Now You Can Take a Virtual Tour of the USS Constitution With Google Maps
Old Ironsides is about to undergo three years of renovations.
But that doesn’t mean folks can’t still tour the 217-year-old warship, thanks to Google Maps.
Google Maps published a 360-degree tour of the USS Constitution January 20 so that folks in Boston — and worldwide — can tour her.
A Google photographer went on board the ship in September to take photos for the project. Since, Google’s Street View engineering team has been hard at work turning the photos into 360-degree panoramas. You can tour the ship from all angles — from above and below the deck.
“This effort is particularly exciting because not only will it allow the public to go on a virtual tour to areas of the ship that will not be accessible while Old Ironsides is in dry dock, it will also bring this virtual tour experience to millions of people worldwide who might otherwise never get the chance to visit the ship in person,’’ said Cmdr. Sean Kearns, Constitution’s 73rd commanding officer.
The ship joins the ranks of other historical landmarks available for tour through Google Maps, such as The Louvre Museum, the Pyramids, and the Taj Mahal. Since it launched in 2007, Google’s Street View team has gathered tens of millions of images that span more than 7.2 million miles across more than 59 countries, according to Time.
Why is Old Ironsides being restored? Because of wear and tear. But for other reasons as well.
“She kind of ballooned away from how she was originally constructed,’’ Peter Melkus, spokesman for the Constitution, told The Boston Globe. “So one of our goals is to make her as authentic as possible to what we consider the era of her greatest popularity, the War of 1812.’’
The ship’s dry dock restoration period begins in March.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com