Autumn on Unionport Road | Post 17 | Ohio
I continue to believe I am the world’s first across-America Street View traveler, but I am far from the first to make a project out of Google’s images. Since its launch in 2007, Google Street View’s images have inspired both artists and virtual reality enthusiasts. This Wired article summarizes several art projects in the tradition of street photography, and I recently discovered Aaron Puzey is cycling the length of Britain via a nifty Street-View-stationary-bike-VR-goggles hookup.
As I explained in my first post, back at West Quoddy Head, Maine, the point of my project is not to stumble across funny/interesting/great images, nor is it necessarily to live a virtual life (or road trip). Rather, it is to discover what I can about America using our most prominent digital tools in the long form — in addition to Street View, I am relying heavily on Wikipedia as a guide book.
Still, there are times when I find certain stretches of road especially engrossing or scenic. Street View’s wide-angle camera lenses are, unsurprisingly, perfect for the road. And images captured in 2012 or later tend to be especially crisp.
It is in this vein that I forgo further prose and any history for this post, and instead present ten images from a roughly 10-mile stretch of Unionport Road between Bloomingdale and Annapolis, Ohio.
Ground covered since last post:
- Start: Weirton, W. Va.
- Steubenville, Ohio
- Bloomingdale, Ohio
- Unionport, Ohio
- End: Annapolis, Ohio
Trip to date:
Blog post sources
- https://www.wired.com/2011/08/google-street-view/
- http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/9/12411262/cycle-vr-google-stree-view-uk
Next post:
Nobody Explains America Better Than George Packer | Post 18 | Ohio
