Must see: the world’s largest railway exhibit now on Google Maps

Over a million people visit Miniatur Wunderland, the world’s largest small-scale model railway exhibit, in Hamburg, Germany every year. Now, you can do it at the convenience and comfort of your own computer.

Street View has been added to Google Maps, allowing users to virtually experience the exhibit that features eight miles of railway tracks and follows 900 trains each day.

The trains travel through countries modeled like Switzerland, Germany, and the United States, as well as Las Vegas and Mount Rushmore – each with extreme detail. Over 200,000 figurines come to life within the exhibit and computer-controlled vehicles such as fire trucks put out fires and traffic cops pull over speeding cars.

The exhibit is similar to watching a cinema with your own eyes, but it’s one you can control. Visitors can request certain actions that are monitored in real-time by staff in a control room with 40 computers.

Miniatur Wunderland took more than 500,000 hours to create and spans out 4,000 square feet. The video bellows shows a demo of the exhibit in action:

The virtual tour takes you through replicas of small towns, provinces, and a functional airport (one of the exhibit’s latest additions that cost $3.78 million to create and took approximately six years). The tiny airport has high-tech airplane hangars, terminals, and computerized workers, making it the most advanced simulation.

In order to capture the small nooks and crannies, Google worked with Ubilabs to build a scaled-down version of how it traditionally captures Street View (via cameras attached to its Street View car fleet).

“Tiny cameras were mounted on tiny vehicles that were able to drive the roads and over the train tracks, weaving through the Wunderland’s little worlds to capture their hidden treasures,” Google wrote.

The daytime model lasts approximately 15 minutes, and then the lights turn off and LEDs flip on at venues to look like night clubs and casinos.

While the Google Maps version doesn’t necessarily let you see what it’s like for the exhibit to come to life in person, the Street View version does give you an up-close look at the tiny details behind the Miniatur Wunderland. 

Source: Mashable