Google Street View opens up Silva's real-life 'Skyfall' island for online tours

Gunkanjima ("Battleship Island") is one of the world's most well-known "ghost towns." Originally developed as a seabed coal mining facility, more than 5000 people inhabited the island at the peak of its prosperity. The last inhabitants left in 1974, and today the island remains uninhabited.

The island became world famous when Silva used it as his base of operations in the 2012 blockbuster James Bond adventure "Skyfall" (although the island was recreated at Pinewood Studios in England).

Google this week released 360-degree panoramas of the island.

"Thanks to assistance from Nagasaki City, we were able to collect imagery with the Google Trekker beyond the cordoned-off areas for tourists and into off-limits paths around the island. We also used our Business Photos technology to let you peek into the abandoned buildings, complete with ancient black-and-white TVs and discarded soda bottles," the Google Maps crew said in a blog post.

Click here to get your virtual walk-about started.

Discuss this news here...