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Cape Town – If you’ve always dreamt of helping to put our beautiful country on the map now is your chance – quite literally.

Cape Town based travel company Drive South Africa has partnered with Google through the Google Street View camera loan program to capture 360-degree Street View imagery of South Africa’s top wilderness, cultural and historic sites for Google Maps.

And so far, the initiative has been a roaring success. In just six weeks, 22 volunteer trekkers have already covered over 150 kilometres on foot.

Volunteers have hiked 33 trails across the Cape Peninsula, including seven routes up Table Mountain, five beaches and three urban trails such as the Sea Point promenade.

But the Google capturing initiative has grown too big for Cape Town alone, and aims to expand over the rest of the country.

Over 20 national parks, eight UNESCO World Heritage sites and many more sites need to be trekked before the end of 2016 as part of the #TrekSouthAfrica campaign – and the organisers are calling on South Africans to help put South Africa's trails on Google Maps.







A volunteer trekker looks out across Hout Bay from Noorhoek Peak during a #TrekSouthAfrica hike on the Cape Peninsula in June 2016.

Photo: Liz Fish



A volunteer trekker looks out across Hout Bay from Noorhoek Peak during a #TrekSouthAfrica hike on the Cape Peninsula in June 2016.Photo: Liz Fish



The project has gained support from various tourism stakeholders: Wesgro - the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape, as well as South African National Parks (SANParks), Cape Nature, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and lead project partner South African Tourism.

“We are very excited to back this opportunity to deliver the real South Africa to people all over the world via Google’s widely used platforms,” Margie Whitehouse, Chief Marketing Officer of SA Tourism says.

The project comes in the wake of Google's launch of South Africa: Mzansi Experience in March 2016, which helped the world explore South Africa’s iconic destinations such as the Kruger National Park, Table Mountain, and Cape of Good Hope via 360-degree imagery from the comfort of your armchair.

SEE: #ExploreMzansi: Google takes SA attractions 360°



Volunteer trekker Grant Clark inside Wally's Cave on Lion's Head in Cape Town during a #TrekSouthAfrica hike in May 2016.

Photo: Grant Clark

Volunteer trekker Grant Clark inside Wally's Cave on Lion's Head in Cape Town during a #TrekSouthAfrica hike in May 2016.Photo: Grant Clark



Andre Van Kets, co-founder of Drive South Africa, is heading up the #TrekSouthAfrica campaign. Van Kets hopes to get locals from across the country to assist in mapping out Mzansi’s trails and tourist attractions.

“We have an epic six-month trip planned,” Van Kets says.

“We want to engage with individuals and local communities along the way, so that we can bring Mzansi’s best attractions to Google Street View. We’re looking for people to suggest highlights in their areas, help us trek their neck of the woods and ultimately be a part of this exciting project. We want this to be a campaign by South Africans from all walks of life.”





Behind the scenes: #TrekSouthAfrica project lead Andre Van Kets helps Devon Krantz load-up the 22kg Google Trekker backpack as Carte Blanche cameraman Greg Nelson captures the moment with Hout Bay in the background, June 2016.

Photo: Liz Fish

Behind the scenes: #TrekSouthAfrica project lead Andre Van Kets helps Devon Krantz load-up the 22kg Google Trekker backpack as Carte Blanche cameraman Greg Nelson captures the moment with Hout Bay in the background, June 2016.Photo: Liz Fish





How does it work?

Each “off-road” location will be captured with Google’s Street View Trekker, a wearable backpack topped with a camera system designed by Google. The Street View Trekker backpack is walked through pedestrian walkways or trails on foot, and automatically gathers images as it goes.

Weighing in at approximately 18 kilograms, the Google Street View Trekker backpack has 15 five-megapixel cameras and takes a full panoramic photo every 2.5 seconds, roughly one photo per step taken by the person wearing the camera.

Google’s automatic face­ and license plate - blurring technology will be applied to the images collected by the Trekker, just as it is with all other Street View imagery.

Once trails are trekked, it takes several months for the imagery to be processed, reviewed and added to Google Street View.



To learn more or apply to volunteer as a local trekker visit the #TrekSouthAfrica website.



Other destinations covered by Google Trekker



In March this year, Google announced that Thailand’s iconic landmarks and most stunning landscapes were captured via Google Trekker.

Thai triathlete Panupong Luangsa-ard travelled walked more than 500 kilometres on foot, capturing Thailand’s forests, beaches and many more destinations for over two years.

SEE: Google guy walks 500km across Thailand to capture incredible Street View data

Other famous landmarks covered by Google Trekker include the United States of America’s Grand Canyon and India’s Taj Mahal.















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