Google Asia Pacific Blog: Google in Asia Blog

Now you can find the butcher, the baker and the yukata maker with Google Maps

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Tourists from around the world are flocking to Japan in increasing numbers. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, over 2 million tourists came to Japan in April, which is the highest number on record. If you’re one of the many visitors who doesn’t speak or read Japanese, it can be tricky to find your way around.

Say you’re shopping in downtown Tokyo. Although Google Maps can you tell you the English and Japanese names of stores like Matsumoto Kiyoshi or Lawson, these don’t tell you what kind of stores these are. Are they cosmetics stores, fashion boutiques, ramen restaurants or stationery stores? The list of possibilities is endless. (Which is how long it can feel to switch between apps to look things up too!)

From today it’s easier to see what kind of store you’re looking at in Google Maps. Now you’ll be able to see if you’re looking at a bookstore, laundromat, pizza restaurant or toy store in Google Maps. This way you’ll know that you can pick up a late night snack at Lawsons or some cosmetics at Matsumoto Kiyoshi.

There are more than 1,000 types of businesses available and this feature will be available in 19 languages. These include Arabic, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Dutch, English, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

These categories are rolling out over time and will appear in Google Maps when you arrive in Japan. We hope this new feature makes exploring Japan easier with Google Maps—and good luck finding that yukata!

Posted by Herman Sheremetyev, Software Engineer, Google Maps

India’s saathis bring the Internet to life for thousands of women across rural India

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Usha is an Internet Saathi in Dholpur, in the easternmost part of Rajasthan. She’s been trained to teach other women in her community, like Munni, how to get online. With Usha’s help, Munni has learned how to research sari blouse and bag designs on the Internet, finding inspiration and new techniques to create better products. Munni is now able to charge more for her work, and she uses the extra money she earns to pay for her education, to support her mother, and she hopes to treat herself to a gold ring soon.

Clockwise from left: Usha takes her bike, equipped with Internet-enabled devices to women in neighboring villages; showing Munni how to do a voice search to research designs on the Internet; Munni’s family looking on

Usha is just one of many Internet saathis—or “Internet companions”—who have helped over 200,000 women across India take their first steps online since we started this program with Tata Trusts back in July.

In a country where only a third of Internet users are women, and where just one in ten Internet users is a women in rural India, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to bridge the digital gender divide. Women living in rural areas often lack not only access to Internet-enabled devices, but many are also unaware of how the Internet can help them in their daily lives.

Our efforts to provide training on basic Internet skills to women across the country began with an Internet rickshaw nearly two years ago. Built on the back of a bike, the rickshaw was equipped with an Internet-enabled devices, information on using the web and an operator to explain. Over time, we recognized that to make a difference, we needed to be embedded within the communities we were working in. Having local women trainers, or companions, at the village level as trainers today is what makes Internet Saathis scalable, sustainable and truly impactful.

The Internet Saathi [pronounced sah-thee] program is a collaboration between Google and Tata Trusts, with Google helping to train the trainers and providing data-enabled devices. Once the saathis are trained, they are introduced into the communities through Tata Trust’s vast network which they built over many years through active community work in villages across India.

Saathis like Usha show women—many of whom are illiterate—how to perform basic tasks online, for example, using voice search to find information that can help them with everything from farming techniques to medical advice. If they want to know how to solve a problem, all they need to do is ask.

Munni performs a voice search to find information easily

Since launching Internet Saathi in July last year, we’ve been active across five states—Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh. By expanding the program to four new states, including Assam, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, we hope to see many more inspiring stories like Usha’s and Munni’s in the months and years ahead. As we work towards helping India close its digital gender divide, we are hopeful that through the use of technology and access to information, many more women will be able to build better lives for themselves and their families.

