Google's Street View has created a map from photographs of Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world.
Allure of the Seas is the first cruise ship to be photographed by Google Street View, according to PC Magazine. The ship is also used for the technology of Google Maps Business View, in which owners pay a certified Google photographer to shoot the interior of their business.
Eight days were spent putting the map together, which is made up of 20,000 images taken with a DSLR camera using a fish-eye lens and a panoramic head placed on a tripod.
Allure of the Seas, which can carry 5,400 passengers, displays a variety of areas aboard the ship in its virtual tour, such as Central Park, the Boardwalk, the Royal Promenade and the Sun Deck, USA Today reported. Viewers will also be able to get a look at a variety of swimming pools, as well as the ice rink, zip line, rock wall, fake wave machine, the Acquatheatre, five eateries and other features on the ship.
"Consumers go online to research their vacations and this is the closest they can get to actually being onboard," said Jo Briody, U.K. spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean.
Harry Liu, spokesman for Royal Caribbean, said the cruise line is not currently looking to have other ships in its fleet mapped.
Briody, director of marketing & PR at Royal Caribbean International, added, "We are confident that once people get virtually immersed in Allure of the Seas' various decks and features thanks to Google Street View technology, they'll be eager to experience the real thing."
The Allure of the Seas map can be viewed now at royalcaribbean.co.uk/royalview.
