Starting now, Google Maps users can explore the world’s largest model railway in Street View. For the first time, Street View cameras have been specially developed in miniature format to provide unique insights into Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg.
Hamburg, January 13, 2016 – Who hasn’t dreamed of being the conductor of their own train or playing with dollhouses as a child? For those looking to relive those childhood dreams, Google has a surprise: the famous Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, the world’s largest model railway, can now be visited digitally via Street View on Google Maps at g.co/miniaturwunderland.
To capture every corner and angle of Miniatur Wunderland, Google, in collaboration with Miniatur Wunderland and partner Ubilabs, developed entirely new and much smaller devices: Tiny cameras were mounted on a model bus and train, which traveled along the miniature streets and railway tracks.
The result is footage offering unprecedented perspectives of the miniature worlds of Central Germany, Bavaria, Hamburg, Austria, Switzerland, America, Scandinavia, and the fantasy city of Knuffingen, including its airport. People from all over the world can explore numerous details of Miniatur Wunderland through the Street View version as passengers via model train or mini-bus. Take a discovery tour through the Swiss and Austrian Alps, travel from Mount Rushmore through the Grand Canyon to Cape Canaveral, or admire Hamburg from an entirely new perspective. Additionally, the new Street View collection offers special 360-degree views of places that are difficult to see or almost impossible to access, even for visitors of the “real” Miniatur Wunderland. These include panoramic views of Knuffingen Airport’s terminal, Hamburg’s main train station, as well as the desert and g aming metropolis of Las Vegas.
Sven Tresp, Program Manager Street View:
“Street View cameras have already been used in various ways: on gondolas in Venice, on camels in the desert, and on snowmobiles in Canadian ski resorts. For the first time, we’ve now miniaturized the camera to capture Miniatur Wunderland with the help of a model train and bus. ”
Gerrit Braun, Co-Founder of Miniatur Wunderland:
” As always, the real challenge was the size of everything. That means we had to shrink everything to capture footage from every location. We were even able to take shots of places in our exhibit that we haven’t been able to access since its opening. Normally, visitors only see our layout from the front or back, but these new images give users a first-ever look at Miniatur Wunderland that even visitors on-site can’t experience.”
Miniatur Wunderland’s Street View footage can be accessed at g.co/miniaturwunderland, and is also available on mobile via the Street View app for Android (including Cardboard) and iOS.
For extensive images and TV footage, visit https://goo.gl/60FRsD and the Google Product Blog at http://goo.gl/0gX3Ih.
