Google has released Street View imagery for Robben Island. The images are available on Google Maps.
The company has also made available an audio-visual tour of Robben Island hosted by the Google Cultural Institute.
The island, off the coast from Cape Town, is a former prison where many of South Africa’s political prisoners, including former President Nelson Mandela, were incarcerated by the apartheid government.
Google launched the project in partnership with the Robben Island Museum to “make this global heritage landmark accessible to the world via the Internet”.
The newly launched guided tour of the Island includes a virtual visit to Mandela’s prison cell and activist Robert Sobukwe’s house. “This imagery and tour provides glimpses into the story of the island and some of its more famous prisoners,” Google said in a statement.
“Not being able to see or interact with children for 20 years was possibly the most difficult thing to endure during my time on the island. There’s a poetic justice that children in classrooms all over the world will now be able to visit Robben Island using this technology,” said former anti-apartheid prisoner Ahmed Kathrada in the statement.
As part of the project, Google Maps will develop teaching notes on Robben Island for educators who plan to use the interactive tour as an educational tool.
The tour can be accessed on mobile phones, from desktops and from Google’s Cultural Institute, where Robben Island Museum will host five exhibits depicting the history of the island.
The Nelson Mandela Centre for Memory will also update its Cultural Institute exhibits with new layouts and add Street View panoramas of Robben Island. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media