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 See the number search help page for more details. ||||| When it comes to Street View, Google has created something special. The company has provided ground-level imagery of highways and byways across a huge portion of the motorized world, enabling anyone with a Web browser and an Internet connection to see what the locals see while driving. It's an impressive feat, and a daunting task to map out. But in some areas, Google has longed to provide Street View imagery in places where motorcars aren't allowed. For those scenarios, it has used a backpack-type apparatus that straps onto a human test subject. At the top is an array of cameras and a logging device, which takes imagery as the person walks, stiches it all together, and readies it for publishing.Places like the Galápagos Islands and Grand Canyon have been mapped out in such a way, not to mention a great many hiking trails around the world. In order to keep the Trail Views coming, Google has seemingly patented the idea. A recently-granted patent, awarded to Google in the United States, describes the camera-equipped walking sticks that are presently being worn. In fact, the patent describes an actual stick for the future, in the event that Google can shrink the technology being used. It monitors geo-location data and captures imagery, which in theory would eventually be published to the Web.It may sound crazy, but we'd love it if Google were able to get a production model ready at some point. If it's investing production resources on Glass, surely it could do the same here. Imagine being able to map out places of thousands of walkers at once; suddenly, the global mapping task would seem a lot less daunting. ||||| Google has already started to expand its StreetView system beyond roads, capturing 360-degree images of trails in North America using gigantic backpack contraptions such as the one above. But a new patent received by the company points to a far more elegant solution. 
 
 It’s a walking stick with embedded cameras and location sensors, and a switch at the bottom that causes the device to snap pictures whenever the stick hits the ground. 
 
 The patent for a Walking Stick with an IMU (inertial measurement unit) was granted to Google this morning, based on an application submitted in September 2011. 
 
 The patent isn’t limited to walking sticks, also covering objects such as “a cane, a crutch, a monopod, a trekking pole, a staff, or a rod.” The patent filing notes that some of these options, such as the trekking pole, would allow the device to collapse for portability. 
 
 We’ve sent a message to the company asking if it plans to implement this new approach. In the meantime, if you’re really concerned about privacy, keep a close eye on what the people around you on the trails this summer are using to get around!
– First, there were Google Street View cars. But cars can't go everywhere, so next came Google's Trekker, a big contraption worn like a backpack that snaps photos off the beaten path. What's next? Think smaller. GeekWire reports that the company just scored a new patent: "It’s a walking stick with embedded cameras and location sensors, and a switch at the bottom that causes the device to snap pictures whenever the stick hits the ground." It can also be applied to canes, crutches, and things like trekking poles. No word on when the invention might go into production/be put to wide use. While plenty of privacy-loving hikers might hope "never," Ray Willington at Hot Hardware has a different take. If Google is "investing production resources on Glass, surely it could do the same here," he writes. "Imagine being able to map out places of thousands of walkers at once; suddenly, the global mapping task would seem a lot less daunting."