360-degree panoramic views of Florida's beaches to be available next year on Google Maps

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida's 825 miles of beaches are coming to a computer near you.

Visit Florida, the state's tourism and marketing arm, begins a four-month journey Wednesday to capture 360-degree images of the state's beaches.

These photos will be integrated into Google Maps and will be available to anyone around the world with Internet access.

Two-person Visit Florida teams were trained by Google Map experts to capture the images. The teams will walk about 50 miles of beach each week with a backpack that has a camera system on top. The camera has 15 lenses, angled in different directions, so it can capture a complete picture of a location. The images are then stitched together into a 360-degree panoramic photo.

Officials say the images will be viewable on Google Maps next year.