Sutton's Green Mountains Nature Reserve mapped by Google Trekker

The Green MountainsNature Reserve in Sutton, Que. isone of six properties owned by the Nature Conservancy of Canada soon toappear in GoogleStreet View.

A small team of hikers were involved in mapping the trails on Mont Sutton on Thursday.

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Staff from the Nature Conservancy used a GoogleTrekker a 50-lb.backpack-mounted camera to capture images of the region's landscape.

Making the area searchable on Google Maps isa project the NCC has been working on since last spring.

Luc Thomas, NCC'smanager of digital operations, saidhaving images of the trails online could encourage people to come visit them in person.

"It's also a great way for people that are not able to come to the location. They're very interested, but they just can't make it, so this way, they can virtually visit the properties," he said.

A solitary hike

Julien Poisson, the Green Mountains Nature Reserve's project manager, had the job of carryingthe camera on a solo hike through thewoods.

The camera has 15 lenses and snaps multiple images at 360 degrees, so no one could walk beside him, to avoid having a person show upin the shot.

"They chose me because I have the biggest shoulders," he said.

Thomas saidthe trails willbe trekkableonGoogle Maps within two or three months.