Google Street View treks through northern Ontario trails

Visitors to National Parks in northern Ontario can now check out some of the back-country trails from their computer.

Google Street View spent two days at Pukaswa Park to capture the Coastal Hiking Trail all the way to the White River suspension bridge

“That’s a pretty neat feature for people who either are planning a trip to the park and they want to see what the trail is like before they get there or for people who might not have a chance to get there, they can still virtually experience what that trail is like,” said Nancy Saunders, public relations and communications officer for Parks Canada."

Google Street View photographer Philippe Lapointe carries a backpack camera while capturing images as he walks across a suspension bridge at Pukaskwa National Park. (Parks Canada)

Saunders says the photographer, Philippe Lapointe, also spent two days at the National Marine Conservation Area taking in views of the shoreline and islands.

"The Google Street View team was at four sites in northern Ontario,” she said.

The photographers “have done some water collections before and they had a bit of knowledge coming in and doing it from the boat,” Saunders continued.

“I guess it's a bit of a different process. The guy has his Trekker backpack on, so, he had to calibrate [the camera] different to go on the boat. But, I believe that it's just going to be a similar panoramic view if you put the street view marker out on the lake, or on an island, then you'll be able to see what they got from the boat that way."