Google Japan Lets You Explore Odate City With Dog View

First, there’s Google Maps, then Google Street View follows, offering users a more up close and personal view of the place they are looking at. Then someone took it upon herself to create her own street view (more like mountain view, really) in a place not touched by Google’s mapping team by strapping cameras on sheep, calling it SheepView 360. The latter is, obviously, not an official endeavor. It did, however, draw the attention of Google.

Now, apparently, there’s Dog View too. For some reasons, Google Japan thought it was a good idea to strap a camera to dogs, even though the birth place of Japan’s iconic dog Akita, Odate City in Akita Prefecture, don’t have more Akita dogs than humans. So, yeah. Dog View is a thing. It will allow you to explore the Odate City, guided by two native fidos. In this rather odd project, Google Japan equipped two dogs, Ako and Asuka, with cameras on their backs.

You can choose to explore the city via the traditional Street View, or through the eyes, or should we say, backs, of these two canines. Obviously, these representatives of Akita Prefecture are not going covered every inch of Odate City. However, you will be able to discover the bronze statue of the legendary Akita dog, named Hachiko at Odate City’s station, a snowy trail, the city’s open-air foot bath, as well as the Akita dog museum (yep, it’s a thing) – among the several other places.

via Mashable.