There is no mention of the upcoming Summer Olympics anywhere in their official release, but the timing for this new addition to Google’s interactive online collection is of course pretty obvious. The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro is set to host thousands of athletes, their family and friends, and general sport enthusiasts over the next few month. And now Google Arts & Culture wants people to explore more than just the Olympics venue but rather what the whole city has to offer. And you can do it even without actually going to Rio.
You’ll be able to see 360° panoramas through the Street View technology showing off some of their most well-known places like the Christ the Redeemer statue, the Theatro Municipal, etc. There are also more than 3,000 photos from archives and eve art exhibits that you can look at, If you have Google Cardboard, you also get to see a virtual reality tour and videos that will show off all things Cariocas (anything related to Rio).
If you’re more into history and looking through Rio’s past, you can immerse yourself in a pretty extensive collection of archival photos of the city. Another highlight of this online exhibit is the guided tour of popular children’s book and comic book writer Ziraldo. But probably one of the biggest undertakings that is part of this project is On the Map where Google teamed up with NGO Grupo Cultural AfroReggae to be able to map out the hillside favelas where one out of every five Rio residents live in. But apparently only 0.001% of them appear on the map, until now.
The Rio de Janeiro online collection is available at the Google Arts & Culture mobile app. You can also access it on the web through g.co/riodejaneiro. If you’re going to the 2016 Olympics this month, then better start doing your cultural research through this collection.
SOURCE: Google
