Google Trekker Goes Deep

We've all gone there, right down to the grainy street that we grew up on, courtesy of Google Earth, with its overhead imagery and its street-level views captured by car.

Now, Google's launched a relatively new technology that offers an in-depth look at the woods, the mountains, the streams, the trails less traveled—the sort of stuff that can only be reached on foot or by mule or with a snowboard.

It's already helped record the mountainsides in Spain, the raging Colorado River, the hot and very active volcanic lava in Hawaii, the pyramids up close in Egypt and the list goes on, from Japan to Tibet and outward and beyond.

Now come Santa Fe's wilderness trail network, its monuments, its canyons, its historical preserves. All could soon show up on the Internet as part of Google's ongoing quest to fill in the blanks and connect the dots on an outdoor global level.

The hands-on version of Google's Street Trekker looks like an extraterrestrial being, with a towering sphere that can be strapped on like a backpack.

Colorful and with more than a dozen cameras that are capable of filming panoramic views, this apparatus was just loaned to the city's tourism bureau in mid-July, and they don't have to return the $250,000 piece of equipment to Google until the third week of August.

A spokesman at Google tells SFR that Santa Fe is one of 200 locations where the Google Trekker has been loaned since late 2013, from tourism boards, nonprofits and universities to research organizations. The company's team doesn't have the personnel to complete the picture, so it's relying on others to do it for them.

The application process is open to just about anybody who wants to participate, and it is just a few clicks away, Google says.

Some of the places that the 40-pound Trekker has already explored, with the help of local hikers, includes the community of Chimayó, Tent Rocks National Monument south of Santa Fe, Pecos National Historical Park, Caja del Rio Trail, Santa Fe Canyon Preserve and the Audubon Center, according to Blake Jackson, marketing coordinator for Tourism Santa Fe.

Up next, he says, the Trekker is heading into the Santa Fe National Forest's Pecos Wildrness Area and up Santa Fe Baldy, the rounded 12,600-foot peak that's a landmark for outdoor-inclined locals.

Tim Rogers, the trails program manager for Santa Fe Conservation Trust, was among the first to heft this high-tech puppy last week, and he has nothing but good experiences to report from having used it on some of the premier trails that make up the Dale Ball network.

"It was a lot of fun, a complete blast," says Rogers, 52, who took it to the Sierra del Norte trailhead south of Hyde Park Road last week, spending about four hours out there. "All you really need to do is watch for lower hanging branches. Other than that, you're good to go."

For Rogers, the Trekker was the perfect tool to gauge the condition of the trail system, which the trust is responsible for maintaining, through a contract with the city.

From the city's standpoint, the images will only add to its popularity, according to John Feins, public relations manager for Tourism Santa Fe.

"Nature is one of our treasures here, and there's a lot more here than people realize when they visit," says Feins.

And it's just as important to make sure that everybody uses the Trekker correctly and accordingly before Aug. 21, the cutoff date when it's supposed to be sent back to Google's headquarters.

There's no guarantee which Santa Fe area trails will ultimately be featured. Feins says the city and Google first want to make sure the images reproduce successfully before they go online and become a part of cyberspace that cannot be retracted.

"We don't want to get anybody's hopes up just yet," says Feins. "This is a process that's going to take some patience, but we're confident that in the end, we're going to make the cut."

Santa Fe Reporter