Google (GOOGL) Street will give you an excellent preview of that new apartment you’ve been eyeing for your next move, and it’ll even give you an inside look into some of your city’s most notable landmarks. But now, Google is taking its revolutionary software once step further, with a new feature tailored just to art fans, reports Time.
Starting today, Google is updating its Chrome browser Street View app to include annotations and factoids about 15,000 notable artworks on view in museums they partner with through their Arts and Culture division. Visitors will be able to view get high-resolution up-close looks at artworks on view in museums (good for those pieces marked off with velvet ropes or visitors who are near-sighted) and be able to read additional background information about the works (which may not be available in the museum’s wall text).
“It’s not just about what the user has searched for, but taking them on a journey so that they can discover things that they never even knew they would like,” Google product manager Marzia Niccolai told Time. “Once we realized the demand was out there, we decided that this was something that was a very high priority for us.”
In addition to the Street View update, Google is also rolling out new features in its search engine to provide in depth information about artworks, artists, materials and art history. Search an artist such as Vincent van Gogh or his masterpiece Starry Night and Google will provide a search panel which includes other artworks made by van Gogh, museums that feature the artist in their collections, high-resolution images and more.
With the latest figures from Google reporting over 500 million art-related keyword searches through its search engine, both new features are sure to be well-appreciated by art and history fans alike.
