Google gives Camel a new job by Vern Blossfeld

Summary: When Google decided to add a street view of the desert to Google maps, they knew they couldn't go for a modern solution, like the Google street cars you may have seen before. "Raffia" the camel was used by Google to capture images of Abu Dhabi's Liwa Oasis, and while this provides an amazing array of photos of vast sand dunes with the occasional shadow of a camel, Google street cars have seen much stranger. This includes earlier this year, what appeared to be the scene of an ax murder, but was later found to be a prank staged on the streets of Edinburgh, by some mechanics who'd seen the car coming. Another fake was a woman pretending to give birth on a roadside. Back on topic, Google spokesperson Monica Baz says that the reason the camel was used in this case was to prevent damage to the environment while still capturing the best imagery on film.
Analysis: I've seen the Google car on the streets downtown before, and I always wondered if anyone had pulled pranks like these! It's funny to think of a Google employee going back to review the footage only to catch stuff like this, and even if they had to return to retake some pictures it's nice to imagine they get a laugh out of it. It's also nice that Google uses environmentally friendly ways to get these images, even if the street cars aren't the best for the air. The fact that they came up with this solution so as to not harm any part of the natural scenery there is reassuring a little to me; it shows big corporations may be able to stop harming the environment, even if it's slowly, and in small ways like this. This can be connected to world history because negative effects made by humans to the environment is a global issue.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/09/travel/google-street-view-camel/index.html?hpt=wo_mid