A Wild Vista

It wasn’t long ago that I posted about Google Street View’s surprising devotion to the minor road north of Loch Quoich (surprising given the otherwise very patchy UK coverage). Well, it seems they were just testing the water, because in mid-March, they went live with 99% coverage of the UK.

I’d previously alluded to being a little underwhelmed at Street View’s coverage — however, the recent massive upgrade, which includes rural as well as urban roads, immediately offers interesting new use cases for outdoorsie types.

So, here are a few ideas for where the upgraded Street View may be useful. Each section below includes a “live” Street View applet: you can click on each image and start navigating your way around without leaving this page.

1. Can I park?

Although public transport in rural areas can often be used to get to the start of a walk, many days on the hill start with finding somewhere to park the car. If you already know of an official car park, fair enough, but for those occasions where you’re looking for ad-hoc parking at the side of the road, Street View can be really handy.

Let’s say I fancy a a bimble in the eastern Peak District, and have identified a suitable starting point on the map, just west of Ringinglow village, where a couple of footpaths leave the road:

Using Street View, it’s easy to see whether there’s any parking here:

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Yep, that looks good! Room for a good few cars, and well off the road. Now, with high enough resolution, we could possibly have spotted this lay-by using the standard aerial photography available on Google Maps, but Street View gets us much closer. The detail available in Street View is also good enough to be able to pick out signs that might pertain to parking (or ticket machines!), though may not always be clear enough to be able to read the wording.

2. Is that footpath/bridleway really there?

Occasionally you may want to check out the lie of the land, and see whether a given right of way is extant on the ground. Obviously, Street View can only help where rights of way intersect with public roads, but that’s often where access problems begin.

In this example, I’ve chosen a bridleway in Pembrokeshire. On the 1:50 000 OS map, this right of way is shown crossing a disused airfield, and I thought it worth seeing whether it’s visible and signed from the road. Here’s the OS map extract:

And here’s the same area on Street View:

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So, we can see a gap in the hedgerow, a gate, and a bridleway sign. Looking good then! As a bonus, pan around to the right, and there’s clearly space for parking a couple of cars just off the road here too, should we wish to start from here.

3. Is it easy to cross the road here?

Much as I prefer to avoid busy roads when planning a walk, sometimes it just isn’t possible. And often, where rights of way cross dual carriageways or other major routes, difficulties can ensue. With Street View, you can get a heads-up on how easy a crossing is likely to be, and indeed, whether it’s physically possible. This can be particularly useful if you’re leading a group, and haven’t had time to recce the route beforehand.

This example from the North Downs in Surrey shows a footpath and bridleway intersecting a dual carriageway (in this case, the A31 at the Hog’s Back near Puttenham).

Judicious use of Street View makes it clear that there is a break in the central reservation between the two carriageways, but that this isn’t lined up with the entry and exit points of the rights of way. If you interact with the Street View window below, you’ll also see that separate imagery is available for each side of the carriageway.

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4. How does the route on the hill look?

This one only really works if the route you’ve planned is in plain sight from a public road — the North Ridge of Tryfan being a classic example, rising as it does within full view of the A5 trunk road. That said, I reckon there’s still plenty of opportunity for scoping out routes, or parts of routes, using Street View.

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Now, although similar 3–dimensional views of hills can be created using Google Earth (and other mapping software) by overlaying satellite imagery with relief data, the results with Street View can be much richer. What you lose in terms of flexibility (e.g., panning and zooming into and around a peak), is well made up for by far greater realism and fine relief. As well it should be, given that we’re looking at real images, rather than satellite overlays onto a relatively coarse relief model.

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5. Is this a good spot for a picnic, or for some roadside landscape photography?

Ok, so you’ll often be wanting to get where you’re going, lace up your boots and hit the hill as quickly as possible. Sometimes however, perhaps to break up a long drive or when travelling with the family, you’ll be actively seeking out picnic spots, or particularly scenic roadside stops. Street View can take out some of the guesswork if you don’t already know an area. Just find some likely looking locations on a map, then check them out in Street View:

The “Panorama” symbol on this 1:50 000 map extract (from the Bealach na Ba on the Applecross peninsula) suggests it’ll be a decent place to stop, but with Street View, you can check out the parking (and the view!) in advance. Guaranteeing the good weather may be a little trickier…

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6. What’s that campsite like?

Again, for facilities close to a road, in this case a campsite, Street View can give you a lot of extra information. You may already have retrieved details of pricing, and a description of the facilities, from a web page for a campsite, but seeing it “in the flesh” (from several angles) complements this rather prosaic data with a feeling for the ambience of the site, the slope of the ground, the overall layout, etc.

The example here shows a campsite (again, adjacent to the A5) near Capel Curig in Snowdonia.

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7. Is there a bus shelter here?

A pretty specific question, but one that can be surprisingly difficult to get an answer to if you don’t know an area.

This is the bus stop (and shelter!) on the A82 near the Corran Ferry, southbound to Ballachulish.

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More ideas

A few more things that Street View could be helpful with:

• Checking out the location and condition of accommodation (bunkhouses, hostels, B&Bs, etc.)
• Locating shops, tea shops, pubs etc. Are there tables outside for a sunny day? Is there a decent beer garden?
• Is there a pavement along that busy road for the nocturnal walk between the campsite and the pub? What about streetlighting?
• Where’s the best spot for hitch-hiking near a given location?

Some gotchas and caveats

• The static nature of Street View images can limit its usefulness — images can be several years old, and an awful lot can change in that time.
• Coverage isn’t 100%. Users can also request that certain imagery is removed from the system to protect privacy.
• The system’s still a little buggy. Sudden jumps or gaps in the imagery are not uncommon.

Final thoughts

We’ve all managed just fine in planning trips without Street View, but in certain circumstances, the additional information Street View provides could be very useful. When you are short of time, or perhaps are responsible for organising a weekend away or for leading a group, the new, improved Street View could well be very useful. As they say, forewarned is forearmed…

[Update (19/04/10): Just come across this excellent article by Tim Parkin on "Still Developing": Using the Internet to Scout a Location. This relates to landscape photography rather then walking per se, but is full of in depth research for finding out more about a location before your visit.

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