Callanish Stones on Google site

The world-famous Callanish Stones have been captured by Google Street View.

The 5,000-year-old megaliths are a top Scottish tourist attraction, and only rivalled by Stonehenge.

They are the latest to go live as Google uploads thousands of close-up photographs of people, houses, streets and villages across the UK on to its Street View virtual maps.

The Western Isles is one of the remotest places to be photographed and Google is now displaying high-detaild images of salmon farms, peat stacks, ferries and fishing boats, as well as people’s clothes on washing lines on the internet.

The Callanish Stones are sited next to crofts and houses along a public road and were being snapped as the camera car sped through the township.

Last summer, the internet company sent its camera cars into towns and villages across many parts of Scotland.

In August, the camera vehicles went on CalMac ferries and toured the Western Isles to take the pictures of different locations.

The internet giant has sparked controversy over potentially invading people’s privacy with thousands of people photographed without their permission just because they were caught as the camera car drove by – like a man making a rude gesture to the spycam in the centre of Tarbert, Harris.

Google says it blurs number plates and faces, while property and vehicles can be removed on request.