Gavin Lanoe is happy to lend the necessary equipment to anyone who is prepared to spend a few hours at a time driving around parts of the island with the camera on their vehicle’s roof.
This will record the road details on a memory card, which Mr Lanoe said he will then input, edit and upload to Google for it to use in its Street View feature.
He said that Street View had become a popular feature, often used by people to look at a place before they visit, and he himself had used it locally to find a house he was due to visit for work.
Some of the island’s roads, particularly in the north, have already been mapped thanks to his efforts and those of Andre Quevatre, who is thought to be the first person to start seriously mapping the island.
Mr Quevatre said he started after Google’s own efforts did not prove successful.
‘My inspiration was the dissatisfaction that Google never managed to do Guernsey themselves,’ he said.
The company had sent its specialised cars to the island, but after difficulties with people concerned about data protection and reported vandalism of their vehicle, they left, never to return.
‘I started in 2023,’ said Mr Quevatre. ‘This year has been too busy with other projects and I haven’t had time.’
As a Vale resident he has concentrated on that parish –‘God’s own parish’ – but would like to see the rest of the island covered.
The Street View Studio page, where people upload their recordings, records how many views each road get.
‘It varies but can be quite surprising. For example, the road around the Vale Castle has had over 44,000 views,’ he said.
‘We are a great holiday destination and, when I go away somewhere new, I tend to have a look at Street View to get a feel of the place.
‘If we can provide that for visitors to Guernsey then that’s a real plus.’
Like Mr Quevatre, Mr Lanoe started about three years ago but is now finding it hard to find time.
‘I’ve not done as much as I’d wanted,’ he said. ‘Now I work two jobs so I don’t get a lot of time during daylight.
‘I also have an electric car, so I only get about two hours of driving.’
He has a 1Tb memory card in the camera, which can easily record a day’s worth of material, which then has to be loaded into a computer
‘I was hoping to find a couple of people who’ve recently retired who have time during the day, who can come and take the equipment out,’ he said.
‘It’s very easy to set up and run.’
If someone is able to do the driving and record the video, Mr Lanoe said he would be happy to act as co-ordinator.
Anyone who would like to borrow Mr Lanoe’s equipment can contact him on gavin@lanoe.net.