Google has partnered with the Indian Ministry of Culture and the Archeological Survey of India to bring Street View to over 100 monuments in the country, providing a 360-degree view of these structures that will be available to anyone with access to the Internet. The project began on Thursday.
"Google’s mission is to make information more accessible, and around the world Google is constantly looking for new ways to tell the stories of the world’s diverse cultures and make them available worldwide," the company said in a statement provided to Mashable. "Google hopes to help make more of India’s heritage accessible to people around the world, and to help preserve India’s unique history for generations to come."
The Taj Mahal, the Ajanta and Ellora caves, and Qutub Minar, an ancient Islamic monument, are three structures that will be featured on Google Maps, as well as on the company's world wonders site. Google's Trekker, a backpack that has a camera attached to it, will capture footage of the monuments. Designed to go places that most wheeled vehicles can't, it has already seen Mount Fuji, the Galapagos Islands, the streets of Venice and the Grand Canyon.
For its part, however, India has given Google some trouble in the past, according to BGR. The company tried to map Bangalore's streets two years ago, but ran into regulatory roadblocks that forced it to call off the project.
After teaming with Indian organizations, though, Google's latest effort is off to a better start.
“We believe that the new panoramic imagery of 100 Indian monuments will not only allow people to interact with our country’s culture in new ways, but also digitally preserve India’s heritage for future generations,” Pravin Srivastava, director general of the archeological survey, said in a statement.
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Image: Wikimedia Commons