With this gloomy weather, we would go to the sun at the other end of the world. A dream come true, at least virtually. On the occasion of the 13th anniversary of Google Maps, the Italian artist Matteo Archondis had a good idea:to compile images from this online mapping service to take us on a journey! By bringing together 3,500 images from Google Maps, Google Earth and Google Street View in a hyperlapse – that is to say, accelerated – video of 2 minutes 30, he takes us on a tour of Rome and its Colosseum, Barcelona and its Sagrada Familia, Rio de Janeiro and its Chris the Redeemer or San Frascisco and its Golden Gate Bridge.
This work, which took Matteo Archondis two weeks, has a very specific objective:to reveal the power of tools such as Google Maps. “The idea is to show that today we can travel and discover other cultures in a simple and accessible way,” he explains to the Huffington Post. If this virtual expedition will never replace a real trip, it at least has the merit of offering us a little moment of escape... And it feels good!
