[Taxacom] Google's Street View as a collecting tool

[Bob Mesibov]

I don't know what the situation is like elsewhere in the world, but here
in Australia our friends at Google have extended Street View in Google
Maps to roads through some bush areas.

It's now possible to do a virtual tour of such roads, swinging around
360 degrees as you go to look at the bush in low resolution. I've just
done such a tour for a road in State Forest in New South Wales, where my
wife and I will be collecting millipedes next week. The Street View
images are good enough for me to select individual trees and logs for
searching.

One of the uses for this free Google service could be advising
cooperating naturalists in places far from the taxonomist's base, as in
'Go to this place in Google Maps Street View and turn southeast. What's
that bromeliad growing on the tree 20 m in front of you?'

Oh brave new world, that hath such [digital applications] in it...
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
and School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
Ph (03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
Webpage: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/mesibov.html