Bucks County tourism officials and the Internet information giant Google are going off the beaten path to provide more information to visitors about parks and other attractions in the county.
This morning, on a cool, cloudy morning in Washington Crossing Historic Park, Visit Bucks County vice president Paul Bencivingo was taking a leisurely stroll along the banks of the Delaware River.
But this was no ordinary walk. Strapped to Bencivengo’s back is a nearly four-foot-long, 50-pound contraption called the Google Trekker.
“There is a hard drive here that has two batteries in the pack, and then it’s attached to the head that has 15 cameras on the top,” he explained.
As he walked the trails, the cameras were whirling away, snapping 360-degree photos of the terrain made famous by George Washington.
Google loaned the Trekker to Bucks tourism officials. They assembled it and have been operating it after taking an online training session.
“Google’s already done all the streets by putting the cameras on cars,” Bencivengo notes. “And now they’re looking at official tourism agencies like ourselves, to work with them to film places lilke parks and farms where they haven’t had access to yet.”
Visit Bucks County has also photographed Shady Brook Farm, in Yardley, and Bowman’s Hill tower and wildflower preserve.
The goal is to have all county parks photographed and uploaded to Google Maps by this fall.
“It’s a pretty cool program,” Bencivengo notes. “A lot of our search traffic comes from Google.”
Bucks County tourism officials and the Internet information giant Google are going off the beaten path to provide more information to visitors about parks and other attractions in the county.
This morning, on a cool, cloudy morning in Washington Crossing Historic Park, Visit Bucks County vice president Paul Bencivingo was taking a leisurely stroll along the banks of the Delaware River.
But this was no ordinary walk. Strapped to Bencivengo’s back is a nearly four-foot-long, 50-pound contraption called the Google Trekker.
“There is a hard drive here that has two batteries in the pack, and then it’s attached to the head that has 15 cameras on the top,” he explained.
As he walked the trails, the cameras were whirling away, snapping 360-degree photos of the terrain made famous by George Washington.
Google loaned the Trekker to Bucks tourism officials. They assembled it and have been operating it after taking an online training session.
“Google’s already done all the streets by putting the cameras on cars,” Bencivengo notes. “And now they’re looking at official tourism agencies like ourselves, to work with them to film places lilke parks and farms where they haven’t had access to yet.”
Visit Bucks County has also photographed Shady Brook Farm, in Yardley, and Bowman’s Hill tower and wildflower preserve.
The goal is to have all county parks photographed and uploaded to Google Maps by this fall.
“It’s a pretty cool program,” Bencivengo notes. “A lot of our search traffic comes from Google.” Bucks County tourism officials and the Internet information giant Google are going off the beaten path to provide more information to visitors about parks and other attractions in the county.
This morning, on a cool, cloudy morning in Washington Crossing Historic Park, Visit Bucks County vice president Paul Bencivingo was taking a leisurely stroll along the banks of the Delaware River.
But this was no ordinary walk. Strapped to Bencivengo’s back is a nearly four-foot-long, 50-pound contraption called the Google Trekker.
“There is a hard drive here that has two batteries in the pack, and then it’s attached to the head that has 15 cameras on the top,” he explained.
As he walked the trails, the cameras were whirling away, snapping 360-degree photos of the terrain made famous by George Washington.
Google loaned the Trekker to Bucks tourism officials. They assembled it and have been operating it after taking an online training session.
“Google’s already done all the streets by putting the cameras on cars,” Bencivengo notes. “And now they’re looking at official tourism agencies like ourselves, to work with them to film places lilke parks and farms where they haven’t had access to yet.”
Visit Bucks County has also photographed Shady Brook Farm, in Yardley, and Bowman’s Hill tower and wildflower preserve.
The goal is to have all county parks photographed and uploaded to Google Maps by this fall.
“It’s a pretty cool program,” Bencivengo notes. “A lot of our search traffic comes from Google.”
By Paul Kurtz / CBS Philly
