Google Maps Adds 360 Street View Photos Of Antarctic Expedition Sites (PICTURES)

Explore Historic Antarctic Sites With Google Maps

It used to be tough to explore the South Pole.

In fact, when Ernest Shackleton was looking for men in 1913, he posted an advert which said "men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold… constant danger, safe return doubtful."

But now, thanks to Google, you can experience the nightmarish tedium of exploring the Antarctic from the comfort of your laptop.

The search giant has posted an update to its mapping service which lets you explore inside historic locations from the history of Antarctic exploration.

Oddly enough Scott's hut currently has two "reviews" on the mapping site. One says "Excellent service, whisky is served on ice" while the other adds "staff were thin on the ground & heating on the blink".

Also viewable in 360-degrees are

It's actually been possible to explore the South Pole itself since 2010, when Google added the first Street View images to the Antarctic maps. But this is the first time you've been able to explore the same spots as the great polar explorers.

Even their equipment, food and medicine are still viewable in the huts, which are still standing almost a century since they were built.

Google said it used a lightweight fisheye camera to capture the images. It put together the maps with the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota and the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust.

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