Google Street View takes a wider look
Expanded service now includes dozens of towns and tourist sites such as the Dead Sea, Eilat, and the Sea of Galilee
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Google Maps has added hundreds of cities and streets to its Street View service in Israel, enabling people from all over the world to tour the country online.
“Today, as part of our ongoing effort to make Google Maps even more comprehensive and accurate, we’re publishing street-level imagery of hundreds more cities, towns, villages, heritage sites and tourist attractions across Israel,” the service said in a blog post on Wednesday.
Viewers can now virtually stroll through the streets of old Acre, visit the Coral Reef in Eilat, and walk in the footsteps of Jesus at the Sea of Galilee.
Internet travelers can also wander around Haifa’s National Museum of Science, Technology & Space, the Holocaust Museum at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, the Ghetto Fighters’ Museum at Kibbutz Lochamei Ha’getaot, the Museum of Bedouin Culture in the Negev desert, or take a tour around the Egged Bus Museum.
In April 2012 Google Maps launched street views of Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Google Maps said it hopes to add even more cities in the future.
Israel’s Justice Ministry, in approving the project several years ago, set several conditions on Google Street View, including the right for Israelis to request further blurring of residences and license plates. Israeli officials reportedly had been concerned that terrorists would use the service to plan attacks in Israel
JTA contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.