Riding a Bike for Google Maps
How I became the launch cyclist for Street View in Australia, pedalling a camera rig through Taronga Zoo to capture the places cars could never reach.
When Google brought Street View to Australia, the cars could only get so far. They could drive the roads, but they could not reach the places people actually love: the zoo paths, the national parks, the harbour foreshore, the pedestrian-only corners of a city. So we put the cameras on a bike, and I became the person pedalling it.
I was the PR spokesperson and the launch cyclist, which meant I did the talking and then I did the riding. At Taronga Zoo we rolled the rig past the giraffes with the harbour behind them, capturing a view of the place that no car could ever produce. We asked Australians to tell us where to go next, the cultural sites, the natural wonders, the hidden gems that only locals know about.
There is a lesson in that bike that I keep coming back to. The interesting parts of any problem are almost always just off the road, in the places the standard tool cannot reach. If you want to capture something new, you often have to build a slightly stranger vehicle and be willing to look a little ridiculous riding it. I was very happy to be that person.