A tiny island nation strapped cameras to sheep to promote itself. Google loved it. Here are six wild places to explore on Google Maps tonight, from a camel’s back to the space station.

October 4, 2026

By Jarett Branch

I thought this would be a fun idea for a Sunday.

Picture the Faroe Islands, 18 rocky land masses between Iceland and Norway. Waterfalls dropping into the sea. Grass roofs. Sheep everywhere. (The name even comes from the Old Norse word for sheep.)

Google Street View had been almost everywhere in Europe. Not here. Tourists couldn’t preview the roads. The islands felt left off the map. Literally.

So in 2016, Durita Dahl Andreassen from the islands’ tourism office built a harness with a shepherd’s help and fitted five sheep with 360-degree cameras. The photos went back with GPS tags, and she uploaded them herself. She called it Sheep View 360.

The sheep didn’t move much. (Seriously.) They were supposed to roam the hills. They mostly ate.

Didn’t matter one bit. The internet loved it. Google called it “shear brilliance,” loaned the islands its backpack Street View camera and the Faroes went live on Google Maps.

🐪 Google’s weirdest camera crew

Street View started in 2007 with cars. When the roads ran out, Google got creative. Before the sheep got involved, Google strapped its backpack camera to a camel named Raffia to capture the Liwa desert in Abu Dhabi, where dunes reach 131 feet. 

Hikers carried the camera through the Grand Canyon for 9,500+ panoramas. Divers swam it past sea lions in the Galapagos.

And astronaut Thomas Pesquet shot all 15 modules of the International Space Station, about 250 miles up. Inside, it’s as big as a five-bedroom house.

🗺️ Six trips to take from your couch

Tap any link below. On a computer, click and drag to look around. On your phone, it opens in Google Maps. Swipe to spin, tap the arrows to walk.

1. Faroe Islands. You land near Gásadalur, where a waterfall drops straight into the ocean.
2. Liwa desert, Abu Dhabi. Ride the dunes, camel-style.
3. Grand Canyon. Hit Explore in Street View and hike the Bright Angel Trail.
4. International Space Station. You start in the Cupola. Look down. That’s Earth.
5. Galapagos Islands. Go hunting for giant tortoises.
6. Mount Everest Base Camp. All the views, none of the frostbite.

To check your own bucket list, open Google Maps, search any spot and drag the little yellow person (Google calls him Pegman) onto a blue line. On your phone, tap Layers > Street View. Who needs a passport when you’ve got Pegman?

What do you call a really fast sheep? A lamb-orghini. (That was so bad, it was good!)

📩 Send this to someone who loves to travel but hates airports.