This year, at Spain's La Tomatina — a festival celebrated in Buñol, Spain, that attracts over 30,000 people worldwide for a town-wide tomato fight — it seems that the guest of honor for the festival was an unexpected Google Street View car that accidentally drove through the heat of the action.
Recording La Tomatina for Google was always in the books, but what the vehicle was supposed to document was the aftermath of the battle — sauce in the streets included — but due to a scheduling error, the car ended up seeing the head of the action itself.
On Google Spain's official blog, the intent of the images is still clearly outlined:
"The vehicle will collect images in 360 degrees before and after the tomato fight to capture the magic and color that flooded the streets of Buñol during this festival.
The collection of snapshots can be seen in a few weeks in the Street View Google Maps platform that allows [for virtually exploring] cities at street level from the comfort of your computer, tablet or smartphone.
Just as it happened recently with Caminito del Rey, the Alhambra, the Sagrada Familia or the Bardenas, from now La Tomatina will reach more than one billion users of Google Maps worldwide, making this a truly global phenomenon tradition."
Roughly 150 metric tons of tomatoes were thrown about at La Tomatina, which celebrated its 70th festival this year.
Unfortunately, the Google View car itself was the real casualty of the battle, sustaining some pretty rough dents and other damages. Even more unfortunate? The camera was out of commission due to a mix of the aforementioned vandalism, as well as the camera lens being covered with tomato innards.
Este es el coche de Google que pretendía grabar la experiencia de la #Tomatina2015. Pero la gente es así ... pic.twitter.com/dAkWkvNAfN
— Ainhoa (@noaanswers) August 26, 2015
Well, there's always next year?
Via: Gizmodo
Photo: Nedim Chaabene | Flickr
