These two Great Walks are home to some of the most spectacular views in New Zealand, and their remote trails provide an ideal setting for the newest camera system in the Street View fleet. The Trekker — a wearable backpack with a camera system on top — has been specially designed to allow Google to visit and photograph places that are only accessible by foot. Once this imagery goes live on Google Maps, people from around the world will be able to virtually visit these views from the Abel Tasman and Kahurangi National Parks in New Zealands South Island right from their phone or computer.

The Abel Tasman and Heaphy Tracks span over 130 kilometres and each take about a week to complete by skilled, fit trampers. By collecting this imagery for Street View on Google Maps, we hope to help DOC make the trails more easily accessible not only to those trampers preparing for upcoming walks, but also to anyone who wants to virtually roam the beauty of the Great Walks right from their living room.

And so with winter on its last legs, off we go! Wish us luck (and some sunshine) as we embark on this new adventure in New Zealand. We can’t wait to bring this new imagery online for you to check out.

Posted by Nabil Naghdy, Google Maps Product Manager, Google New Zealand. You can view the original article here

Tony Townley is a luxury lifestyle specialist and owner of Luxury Adventures. Talk to us about planning your next visit to New Zealand, Australia or the South Pacific Islands.