Sunshine Matters

I am proud to announce that today’s launch of the Florida Beach Finder marks the culmination of a year-long project to showcase the state’s beaches to visitors from around the globe.  VISIT FLORIDA has unveiled online tools allowing travelers to virtually walk hundreds of miles of Sunshine State beaches – from legendary locations such as Miami Beach to lesser-known sanctuaries such as Cayo Costa.

Say hello to Florida Beach Finder, found on VISITFLORIDA.com/beachfinder.  Here’s how it works:

Visitors can “tune” their preferences in four ranges of beach personalities.  Looking for action-packed, secluded or maybe somewhere in between?  Florida Beach Finder immediately delivers visual choices that best match users desires.  With every tweak of the tuner, the options change before their eyes.

Next, they can “walk” the Florida beaches they love with immersive Street View imagery in Google Maps.  In one of the first partnerships of the Street View Trekker Loan Program, VISIT FLORIDA and Google collaborated on a four-month trek to photograph Florida’s beaches and to make the imagery available to the world.  The same technology that lets viewers mouse around their city streets and tour monuments now empowers Florida beach lovers to view the sand, sky and shorelines of the beaches they choose to explore – all in 360-degree panorama.

“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,” said Susannah Costello, VISIT FLORIDA Vice President, Global Brand.

With each beach, Florida Beach Finder users can absorb videos, photography and feature stories reported by award-winning Florida journalists.  And social media tools will allow visitors to share their discoveries with friends and family.

Florida beaches are top of mind for many travelers.  With Florida Beach Finder and the Street View technology, these destinations – both the internationally famous and the well-kept secrets – will come into focus better than ever.

This huge project would not have been possible without the collective efforts of all those involved.  I would like to thank the Google Street View team, TripTuner, SapientNitro and a long list of VISIT FLORIDA staff: Michael Rankin, Jill Stewart, Dorothy Thames, Kenneth Morgan, Laura Cassels, Lucy Spann, Pam Forrester, Megan Houser, Gin Adamoli, Josh McClellan, Kate Chunka, Stefanie Curll, Heather Collins, Phil Ward, Kevin McGeever, Sean Buzzetta, Kathy Torian and Vangie Fields.