Soon embarrased first-year students can stop touring campus with Mommy and Daddy and just show the parents campus online.

Google Street View mapped the University of Saskatchewan’s roads and pathways last week as the tech giant’s tricked-out three-wheel bike cruised through campus and periodically captured 360-degree digital images.

Google employees will now piece together the images into a panorama, blur faces and license plates and make the campus’ landscape available on the web.

Ivan Muzychka, the associate vice-president of communications for the university, said he expects the views photographed by Google last week to be available in about eight months.

“They’ll take that back and process it and eventually you will be able to have really nice Street Views of our campus,” he said.

Once online, Street View will help students with disabilities scout wheelchair access to buildings and help new students find their classrooms before they’ve arrived on campus.

It will also give potential students and faculty from around the world a genuine look at the campus, which could determine whether or not they choose to study or work at the U of S, Muzychka said.

“We think we have one of the most beautiful campuses in Canada, if not the World,” he said.
“So we’re pleased that in the height of the summer Google came and mapped our campus.”

Google began charting the city streets of Saskatoon with Street View several years ago, but only recently built the tricycle. Now the company has the ability to capture Street View of the Bowl and the many kilometres of paths on campus.

Last week, Google made national headlines while mapping the village of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut with the tricycle. It was the first time the new technology was used above the 60th parallel.

Graphic: Samantha Braun/The Sheaf