Detroit Zoo wins Google Street View contest

ROYAL OAK —The Detroit Zoo beat out all other zoos and theme parks in the nation in the Google Street View Trike contest.

According to the results of a recent survey, respondents chose The Detroit Zoo as the zoo or theme park in the country that they would most like to virtually tour on Google Street View. The zoo received more than 15,000 votes. 

Google Street View offers site visitors the opportunity to view panoramic scenes of locations from the street. The site is part of Google Maps. In order to show areas that are not open to vehicles, Street View created their Trike program. The Detroit Zoo tour will be created using their three-wheeled bicycle equipped with a GPS and camera. The company will begin collecting shots of the zoo in the upcoming months and hopes to showcase the panoramic tour on their site later this year.

Passages of the zoo that Street View and their users have expressed interest in include the underwater Arctic Ring exhibit, including its overhead view of polar bears, and the Australian Outback Adventure, complete with  kangaroos and wallabies.