Google Street View is a great part of Google Maps, allowing you to view images of the street in a full 360 degrees. Google Street view has added plenty of interesting updates to the project, including some ski slopes in Canada and the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in South Africa. Today, Google announced that they have expanded their unique use of Street View to a whole new level. They are expanding Street View to 17 of the world’s best museums.
A group of Art enthusiasts at Google have started the Art Project, allowing you to, “Explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces.”
Google has taken the equipment off of their Street View cars and put it onto a small cart which can be wheeled around the museums, named Trolley. Trolley comes complete with a 360-degree panoramic, a laptop for control, hard drive for storage, lasers to measure distance from walls and sensors to track its position in the museum.
The museums can be accessed right at their location in Google Maps or by going to the Art Project website. Specific exhibits as well the list of museums can be easily accessed and changed right through the Art Project website. It’s actually quite interesting to use if you’re an art enthusiast or have ever been interested in art. Here’s a video of how to use the Art Project:
List of museums included in the project:
- Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin – Germany
- Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, Washington DC – USA
- The Frick Collection, NYC – USA
- Gemäldegalerie, Berlin – Germany
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC – USA
- MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC – USA
- Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid – Spain
- Museo Thyssen – Bornemisza, Madrid – Spain
- Museum Kampa, Prague – Czech Republic
- National Gallery, London – UK
- Palace of Versailles – France
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam – The Netherlands
- The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg – Russia
- State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow – Russia
- Tate Britain, London – UK
- Uffizi Gallery, Florence – Italy
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam – The Netherlands
