Google to map Amazon rainforest in 3D

Offers jungle view

25 October 2011 15:01 GMT / By Ben Crompton

For some time now we've all had the benefits of the controversial Google Streetview, giving us instant access to streets all over the world. And now Google has announced that it will be mapping the Amazon hamlet of Tumbira to hopefully educate as well as inform.

The remote village has been visited by some of the Google team, invited by the Foundation for Sustainable Development who help families within its reserves develop sustainable industries, like tourism and managed lumbering.

"One thing we always want people to know is that the Amazon is not only about trees and biodiversity," says Raquel Luna, FAS's education coordinator. "OK, this is a lot and this is huge, but it's also about people, and communities here and sustainable living of these communities."

And this is where Google comes in, by recording images the project will raise awareness of some of the challenges of conservation.

Once taken, the images will be placed together and be posted on Google Earth Outreach, offering a wide range of viewpoints and panoramas of endangered ecosystems around the planet.

Let's just hope that they haven't underestimated the impact and reach of a Google backed initiative - there can be such a thing as too many tourists.

Image credit: Evaristo SA/AFP/Getty Images

Via: npr.org

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