2022
Southern Highway is Sri Lanka's road to the Beach Party Central. It connects the Colombo to all the amazing beach towns down south. Bentota, Aluthgama, Hikkaduwa, Galle, Unawatuna, Mirissa. Dikwella, Thangalla
The latest and Final extension of this highway is from Mathara to Hambanthota. This 96km extension makes creates a historically and economically important connection. It provides the direct link from Capital city to Sri Lanka's second International Airport at Maththala and International Port and Industrial zone in Hambanthota. With this total length of Southern highway become 222 km. ? ? ?
New highway extension was declared open on 23rd Feb 2020. I was determined to add this so important highway to street view. I discussed with my LG partner @kasunaaa and made plans to get this giant highway section into Streetview. It won’t going to be easy. 200 + km of street view recording.
But we were certain about one thing. That our Insta 360 Monster is hungry for another highway after we feed him the previous Kerawalapitiya Highway section.
We planed a continuous power supply. Because we can’t stop in the middle of the highway to change batteries.
We planned for additional memory as this is going to be a 3hrs + street view footage.
And we even planned for food, water, fuel and even bathroom breaks for the trip as it going to be a looooong loooooong ride.
@Rumal95, @Yukthi and as always @asunaaa confirmed the attendance for the meetup. Three of them joined me at Kadawatha. All of us were very excited.
We got into the car and started our Journey to Mathara. Along the way, we discussed 360 photography, drawing blue lines, Making virtual tours and other exciting stuff. @Yukthi and @Rumal95 were really keen to experiment with the 360 camera. I and Kasun share all our knowledge and learnings with them while giving them some hands-on experience. We arrived at Mathara meetup starting location after a 150 km ride to Mathara where our meet up starting point.
We set up our 360 camera on the car. I got behind the wheel. Kasunaa was got the camera app control, Yukthi and Rumal95 got in the back seat and took the responsibility of monitoring the camera. We were all set, Kasun set the recording mode to SV and I hit the gas paddle. And Yes, these four local guides started drawing this historical blue line.?
The New Interchanges
- Palatuwa
- Aparakka(road goes through the Aprekka forest reserve and Sri Lanka's first Eco bridge built for animals to cross the highway)
- Beliaththa
- Kasagala
- Angunalolapalassa
- Barawakakumbuka
- Suriyawewa
- Mattala
- Hambanthota
All of us were curious to see the new highway and its surroundings. It was a fresh road, running through the paddy fields in southern low lands and forest areas. We saw a lot of Peacocks along the road. There were warning signs in some areas to be alert on Peacock which may be crossing the road.
It was a long long ride. But we were so excited so we never felt tired. We had a lot of time though. We shared our Local Guide stories, Rumal and Ykthi were providing so much entertainment. The car was filled with fun and laughter. It was a blue line meetup but it became more of an LG brotherhood bonding time.
Along the way, Yukthi and Rumal had a lot of questions about 360 photography, blue line, and street view.
Kasun and I shared all our experience and knowledge with them.
As we planned we were tracking the battery life, and memory consumption closely. After a one and half hour drive passing paddy fields, Solar farms, forest sanctuaries and several dozens of Peacocks. We were reaching our first destination Hambantghota(aka Magampura) where New international port and Industrial zone were set up. We could see the big cranes in the port from the distance.
We reached the toll gates and we were already celebrating. We paid the toll fee but the booth keeper and the police officer were curious about the 360 camera fixed in the car. After the unfortunate easter attack security personal are always alert for unusual things. We explained to them what we were doing and they were really happy about our mission to include this new highway street view in Google maps.
We exit the highway quickly backed up the valuable footage, change batteries. While baking up going on we stretched ourselves outside the car. Took a few photos and get right back on the road.
When we are on blue line mode we are nothing could come in the middle. We entered the highway again and headed towards Maththala International Airport. It was a 20mins SV video ride from Hambanthota. In this section, we saw electric fences on the sides of the highway to prevent big guys(“Sri Lankan Wild Elephants”) going on rides on the highway without paying a toll.
We exit from Maththala, did a quick you turn, start a new SV video and enter the highway again to head towards Mathara.
It’s another long drive back to Mathara. But we didn’t feel the distance or the time pass by. Because of all the stories started to flow, photo moments and LG experience sharing. Along all of that, we didn’t forget tracking the recording, batteries, and memory. When we were reaching the Matara milestone were excited as a bunch of kids. We are completing 200 + km of street view. YES, @ravindus @Kasunaa @Rumal95 and @Yukthi_Isuranga four Local Guides from Sri Lanka finishing a 200 km long long Blue Line…!!!
RECAP Video ...
Thank loads for @Rumal95 for the RECAP video. Thanks, @Yukthi_Isuranga for the beautiful video captures. This was a superb ream work.
@IlankovanT , @PaulPavlinovich , @InaS , @VasT , @Aruni @JaneBuruninahope you like this.
