Google Asia Pacific Blog: February 2014

Mapping Asia now and (way back) then

Friday, February 28, 2014

Digital maps can help us understand the world better and enable us to track change in the landscape when it happens very suddenly, because of a flood or a typhoon for example. But as the launch of the Google Maps Gallery shows, it can also show the changes and constants that define an area over the centuries.

Here are three very old maps you can now explore with the new Maps Gallery. Expand the maps below by clicking on the square at the top right, then use the slider to get a glimpse of the old map and the modern one at the same time.

Tokyo 1680
Zoom to the palace to see how little has changed over the years in that part of the city formerly known as Edo. The map also shows how Edo, the city of rivers, became Tokyo, the city of major roads that run over rivers.

Map from the David Rumsey Map Collection: Hayashi, Yoshinaga, The East Asian Library at the University of California, Berkeley

The Philippines 1902
Explore the ports and lighthouses, post offices and telegraph stations in this extraordinarily detailed map of the Southern Philippine Islands.

Map from The National Geographic Society

India 1804
This map was based on surveys by the East India Company, which had the British monopoly on trade with India.

Map from the David Rumsey Map Collection by James Rennell, Thomas Kitchen, Robert Laurie and James Whittle

Maps Gallery works like an interactive digital atlas. You can explore historic city plans, school ratings, deforestation changes, climate trends, shipwrecks and up-to-date evacuation routes. In addition to finding these maps through Maps Gallery, they can be viewed in Google Earth and are discoverable through major search engines.

People can browse content from organizations such as National Geographic Society, the World Bank Group, and the United Nations Environmental Program, but this is just the beginning. With the goal of making this information more readily available to the world, Google Maps Gallery is now open to organizations with content for the public good.

Organizations interested in submitting content can apply to participate in Maps Gallery. To find out more read our FAQ. Together with governments, businesses and nonprofits, we can unlock the world’s geospatial data.

Posted by Jordan Breckenridge, Google Maps, Product Manager

Coding’s up again this summer

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

What are you dreaming of doing this summer? Tan? Beach? Code?

For ten years, Google Summer of Code (GSoC) has given university students around the world the chance to write code for an open source project during their summer break and earn a stipend after successfully completing the program. Nearly 2,000 students from Asia (out of 7,500 globally) have taken part in GSoC.

At a GSoC event in Singapore yesterday, we heard that students and mentors find it a great way to experience making real-world software and that this involvement helps them as they continue their studies. Singapore’s always had a strong role in GSoC. The National University of Singapore has seen 73 students participate in the last nine years — the third-highest number of students from a single university.

If you’re interested in taking part this year, now is the time to find out about the 190 open source projects participating in GSoC for 2014 and to decide on one or two that you might be interested in working with over the summer. You then have between March 10 and 21 to hand in your submissions. And if you’re in Cambodia, join us at FOSSASIA 2014 in Phnom Penh later this week to hear first-hand from students and mentors about their GSoC experience.

Shao Hong Peh, computer science undergrad at NUS, shares his GSoC experience with students and mentors in Singapore

Posted by Stephanie Taylor, Open Source Programs Team

Discover the Taj Mahal and other iconic Indian monuments on Street View

Friday, February 21, 2014

Cross posted from the Google LatLong blog

India’s Taj Mahal, with it’s majestic symmetry of white marble structures, is considered one of the top places to see during your lifetime. Starting today, anyone with an Internet connection can explore the Taj Mahal and 29 of India’s most iconic national monuments through Street View on Google Maps and the Google Cultural Institute.

The Taj Mahal, the crown jewel of India

These Indian heritage sites have historically been admired by those lucky enough to journey to and across India. With the new panoramic imagery live on Street View, people around the world can now visit these iconic monuments online.

Using the Street View Trekker, we’ve brought you images that let you virtually stroll through the vast grounds of Humayun's Tomb, admire the red sandstone walls of Red Fort, and explore the ancient temples at Muvar Koil.

Agra Fort, Agra, India, one the capital forts from the Mughal Empire

Qutb Minar, Delhi, India, home to the tallest brick minaret in India

We’ve worked with the Archaeological Survey of India to bring you this new way of experiencing India’s national treasures. Take a behind-the-scenes look the Taj Mahal, and experience this place in a whole new way through Google Maps.

In a country as rich with heritage as India, technology can change the way we learn about and understand the past. We hope the Street View imagery of these 30 iconic Indian monuments will help share and preserve these sites, their stories and more of India’s diverse heritage for generations to come.

