Gallery: Google Street View visits Stonehenge

Google and VisitBritain have revealed the seven landmarks and attractions that will get a visit from the search giant's Street View trike this summer.

The Street View feature of Google Maps already covers more than 100 metropolitan areas around the world, and was launched in the UK in March allowing people to view and navigate 360-degree street-level imagery in 25 British towns.

Google and VisitBritain asked the public to nominate top tourist spots that should be added to Street View, across five categories including castles, coastal paths, natural wonders, historic buildings and sports stadiums. More than 10,000 suggestions were received and whittled down to 16, which then went to the final public vote.

The seven winning landmarks will soon be added to Street View after receiving a visit from the Google trike.

The trike is an 18-stone (252 pound) vehicle composed of three bicycle wheels, a mounted Street View camera and a box of image-collecting hardware. It has the same capability as the Street View cars for collecting street-level imagery, and will be touring the UK for this summer.

Images collected by the trike will be processed and stitched together - a process that Google said can take several months - and then be made available in Street View on Google Maps.

Among the sites to get a visit from the trike and its hard-working rider are Stonehenge, pictured here.

Photo: Google. Captions courtesy of Steve Ranger, silicon.com.