Google has added Uluru to street view so that people worldwide can enjoy a trekker’s perspective.
Online users can virtually visit the area’s national park along with its iconic and sacred sites. The area is sacred to the Anangu people, who have lived there for more than 30,000 years, Google says in a blog post. The street view experience went live overnight.
“Starting today, people across the world will be able to visit Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park on Street View, walk on the desert sand and enjoy the vibrant hues of the rock — from ochre to rust to wild plum and charcoal,” Google says.
It’s not the first time Google has added an iconic Australian area to Street View. In 2016 it launched an underwater street view of the Great Barrier Reef. It included dive sites at Heron Island, Lady Elliot Island and Wilson Island.
The search engine giant says it has mapped unique locations in 83 countries.
Some street view images around Uluru have been available already through Street 360. They are user generated content.
Google says it spent two years capturing the park working with the Anangu traditional owners, Parks Australia and the Northern Territory government.
A Street View trekker carries camera with 15 lenses in a backpack.
“The journey ventures to the vista of Talinguru Nyakunytjaku, the winding trail of the Kuniya Walk, the cool respite of Kapi Mutitjulu (waterhole) and ancient art at Kulpi Mutitjulu (Family Cave). It invites you to zoom in on the curves, crevices and textures of Uluru — and gaze up at its glowing gradient of colour,” the blogpost says.
A highlight is audio recordings of Tjukurpa teachings, handed down orally. “Anangu stories, songs and ceremonies are largely unrecorded. The generosity of traditional owners has made a rare and revered piece of culture available to, and archived for, the world.”
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