Posted by Neha Barjatya, Head of Digitizing India programs, Google India

“I realized the greatest pain in life is to be invisible, to be forgotten”

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Posted by Angie Lau, anchor at Bloomberg Television Asia and President, Asian American Journalists Association, AAJA-Asia Chapter

The phrase in the headline is what motivated this year’s winner of the AAJA Asia Google Digital Journalism Student Award: Bobby C. Chan.

It’s the second year for AAJA Asia’s awards for innovative mobile and digital storytelling in our region. This year, we wanted to support the work of journalists-to-be, encourage and provide a platform to help these young future professionals find an audience. We didn’t impose any specific parameters, we simply encouraged undergraduate students to unleash their creativity. The AAJA Asia’s panel of veteran journalists from across Asia and the U.S. chose Bobby and his team for http://streetwonder.org/

Its text, photos, videos, infographics, illustration and podcasts all shed light from different angles on the challenges facing underprivileged children in a Hong Kong neighborhood notorious for its sex trade and drug trafficking.

“Spending 40 days with these street children, I realized that the greatest pain in life is to be invisible, is to be forgotten,” said Bobby. “Winning this award reminds me what a privilege it is, as a journalist, to be heard, and to have a voice that reflects the truth. I want to thank all the children and families who welcomed me into their world.”

Macintosh HD:Users:bobby:Desktop:Award 2.png

Bobby C. Chan accepts the award from Angie Lau and Google’s Ksenia Duxfield-Karyakina

Two months after Street Wonder began circulating online, Bobby’s team received a phone call from Disneyland Hong Kong, saying it would give hundreds of VIP tickets for the street children in Yau Tsim Mong district to visit the theme park for a weekend in March 2016.

Street kids and the team behind Streetwonder.org go on a trip to Disneyland Hong Kong

Shortly after that, a Hong-Kong-based angel investor shared with Bobby her wish to set up a foundation and campaign for the street children. Later, she revealed that she too had once been a street child in Mongkok.

"It was never our goal to have these stories to reach this level of impact," says Bobby, "rather, it is a simple mission we embody as aspiring journalists to shed light into the dark. We are beyond grateful that this digital story has come to light in the AAJA-Asia Google Digital Journalism Award."

As part of his award, Bobby will attend this year’s Society of Publishers Award (SPOA) Gala Dinner and represent his region at a Global Editors Network summit in Vienna next year. Bobby will also join this year’s Google News Lab Asia Summit in Tokyo in the end of June to share his experience on digital skills and education for young journalist professionals across the region.

Explore history, beaches, and tea with new Street View imagery of Bangladesh

Thursday, June 9, 2016

After bringing you Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna on Street View last year, you can now explore even more of Bangladesh virtually with today’s launch of new Street View imagery from Barisal, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Rangpur, as well as 63 new Special Collects. From the winding rivers in the south, to the lush greenery of the north, this new collection lets you experience the beauty, history and diversity of Bangladesh right from the palm of your hand.

Home to magnificent architecture spanning thousands of years, you can explore Bangladesh's Mughal heritage at Dhaka’s Lalbagh Fort, see a blend of Mughal and European design at Curzon Hall, or take a walk around the ancient Paharpur Badalgachhi Upazila.

Dhaka’s majestic Lalbagh Fort sits on the banks of the Buriganga river overlooking old Dhaka city

Take a virtual stroll with the science students around the Curzon Hall grounds

One of the country’s most important archeological sites, Somapura Mahavihara was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985

Bangladesh is one of the world’s most important centers of tea production, and the new Street View imagery can show you how the perfect brew is grown at the Bangladesh Tea Research Institute in Sylhet.

As you wander through the verdant fields of the Bangladesh Tea Research Institute, you might just discover the country’s very first tea garden the “Malni chho ra”

Continue your adventures in nature by walking along the beach at St Martin's Island, or by checking out some of the exotic and rare plants at the botanical gardens in Dhaka.

