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His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, today launched Google Street View of the iconic Burj Khalifa, providing virtual visitors with stunning, panoramic 360-degree imagery of the world’s tallest tower.

Providing virtual visitors with panoramic 360-degree imagery of the world’s tallest tower

Sheikh Mohammed was given a special preview of the service before its worldwide launch at 3pm UAE time today.

“Not only do we welcome visitors to the UAE, but we also welcome online visitors from all over the world to see the tallest building ever made,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted through his Twitter handle @HHShkMohd.

“Glad to launch virtual tour of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, for more than a billion internet users,” he tweeted.

“The virtual tour of this landmark includes a stunning internal/external details. Burj Khalifa embodies the aspirations of the UAE people,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.

The Burj Khalifa Street View is a result of the collaboration between Google and Emaar Properties, the company behind the world’s tallest tower.

Click here to enjoy the stunning Google Street View imagery of the Burj Khalifa.

The launch came during a meeting Sheikh Mohammed had with officials from Google in the presence of Cabinet Affairs Minister Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi.

File pictures of Burj Khalifa inauguration

Sheikh Mohammed said: “Burj Khalifa is a landmark not only for the people of the UAE but for people from all over the world, and it is the right of everyone on this globe to get an opportunity to see and experience for themselves this global landmark.”

According to Google, this is the first time Street View technology has been used in the Arab world, and the Internet giant says there will be further announcements about the service in the region in the coming months.

“What does it feel like to stand on top of the tallest building in the world? To give you a better sense of how that may feel, we took Street View to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, our first-ever collection in the Arab World. Described as a ’vertical city,’ the Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest manmade structure, towering over the Dubai skyline at 828 meters (2,717 ft),” Google writes in its ’Behind The Scenes’ blog.

The launch came as part of the “Street View Collections” project by Google, which aims to present global landmarks through its mapping applications which are accessible to more than 1 billion people around the world.

The Burj Khalifa will feature as a “Vertical City”, being the first skyscraper to be part of the project. The other landmarks showcased on the service include the Eiffel Tower, the White House and the Everest base camp.

“This is the first time we’ve captured a skyscraper on Street View,” says Google, “making Google Maps even more comprehensive and useful for you. The imagery was collected over three days using the Street View Trekker and Trolley, capturing high-resolution 360-degree panoramic imagery of several indoor and outdoor locations of the building,” it says.

“In addition to the breathtaking views from the world’s tallest observation deck on the 124th floor, you can also see what it feels like to hang off one of the building’s maintenance units on the 80th floor, normally used for cleaning windows,” Google says.

“Visit the highest occupied floor in the world on the 163rd floor, experience being in the fastest-moving elevators in the world (at 22 mph) and check out the second highest swimming pool in the world on the 76th floor.

“Even if you’re afraid of heights, we hope you enjoy the view from the top!”

This project is part of Google’s ongoing efforts to design a digital mirror of the real world as well as to provide Internet users with a realistic experience of the tallest building built by man. Burj Khalifa is the first skyscraper in the world which uses the new advanced technology within Google Maps and the highest point reached by the Trekker camera.

Detailed pictures of Burj Khalifa were taken over three days and will cover Downtown Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Boulevard, and The Dubai Fountain in addition to the entrances to the Burj and detailed pictures for the  interior from the 43rd  to 160th floors. Stunning external picture where also taken from the 160th floor providing an outstanding virtual experience.