Johns Creek works with Google to provide images of parks, rivers

Johns Creek has partnered with Google to provide images of the Chattahoochee River and several of the city's parks and natural areas for users to see on Google Maps.

Johns Creek has partnered with Google to provide images of the Chattahoochee River and several of the city's parks and natural areas for users to see on Google Maps.

Recently, Johns Creek worked with Amazon to make a skill for the company's Alexa system that helped residents access city information easier and quicker.

Now, the city in north Fulton County is working with Google.

Johns Creek announced earlier this week that it had teamed up with Google’s “trekker” team to capture 360-degree images of several parks in the city and 14 miles of the Chattahoochee River.

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These images are available to users on Google Maps, allowing people to see from their phone or computer what sort of amenities and trails are in Johns Creek.

Nick O’Day, the city’s chief data officer, added that these images will also help local fire departments respond to emergencies along the Chattahoochee River.

If you go to Google Maps and click on an area of the Chattahoochee River near Johns Creek, you can zoom in to the “street view” and see images that were captured in October 2017 from a boat. An image provided by the city shows Google’s “trekker” device mounted on a Johns Creek Fire Department boat.

The “trekker” device is a 50-pound, backpack-mounted version of the same camera setup that Google mounts on top of cars to collect images for its “street view” feature on Google Maps.

The spherical device is made up of 15 independent cameras that take a photo every 1.5 seconds. The 15 photos from each capture are then assembled into one panoramic photo by Google and then made available in Google Maps and Google Earth so that users can virtually travel down roads — and in this case, parks, trails and the Chattahoochee River.

A press release from the city says that this project is the first of its kind in Georgia and the Google “trekker” captured panoramic photos of Newtown, Ocee and Shakerag parks, the Rogers Bridge trail and the Linear Park trail.

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