TECHNOLOGY

It’s given us robot cars and internet-enabled glasses—but when it came to creating a “Street View” of a desert, Google hit on a low-tech solution. It hired a camel. (CNN)

Use our resources to find out how else scientists and geographers obtain data—and how you can help! (Camel not required.)

Discussion Ideas

• Google Maps’ “Street View” offers 360-degree panoramic views of almost any location on the map. In the Liwa Desert (part of Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates) the company hoisted a camera (called the Trekker) on a camel to get the panorama. How else do you think Street View gets its images?
  • cars, of course (Take a look at a typical example at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California.)
  • trucks (Four-wheel drive vehicles get Street View’s off-road images, like this one in rugged, rural South Africa.)
  • boats (This one is navigating the Amazon River in Brazil.)
  • bicycles (This Google Street Viewer is biking in Singapore.)
  • snowmobile (Here’s one on the slopes of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.)
  • push-cart (Called a Trolley, this was developed to navigate through narrow doors of museums and other cultural institutions—this parade is following their Persian doubles in the Louvre in Paris, France.)

• CNN got one thing wrong in their article! They say Raffia, the camel mapping the Liwa Desert, is the first animal used to carry the Trekker camera. Why is this wrong?
  • Funny-looking primates called homo sapiens carry the camera all the time. Here’s one mapping the canals of Venice, Italy.

• Take a look at this map of where Street View is available. Do you think Raffia or her camelid cousins could help Google provide Street View to areas not currently represented on the map?
  • Sure! Camels are fairly common domesticated animals in the Maghreb, which looks largely unmapped. (Although these camels are off the hook—the Egyptian Pyramids have their own Street View.)
  • Beautiful, critically endangered, two-humped Bactrian camels are never common, but are herded throughout the harsh terrain of Central Asia, which also looks unmapped. (They’re also excellent Mongolian polo ponies, apparently!)
  • Camelids also include llamas, guanacos, alpacas, and vicunas. Those sprightly species are native to South America’s Andean highlands—which already look pretty well mapped.

• Raffia’s Trekker camera is not entirely unlike Nat Geo’s own Crittercam—they’re both cameras mounted on animals. Take a look at our collection of Crittercam material here. Do you think Street View could use any of the critters that have participated in the Nat Geo program? Why or why not?
  • Probably not. There are actually a lot more differences than similarities between Trekker and Crittercam.
    • Trekker is huge and somewhat unwieldy. The camel in Abu Dhabi had to be carefully, specially fitted for the device. Crittercams are much more versatile. They are hardy enough to attach to the animal itself—and to safely detach at random locations later on.
    • Raffia needs a herder to guide her around the desert in order to get the Street Views Google wants. This requires a domesticated animal. Most Crittercam critters are wild animals. The point of Crittercam is to discover new, critter’s-eye-view perspectives of the world.

TEACHERS’ TOOLKIT

CNN: Google hires camel for desert Street View

NG Ideas: Get Real-Time Data

NG Collection: Crittercam

NG glossary:

• panoramic
• emirate
• camelid
• Maghreb