(Official Press Release)

You can now view even more Cape wineries on Google Street View, from the comfort of your PC or smartphone. A further five wineries have been added, making it total of 30 wineries that are included in the most comprehensive database of winelands imagery in the world.  New wineries that are now visible online include Boekenhoutskloof Winery, Groot Constantia, Hartenberg, Moreson, Rustenburg Wines and Warwick.

Street View is a hugely popular feature of Google Maps that is already available in more than 30 countries around the world. It adds another dimension to Google Maps, with 360 degree street-level images taken by the Google cars and trikes, allowing Google users to view and navigate through streets, wine estates, vineyards, historic buildings and gardens.

Images collected by the cars will be processed and carefully stitched together, a technological process that can take several months. They will be made available at a later date.

In areas where Street View is available, you can access street-level imagery by zooming into the lowest level on Google Maps, or by dragging the orange ‘Pegman’ icon on the left-hand side of the map onto a blue highlighted street. You can check out a restaurant before arriving, make travel plans, arrange meeting points, or get a helping hand with geography homework. House-hunters can save time by exploring the neighbourhoods of potential properties in advance and also by looking up driving directions.

Businesses can also benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their site for free, helping them to promote a chain of hotels, B&Bs, or raise awareness about a local library or restaurant.