Google are hard at work. First they reinvented Internet searches, then they created their own mobile OS, their own browser and single-handedly made advertising online profitable. What’s next up for the company? Not only are they trying to change the world of eyeglasses, they are also hard at work at changing the world of backpacks as well. Wait, backpacks? Ok, not any old backpacks, they are only interested in backpacks with Google Maps Street View technology.
The company has long had a problem when it came to the realism of Google Maps and Street View. How do you cover places with no access to picture-taking satellites? Do you just write off whole swaths of the world? Google has answered that question with a resounding “of course not, dummy” and has unveiled the backpack-enabled Street View Trekker as proof of concept.
This gigantic camera-mounted backpack is to be worn by modern day explorers, those adventurous souls who look death in the face and laugh the laugh of a thousand laughs. It’s Android-powered, of course, and the company says just two batteries will charge it for an entire day. As explorers know, every ounce of space that is used up by a battery cannot be used up by a delicious energy bar. You strap it on and it uses five 15-megalpixel cameras to take perfect 3D images of the surrounding terrain. It then matches that up to GPS data which is then used to make Google Maps and Google Earth, well, betterer. Of course, the monstrosity weights over forty pounds so explorers who also double as wrestlers should only apply.
The big G is going to be using these badboys to get more detailed imaging of National parks, the Grand Canyon, some random castles and ruins and more in the coming months. The company is also thinking about renting them out to people that don’t work for Google as well. Let’s hear it for the everyman and our new gigantic backpack camera thingie!