Posted by Gautam Gandhi, Street View Program Manager

Teaching families online safety in Taiwan

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Did you know that one in three children in Taiwan has shared their social networking account passwords with others? And among them, over half have shared their passwords with people who are not their parents. There are a lot of great things to share, but kids need to know that a password is not one of them.

This is why we’re supporting the efforts of the Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) to educate kids, parents and teachers in Taiwan about staying safe online. Over the next twelve months, CWLF will run a Family Online Safety Program that includes digital literacy workshops for both parents and kids, and an interactive online safety experience on Children’s Day on April 4. We especially look forward to seeing creative entries to a competition for the best online safety video on YouTube that’s happening later in the year -- stay tuned for more details on how to enter!

Lee-Feng Chien, Managing Director of Google Taiwan, and Yu-Min Wang, Director of the Board of CWLF with kids from Taipei schools

Posted by Lee-Feng Chien, Managing Director, Google Taiwan

Hong Kong’s digital economy momentum

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The frequently heard refrain in Hong Kong is that there just aren’t many young people interested in startups or entrepreneurship. Nothing could have been further from the truth when we kicked off our Empowering Young Entrepreneurs Program with the Chinese University of Hong Kong this past Sunday. With more than 500 attendees and over 900 applicants within a few short months of announcing the program, it is clear that there is no shortage of young people who want to take fresh approaches to Hong Kong’s economy.

More than 600 people packed the room at the kickoff of the EYE Program

Dominic Allon, Managing Director of Google Hong Kong, delivering remarks at the launch

In the last two years, Hong Kong has seen a remarkable amount of startup activity. InvestHK’s StartmeupHK Venture Programme 2013 attracted over 384 ventures from 39 countries. Several startups in Hong Kong have also gone global, such as comedy site 9GAG, which raised USD 2.8 million in seed funding and according to founder Ray Chan, attracts 2 billion pageviews a month.

We received applications from a diverse range of candidates, from former bankers now looking to make their way in the startup world, to skilled developers who have built apps in their spare time and need guidance to bring them to market. Program participants will now begin a one-year training and mentorship program that will help them sharpen their entrepreneurial skills and thinking, and build the best possible business models to realize their ideas.

The Economist aptly describes the world as being in a Cambrian moment, where cheap and ubiquitous building blocks for digital products and services are driving an entrepreneurial explosion. This has given rise to startup “ecosystems” emerging in big cities. "Innovation and technology are not only economic drivers; they can also upgrade our quality of life and enhance the efficiency of our community," said Chief Executive C.Y. Leung in his annual Policy Address. With its free flow of information, superb infrastructure and international outlook, Hong Kong has certainly got the fundamentals in place.

Posted by Andy Yee, Public Policy Lead, Google Hong Kong

Lanterns are for lovers

Monday, February 17, 2014

Meanwhile, searches for chocolate beat searches for tangyuan by nearly 40%.

However, the top related search term was 元宵情人節 — or “Lantern Valentine’s Festival,” a portmanteau of the two terms, just as the buzz in the U.S. was of Thanksgivingukkah in 2013. Perhaps the convergence of the two holidays made it extra romantic? Certainly that is a reason for the creation of fusion, chocolate-filled tangyuan popular amongst Chinese confectioners this year.

Posted by Joyce Hau, Communications Senior Associate, Google APAC

Last week in Asia, couples grappled with a dilemma that comes up only every 19 years. Should they go for a candlelit meal for two in honor of the Western Valentine’s Day, or a rowdy meal with the rest of their family to honor the Lantern Festival?

Traditionally families gather to mark Lantern Festival, the last day of the lunar new year period. They fire off any remaining firecrackers and eat a big hearty meal featuring tangyuan, glutinous rice balls with a sweet sesame or peanut paste inside. Interestingly enough in Taiwan, it’s also a day for lovers, as many couples take part in the romantic ritual of releasing paper sky lanterns into the night sky.

That made this February 14 an interesting test case in globalization. Were folks in Taiwan more interested in Valentine’s Day, or in Lantern Festival? According to Google Trends, searches for Valentine’s Day in Taiwan still beat those for Lantern Festival by about 20%:

Meanwhile, searches for chocolate beat searches for tangyuan by nearly 40%.

Safer Internet Day: Helping families stay safe online

Friday, February 14, 2014

The Internet has brought a number of incredible things to the world - from K-Pop to music awards to long-distance learning. And it should also be a safe space for families to explore, learn and enjoy together. That is why we’re working with partners around the world to get the word out about good Internet practices and how to best use our tools to keep users safe online.

