Still image taken from GoogleTaiwan YouTube channel

Taipei, April 25 (CNA) Google announced Wednesday that it has added 150 360-degree images of Taiwanese scenic locations to Street View, a panoramic image viewer featured on Google Maps and Google Earth, taking the total number of "photospheres" in the country to over 700.

Google Asia-Pacific Street View program manager Cynthia Wei (魏薌君) said that the updates, including reshoots of certain spots, come at a time when the technology has been used in the country for nearly 10 years.

The new panoramic images will allow users from all over the world to get the most up-to-date views of Taiwan, Wei continued.

The 150 images, 30 of which are updates due to cultural or natural changes, were captured by a range of methods, including a special camera-equipped backpack known as the Trekker, cars and boats.

Google's team partnered with academic institutions, non-profit organizations and other groups to compile these images, with includes a comprehensive look at the scenery of Alishan in Taiwan's Chiayi County shot from the forest railway train.

Video source from GoogleTaiwan YouTube channel

As previously reported, the scenic sites that can be accessed and viewed online span all of Taiwan proper, as well as the outlying islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Green Island and Orchid Island.

(By Kuan-lin Liu and Jeffrey Wu)
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