Google Street View Allows Us to Explore Venice

Every now and again I'll load up Google Maps and drop a pin somewhere at random in the world. I’ll then jump into street view to take a look around the area, just to see what a random street looks like in another country. Of course, it doesn't always work as there are vast swathes of the world not covered by Google Street View; such as China for instance. However, we can now count Venice, Italy as one of those places that you can now take a virtual trip around.

Instead of flying to Italy and spending a fortune on a hotel and paying for a gondola ride, you can now do it from the comfort of your home. Thanks to Venice’s tight streets and many canals, Google couldn't drive around with a car as they would normally do. Instead they used people, as they've been doing when documenting nature hikes and other places inaccessible by car, who carried the 360 degree Google cameras as backpacks. This allowed them to walk down narrow alleyways and still get photos, and also meant they could sit in a gondola and get some picturesque shots for us at home. Google says they covered “265 miles on foot and 114 miles by boat” capturing such delights as the stunning Piazza San Marco and the Devil’s Bridge on Torcello Island.

After you've taken a virtual tour of the city you can also visit Google’s Museo Correr Art Project. This brilliant resource gives you an insight into the collections at the Museo Correr museum in Venice. It houses a collection of artworks that document the history of this beautiful city; from the early days of Venice up to the 16th century. A selection of the artworks are now available to view on Google’s resource, including the detailed drawing of the city above that you can zoom in on in order to examine the carefully sketched buildings. You can also view the collections of the Ca’ Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art and the Museo del Verto.

Google has also made a behind the scenes video to show us just how they collected such fantastic imagery. Take a gander at that below.