Abrahamsen has significant experience in this sort of venture. His company, Terrain360, has already created visual maps of Zion National Park, Acadia National Park, the James River Park, parts of the Appalachian Trail and more.

Google Trekkers has done similar projects, most notably on the Colorado River, and Thompson said: “Google is awesome. We love Google.” But he was also quick to acknowledge with a wry smile that, “This will just be better.”

“Just imagine a kid from Newport News or Hampton will now be able to see the whole river and really get a sense of how different it is from the headwaters to where they live,” Thompson said.

With the help of Custom Metal Fabricators in Chesterfield, Abrahamsen and Thompson custom-built the raft and camera mount to meet their needs. The high-mounted cameras and fisheye lenses take high-quality photos, without capturing the raft or people on board the boat.

Abrahamsen will utilize three different types of software to complete the project: one that matches the photos from the camera, one that puts the photos together, and finally one that makes the project ready for the web.