Soon, people around the world will be able stroll Southwest Florida beaches virtually. It’s coming courtesy of a Google and Visit Florida photo-mapping project that documented Lee and Collier county shorelines last week. The statewide campaign ends with a splash on Miami’s famed South Beach early next month. The end result will be 360-degree panoramic views of Florida beaches — some 825 miles of them — available to Web surfers 24/7. Think Google Street View, in which users see places they are going before they arrive, minus the streets. The photo crews , called trekkers, walk the beaches carrying 15 cameras embedded in a watermelon-size orb perched just above their heads
See Four Google Trekkers tasked with capturing images of Florida’s beaches for use by Google Maps