Students Use Google Street View For Campus Tours

You can explore the University of Glasgow on Google Maps.

Cash-strapped students can now take a free tour of nearly any college or university campus. Google Street View now does the leg work for them.

“For many, the start of a new year is also the start of a new semester. Whether you’re a current student trying to familiarize yourself with campus, an applicant assessing your options or an alumnus feeling nostalgic, the Street View feature in Google Maps can be your tour guide without the backward walking,” posted Chris Fiock, Program Manager for Street View, on Google’s blog.

“We recently added imagery of more university campuses to the existing special collections already available via Street View through our Partner Program.”

This eliminates the days of students having to take an entire weekend to travel from one city to another—racking up hotel, travel and other expenses along the way. Anyone can now get a 3D tour of the campus from their laptop, tablet, or smart phone.

This represents good news/ bad news for schools. The good news is their campuses are now far more accessible to out-of-town, or even out-of-country prospects. The bad news is they can no longer control the information in the same way they would during a formal campus tour.