps team has had several Trekkers, um...trekking across more than 75 miles of trails and surrounding grounds, gathering over 95,000 panorama shots with cameras they can control with their Android phones (of course).

Many of the canyon's most famous trails and locations are included, and you can see them for yourself, starting here.

Written by
Micah Choquette
Scene Writer

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ClanJoyWalkSig (2 weeks ago)

Fantastic!

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Matt Clayton floats between being a nerd, geek or a dork. Has an extensive collection of toys, comics and video games that would make any adult feel ashamed to call themselves a parent. Unlike most nerds, he does enjoy sports, but his favorite sport is soccer, so that really doesn't count as a sport anyway. Can quote "Clerks" at the drop of a hat and owns a soft-coated Wheaten Terrier named Will Wheaton. And no, Ewoks could not have possibly taken down the Empire with just sticks and rocks.

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Micah Choquette is a self-proclaimed web geek who generally despises the term "nerd." He can hold his own in a conversation about comics or movies with the other Prairie Nerds, but his heart belongs to the internet and his soul was sold long ago to Apple. He routinely follows many of the design and development gurus of the day, soaking in their ideas and putting them to work for the 'World. He's also an avid user and abuser of Social Media, and can be found on Twitter, Facebook and yes, even Google+.

Nerd Strengths: Apple, Coffee, Google, Coffee, Code, Coffee. In that order.

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Nerd strengths: Coffee chugging, X-Men & Marvel Comics, Star Trek, Stargate, X-Files, paranormal mysteries (Bigfoot, etc.), classic sci-fi TV, movies and books.

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Nerd strengths: British Science Fiction, Star Wars, Sherlock Holmes, X-files, Coffee, Zombies, Space.

James Royal can tell you what Kirby crackle is. His favorite X-Man is Nightcrawler. He owns more than two dozen Star Wars novels. He knows how much damage a magic missile does. His favorite T-shirt features the insignia of Cobra, the ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world. He liked the Walking Dead before the Walking Dead was cool.

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