Awesome photos show how Google is using a camel to map deserts

When Google wants to create its Street View maps — the ones that show the buildings and sidewalks that line the world’s streets — it sends a funny-looking car with a camera on top off to capture the footage.

Those StreetView cars work great in places where there are roads. But in the world’s more remote locations — a desert in Abu Dhabi, lets say — vehicles don’t cut it. Enter Raffia, the camel carrying a camera across the Liwa oasis to produce more Google Maps.

Of course, the camel carrying a camera is not an everyday sight. But whats more striking about the video is the sheer size of the Liwa Oasis, an expansive stretch of desert that runs along the Persian Gulf.

This is a somewhat surreal video of Raffia, with her guide, in action.

You can see the results of Raffia’s work on the Google Treks site, replete with many more camels who were not carrying cameras.