To coincide with Safer Internet Day on February 11, we launched a nationwide campaign in India with the Digital Empowerment Foundation and the Voluntary Organization in the Interest of Consumer Education to bring a series of online safety workshops to schools, NGOs, consumer and industry groups across the country. In Australia, we hosted a roundtable with online safety advocates and in Japan, we’re supporting the National Information Security Center to raise public awareness around Internet security throughout February, which is Information Security Month.

At the first in a series of events we held in New Delhi, Dr. Gulshan Rai, Director-General at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, spoke of the need to educate and empower web users about online safety to make the most of the Internet’s potential. We couldn’t agree more.

Panel discussion at the launch of Internet Safety Week in New Delhi

Staying safe on the web starts with maintaining a conversation about it with our kids. Every family member should know the dos and don’ts of online safety and the consequences of inappropriate use. It’s important that kids feel they can ask parents for guidance when they encounter tricky online situations.

Google also invests in safety features and partners with parents, teachers and NGOs to make the Internet better. For example, turning on SafeSearch in Google Search or Safety Mode in YouTube helps filter out mature content that you might not want showing up on the family computer. On Android devices, doing something as simple as filtering apps in the Google Play store will limit what content your kids can download to your device.

We hope you’ll take time to sit down with your kids and start the conversation about basic Internet safety with them today. Visit our Google Safety Center for more advice on keeping your family safe online.

The new Google Safety Center

Posted by Vaishnavi Jayakumar, Public Policy & Government Relations Associate, Google APAC

Lanterns light up Asia for the Lunar New Year

Friday, February 14, 2014

Across many parts of Asia tonight, beautiful paper lanterns of various shapes and sizes will be lit to mark the end of Lunar New Year celebrations. Today’s Google doodle in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan illustrates the Lantern Festival tradition of children carrying their handmade made paper lamps to their local temple, where they try to guess riddles written on the lanterns in return for a small gift.

For a closer look at these exquisite lanterns in their typical setting, we’ve just published to Street View 360-degree imagery of several tourist destinations in the middle of their Lunar New Year celebrations. These include the historical cities of Tai'erzhuang and Zhoucun in Shandong, China and the West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre in Hong Kong, so people around the world can virtually experience the festivities through Google Maps.

Tai'erzhuang District, Shandong

Zhoucun Main Street, Shandong

West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre, Hong Kong

Wishing all our readers a colorful Lantern Festival!

Posted by Cynthia Wei, Street View Program Manager

Google Science Fair: Taking life-changing ideas from Asia to the world

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Bright young minds from the Asia-Pacific region have tackled some of the world’s greatest challenges in the Google Science Fair that is now in its fourth year. They’ve turned their passions into something that could change the world, from finding ways to bring stable power to remote villages in India, or for farmers to cultivate crops on multi-storeyed buildings to overcome land scarcity.

Last year, inspired by a trip to India where he saw ambulances stuck in traffic jams and unable to move, Australia’s Viney Kumar won the 13-14-year-old category for his Android app that tells drivers to get out of the way when an emergency vehicle is approaching. That year also saw three 16-year-old Singaporeans, Yi Xi Kang, Kwok Ling Yi and Tricia Lim, get to the finals with their exploration of how liver scarring could be helped and prevented with hormones.

Viney Kumar with other 2013 winners Ann Makosinski, Elif Bilgin and Eric Chen

So if you’ve got a great idea like Rohit Fenn, who developed a system to reduce toilet water consumption by half, or Shrishti Asthana who found a way to recycle fuel by using sunlight in the hope of saving the world from a global energy crisis now is the time to let the world know.

All you need to participate in this year’s Google Science Fair is curiosity and an Internet connection. Project submissions are due May 12, and the winners will be announced at the finalist event at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, on September 22. For more details on how to sign up (and all the cool prizes that are waiting for you), visit www.googlesciencefair.com.

What do you love? What are you good at? What problem have you always dreamed of solving? Get started with your project today—it’s your turn to change the world.

Posted by Clare Conway, Google Science Fair team

Raicho Hiratsuka: Japan’s woman in blue

Monday, February 10, 2014

Today we celebrate the 128th birthday of Raicho Hiratsuka, a writer and key figure in Japan’s women’s movement. She founded Seitou, Japan’s first all-women literary magazine, when she was in high school.

The magazine, whose title “blue stocking” pays tribute to the female intellectuals of 18th-century Britain, is also depicted in today’s doodle along with its various readers from different backgrounds — some wearing Western clothing, others traditional Japanese outfits. Seitou shocked early 20th century Japan by raising issues such as female sexuality and abortion, as well as women’s suffrage, which Raicho campaigned for and was introduced some thirty years later.

