Street View is coming to the rails.
Google's photo-mapping tool will now extend beyond roads, avenues and freeways and onto train tracks -- at least in Switzerland. A pilot program has snapped the entire length of the scenic Rhaetian Railway, which runs through the Alps in the southeastern corner of the country.
While it's not the first time Google has tackled an epic rail trek -- they took the Trans-Siberian in 2010 -- this is the first time the search giant's documented a train trip with their custom Street View trike. The company's Lat Long blog has details:
As the train travelled along the line, cameras facing nine different directions captured still photos of the surrounding areas that we’re now stitching together into 360-degree panoramic views. Soon, we’ll publish the imagery on Google Maps for people around the globe to enjoy and experience themselves. The imagery will provide admirers of this route with completely new perspectives, and also help document and preserve this UNESCO World Heritage site.
While complete Street View imagery is still being ported into Google Maps, the preview video gives us an exciting look at what to expect when the images hit the web.