Google Street View has taken us to the ends of the world and back (in time). But now, its taking us where no Street View camera has taken us before — into the Arabian desert on the back of a 10-year-old camel named Raffia.
Thanks to the camera-strapped camel, we now have some pretty awesome 360-degree tours of the Liwa Oasis, along with a delightful camel-shaped silhouette to go with it.
While backpackers have strapped Google’s Trekker’s on their backs in the past when cars couldn’t cut it, according to Joyce Baz, spokeswoman for Google in the Middle East and North Africa, Raffia was a no-brainer:
With every environment and every location, we try to customise the capture and how we do it for that part of the environment. In the case of Liwa we fashioned it in a way so that it goes on a camel so that it can capture imagery in the best, most authentic and least damaging way.
And as far as damaging goes, Google Street View cars have had their fair share of run-ins. Let’s hope Raffia had better luck. [Google via The National]