Killian Booker is preparing for high school graduation in May, and one of the last requirements is his senior project: Booker created street view images for Google Maps.
Booker uses a GoPro camera mounted at the end of a selfie stick to take photos of Wrangell for Google Maps street view web application.
For many years now, Google Maps street view allowed travel planners to tour cities in a realistic, 360-degree-view platform. But not people planning to visit or those living in Wrangell. One teen decided to fix that.
Senior Killian Booker photographed all of the borough's streets and popular tourist attractions to upload to Google Maps, allowing people to use the street view option. He chose the undertaking for his graduation project.
Booker began taking photos and editing them on Sept. 12 last year and finished Oct. 17, and it took him about 49 hours, including the arduous task of editing photos.
"I did it whenever it was sunny outside, and I knew it wasn't going to be sunny for long, so I did it really quick," he said.
Whereas most seniors are getting the ideas for their project from their friends, family or teachers, Booker got his idea from a previous experience. One day, while he was "bored in class," he thought about his Upward Bound project last summer, helping the U.S. Forest Service create street view maps for Kunk Lake on Etolin Island.
"That gave me the idea that, 'Oh, hey! I know how to do this. I think I can do it (for Wrangell).'"
Most communities have the benefit of a Google car equipped with map-making technology occasionally driving their streets, recording images. Booker doesn't have such technology, so he had to get inventive. He attached a GoPro to the end of a selfie stick, held it level above his head, and rode his bike around Wrangell, taking the necessary photos.
"I decided to ride my bike because I didn't know if I went fast enough if it would take blurry pictures," he said. "I used a setting for voice activation, so I would say, 'GoPro, take photo' (every so many feet)."
To capture images out Zimovia Highway to a little past where the pavement ends, Booker borrowed his mom's car to be safer. He said he covered every single street and tourist attraction in Wrangell, such as Chief Shakes House and Petroglyph Beach.
Editing the photos took longer than actually capturing the images because Booker had to go through and blur out anything like house numbers or license plates, one of Google's requirements.
When the photos are taken with a dual-lens GoPro camera (one on the front and one on the back), the final image is a warped version of what things actually look like. Booker used a website called GoThru that "stitches" the photos together, like creating a circular 360-degree room with the photo used as wallpaper on the inside.
The GoPro's built-in GPS syncs with Google's mapping software, but still requires the person uploading to dictate where the images should be placed. Uploading each group of photos took a couple of days since Google processes and approves the images.
Booker has become quite adept at using the technology, especially with the help of his friends Sean McDonald and Spencer Petticrew who had a little more experience with it than he did, but it's a long way from his long-term aspirations.
After graduation, Booker will go on his mission trip through his church, though he doesn't know where that will be just yet. "It's going to take around two years, and when I get back, I'll try to go into flight school to become a pilot," he said. He's interested in becoming a private pilot on a twin-engine prop plane.
Anyone can visit maps.google.com, search for Wrangell and zoom in on the town, grab the little yellow person in the bottom righthand corner of the screen by clicking it, dragging it and dropping it where the blue dots show up. Viewers will see a ground-level, 360-degree image of anywhere in Wrangell, complete with a shadow of Booker holding up his GoPro.
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