This past week has really been a no-car moment for Google Maps and Street View. First they ditched the Street View car and fixed their trike to a dinghy in order to canvas the Amazon, then they hit the pavement for a walking view of different sites across Japan to capture the bloom of sakura season, and now they’ve rolled the trike atop a car hitched to a Rhaetian Railway train to capture some one-of-a-kind scenery of the Swiss Alps.
Covering over 75 miles of the UNESCO World Heritage Albula/Bernina line, Google Maps has compiled collections of assorted views along the railway, like what you see in the view below as the train passes Lago Bianco at Thusis, Switzerland.
Trains offer a peculiar scenery because the stretches of land you see aren’t really accessible via car or foot – well, I guess you could get there by foot but you better eat your Wheaties before you head out. 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.
Given that the trike was riding on the front train car and elevated by the makeshift bicycle-dolly hybrid the Google Maps team have for pushing it around, you have to wonder if there was a collective gasp of fear as the train went into the Ruegna-Tunnel.
Here’s a video Google Maps put together that shows how the team put together the image collection.