Forget Google Street View. Meet Sheep View
Andrea Willige, Formative Content
Despite a proliferation of cases recently of people fighting to keep their homes or neighbourhoods off Google Street View, the Faroe Islands face the opposite problem: how do you put your country on the map?
When it comes to mapping the islands, Google has not been forthcoming. So for the benefit of tourists and locals alike, the Visit Faroe Islands tourist website decided to take matters into its own hands.
Image: Visit Faroe Islands
As Faroe Islands means “sheep islands”, and there are plenty of the woollies around, the idea was born to strap a 360-degree camera to their backs and let them chart the roads and countryside of the 18-island archipelago — with its breath-taking views and rugged scenery — as they graze.
Not only has Sheep View provided a sustainable way of plotting out the islands using one of its largest natural resources, it also proved a successful guerrilla tactic in prompting Google to take note. The internet giant professed in a blogpost to liking the Faroese initiative so much that it is now contributing to the locals’ efforts.
In the summer of 2016, the Google Maps team arrived on the islands. The local community was supplied with one of its Trekker devices and 360 cameras. This means that not only sheep but bikes, horses, kayaks and boats can now contribute to the mapping effort. Tourists willing to lend a hand can borrow a 360 camera at the airport.
Image: Visit Faroe Islands
Originally published at www.weforum.org.
