Public to have final say on Street View tourist attractions

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Google has today opened up the voting process so that Britons can have their final say about which popular tourist attractions should be the the first visited by its new image-capturing Street View trikes.

Last month, the search giant teamed up with VisitBritain to find out what tourist points of interest people most wanted to be able to explore using Street View. Google has now whittled down the 10,000-plus suggestions it received into five categories within which users can now vote for their ultimate favourite.

The categories are: castles, coastal paths, natural wonders, historic buildings and monuments and (sports) stadiums. Finalists up for the vote include the Angel of the North, the Eden Project, Loch Ness and Stonehenge.

"People have really been caught up in the potential of the Street View Trike with thousands nominating the locations they'd like to see captured on camera. They've suggested familiar and unfamiliar attractions from Scotland to Land's End, the east coast to the west and everywhere in between,” said Justin Reid, head of online marketing for, VisitBritain, in statement.

“With some five million extra Brits considering taking a holiday in their own country this year, Google's Street View is already helping us inspire them with some great urban destinations. The Street View Trike will help us inspire visitors with a small taste of what they can discover off the beaten track."

A Google spokesperson added in a statement: "We've been thrilled with the suggestions made by the British public and are excited to see where our tricyclist will visit first. Whatever takes your fancy, from the modern to the historic, the natural to the man-made, we hope the public will get voting to put their tourist gems on the map."

Subject to good weather, the Google Trike will visit the winning locations this summer.

Google Street View has not been without its controversy since it launched, but the company this week pledged to introduce new privacy safeguards to appease worried citizens.

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