Kruger National Park on Google Street View

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Google breaks new ground in Kruger Park
18 Feb, 2015

A team from internet giant Google is in the Kruger National Park (KNP) this week to capture state-of-the-art digital imagery which will allow tourists to better plan their visits to the world famous Park.

From 16-22 February, members of Google’s Street View Project will travel throughout the KNP in a vehicle fitted with a sophisticated rooftop camera, capturing thousands of images that will be uploaded onto applications such as Google Maps and Google Earth.

The individual photos are stitched together to create three-dimensional imagery which Google says is ‘no different to what you might see if you visited the property in real life’. The technology will offer the chance for travellers who are planning to visit the KNP to peruse the images, giving them a realistic virtual impression of what to expect when arriving.

Bheki Zwane, Sales and MarketingManager for South African National Parks (SANParks), said that Google had approached SANParks in September 2014, offering to provide extended imagery of South Africa’s wilderness areas. Since then, realistic image mapping of the Table Mountain and West Coast National Parks has been captured.

“Limited initial Street View imagery of some parks was captured in the build-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and now the purpose is to expand this coverage,” said Zwane.

Zwane said that the coverage would extremely useful in boosting worldwide marketingof the KNP.

“Millions of users will be able to visit the KNP from the comfort of their own home, getting 360-degree, street level impressions. In particular, roads where the team has managed to find animals and worthwhile sightings will be covered. We expect that this will significantly increase the attractiveness of the Park to those who have never visited and be of benefit to tourist numbers,” said Zwane.

Google Street View imagery has already been used extensively to map 44 National Parks across the United States, and other popular attractions on all seven continents.

Since the technology was established in 2007, images of more than eight million kilometres of road have been captured in 39 countries and 3 000 cities.