Posted on Monday, April 16th, 2012 by Natalia Farbiarz
Stadistics indicate that 10% of people are employed in a job they love. If you are in the other 90% – and you either dislike or hate your work – it means that you probably spend the whole year saving money and waiting for your two or three week vacation to run away from it. But what if you could spend your 6 or 8 hour shift on a great vacation in Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon or the Great Smokey Mountains? Wouldn’t it be a much better deal?
A couple of years ago, Google Maps enabled its users to explore places around the world through 360-degree street-level imagery with the Street View application. You could visit the most important and amazing (car-accessible) places in a few clicks. Nature Valley Trail View, on the other hand, is “The first large-scale application of experiential, street-view style camera technology to the national parks“. It offers immersive national parks content, through panoramic views and interactive guides to three of America’s most iconic national parks. For the very first time, a team used video to capture every step taken over 300 hundred miles of trails, creating an exploratory unprecedented experience.It also provides its visitors with five points of interest per park and information to encourage exploration and education.
It was hard work: Led by the expert editors from ‘Backpackers’, a group of 4-8 people hiked trailed at the three national parks outfitted with unique camera technology to capture every mile and special point of interest and add layers of information for park-goers and trip planners. It took them almost two months, walking between 6 and 13 miles a day. But the effort paid off and the result is simply amazing. Are you going to miss on it?
