RHAYADER plans to start training volunteers next week as it prepares to become a ‘Google Town’.

The town has successfully applied to take part in the Google Street View loan camera programme. Google is loaning a specialist 360-degree camera for six weeks from the beginning of May.

The aim of the project is to encourage and attract more visitors to Rhayader by showing Street View imagery on Google Maps of all the different businesses, attractions and activities the town has to offer.

When the project is up and running a full "virtual" tour of Rhayader and everything it has to offer will be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week from anywhere in the world via the Internet.

From the comfort of their home, visitors will be able to “walk” through the front door of the various businesses, organisations and facilities along with walking scenic countryside paths and trails in and around the town and have a virtual look around.

Google is well known for its Street View imagery embedded into Google maps across the world, photographed by its specially equipped camera cars.

The camera loan programme is a new scheme which enables people to capture photographs and video showing their local communities, not just along footpaths, trails and other places accessible on foot but inside businesses and public buildings.

The town has formed a small “Google Town” committee with the full backing and some financial support from the town council and Rhayader 2000, the town’s marketing organisation.

The whole project will be completed by local volunteers who between them will film as many locations as possible, creating and then publishing the 360-degree virtual tours onto Google maps. All imagery will comply with Google’s privacy policy.

A training day for the volunteers is being held at the Elan Valley Lodge on Monday.Anyone interested in signing up as a volunteer for the Google Town project should contact Rhayader Google Town Committee memberJim Gayes, a Google Trusted Partner, on 07870 633562 or email him on [email protected].