This sleeping fishing spot in the northeast of the Bay of Bengal has become an increasingly popular tourist spot

The Botanical Garden houses nearly 50,000 species of trees, herbs, and shrubs including a large collection of aquatic plants

We hope that visiting Bangladesh with Google Maps (available on iOS and Android) will inspire a deeper appreciation for the beauty and history of this beautiful country around the world. Whether you continue your journey in Google Maps or are inspired to visit in person, we invite you to enjoy visiting the Land of the Royal Bengal Tiger.

Posted by Nishant Nair, Program Manager, Google Asia Pacific Street View Operations

Pim Thai Dai Laew: You can now type in Thai!

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Typing on a keyboard in English and other Latin script-based languages is pretty straightforward. However things get a little more complicated for languages like Thai which has 44 consonants, 19 vowels, a silencer and 4 tone marks which are all part of the alphabet.

With more than twice as many characters as English, which has just 21 consonants and 5 vowels, it’s no wonder that typos are more common on a Thai keyboard than on an English QWERTY keyboard. For a start, how do you manage to remember where all the different keys are?!

For this reason, lots of people in Thailand use a QWERTY keyboard and type phonetically using Latin characters. This style of typing even has a name, “Karaoke Thai” which is a reference to the Latin-based subtitles of Thai singalong songs. Karaoke Thai is a great workaround for music videos, but it’s not necessarily the best solution for typing an email, or writing a blog.

You can now type in Thai more easily with the launch of the new Thai transliteration keyboard. Available in Chrome as well as Gmail and Google Drive in other browsers, the new keyboard gives you a way to type phonetically, converting your keyboard inputs into Thai words and Thai letters.

Not only will your typing appear in Thai, but it will also require fewer taps. For example, typing the popular celebrity ณเดชน์ (pronounced “Nadet”), would have required 8 taps on a Thai keyboard. Now on the new Thai transliteration keyboard, it requires just 5 taps (nadet or naded).

“Karaoke Thai” for your web browser, but with actual Thai output.
“Have you tried the Thai Karaoke Keyboard?",
"Trying it out now",
"How is it?",
"It’s awesome"

Typing phonetically isn’t just good news for people who are in a hurry to get their message across, it’s also helpful to people who are new to the Thai language because they can type according to what they hear, rather than needing to know every character in the Thai alphabet. What’s more, the keyboard takes care of spelling errors by providing spelling suggestions from our dictionary.

Excited to try out the new keyboard? You’re just a few clicks away:

If you’re a Chrome user, just download the Google Input Tools extension here. Select “Add to Chrome”, then click on “Extension Options” until you find "[ก] Thai - ภาษาไทย".
It’s also available to Gmail and Google Drive users on any browser.

Go on, try it out by typing “Pim Thai Dai Laew”. That’s “พิมพ์ไทยได้แล้ว”, or “I can now type in Thai” :)

Posted by Pete Nuchanatanon, Head of Marketing, Google Thailand

Thailand's silver and gold glitter on YouTube

Thursday, May 12, 2016

In Bangkok today we’re celebrating some of Thailand’s favorite YouTube stars and recognizing their success with Silver and Gold Play Buttons. The Thai creator community is one of the world’s most vibrant, boasting over 300 Silver Button channels (those with over 100,000 subscribers), and over 20 Gold Button channels (those with over one million subscribers).

Meet some of those who received their Buttons at the opening of our first ever YouTube Pop-Up Space in Asia today, right here in Bangkok:

Clockwise from top left: TubtimTube (247K subscribers), ink & fern from 108Life (376K subscribers), NdMikki Holic (106K subscribers), Zbingz (1.3M subscribers)

From entertainer idol TubTimTube to educator Ormschool, from foodie Pholfoodmafia to beauty guru NdMikki Holic, YouTube has provided them with a platform to express themselves and reach audiences here in Thailand and around the world. They’ve all helped YouTube’s popularity skyrocket since it officially launched here just two years ago, moving Thailand into the top 10 countries globally in terms of watchtime, and growing at an astounding pace of 70% every year.

