![\"Grand](\"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/grand-canyon-1.jpg\")
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If you have the urge to explore, but are unable to get outside, there are a variety of ways to explore spectacular places through your computer. \u00a0We often use Google Earth<\/a> to research places we want to explore. \u00a0It provides an aerial view of anywhere on the earth. Google Maps<\/a> also offers a Street View<\/a> system that allows you to travel along many roads to check out the scenery. \u00a0More recently, \u00a0Google has adapted its Street View system and its Trekker Camera System to to allow virtual journeys along trails and very remote places around the world. \u00a0Google Calls these “Street View Treks” and you can come along.<\/p>\n An early example is a Street View Trek of the\u00a0Grand Canyon<\/a>. \u00a0Google says:<\/p>\n After these teams collect a series of photos from the 15 lenses of the Trekker Camera taken at virtually every step along the way, the photos are assembled into tours. \u00a0At each photo point (or step, with these images), Google can assemble a 360\u00b0 panorama. \u00a0Each of these panoramas are tied together by the path being followed. \u00a0Thus, at any point you can move up or down the trail a step at a time or as far as you can see on your screen. \u00a0You can also stop and look all around to see what there is to see.<\/p>\n You control the view with clicks and drags. \u00a0When your cursor is on or near the trail, \u00a0you will see a white oval indicating that if you click there you will move along the trail. \u00a0There are also white arrows that you can click to change directions. \u00a0If you move your cursor to the edge of the view, the panorama will start to slowly spin, so you can see all around.<\/p>\n How real is it? \u00a0Well, what you see is what you will see in reality, but the experience lacks the sounds and smells of reality. \u00a0The absence of time in the journey is a bit disconcerting as well. \u00a0Video is better in that it incorporates sight, sound and time, although smells are lacking. \u00a0Virtual reality is better in the sense that you can control what you see, unlike a video that can hide things that detract from the narrative.<\/p>\n I tried to virtually walk back to the trailhead parking lot, \u00a0but was left stranded\u00a0\u00a0close to the trailhead. \u00a0I lost the ability to move in either direction on the trail. \u00a0After some messing around, and for reasons I can’t explain, \u00a0I was finally able to virtually walk to the parking lot. \u00a0That\u00a0appeared to be\u00a0the extent of the exploration one can do at Lava Beds National Monument with Google’s system.<\/p>\n Next I went to Google Maps<\/a> and located the Monument. \u00a0I dragged the little yellow “Pegman” (at the lower right) onto the map to highlight the available Street Views and\u00a0\u00a0could see that some of the\u00a0roads were covered with Street View imagery. \u00a0I clicked on a side trail into Big Painted Cave \u00a0and that brought up a link to Street View. \u00a0I was able to virtually walk to the edge of the cave, but no exploration beyond that was possible.<\/p>\n Google’s system is very helpful if you want to \u00a0see what’s around at these places, but you will need to dig more to get a real feel for the sense of the place. \u00a0To get background and video, including video from off the trail and inside the cave at Lava Beds National Monument, you can study our story and watch the video<\/a>, then get a sense of the rest of the area from Google’s trek<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can explore any place that interests you by locating it on Google Maps then using the Pegman to discover the street View coverage. \u00a0 Further research with Google searches will get you more background and the addition of YouTube<\/a> and Vimeo <\/a>videos can help fill out the virtual experience.<\/p>\n If you can get outside and explore these places, \u00a0please do. \u00a0If you can’t or if you want to know what you are getting into before you go, virtual exploration will be great help in your adventures.<\/p>\n If you have the urge to explore, but are unable to get outside, there are a variety of ways to explore spectacular places through your computer. \u00a0We often use Google Earth to research places we want to explore. \u00a0It provides an aerial view of anywhere on the earth. Google Maps also offers a Street View […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","category-featured","category-situations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2215"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2222,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215\/revisions\/2222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Virtually Exploring the Grand Canyon<\/h1>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t“It took a team of 10 Googlers and 5 Trekkers about 3 full days to adequately capture the main trails of the Grand Canyon’s south rim. Two Trekker teams hiked down the Bright Angel Trail, camped overnight at Phantom Ranch, and then hiked out the next day along the South Kaibab Trail. Another three Trekker teams remained at the top of the Grand Canyon collecting imagery around the rim as well as the South Rim Trail. Our team also ventured out to collect imagery of Meteor Crater, just outside Grand Canyon National Park.”<\/div><\/div>\nVirtual vs Reality<\/h1>\n
![\"Big](\"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/BigPaintedCave1.jpg\")
When you are ready to move beyond the Grand Canyon, Google offers a great collection of U.S. Parks, Trails and Beaches<\/a> for you to explore. \u00a0I decided to explore Lava Beds National Monument, a place I have been many times, to see how the virtual experience compared to reality. \u00a0Upon opening the Street View window for the Monument, I was presented with a rotating 360\u00b0 panorama at the entrance to\u00a0Big Painted Cave<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0I could travel back and forth on the trail, but I found it bit awkward. \u00a0There are blurry places on some parts of the panorama and some nice pictures of the Trekker’s shadow on the trail.<\/p>\nGetting the Most From Virtual Exploration<\/h2>\n
Please Share<\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"