Street View comes to Indianapolis Colts' stadium
Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Colts, is the first U.S. sports venue to get the Street View treatment in Google Maps.
And now, a way to explore an NFL stadium without paying the $100 average ticket price: Google Maps today introduced Street View for Lucas Oil Stadium, better known as the home of the Indianapolis Colts.
It is the first U.S. sports venue to get the Street View treatment. Previously, Google created the 360-degree, interactive maps for World Cup stadiums in South Africa.
To bring the Colts' stadium to Google Maps, the Street View team showed up on a day where no sporting events were planned and proceeded to document using two key tools: the proprietary Street View trolley, a roving pillar on wheels that has a camera mounted on top of it, and more traditional tripods used for capturing the 3D imagery.
"We had the stadium as most people would never get to see it," said Evan Rapoport, product manager for Google Maps. "We got to go in on an empty day. You got a feeling of what it might be be to like to own the place."
Users can access Street View by clicking a link to it following a search for Lucas Oil Stadium in Google Maps, or by dropping the orange Pegman figure onto the stadium from the map view.
The football stadium is the latest in Google's relentless mapping of sometimes hidden places, which follow ski resorts, the Grand Canyon, North Korea, and the Great Barrier Reef.
More sports venues are likely on the way. However, getting inside requires Google to work with them individually to get permission and coordinate the shoots.
"We are just really, really excited about the level of enthusiasm that people have for Street View," Rapoport said. "People are always asking us to bring Street View to new places, whether it's in new countries or famous places around the word."
