In a partnership with Google, Visit Florida has documented 825 miles of its white-sand beaches for virtual exploration.
The feature, up on the Visit Florida website here, is dubbed "the Beach Finder" and allows potential visitors to find their perfect beach by manipulating a series of sliders.
The partnership allows potential visitors to Florida to explore beaches all over the state, moving around and checking out the scene. The idea is to allow visitors to identify the style of beach experience, and then explore exactly what it would be like to walk the beach. By experiencing and visualizing the beach, the user becomes more engaged and connected to the idea of a Florida beach vacation.
Another benefit to this technological integration is that it empowers potential visitors to select the perfect beach for the visit. Surely Visit Florida fields many requests relating to the state's beaches, and this interface puts discovery in the hands of the user. This offers more control and specificity when it comes to matching beaches with visitors.
Susannah Costello, Visit Florida's VP of Global Brand, confirms this stance:
For potential visitors, it's an opportunity to dig their virtual toes into any of Florida's beaches -- and find their dream beach before they come. For Florida, it's an opportunity to showcase that we have the greatest variety of beach experiences in the world.
It took four months to document the beaches, and the content was completed in November 2013.
Explore Florida's latest beach promotion here.