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Google Japan Now Has Street View From a Dog’s Perspective

It’s like riding an Akita around Japan

March 12, 2018

"Dog View" from Akita-inu, home of Japan's adorable Akita dogs / 秋田犬がふるさとをストリートビュー

Google Street View is an excellent way of “putting yourself inside the map,” so-to-speak, in order to become familiar with a new place. But Street View usually only provides one point of view — the human point of view.

Google Japan, however, is giving us a sense of what a place looks like for man’s best friend, starting in Odate City, in the Japanese prefecture of Akita, birthplace of the Akita dog breed.

According to the Google Japan Blog (as translated by Google), by attaching a small camera to a harness on the back of three Akita dogs, Asuka, Ako and Puko, Google employees mapped out Odate City with 360-degree views from their perspective.

Adorably, you can see their fluffy ears and curly tails as you pivot around in any spot.

According to Google, shooting the footage was a pretty enjoyable. A YouTube video released by Google Japan shows the process of shooting all the footage for the Google Maps — and it looks like the Akitas had lots of fun bounding through the snow.

If you’d like to go on a walk with Asuka, he'll take you on a tour through the city’s best attractions, including a statue of Hachiko, Odate City’s most famous dog, whose loyalty to his owner, Dr. Ueno, inspired several books and films.

He also mapped out the city’s old dog shrine, hot spring footbath of Otaki Onsen Tsuru, and the Akita Dog Museum.

Google intends to keep filming locations during different seasons and capturing new locations that are more popular with locals.

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