The short story so far: Google launched Australian Maps, a special map service designed for Australia, and decided to capture some high resolution photographs with the city right on the Australia Day, January 26. Because the search giant made a public announcement with its intentions, numerous Australia residents decided to celebrate the event by designing multiple banners to appear on the Google Maps service. Although the company confirmed the plans, Google didn't show up because Australia's authorities prohibited the search giant to fly at the 600 meters altitude for taking photographs.

Although it was quite an unpleasant situation for the well known Internet giant, it managed to capture several high resolution images with Sydney. All the photos were included in Google Maps today, offering some impressive panoramas for all the viewers. As you can see, the company tried to improve the quality of the images by taking photos from multiple angles and it really managed to draw some impressive 3D view for certain buildings.

"While we couldn't reach everywhere we'd hoped, we captured some great imagery and want to thank everyone who participated for helping make this celebration so much fun," Google said in an email sent to people who registered to be kept informed about the project. At Queens Park, for instance local software services company SSW put down a 50-meter long sign printed on vinyl sheeting, which cost $10,000. On Bondi Beach, where the plane was expected to pass overhead in the morning, about 200 supporters of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW lay in the sand to form the words: "Vote Climate" the Sidney Morning Herald reported.

Since the inclusion of the high resolution images in Google Maps, the company didn't made any official announcement but I guess all the photos are also available in the downloadable version of the maps, Google Earth. If you want to admire the incredible imagery recently captured by Google, you can click on this link and view the Sydney photos.