[Imagesource: Magdalena Paluchowska / Alamy]

15 years ago, what began as a seemingly far-fetched idea to build a 360-degree map of the entire world has now become the ultimate tool for armchair travellers.

Google co-founder Larry Page’s Street View feature allows anyone to explore 220 billion images from over 100 countries and territories – a new milestone for the feature.

Since Google Street View is celebrating 15 years of existence, the feature has shared 15 Street View collections.

That includes the usual global hotspots, per Cape Town Etc, like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the Taj Mahal in India.

South Africa also made it into one of the collections, with images of all the swell beaches that we get to enjoy right on our doorstep.

The data allows us to see which South African beaches are the most searched for, and seven of the top 10 are in Cape Town.

Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town has taken the crown as the most searched beach in South Africa over the past year, for obvious penguin-shaped reasons:

Image: capepointroute.co.za

Next on the list is Hole In The Wall in Coffee Bay, along the Wild Coast:

Image: Tripadvisor

Followed by Kreeftebaai in Blouberg:

Image: Tillie Coetzee (Mathilda) / Trek Earth

The list also included Noordhoek, Diaz, Mnandi, and Monwabisi beaches.

It’s surprising that Muizenberg’s colourful beach houses didn’t feature, or Sandy Bay in Llandudno.

Street View is on a mission to capture all the nooks and crannies of this planet, and will soon unveil a new camera that will give users more ways to explore historical imagery:

“This new camera takes all the power, resolution and processing capabilities that we’ve built into an entire Street View car, and shrinks it down into an ultra-transportable camera system that’s roughly the size of a house cat. But unlike house cats, it’s ready to be taken to remote islands, up to the tops of mountains or on a stroll through your local town square.”

It’s a wild time to be alive when you get to check out the road less travelled in the comfort of your own home.

[source:capetownetc]