Google devolves from cars to tricycles for better street view

Google has released a cache of photograhs captured by tricycle with a 360-degree mounted camera, conceptualized to get images of its least accessible places on Earth. The internet giant devolved from using cars to tricycles in 2009.

In 2009, we introduced the Trike, a modified bicycle outfitted with Street View equipment, to visit these locations, from towering castles to picturesque gardens. The Trike team has been pedaling around the world, and today we've added more of these unique places to Street View in Google Maps, said Jeremy Pack, a Google software engineer, on Google's official blog post.

The trike is a 9-foot long, 250-pound tricycle that's equipped with a camera that can capture 360-degree images.

Street View enables you to visit places around the world virtually, from the scenic Champs-Elysées in Paris to bustling Times Square in New York City. We're able to collect imagery of most of these places with a car, but when we find an interesting place that a car can't reach, we get more creative, the blog added.

Launched in San Francisco in 2007, Street View allows users to navigate around a 360-degree view of city streets, buildings, traffic and people, using pictures taken by Google's camera vehicles, which have so far been four wheelers ranging from vans to cars.

Now available in many countries, the service has been mired in controversy after it was revealed that Street View vehicles had hovered up personal data from Wi-Fi networks.