Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab Hotel, the Dubai Fountain, and Dubai International Airport topped the list of the world’s most popular landmarks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) visited last year via the Street View feature on Google Maps.
By taking 360-degree images that can be viewed on smartphones or computer screens, the Street View feature allows users to learn about numerous historical and cultural places.
The list also included destinations from the region, such as the Giza Pyramids and the Great Sphinx in Egypt, in addition to Saudi’s sacred sites (Masjid Al-Haram, Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, and the Kaaba).
It was launched in the UAE in 2013 and has expanded over the last decade to include streets and landmarks in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia.
Most of the images for Google Street View are collected via cars, but in 2014 in Abu Dhabi, the task was given to a camel who walked through the desert around Liwa Oasis with a Street View camera on her back.
Globally, over the last 15 years, Street View cars have traveled over 10 million miles – a distance that circles the entire globe more than 400 times – and have collected more than 220 million images.
