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Google Art Project Brings Street View Into Famous Museums

by Caleb Johnson on February 1, 2011 at 11:30 AM

Google Street View has known its share of controversy and embarrassment in the past, but a new project could do wonders for the virtual tour-guide application's reputation.

Google has partnered with 17 international art museums to provide virtual walking tours of their legendary halls. By visiting the Google Art Project, art fans can roam the halls of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the National Gallery in London and 15 other famous spots around the globe, viewing more than 1,000 pieces of art. Over 18 months, Google installed tracks in each museum for its Street View tricycles to photograph the interior spaces. The 360-degree views you see are the result of a collaboration between Google's experts and museum curators, who suggested the best angles, collections and works for photographing. Aside from providing virtual walking tours, the Art project also showcases images of the 17 most important works -- as selected by each museum -- in ultra hi-res gigapixel versions (That's right, 1-billion pixels). These images are so detailed that you can see the brushstrokes and other fine details that would even be difficult to see in person -- if you're lucky enough to visit all these places in a lifetime.



Tags: art, google, google art project, google street view, GoogleArtProject, GoogleStreetView, museum, museums, street view, StreetView, top, web

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