We stopped at Arches National Park on June 3 on our way to Boulder, Colorado for our Developer Meetup. While there, we hiked into the park with our Street View Trekker backpack hoping to get a peek of just a few of the 2,000 natural stone arches, hundreds of soaring pinnacles, massive fins and giant balanced rocks.

On the hike we learned it has taken over 30 years for dedicated “arch-hunters” to find, document and map the various features of the park. In 1970, official park literature stated that the park contained ‘nearly 90 arches’, which is less than 0.05 percent of what is known today. In 1973 a geography professor conducted the first scientific study of the a park and three decades of concentrated exploration and discovery has put many "new" arches on the map.

It’s fitting, as we celebrate 10 years of Google Maps, that we also remember the history and dedication of those who mapped some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world—without the technology of a Street View Trekker backpack.
We wish we had been with them 30 years ago to use our Street View Image API to integrate the amazing vistas into Google Maps so everyone could experience the 2,000 landmarks.

Today we’re in Milwaukee visiting with Harley-Davidson and some of their HOG riders. We can’t wait to see you on the road!

Posted by Ashley Smith, Developer Marketing, Google Maps APIs