With the games in Vancouver and Whistler right around the corner, many wonder about the extraordinary view the world’s best skiers and snowboarders experience during the event.
Well to no one’s surprise, Google Maps can now take you there. That’s right, hold on to your helmets, because during February 12-28 anyone around the world can adventure down the trails of Whistler Mountain with the pros.The Street View team has explored a variety of different methods to capture imagery at 7,000 feet.
Jonathan Lister, Managing Director and Head of Google Canada, posted on The Official Google Blog, "the Street View team’s constant experimenting yielded a snowmobile decked out with cameras to capture slope-level imagery of several runs on Whistler Blackcomb Mountains."
This opportunity affords viewers a first hand look at the sensation of freedom when champions begin their journey for the big win. There are 3D models and Street View available for all 9 competition venues.
Dan Ratner, Senior Mechanical Engineer, posted on Google Lat Long Blog, "In typical scrappy Google fashion, we were able to put this together over the course of a few weekends using extra pieces for our Street View cars, some 2x4s, some duct tape, and a lot of extra hard drives (keeping them running properly in the freezing conditions was one of our major concerns)."
In 40 languages, an up-to-date medal count, news, results, event schedules and imagery of the Vancouver-Whistler area will be accessible on Google’s new site.