I love riding trains. They are far and away my favorite mode of transportation, and due to the fact I live in the Midwest one usually reserved for vacations. That’s why I was so excited to have found Google Map’s virtual journey on the Trans Siberian Railway; where Google has partnered with Russian Railways to give you a window seat view of the world famous 9221km route.
The site (it’s more of a single page actually) has the basic Google style and contains several simple, but useful tools. It’s also the first time in a while that I’ve seen individual content blocks work together to create such a cohesive whole. The video is the star here, but is enhanced by audio options, map tracking and a travel guide.
You can use the map to jump to any section of the trip, or visit the highlights by selecting one of the options from the travel guide. As a bonus, you can choose a variety of soundtrack options to make the experience complete. Personally I prefer the “rumble of the wheels”—it’s quite soothing when paired with the video.
My biggest quibble with the site is that it misses out on a huge opportunity to convert users by failing to provide an easy way to learn more about the route. They provide a link to the Russian Railways website, but it just goes to the home page. A link to a Trans Siberian Railways landing page or even the Trans Siberian Railways section of the website would be much more effective. The omission of sharing tools is also a drawback and severely limits the impact word-of-mouth marketing could have. That’s such a shame too, since it’s definitely a site worth sharing.
