Google Japan Inc. announced July 8 it would begin recording the devastation of communities struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake using technology from its Street View service to obtain 360-degree landscape shots.
Google Japan Inc. announced July 8 it would begin recording the devastation of communities struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake using technology from its Street View service to obtain 360-degree landscape shots.
The project will not only create a record of the quake and tsunami damage for future generations, but will also be made available for academic research.
The photographs, which should take three to six months to produce, will cover mainly the area along the coast of the main Honshu island from Aomori Prefecture to Ibaraki Prefecture.
The images will be posted on the Google Map service by the end of the year.
Google Japan has continued to provide various services to assist in relief efforts since the March 11 quake and tsunami, including a website of information about survivors and those still missing.
While the company had the idea to do a Street View sweep of the disaster-stricken areas soon after the disasters, the plan was not implemented out of consideration for the feelings of the victims.
However, a number of researchers had called for using the Street View technology, which records images that provide views from multiple angles.
After consulting officials of various local governments, Google Japan felt it had obtained a certain degree of understanding and decided to go ahead with the project.
Photographing will begin July 11 in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture.
Google Japan said it will consult municipal government officials before actually beginning photographing in the community and added it would be willing to respond to requests to delete images.