We leave you with Raicho’s opening words to Seitou’s first edition, published in 1911:

"In the beginning, woman was truly the sun. An authentic person. Now she is the moon, a wan and sickly moon, dependent on another, reflecting another's brilliance..."

Posted by Mai Fukue, Brand Marketing Manager, Google Japan

Wish we were here

Friday, February 7, 2014

Now that everyone’s returning from their Lunar New Year travels, let’s take a look back at all the destinations Asia was searching for over the past year. The map below shows the top destinations searched on Google in a few Asian countries. Perhaps surprising for a country that is so far away from its nearest neighbors, Australia’s searches (in red) cast the widest radius across the world: its top travel destination was Disneyland (the nearest one being Hong Kong’s, 7,000 km away), and the second was Dubai, a staggering 12,000 km distance from Sydney. Tourists in China, on the other hand, like to stay close to home, with domestic travel spots like Hangzhou and Jiuzhaigou taking top billing. India stands out as the only country whose users searched for a U.S. city: Boston, home of MIT and Harvard.

Why does this matter? It’s a reminder that often the first step on a journey is taken online and that paying attention to those first steps in Asia is important. Asia will drive most of the growth of the tourism industry over the next 15 years.

Posted by Joyce Hau, Communications Senior Associate, Google APAC

Korea's cultural creators as lean startups

Thursday, February 6, 2014

The Korea Herald recently published my thoughts on how Korea's corporate culture spills over to Korea's culture. Cultural conglomerates have their role to play, but Korea needs to help artists flourish as lean startups (30 years ago, we'd have called this the punk ethos). The same is true across Asia Pacific, where the Internet is a catalyst for entrepreneurship and new job opportunities. The vast majority of the economic value created by the Internet is captured by companies in more traditional industries, and by SMEs in particular.

Here's an excerpt:

Korea’s talent for creating content isn’t matched by the opportunities it has to release that content. A recent survey revealed that there are some 3,000 departments in specialized high schools, universities and graduate schools that teach content production and together they produce about 55,000 graduates every year. However, less than 15 percent of those students find jobs that make use of their education. What a waste!

If we could get those students to treat culture the same way startups treat revenue, that would expand Korea’s cultural base, reduce youth unemployment and, by definition, further the “creative economy” ― a key initiative of the Korean government. [...]

There have been many programs encouraging and supporting IT-based venture firms but very few to support individuals with creative talents. While many people think of the venture industry as exclusively for technology developers, cultural creators are indeed a group of people who can realize “lean startups” that can be launched without many initial costs. That’s why we see a lot of potential for Content Korea Lab, which the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Korea Creative Content Agency are creating.

I hope you enjoy the whole piece. Here are some of the YouTube partners that I think work perfectly as cultural lean startups.

Sungha Jung plays Thriller live at a recent concert

Great Library CAST, a popular game creator on YouTube, plays along to "My cat has a problem"

Posted by Brian Suh, Head of YouTube Partnerships, Google Korea

RISE Awards 2014: Nurturing tech innovators in Asia

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Technology has the power to change the world for the better, which is why we want to inspire more young people in Asia to not just use technology, but create it.

The Google Roots in Science and Engineering (RISE) Awards were set up to help address this challenge globally, and we’re happy to announce that in 2014, two organizations from Asia Pacific have been awarded grants for their programs that will encourage more young people to pursue careers in tech. We especially like these initiatives because they’re built around youth who aren’t exposed to much technology in their education.

Engineers Without Borders in Australia will create and pilot new high school workshops to nurture more coders. They will do this partially by reaching out to students not traditionally engaged in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs.
Life is Tech! in Japan will enable more teenagers without access to computer science in their schools to take part in mobile app development classes and summer camps. The goal is to focus outreach especially to girls.

Japanese students tell us about Life is Tech!

Visit our site for a full list of our 2014 RISE Award recipients and to learn how to apply for funding. We hope to see more Asia Pacific RISErs in the future, creating new technologies to empower the region!

Posted by Hai Hong, RISE Program Manager

Asia Pacific Blog

Mapping Asia now and (way back) then

Coding’s up again this summer

Discover the Taj Mahal and other iconic Indian monuments on Street View

Teaching families online safety in Taiwan

Hong Kong’s digital economy momentum

Lanterns are for lovers

Safer Internet Day: Helping families stay safe online

Lanterns light up Asia for the Lunar New Year

Google Science Fair: Taking life-changing ideas from Asia to the world

Raicho Hiratsuka: Japan’s woman in blue

Wish we were here

Korea's cultural creators as lean startups

RISE Awards 2014: Nurturing tech innovators in Asia

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