Google Street View cameras mounted on a speed boat in Brazil.
Google is adding addresses along sections of the Amazon River and Rio Negro in Brazil to its Street View service.
In partnership with the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS), an organization that has helped the Brazilian state of Amazonas develop and implement innovative forest protection projects, members of Google Earth Outreach and Street View are taking pictures of river communities and rainforest along the banks of two of the world’s largest rivers and adding them to Google Places and Google Maps. Google says the effort aims to provide the public with images of the region and build local capacity to use technology.
“We’re training some of FAS’s representatives on the imagery collection process and leaving some of our equipment behind for them to continue the work,” writes Karina Andrade of Google Street View on the Official Google Blog. “By teaching locals how to operate these tools, they can continue sharing their points of view, culture and ways of life with audiences across the globe.”
Googlers will also ride their Street View tricycles, which are equipped with cameras, through villages to capture images.
Google Street View tricycle in an Amazon village.
Google is also working to capture images of the Amazon rainforest from space. The search giant has teamed with researchers, non-profits, and indigenous tribes to develop and expand tools for mapping and monitoring Earth’s largest rainforest via Google Earth.
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