Thailand version of Google Street View launched

[PeteC]

Thailand version of Google Street View launched
Asina Pornwasin
The Nation March 24, 2012 1:00 am

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nationa ... 78666.html

Six months after starting work on the project, Google Thailand yesterday officially launched the Google Street View service in the Kingdom - the second country in Southeast Asia in which it is available, following Singapore.

Street View is an online technology that provides panoramic views of city streets and some other areas. Thailand is the 35th country in the world in which Google Street View has been made available. It was first launched in the United States in 2007.

Pornthip Kongchun, head of marketing for Google Thailand, said that six months after the company embarked on the project, Thai people can now experience Google Street View for themselves. The service currently covers Bangkok and its surrounding urban areas, Chiang Mai and Phuket. Coverage of these provinces is about 95 per cent.

"In Asia-Pacific, Google Street View is available in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, Singapore and Thailand. In Thailand, the next cities for Street View will be Chiang Rai, Lamphun, Lampang, Nakhon Phanom, Hat Yai and Nakhon Si Thammarat, and also Thailand's World Heritage cities," Pornthip said.

She added that Google Street View is designed in part as a tool to leverage Thailand's tourism industry. The Google Street View project in Italy's ancient city of Pompeii resulted in an immediate 25-per-cent increase in tourists.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Suraphon Svetasreni said the TAT is collaborating with Google Thailand to use Street View imagery to promote Thailand's tourist attractions throughout the country by showing the world what they look like, where they are and how to get there.

"The first priority is Thailand's World Heritage [sites]. We plan to allow Google Thailand's Street View team to collect images of the World Heritage sites started in Ayutthaya and Sukhothai, as well as Sri Satchanalai," Suraphon said.

The TAT has invited people to nominate interesting places or national treasures to be featured in Google Street View for the world to explore at http://www.tourismthailand.org/mymiracle.

Thapanee Kiatphaibool, assistant director at the TAT's Marketing Information Technology Group, said the agency expects Google Street View will help increase the number of international tourists visiting Thailand this year.

"We expect it should help boost tourism by even more than the 25 per cent it achieved in Italy's Pompeii. The TAT earlier targeted attracting around 19.5 million people to visit Thailand this year. With Google Street View we hope it should be higher than that, but we have not yet finalised the numbers," Thapanee said.

Pornthip emphasised that Google has gone to great lengths to safeguard privacy while allowing all Thai users to benefit from the Google Street View feature. To use Google Street View in Thailand, access http://maps.google.co.th/streetview.

[Takiap]

Looking at the list of cities that are next on the list, I'd say they don't only have tourism in mind.

[PeteC]

Somewhere on here more than a year ago, I saw a link to some kind of interactive Hua Hin street map. It was like you were walking or driving down various streets. Don't know if that was a Google Map enterprise or not? I think there is one or more for Pattaya as well. Pete

[Norseman]

Pete, I believe you are thinking of this link http://www.mapjack.com/

[PeteC]

Pete, I believe you are thinking of this link http://www.mapjack.com/

Yes indeed that's it, thanks. Pete

[STEVE G]

Google could do my partners village up in Issan by attaching a camera to the back of a water buffalo and letting it wander around for a bit!

[charlesh]

If you click on the original link you end up in Capetown Sth Africa! Says it all.

[Super Joe]

Google Street View: http: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/

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SJ

[MrPlum]

Quick! Password protect your laptops.

[BaaBaa.]

Pretty cool, stops at my local 7 though, no side roads.

[charlesh]

Tried the link again and still ended up in the US (white house) . Tried the collections and Thailand not even on the list!

[lomuamart]

Had me stumped for a while as well, but if you use the link SJ gave it opens the White House as you said.
Click on "Learn" at the top of the page. Then "using street view" on the next page. That's a street map. Change to satellite (top right corner). Then move that "drag thingy" on the LHS down toward the bottom till you get a view of most of the world.
Left click and drag the map to the left until you see Thailand and go back to the "scale" and start zooming in.
Trial and error will get you to HH. Then you've got to move the man to see the street view.
Probably not the best explanation. Good luck.

[chopsticks]

Another way is to click on 'maps' at top of Google home page.
Enter Hua Hin in search box.
then move zoom slider up until street names appear,
finally drop and drag the little man icon onto the street you want to view.

[Super Joe]

Apologies for the non-direct link peeps, and thanks to the above for explaining how best to navigate to HH

SJ

[charlesh]

Thanks, now able to have a squizz. Had to laugh with peoples faces morphed out and car Reg places similarly disguised!