Google announced release of the first rail-based version of its controversial street view program on March 27. Working in partnership with UNESCO and the Swiss Rhaetian Railways, Google mounted nine cameras in a semicircle on a flat car coupled in front of a locomotive during a trip across 75.8 miles of the line last October. Since then the company has been stitching the millions of images together into a continuous, viewable image of the line. A link to the announcement as well as a video describing how the ‘rail view’ was
One good thing about providing a free online view would be the ability to determine if the expense of traveling to the tourist line would be worth the cost. With the cost of living, making the most of your money is important.
Also, I think it would be a good thing from a historical perspective. Those tourist lines may one day be gone. Having the view recorded would allow future generations to see how it was.
Such as between 1:30 and 4:50 on here-