99.9 percent of us have utilized the capabilities of Google Street View at some point in our lives. For some, it’s to get a visual of where they need to drive when visiting a friend’s home for the first time. For others, it’s to get a general idea of what a neighborhood looks like before deciding whether or not to set up a viewing appointment for a potential new home. However, how many of you use it for travel abroad purposes?
There are two particular scenarios where we could imagine someone using Google Street View in a travel situation. Firstly – which is very similar to some of the above scenarios – if you’re in the midst of planning and you’d like to know where your hotel is located and what some of the most popular tourist destinations look like, you may just take a curious peak to help visualize yourself there. The second circumstance applies to those who have already traveled to a particular city and are currently going through severe withdrawals – something that we can relate to. This is when you pull up a Street View of a street you walked down every day, a favorite pub or a go-to park for a bit of relaxation. You simply pull up the View on your laptop, sit, stare and begin counting down the days until you can get back there.
Well luckily for those in either travel scenario, Google is taking their mapping capabilities one step further with the new “sound experience” of Sounds of Street View. Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like; when looking at the Street View of your chosen location, you can now also treat your ears to the sounds of the street as well. We don’t know if this is more of a travel tease or a dream come true for those who can’t get back to their favorite destination for quite some time.
Either way, we think the new feature is pretty cool. You could just close your eyes and pretend that you’re right there with the locals. We don’t know how much more motivation you really need to do whatever necessary to make your travel dreams a reality!
