Local resident creates SHEEPVIEW 360 to reach Google Street View.
NEW YORK – What do you do if you've found the most beautiful spot on earth, but no one knows what you are talking about, not even Google Street View? For Durita Dahl Andreassen of the Faroe Islands, the answer was easy: with a sheep and a camera, she found a window to the world.
The search tool Google Street View works in almost every country on earth and is regularly used by visitors to get to know a new place before getting there. But The Faroe Islands in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, a group of 18 small, mountainous, volcanic islands located halfway between Iceland and Scotland, are nowhere to be found on the popular search tool.
"To me, it is the strangest thing that I cannot show my friends in other countries where I am from. My home country is beautiful, green and kind of undiscovered to the rest of the world – but I do not want it to stay that way," said Durita Dahl Andreassen, born and raised in The Faroe Islands. Because of her great love of her country, she has decided to do something to raise its profile and literally put it on the Google map.
"If Google Street View would not come to The Faroe Islands, I will make The Faroe Islands visible to the world in another way," she said.
Her recipe is to combine a 360 camera with something the Faroe Islands has in abundance: sheep. The result is her very own SheepView360. With the 360 camera gently mounted on the back of a sheep, combined with a mobile phone and some solar panels, the sheep can walk around the islands and record pictures. The pictures will be sent with GPS coordinates to Durita, who is then able to upload them to Google Street View. She created the equipment with a local farmer and an inventor who specializes in animal monitoring.
Durita calls her project Sheepview360 and she has created a blog, www.visitfaroeislands.com/sheepview360, where she is sharing her and the sheep's story about the Faroe Islands with the world.
The first pictures will be uploaded on July 12. Durita's plan is to put up a new film on her blog once a week – or whenever she and the sheep have news to tell and show.
Facts about the Faroe Islands
Population:
48,228
Number of sheep (circa):
80,000
Number of islands:
18
Total area:
1,396 km2
Faroe Islands originally means:
"The Sheep Islands"
The Faroe Islands are an archipelago of 18 mountainous islands located halfway between Iceland and Scotland in the North Atlantic Ocean. The islands are comprised of 50,000 inhabitants and 80,000 sheep. With more sheep than people, it's not surprising that the name Faroe Islands first appeared as Faereyjar (in approximately 1225), which means "Sheep Islands." This name was given by the Viking settlers from Norway in the ninth century. The Faroe Islands have been awarded the best islands in the world by National Geographic and ranked as one of the world's top ten destinations by Lonely Planet and been lauded by the New York Times. The country boasts fantastic scenery, a unique culture, a rich music heritage and gourmet culinary scene, one that brings foreign chefs and foodies flocking to the Faroe Islands to experience the local cuisine.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
