How cool is this! Google maps is using 360° cameras, strapped on camels’ back, like on Google’s street view cars, to map the desert to give us a view of its surroundings without disturbing or affecting the environment.
Google Maps continually brings us to remote destinations such as the North Pole and Machu Picchu. Street View enables anyone with a computer to become a virtual Marco Polo. Typically, they capture panoramic images via specialized cameras mounted on cars or boats, but vast sand plains demand a different approach. Thanks to their “camel-cam”, you can now explore Abu Dhabi’s Liwa Oasis exactly as the Bedouin have done for centuries, without leaving home. In this viral video by Google Arabia, Liwa is explored…
Liwa is about 100 km south of the Persian Gulf coast and 150 km south west of the city of Abu Dhabi in the Al Gharbia (Western) Region, on the northern edge of Rub’ al Khali desert. The Google Maps blog describes this region of different-colored sands as “one of the most breathtaking landscapes in the world.”
The Liwa Oasis is best known for its date plantations and was historically used as a trade center by early settlers. The surrounding Liwa Desert holds evidence of occupation dating back to the late Stone Age.
Explore Liwa with Google Maps