HANCOCK COUNTY — Crowds of people lined Fortville’s Main Street Wednesday evening, cheering and waving as a Google Street View vehicle drove through town. Some held signs and banners to show off their small-town spirit, while a few others dressed in creative costumes and Fortville garb.
The gathering of area residents was one of many this week as Hancock County Tourism partnered with Truly360, a San Diego-based marketing company that contracts with Google, to film 200 miles of Hancock County roads, highlighting the many businesses, organizations and events in each town.
Street View, featured as part of Google maps, provides a street-level, 360-degree view of streets, roads and highways. It was launched in 2007 and has mapped more than 10 million miles of roads in more than 80 countries.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryBrigette Cook Jones, executive director of Hancock County Tourism, said the Google shoot not only improves the county’s brand on Google, but allows locals a chance for “free advertising.”
Residents stood in each town along Wednesday’s route — which traveled the main roads of New Palestine, Cumberland, Mt. Comfort, McCordsville and Fortville — holding signs and smiling as the car drove by.
Once the car turned toward downtown Fortville, it was immediately met with dozens of exuberant residents and business owners. One person in front of the 305 Wine Garage wore a plush bunny head, while another resident wore a full-body dinosaur suit holding a sign for Libby’s Ice Cream and Gifts.
Milda Sterrett, past president of Fortville Action Inc., the town’s main street nonprofit organization, said many community organizers in town emailed one another about Wednesday’s Google Street View shoot and others walked around town letting shop owners know.
Dave Beatson, a board member of Fortville Action, said the town usually has strong participation in local events. He said Wednesday showed how many people care about the longevity of the small town.
A couple of recent Mt. Vernon High School graduates, Isaac Sterrett and David Kilburn-Smith, joined in the festivities and held a large foam head of a local television personality.
Sterrett and Kilburn-Smith said they wanted a chance to be on Google and show off their town pride.
“We love Fortville,” Kilburn-Smith said. “This is our home.”
Travis McMichael, the general manager of Greenfield’s Holiday Inn Express and Suites and a member of the Hancock County Tourism Commission, dressed up as James Whitcomb Riley and posed a few times in each town holding a book labeling Hancock County as the home of the famous Hoosier poet. Jones said the commission wanted to include a “Where’s Waldo” element to the street-view photos.
The Google Street View vehicle also toured Greenfield Thursday evening. Originally, the car was supposed to travel through Greenfield on Tuesday, but the camera mount broke and postponed the shoot, Jones said. Truly360 had to send a piece overnight from California to fix the mount for Wednesday.
Before learning of Tuesday’s cancellation, people from several businesses and organizations gathered in downtown Greenfield for the shoot. Jayne Hoadley, owner of Greenfield Chocolates, helped organize a few of her employees in front of the store to spell out “#sweet” with large multi-colored foam letters.
Hoadley said Jones encouraged her and other businesses downtown to come out for the event and showcase “city spirit.” She hadn’t seen that many shop owners outside at once since Christmastime.
In front of H.J. Ricks Centre For the Arts, members of three local theater troupes — Ricks-Weil Theatre Company, Crazy Lake Acting Company and KidsPlay — stood outside, with some in costume. Amy Studabaker, wearing her outfit from Crazy Lake’s recent production of “Mamma Mia!,” came out to support the acting company and the Friends of the Theater organization, which she serves as president.
On the east end of downtown, volunteers with the Kenneth Butler Memorial Soup Kitchen, held up a sign in anticipation of the Google car. Rose Reiser, a board member for the kitchen, said getting showcased on Google will put the soup kitchen “on the map” and remind people to donate to the nonprofit.
The Google Street View capture is one element of the Hancock County Tourism’s online advertising initiative. The organization has agreed to pay Truly360 $2,000 a month for two years, Jones said. The agency has already been optimizing the county’s presence on Google. That includes pulling event and business information year-round from the tourism website and using it to promote Hancock County on the county’s Google listing and Google’s travel guide, furthering its reach online, Jones said.
Truly360 this week also took 360-degree videos inside the county’s top four hotels; conducted one-on-one training with six other hotels to improve their Google presence; and recorded drone aerial tours.
Jones wrote on Hancock County Tourism’s Facebook page that the updated street view images will get uploaded in the next four to six weeks, near the end of August or beginning of September.