With such an active creator community here, we’ve decided to open a YouTube Pop-up Space in Bangkok. These Pop-up facilities bring a taste of the nine permanent YouTube Spaces around the world, giving YouTube creators a place to learn, connect, and create more high quality videos.

The YouTube Pop-up Space Bangkok opens in Bangkok today and includes a green room. Gaming creator Zbingz shot her latest video in the YouTube Pop-up Space Bangkok.

These studios will be free for Thai creators to use from May 12 to May 14, at G Village Co-Creation Hub, Bangkok. In addition to access to state-of-the-art production facilities, creators will get to participate in happy hours, collaboration event, and workshops about how to improve their channels.

If you didn’t get a chance to book production space this time, don’t worry: Pop-up Space is coming back to Bangkok in the week of August 22. Follow the latest updates about YouTube Pop-up Space Bangkok at #YouTubeSpaceBKK to stay informed of the latest news about activities and events.

Posted by David Macdonald, Head of YouTube Spaces Asia Pacific, who recently watched สายย่อ - Bie The Ska [OFFICIAL MV] #สายย่อ #Saiyor

300,000 logging in each week from 15 railway stations across India

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Guwahati station, the gateway to India’s easternmost states, has just became the 15th train station in India to offer our free, high-speed Wi-Fi service. The other stations that have just come online include Allahabad, Jaipur, Patna and Ujjain Junction, following quickly on the heels of the nine stations announced last month.

As the network has expanded, the number of people logging in has as well – we’re thrilled that more than 300,000 people are now using this high-speed Wi-Fi each week.

But we’re not stopping there. Based on the incredible demand we’ve seen at Mumbai Central, the first station that came online in January, we’re now also working with RailTel and Indian Railways to extend the project to cover 17 of the busiest suburban stations across Mumbai, stations that more than 1.5 million people pass through every day, by the end of this year.

For any Mumbaikars out there, these stations will include Bandra Terminus, Borivali, Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus, Churchgate, Dadar, Kalyan, Kurla, Panvel, Thane, and Vashi.

Here’s an updated map of the stations that now have Wi-Fi, and the stations we plan to reach by the end of the year:

Details about how to use the service are here, and keep watching this space as we continue to expand to more and more stations across the country.

Posted by Gulzar Azad, Head of Access Programs, Google India

Pay for Google Play content in India through direct carrier billing with Idea Cellular

Thursday, May 5, 2016

India is the latest place where we’re making direct carrier billing, or DCB, available. Working together with Idea Cellular, we’re helping to make it easier for over 150 million Indians to pay for the content they want on Google Play. In a country where the vast majority of people don’t have access to credit cards, enabling Idea Cellular’s subscribers to charge their Play purchases to their pre- or post-paid phone bills will help bring more people closer to the best apps, games and movies.

Direct carrier billing is now available in 41 countries around the world and we now have 100 DCB partners

We’ve seen tremendous growth in the app ecosystem wherever we’ve supported DCB. In Indonesia, for example, the number of people who make app and in-app purchases has quadrupled since we launched DCB there in March 2015. Payment options like DCB create immense opportunities for app developers in India, where nearly 1 in 3 Indians own a smartphone today, but less than 3% of the population use credit cards.

I’ve heard from many developers like Bangalore-based Moonfrog Labs, who build games especially for players in India. Moonfrog is excited that millions of Indians can now more easily make micro-payments for their favorite in-app purchases, games, movies and apps. Together with a lower minimum purchase price for apps on Google Play and Google Play pre-paid vouchers available in India, developers will be able to reach even more users and continue to build successful businesses on the platform.

Posted by Alistair Pott, Product Manager, Google Play

High-speed public Wi-Fi rolls into nine more train stations across India

Friday, April 15, 2016

If you’re one of the 1.5 million people who travel through Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Ernakulam Jn, Kacheguda, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam train stations everyday, you’re in luck! While you wait for your train, you can now look forward to free high-speed Wi-Fi, hopefully making that wait a bit more enjoyable and productive.

