The Faroe Islands are a sparsely - live archipelago in the North Atlantic . Until last week , their remoteness gave them the note of being one of the few spots in the developed world not captured on Google Street View . But now , thanks to the island ’ roaming sheep , the remote roads , towns , cliffs and falls are usable for anyone with internet approach to peruse .
Last twelvemonth , the Faroe Islands tourism board start a campaign to get the island on Street View because , well , it ’s good for tourism ( unlikeits annual heavyweight hunting ) . If you ca n’t preview the stunning fjord , waterfalls and ascetic Nordic towns , why would you gravel going there , amirite ?
They decided the beneficial way to draw Google was to put some of the islands ’ 80,000 sheep to work ( providing woolen and heart and soul was n’t enough plainly ) by strapping 360 ° cameras power by solar panels to the backs of sheep in an feat to seize some of the sensational views of the islands as well as Google ’s care .
Because the sheep have evolved without predators , they do n’t herd like your average sheep . And because they ’ve been a part of the island landscape since the ninth century , their travels have a relatively minor environmental impingement .
Their peregrine ways entail that the sheep gathered some truly stunning views from the islands ’ jaggy mountains and expansive sea views . The issue were dubbedSheep Viewbecause of course .
Those views couple on with the finger - practiced story were too good for Google to resist . Last yr , they sent officail Street View equipment to the islands . The sheep - becharm views were n’t of necessity baaaad ( grim ) , but Google want more rigorous documentation of the islands ’ roads than the quadrupeds could offer . The ship’s company also enlisted tramp to walk around with the Street View cameras similar to their efforts tocapture the Grand Canyonand other raw wonder .
It all go live last hebdomad and the whole campaign has already abide yield . Hotel reservations have increased at least 10 percent this yearaccording to the Washington Post . For an island that realize about 350,000 visitors per annum , that ’s not small alteration .
And now if you ’ll excuse me , I ’ll be book my reservation to travel to before the herds arrive .
GoogleSheep
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