To use Google’s Street View, go to Google Maps (www.maps.google.com) and enter an address or general destination (i.e. Waimea Bay) in the search box. When the Google overhead map comes up, look for the orange “pegman” icon on the left-hand side of the map, atop the “zoom in/zoom out” bar. (If the pegman is gray, it means there are no Street View panoramas on the map.)

Then just drag and drop the pegman onto a desired location on the map and voila! You’ll see a panorama shot of the street location, and be able to “drive” either direction on the street with clicks of your mouse.

Check out how far of a walk your Waikiki hotel is from the beach by walking the distance virtually. Take a virtual drive along Oahu's scenic windward coast to the North Shore surf spots. See what the drive straight into Diamond Head Crater looks like.

For a quick Hawaii fix, there’s already a collection of popular Oahu panoramas, conveniently arranged for immediate viewing in Google’s Street View Gallery.


Hawaii Street View photo albums in the gallery include “Hawaii Beaches” and “Obama Hometown Hotspots.” The Obama Hotspots collection displays several locales from the President’s formative years on Oahu, such as his high school—Honolulu’s Punahou Schools—and his first job—a Baskin Robbins just down the street from Punahou.

The only downside of Google Street View Hawaii we could find? Street View, naturally, ends where the street does. So your trip into North Shore Oahu’s lush Waimea Valley, for example, ends at the visitor center parking lot.

Our solution? Come and visit us on Oahu for real!

 


Check out these related HawaiiMagazine.com posts:
Updated Google “Scenic Hawaii” gallery zooms in on must-see sites on six islands
Google's Street View ocean gallery zooms in on Hawaii’s coral reef wonders
The Hawaii Superferry. I ride it.