Skip to main content

New Street View imagery lands for national parks and cultural sites

street view national parks alcatraz
Alcatraz
Street View fans now have even more of an excuse to stay stuck on the sofa after Google on Thursday rolled out a load more panoramic imagery for national parks and other sites of interest across the nation.

The new content, which also includes thousands of photos of various artifacts from the new locations, comes as the National Park Service gears up to celebrate its 100th birthday later this year.

Among the fresh 360-degree imagery you’ll find the infamous Alcatraz prison in San Francisco, the preserved cliff dwellings of Montezuma Castle in Arizona, the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Pennsylvania, and Ford’s Theatre – the site of President Lincoln’s assassination – in Washington, D.C. You can also peruse collections of related items from each site.

“From America’s ‘crown jewels’ of breathtaking parklands to cultural sites and historic treasures, the National Park Service museum collections provide a window into the United States: past, present, and future,” Google said in a message introducing the new content.

The Google Cultural Institute partnered with the National Park Service to build the online collection of nearly 4,000 items from more than 350 national park sites.

“This marriage of technology and history means that anyone, anywhere can see artifacts and sites that provide a taste of the rich and diverse story of America,” U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said in a release, adding, “Our hope is that this partnership will not only illustrate and elevate our nation’s history and culture, but inspire more people to visit the wonderfully diverse places that the National Park Service protects and preserves for current and future generations.”

Indeed, nothing beats visiting a location in person, but wherever you are in the U.S., or indeed in the world, somewhere is always too far away, leaving services like Street View as a viable and fun option for bringing those distant places much closer.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
How to download a video from Facebook
An elderly person holding a phone.

Facebook is a great place for sharing photos, videos, and other media with friends and family. But what if you’d like to download a video to store offline? This means you’d be able to watch the clip on your PC or mobile device, without needing to be connected to the internet. Fortunately, there’s a way to download Facebook videos to your everyday gadgets, although it’s not as straightforward a process as it could be.

Read more
How to delete your Gmail account (and what you need to know)
The top corner of Gmail on a laptop screen.

Is it time to part ways with your Gmail account? Whether you’re moving onto greener email pastures, or you want to start fresh with a new Gmail address, deleting your old Gmail account is something anyone can do. Of course, we’re not just going to bid you farewell without a guide all our own. If you need to delete your Gmail account, we hope these step-by-step instructions will make the process even easier.

Read more
How to change margins in Google Docs
Laptop Working from Home

You may find that Google Docs has a UI that is almost too clean. It can be difficult to find basic things you're used to, such as margin settings. Don't worry, though, you can change margins in Google Docs just like with any other word processor through a couple of different means.

Read more