Illinoistocht

Google just released information about its addition to the "Street View" on its website.  If you haven't used this feature, in addition to a drawn map of an area, there is an option to toggle to a 360 degree photographic image of a specific spot on a map.  How Google did this was they had special cars that drove every inch of a set of roads, continuously taking 360 degree photographic images.  The problem was that of course they can't drive cars on trails like the Hennepin Canal trail, or the I&M Canal trail.   But that changes with the inspired, trail-ready "Google Trike".

This is a great use of technology, note how I had to "manually" make my own survey of the Hennepin Canal and its trail and bridges (to assess the the canal's waterway for a marathon ice skate) see the other tabs of this website for more information and photos, or follow the link to the Flickr show
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35710734@N05/sets/72157621940514333/show/
Google's off-road, trail addition to its "Street View" is a better solution. 

Check out the video about Google's new trike, and then follow the link to "vote" for the Hennepin and / or the I&M Canal trail.  Voting continues until October 28, so vote now!