Sunshine Matters

Today, VISIT FLORIDA celebrated completion of a four-month-long beach walk that gathered panoramic, step-by-step footage of Florida’s beaches, to be published by Google Maps in spring 2014.  Two-person trekker teams sharing a backpack equipped with a Google Street View camera walked Florida’s 825 miles of beaches, a journey of nearly 2 million steps along the shorelines of pristine parks and chic resorts.  VISIT FLORIDA officials and Florida tourism industry leaders cheered as walkers completed the last mile of the journey Wednesday morning in Miami Beach’s South Pointe Park.

As part of a partnership between VISIT FLORIDA and Google Maps, the two trekker teams collected a half-million panographic scenes, comprised of 7.5 million images representing a virtual tour of Florida’s beaches.  The final product will let consumers around the world preview Florida’s beautiful and diverse beaches via the world’s largest search engine.

The walk started in July 2013 in Perdido Key, in northwest Florida, and covered the Gulf and Atlantic beaches of the entire state.

Digital Resources

News video (in English and Spanish) from the “Last -Mile” event at South Pointe Park

Google Beach Trekkers, the Last Mile (photo credit to: Pete Cross for VISIT FLORIDA)

What A Walk infographic (download from this release)

Sample photos from the four-month journey:

Google Beach Trekkers Reach 500 Miles (photo credit to: VISIT FLORIDA)

Google Beach Trekkers in Pinellas County (photo credit to: VISIT FLORIDA)

Google Beach Trekkers on St. George Island (photo credit to: Colin Hackley for VISIT FLORIDA)

Google Trekkers on Pinellas Beaches (photo credit to: Bill Serne for VISIT FLORIDA)

Google Trekkers on South Florida Beaches (photo credit to: Pete Cross for VISIT FLORIDA)

Google Beach Trekkers, the Last Mile (photo credit to: Pete Cross for VISIT FLORIDA)

More at www.VISITFLORIDA.com

Thank you to all the coastal CVBs and other VISIT FLORIDA Partners who are too numerous to name for assisting the trekkers and media over the four-month journey around the Sunshine State.   We look froward to sharing the finished product with you in Spring 2014.