The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the most popular games on the Nintendo Switch. With many areas in Hyrule's overworld containing hidden secrets to many players, it allows for experimentation and exploration. One fan thought it would be fun to re-imagine what Breath of the Wild would look like if a website like Google Maps was designed for it.
Nassim Software is a software designer and Zelda fan. One idea he had was the idea of creating something akin to Google Maps for Breath of the Wild, where one could get a 360-degree picture of a location when taken to a certain place. This set in motion the project to create a Breath of the Wild street view site.
Nassim described the process behind recreating something similar to Google Maps' street-view as tedious. One of the first challenges was to get a scope of the project, narrowing his focus to Breath of the Wild due to its pleasant aesthetic and imagery. The next part was getting screenshots of the game to create the panoramic view needed. That required the use of a Wii U emulator and mods to take the many pictures that would be stitched together to form the street view of the game's locations.
After some coding and map creation, this results in a believable Google Maps replica. This includes the use of zooming into the map and fans can visit certain breathtaking locations of Breath of the Wild and see them in a beautiful 360 panoramic view. Some of the landmarks of the game can be visited, such as Mount Hylia and Hyrule Field. Furthermore, submissions for more locations and photos to be added are open for other fans to contribute, as a project like this is pretty difficult to maintain by one person.
After it was shared on Reddit, fans praised the work that went into this, with many enjoying exploring Hyrule in this fashion. Nassim goes on to say that he'll be using this experience to continue working on more projects similar to this. While this isn't the first Zelda-themed thing connected to Google Maps, it's certainly one of the most ambitious.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is currently available on the Nintendo Switch and Wii U.
Source: Nassim Software