Gregg Matthews fancies himself a lumbering Star Wars character of sorts as he treks along a popular Florida beach. He wears stout hiking sandals on the squishy sand and uses ski poles for balance as he shoulders a 40-pound backpack, a blue-orb with 15 cameras extending over his head.
“It attracts a lot of attention,” Matthews laughed about all of his gear, while trodding along Panama City Beach.
Matthews and his trekking partner, Chris Officer, are contracted through Visit Florida, the state’s tourism agency, to gather images for Google Maps. All told, they have already walked more than 200 miles of Florida beachfront, each logging up to 7.5 miles a day with the camera orb. Each camera on the orb takes a shot every 2.5 seconds as they walk.
Their quest: to create panoramic views to place online of every Florida beach — similar to the Internet giant’s Street View — which has taken photos of everything from ordinary homes and businesses to world-famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State building.
Visit Florida has partnered with Google in the effort to map all 825 miles of Florida’s beaches. And for good reason: tourism is Florida’s top industry, accounting for 91.4 million visitors last year and $71.8 billion in spending that employed more than 1 million in the state.
Google has a similar project with mappers trekking the trails of the Grand Canyon. But the Florida project is the first large-scale beach mapping project.
The mapping teams were contracted through Visit Florida. Agency spokeswoman Kathy Torian said the project is entirely funded with public money and Visit Florida budgeted $126,000 for a private contractor to oversee the production of images to be sent to Google.
The mappers are paid a straight fee of $27 per mile, but no expenses, she said, with the walkers covering all of their own transportation and accommodations. The only money Google will pay is $1,000 at the end to buy images from the state, she said.
The project could be a boon for beach towns around Florida in their competition to draw tourists from other states and countries.
Susan Estler, vice president of marketing for the Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Google’s beach view will let potential visitors see the clear turquoise waters and gleaming white sand — an enticement to any and all to check out the scene in person.
Matthews said he has heard other concerns from beachgoers worried about having their bikini-clad bodies captured on the beach views on Google maps — Street View once caught a Miami woman standing naked in her front yard.
But Matthews said any faces will be too blurry to recognize.
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