Tuesday, January 12, 2016
This week we are exploring Peru, and Machu Picchu looms large in our imagination. We’ll be sure to send dispatches and images throughout our journey, to give our friends at home a peek into this experience.
For those that long to make the trip themselves one day, Google Maps now offers a glimpse into this Incan citadel via Street View technology. The Google team used the 22-kg backpack mounted Trekker camera to create a visual tour of Machu Picchu, which launched last month. With an interactive cursor, the map allows online “visitors” to travel through the crumbling walls of the ruins touring various temples and terraces, similar to the very real exploring our guests will do this week.
Google Street View’s mapping of Machu Picchu is part of a larger expansion into Latin America, and the Trekker camera has enabled the team to map sites all over the world including Petra, Angkor Wat, the Great Pyramids, Everest base camp, and the Grand Canyon.
Machu Picchu was built in the 15th century, renowned for its stone walls that were built without the use of mortar. An UNESCO World Heritage Site, Machu Picchu stands 7,970-feet above sea-level and offers unparalleled, panoramic views of the Sacred Valley below.