These 9 stations join the first we brought online in January, Mumbai Central, where more than 100,000 people are already logging into the high-speed Wi-Fi every week. We hope that people passing through these first 10 stations will enjoy being able to easily stream (or offline) an HD video, research their destination, or download a new book or game for their journey ahead.

Here are a few shots around some of the stations that are now online:

It’s still early days, but we’re really happy about this progress towards making high-speed Wi-Fi available to more than 10 million Indians every day. In the months ahead, we’ll continue to work in close partnership with Indian Railways and RailTel, to reach 90 more stations this year, and eventually 400 spanning the whole of India.

Here you can see where we’re at on the journey. The stations that now have Wi-Fi are in bold, the additional markers show the rest of the stations we plan to reach this year:

If you have any questions about how to use the service, the details are explained here. Otherwise, watch this space for updates as we expand this service, hopefully reaching a station near you soon.

Posted by Gulzar Azad, Head of Access Programs, Google India

T-Series shines bright like a Diamond

Thursday, April 14, 2016

India’s most popular music channel T-Series just hit 10 million subscribers! They’re one of the few YouTube channels globally to reach this level, and to acknowledge it, they’ll be awarded a nifty Diamond Play Button for their trophy case. On the way, T-Series has gained more than 7.7 billion views, with more than 400,000 years of watchtime.

How did they get here, you ask?

Since T-Series started their YouTube channel in 2011, they’ve embraced the change in the way people listen to music, in part by adapting their content for people across a spectrum of connectivity. For example: for people who worry about data consumption, they make lyric-and-audio-only videos, or tracks with album art. Of course, they also have high definition music videos for those who want that option. Their focus on multiple formats has helped them spread a wider net across their audiences. T-Series has also built a strong base of loyal fans by staying in conversation with them on social media.

T-Series also recognize that anybody, anywhere can be a fan of their music. By putting their music on YouTube’s global platform, they have reached viewers worldwide. In fact, adding subtitles and lyric videos have helped them drive a viewership where more than 60% of views are from overseas.

T-Series has also used YouTube as a place to spot new talent. Arjun and Zack Knight are two musicians who started on YouTube that T-Series signed and are now established singing stars. In 2014 T-Series held a cover song contest, from which they discovered Indian-Kiwi singer Shirley Setia on YouTube, who went from singing in her bedroom in New Zealand to performing on the stage of YouTube FanFest in Mumbai this year.

To celebrate their diamond milestone, we thought we’d look back at some of their most popular videos of all time:

Dheere Dheere Se Meri Zindagi Video Song (OFFICIAL) Hrithik Roshan, Sonam Kapoor | Yo Yo Honey Singh

With over 100 million views, this video was an exclusive web release and brings together one of the most popular rap artists of India, Honey Singh with movie superstars Sonam Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan. It was remixed recreated to celebrate 25 years of Aashiqui, a classic movie from the 90s which was co-produced by T-Series and is among the most popular Bollywood music soundtracks of all time.

“Tum Hi Ho" Aashiqui 2 Full Song With Lyrics | Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor

Bollywood is not just about hip-busting dance numbers: this soulful melody is a love song about a lover’s plea and shares how life is about “just you.” Aashiqui 2 was released in 2013 as a follow-up to the 1990 hit movie Aashiqui.

"Subha Hone Na De Full Song" | Desi Boyz | Akshay Kumar | John Abraham

This smash hit is the most popular song from the film Desi Boyz and have ruled party airwaves since its release in 2011. It features A-list Bollywood stars like Akshay Kumar, John Abraham and Deepika Padukone.

Posted by Tony Elison, Head of Music Partnerships for YouTube Asia-Pacific, who recently watched BOL DO NA ZARA Video Song

Helping Chinese entrepreneurs grow and go global

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Editor’s note: This post comes from Bob Zheng, Founder of People Squared, a network of tech hubs supporting China based entrepreneurs in Beijing and Shanghai.

