Frozen in time: Google Street View lets us explore Scott's hut in Antarctica in 3D from the comfort (and warmth) of our home PCs



Street View Trekker camera can go 'offroad'

Campaigners warn privacy is being sacrificed in race between Google and Apple


It's perhaps the only opportunity most of us will have to 'visit' two monuments to the great age of exploration - in considerably more comfort than their first inhabitants.

Google's Street View has created 3D explorable panoramas of the huts used by two fo the greatest Antarctic explorers - Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott.

The huts have been preserved by the intense cold - and offer an insight into the grim conditions faced by Scott and Shackleton a century ago.

The panoramas were created by a lightweight tripod camera with a fisheye lens.

In the winter of 1913, a British newspaper ran an advertisement to promote the latest imperial expedition to Antarctica, apparently placed by polar explorer by Ernest Shackleton

The interior of the hut has remained as it was when the explorers set sights on the South Pole

NO ESCAPE: THE BACKPACKS THAT LET 'STREET VIEW' GO OFF-ROAD

Google said its new Street View Trekker backpacks, which took more than a year to develop, were ‘another step forward’ in its plans to produce an interactive and comprehensive map of the world. The 40lb backpack holds up a number of 15-megapixel cameras, an on-board hard drive, and enough battery to run for an entire day.

Cameras are positioned to give a 360 degree view so every possible angle is captured. At the launch earlier this month, the US company said: ‘There’s a whole wilderness out there that is only accessible by foot.

'Trekker solves that problem by enabling us to photograph beautiful places such as the Grand Canyon so anyone can explore them.’

In the winter of 1913, a British newspaper ran an advertisement to promote the latest imperial expedition to Antarctica, apparently placed by polar explorer by Ernest Shackleton.



It read, 'Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.'

Google's Street View blog has launched a 360-degree 3D version of the huts.



The company first created Street View imagery of Antarctica in 2010.



'Today we’re bringing you additional panoramic imagery of historic Antarctic locations that you can view from the comfort of your homes.



We’ll be posting this special collection to our World Wonders site, where you can learn more about the history of South Pole exploration,' says Laurian Clemence of Google.

'With the help of the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota and the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust, we’ve now expanded our 360-degree imagery of the continent and are making views of many other important spots, such as the South Pole Telescope, Shackleton's hut, Scott’s hut and the Cape Royds Adélie Penguin Rookery, available to people around the world.'



This new imagery was collected with a lightweight tripod camera with a fisheye lens—equipment typically used to capture business interiors through the Business Photos program.



We worked with this technology because of its portability, reliability and ease-of-use (our Street View trikes wouldn’t be much use in the snow).

For all its planes and vans mapping out the world, there have been places even Google cannot reach.

Now thanks to its latest weapon, the internet giant will be able to chart everywhere from the depths of the jungle to the narrowest city alley.

The desolate exterior of Scott's hut illustrates the conditions the explorers had to face

Shackleton's hut has been preserved exactly as it was for decades

The 3D panoramas were created by backpack cameras with fisheye lenses

Equipment in Scott's hut: This new imagery was collected with a lightweight tripod camera with a fisheye lens

Its backpack camera, which is carried by a trekker on foot, will be able to get to places that Google wings and wheels cannot.

The device, a more portable version of its controversial Street View cameras, is able to go ‘offroad’, potentially photographing and mapping everywhere from the base of the Grand Canyon to the top of Everest.

Campaigners have warned that privacy risks being sacrificed in a commercial race between Google and its rival Apple, which unveiled its latest mapping technology yesterday.



The two are competing to produce three-dimensional maps and have deployed spy planes to photograph streets and homes.



The planes will be able to operate in British skies without special licensing or permits.

Google has also used its Street View cars to gather ground-level panoramic photographs.



