News - Gen 4 Pickups are being used to cover eastern Turkey

News about Google Street View
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Gen 4 Pickup driving in rural Turkey (Date: November 2023) (Image Credit: Yücel Öz)

Following recent reports from several users on Turkish social networks, a pickup truck with a Gen 4 has been spotted driving along some highways in the eastern part of Turkey.

In November 2023, this car was reported driving on the road connecting Hınıs in Erzurum Province with Malazgirt in Muş Province. According to the driver's comments, they previously focused on covering the main roads, but needed to use 4x4 vehicles to cover certain areas due to GPS errors that tend to happen with normal Google Street View vehicles. (Source: Yücel Öz via LinkedIn)

In early December of the same year, travel vlogger Eray Çelikkol posted about seeing the Gen 4 Pickup navigating a snowy road through a mountainous area of Turkey. (Source: Eray Çelikkol via Twitter)

"Google Maps' vehicle came, they were taking images, we tied our car to their car and saved it with a rope, the man says that after 1.5 months your satellite imagery will reach 8 billion people"
- Translation of the Tweet by Eray Çelikkol

Google usually uses pickup cars to cover national parks, one of the clear examples is Mexico and Peru, in which natural reserves were covered with vehicles designed to cover quite uneven terrain, possibly Google Turkey is trying the same for certain roads in the country that are difficult to travel, especially Eastern Turkey tends to have a very cold climate so it is common for normal cars to get stuck in the snow while these pickups have no problem doing so.

Gen 4 Pickup driving in a mountainous road (Date: December 2023) (Image Credit: Eray Çelikkol)

According to both LinkedIn and Twitter posts, this coverage made with these vehicles is expected to be launched by 2024. In October 2023, the local Bocka Platformu news site reported that the pickup car was driving around the north of Artvin Provincce. (Source: Borcka Platformu via FB)

In July 2024, the local news media “Ispir Haber” reported that the pickup vehicle was photographing areas of the district. (Source: Ispir Haber via FB)

In August 2024, coverage is published in several areas in the east of the country, specifically in districts that are rather remote and mainly mountainous, including places such as Akyaka in the province of Kars.

Gallery

Alternative Angle of the Gen 4 Pickup in rural Turkey

The Google Car in Borçka, Atvin Province

Notes

• Written by Seb on April 15, 2024
• Note: Updating the article and adding information about the coverage in Kars and İspir in Erzurum.