Google Maps' panoramic views have made it possible to follow the roads around the world in electronic musician A Ghost Train's video "Chemin Vert" in under four minutes. Not that viewers can really focus on any specific part of the journey whizzing by, but taking it as a whole it is an impressive feat of editing and creativity.
Created by Giacomo Miceli, the 360-degree video pieces together Google Street View footage and spans five continents at supersonic speed -- 1000 mph.
The above video is one of three Miceli created to fulfill his childhood fantasy of riding a rocket around the world. Although Miceli wasn't actually able to ride the rocket, the nauseating perspective of the video certainly creates the illusion without the danger.
At such a fast pace, the earth appears as a tiny ball in the center of the video with clouds, trees and other man-made impediments speeding by at a lighting pace around the edges of the planet. According to Miceli, "Chemin Vert" includes footage from four seasons.
Miceli explained the process behind creating the video on his website.
Chemin Vert is the result of a slow process of maturation spanning a few years. Different techniques were employed in the beginning, involving long trips on the road across Europe while shooting time lapse videos on the go. Back then the scope of the project was substantially different, concentrating more on the augmentation (as in augmented-reality) of landscapes. At a certain point the accent was moved on the aesthetic qualities of the landscapes themselves and on the immersive factor. In the final version of Chemin Vert the original footage comes from Google Street View, without which this project wouldn’t have been possible. Thanks Google.
With Google's recent efforts to expand Google Street View indoors and into rarely seen places like the Amazon Rainforest, it is becoming increasingly possible to view any place in the world from a laptop or handheld device.
A Ghost Train is not the first musician to use Google Maps to their advantage. In 2010, Arcade Fire created a individualized video experience for homesick fans. Viewers typed in their home address in order to tailor-fit the video to their own hometown experience.
[Hat tip to Gizmodo for pointing out the Google maps video]
Check out the gallery below to see some of the craziest Google Maps sightings.
