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Google Earth mapped the route for a colossal statue of ancient Egypt's powerful warrior king, Ramses II, from congested Cairo to a new home near the pyramids.
Google Earth, owned by the world's top Internet search engine, added a "Statue of Ramses II" section to its map index in tribute to the pink, 91-tonne effigy's epic move Friday from a congested central Cairo square to a museum near the pyramids.
"Turns out some smart engineers work for the transportation contractor," Google Egypt business manager Sherif Iskander wrote in a blog on the company website. "They used Google Earth to plan the route."
Walkways, cables, fences and road dividers were brought down to clear the path for the statue and roads were tested to determine whether they could handle the load, according to Iskander.
"Ramses II will embark on what is most probably his last journey," Iskander wrote.
"Seeing is believing, so I got together with the Earth team and came up with this ... overlay showing the complete route of the journey from downtown Cairo to the Grand Egyptian Museum out by the Pyramids."
Ramses II, from the 19th dynasty of pharaohs, reigned over Egypt for 68 years, from 1304 to 1237 BC, and is believed to have lived to the age of 90.
Discovered in 1883 near Memphis, the ancient pharaonic capital, the 11-meter (36-foot) statue was moved to Cairo in 1954.
Damaged by pollution and hemmed in by urban construction, the statue was to be moved closer to its original site during a high-risk overnight operation through the streets of the capital on a motorized convoy.
Iskander wrote of being able to see the statue from miles (kilometers) away when he was growing up in Cairo.
"Over the years the king became surrounded by fly-overs, steel walkways and an underground station," Iskander said in his blog.
"It got to the point where you really had to know where the statue was to see it."
The pharaonic convoy was to begin moving at a snail's pace at 1:00 am Friday (2200 GMT Thursday) on a 35-kilometer (21-mile) journey to its new home at the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is to open soon near the Giza Pyramids.
The Google Earth program enabled users to swoop in on the route by combining mapping and satellite imagery, but would not display the move in real time, according to the Mountain View, California, search colossus.
"This is a way to celebrate this great feat of engineering," said Google spokeswoman Megan Quinn.
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AFPLifestyle-US-Egypt-IT-archeology-Ramses-Google
AFP 242043 GMT 08 06
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