Fresh from mapping 7 million miles of roads in 65 countries, Google is now taking its Street View technology to new heights—mountain summits in the Andes, where backpacked cameras have created an incredible view of the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu.
In the picture above, the green-and-black thing that looks like a soccer ball is actually the Trekker, a nearly 50-pound package of 15 cameras that shoots a picture every 2.5 seconds to provide the images from which the view is constructed. Similar equipment has recently been used to map sites such as Petra, Angkor Wat, the Great Pyramids, Everest base camp and the Grand Canyon—a far cry from the little car with the camera on top!
A Guardian (UK) staff member accompanied the Google crew on their trek to Machu Picchu. His report, more pictures, and even video are HERE
