Folium: Visit The Amazon River With Google Street View via The Official Google Blog

Folium: Visit The Amazon River With Google Street View!

Folium: Visit The Amazon River With Google Street View!

Folium: Visit The Amazon River With Google Street View!

Many people around the world know that you can use Google Maps to explore cities, streets, and neighborhoods. But in addition to the urban jungle, did you know the Google has spent time mapping the real jungle as well?

Using various pieces of camera equipment, specifically invented for mapping tight places where no sane car dares to tread, Google has begun mapping places like the Amazon river inch-by-inch!

Last August, a few members of our Brazil and U.S. Street View and Google Earth Outreach teams were invited to the Amazon Basin to collect ground-level images of the rivers, forest and communities in the Rio Negro Reserve. Today, on World Forest Day, we’re making those images available through the Street View feature on Google Maps. Now anyone can experience the beauty and diversity of the Amazon.

Once, the wonders of the Amazon could only be experienced though literature, then later through still photography, and then cinema. Now, we can virtually float our way down one of the greatest ecological mysteries in the world! (And from the safety of our computers nonetheless!)

This is just another case where technology brings us one step closer together as a planet! I love being able to pull up Google Maps, or Google Earth, and show my study abroad students their new homes, their schools, and what they can expect to see wherever they go. Fear of the unknown is a big reason why some people don’t travel, and Google brings us one step closer to throwing that fear to the curb!

I’m adding links to Google Maps, Google Earth (built on the same technology) and other resources that can help you start your own journey down the Amazon! Enjoy!