Google maps the Thames
Google has completed mapping 360 different views of the River Thames as part of its global Street View with the aid of specialist survey equipment aboard the Port of London Authority’s hydrographic vessel, Yantlet.
The vessel carried the equipment, which takes pictures every 2.5 seconds, along 30 miles of the river through London following an invitation from the PLA, which is responsible for its 95 mile route stretching from Teddington Lock to the North Sea.
According to Google, the Thames exercise is now one of the Street View’s ‘special projects’ alongside the Grand Canyon and the penguins of the Antarctic, each surveyed using similar equipment, which includes a tricycle based camera system. It is the first river in Europe to be mapped with the technology. PLA hydrographer John Pinder says the Port is now working with the online search agency in a comparable venture to map London’s canals.
