Tour de France gets Google Street Viewed
Racing to map Europe's streets
AS IF WATCHING the Tour De France on TV wasn’t boring enough, the organisers of the three week long bike race have now teamed up with Google to let fans see the route and track the cyclists’ progress on Google Maps.
Using Google’s recently released Street View, which has up until now only been available in the US, those with nothing better to do with their time can now take a detailed, street level look at all 21 stages of the route, spanning 3,500 km from the coast of Brittany, up to the top of Alpe d'Huez, and to the finish on the bumpy cobbled streets of the Champs Elysees.
The director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme, noted that “This is a new way for Tour de France fans to immerse themselves in the race”. Aside from wearing super tight lycra shorts in solidarity, that is.
Product Manager of Google Maps, Ioannis Kalafatis, added that his firm was “very excited to be part of such a great sporting event as the Tour De France, and to make this event the first launch of our Street View imagery in Europe”.
The first launch of Street View in Europe and Google chooses the backroads and mountain paths of rural France? Bah! On yer bike with you! µ
Comments
whadyamean bah?
Very disappointed at your cynical attitude to the most wonderful sporting spectacle of the year.What other event features sustained athletic heroism over 3 weeks, fascinating team tactics and scandals and takes place in the ever changing beautiful backdrop of the French countryside.
Forget football, cricket, tennis, golf, rugby etc (yawn) - the TDF is the only time of the year it's worth turning the telly on for sport.
Cheers, Robin
Brilliant!
Perhaps the Tour organizers intend to avoid stupid fans from immersing themselves in front of the racers.May be a crime?
French people are owners of their self image, and the image of their property. This is the "French law"If they were take pics of my house, I ll ask them to take it down, it is "informatique et liberte" (Computer and Freedom law)
I hope a French news paper will pick it up, probably a lot of fun for google :)
STOP INVADING OUR PRIVACY! There is a difference between a fast camera on TV, and a static picture on google!! it is call blur!
who?
God I hate those sporting events
We just got rid of the Euro football carpet bombing and Wimbledon short-skirt oogling and lo! now they're at it again on all channels with the annual asthmatic's race.Do I have to live in a cave in Afghanistan to get away from all this overblown nonsense ?
(gets back on couch, grumbling)