Google creating virtual tours of Louisbourg, Banff, Gros Morne

You'll soon be able to take virtual tours of some of Canada's most beloved natural trails and historic sites under a new deal between Parks Canada and Google Maps.

Starting this summer, the internet giant plans to take its special cameras to natural and historic wonders from Louisbourg fortress in Nova Scotia to British Columbia's Pacific Rim National Park.

When the images are posted, viewers will be able to walk through a forest or peer into a room with 360-degree vision.

Parks Canada is hoping that allowing people to hike a trail on their computer screens will encourage them to do it in real life.

Filming is to begin in Louisbourg, a gigantic fort on Cape Breton Island that marks its 300th anniversary this year.

Other places will include:

• Gros Morne in Newfoundland.
• Grasslands in Saskatchewan.
• Banff and Jasper in Alberta.
• the historic walls and citadel of Quebec City.