Google and ASI to put 360-degree views of Indian monuments online

You will soon be able to visit famous Indian landmarks and monuments, right from your desk. The Archeological Survey of India(ASI) in association with the Ministry of Culture and Google is creating a 360-degree online imagery of around a 100 of India’s monuments including the usual suspects, the Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar, Khajuraho as well as the Ajanta and Ellora Caves.

The programme was launched on Thursday at the Qutub Minar lawns. Rajan Anandan, Vice President and Managing Director of Google India said, “This is on the lines of Google’s Art project, wherein Indian museums tours were made available online. Now, these important Indian heritage sites will be available for the world to experience.”

The Qutub Minar will be the first Indian monument to be covered under this project (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

As the plan goes, Google will help the ASI create a 360-degree imagery of these handpicked monuments and will make them available on not just Google Maps but also the World Wonders website. The Internet giant signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Culture and the ASI regarding this project.

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Anandan believes that this project will help take India’s heritage to a lot more people around the world, making them taste a slice of Indian culture and history. “In a country like India, where we have the world’s second largest population and 5,000 years of history and rich cultural diversity, technology can help us share the Indian experience with the rest of the world and with each other more effectively than ever before,” he said.

To be able to capture the historical monuments, Google will deploy Street View Trekker, a wearable backpack with a camera system on top. The camera captures a 360-degree view every 2.5 seconds. The device is the size of a hiking bag and has 15 lenses aimed in different directions to capture images from all possible angles. Using this tech, Google has already brought to life several tourist attractions and UNESCO heritage sites from around the world like the Grand Canyon, Galapagos Islands, Mount Fuji, The Great Barrier Reef and more.

In India, the project will kick off from the Qutub Minar complex followed by Humayun’s Tomb. The final list is not out yet but most of these monuments are not too hard to guess. UNESCO sites as well as protected monuments will most definitely be making their way to Google’s 360-degree project.

With inputs from agencies.