China, with a population of over 1.3 billion, has one of the world's most vibrant startup ecosystems. There are more ‘unicorns’ (private companies valued at more than US$1 billion) in Beijing alone than anywhere else in the world other than Silicon Valley. But the accelerating pace of innovation coming from China doesn’t end with the well known companies, like Didi Chuxing and Xiaomi. There is a rapidly expanding group of new disruptors, small local startups growing, trying new things, and increasingly looking for ways to go global. These are the entrepreneurs we’re passionate about supporting on their journey.

That’s why we’re so thrilled to be joining the global Google for Entrepreneurs partner network today, as the first member from China. With this tremendous support from Google, in the form of financial resources and expertise, we hope to make the journey for these Chinese entrepreneurs into larger domestic and increasingly international markets a little quicker and a lot more successful.

As China’s earliest established and largest domestic co-working space, our mission at People Squared has been to create spaces that connect entrepreneurs. We have 20 spaces spread throughout Shanghai and Beijing, including a new space in ZhongGuanCun. Here are a few pics of what these spaces look like:

Since 2010, we have supported more than 10,000 members, and have become the proud home-base for many well known startups, including Fotoplace, Xiaozhu, Mofang, Get, Where to go Weekend and many more. So far, the 300 teams based at People Squared have raised more than US$300 million.

We’ve been working with great partners to help make this happen. At our ‘Hero Center’ space in Shanghai, for example, we work with organizations like Xinchejian, China Accelerator and Techyizu to establish a community that supports and engages the broader startup ecosystem. But we’d like to become the place where Chinese entrepreneurs start on a journey towards growing not just in China, but globally as well.

As a member of the Google for Entrepreneurs partner network now, we think we are well on the way. We’re super excited to announce that effective immediately our community will have access to work from more than 25 member spaces globally, from San Francisco to Sao Paulo to Sydney to Seoul, including Google’s 6 Campuses. They will also have access to a host of great programs Google runs for entrepreneurs, such as Google for Entrepreneurs Exchange, a series of week-long, vertically-specific global immersion programs aimed at helping startups gain access into new markets and insights.

This is an important opportunity for us and our members to learn from and collaborate with the best organizations helping startups globally. We can’t wait to see what kind of impact it will have on our community and the local startup ecosystem.

Posted by Bob Zheng, Founder of People Squared

Laying the foundation for renewable energy certification programs in Asia

Thursday, April 7, 2016

At Google, we’ve made a long term commitment to power 100% of our operations with renewable energy. To that end, we’ve purchased more than 2 gigawatts of renewable energy to date, making us the world’s largest non-utility purchaser of renewables.

Our data centers – including our facilities in Taiwan and Singapore that help us provide people in Asia with faster, more reliable access to our tools and services – make up the majority of our electricity consumption. We're working to power all of our data centers around the world with renewable energy, but one of the challenges we face in Asia is that effective renewable energy certification programs simply aren’t available.

To help address this, we’re announcing today that we’re providing seed funding to the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) to begin laying the groundwork to establish such programs across Asia, starting in Taiwan. They have over 20 years of experience developing and operating renewable energy certification programs.

These kinds of programs are key in helping companies like Google actually know that the power we are buying comes from a renewable source. They work by “tagging” each MWh of energy generated from a source like wind or solar as renewable, which creates a renewable energy certificate (“REC”). This is especially important to us in Taiwan, where we are actively looking to purchase renewable energy for our data center.

The video below from CRS explains how this works for some customers. In Google’s case, we buy both the physical power and the RECs associated with that power, providing us with both the financial benefits of renewable energy and the assurance that the electricity we are buying is in fact renewable.

It may not sound like much, but these programs are critical to creating well-functioning voluntary renewable energy markets. For the dozens of Fortune 100 and Global 100 companies that have renewable energy commitments, RECs are a critical instrument to ensuring that renewable energy purchasing claims are accurate and verifiable. They have played a key role in enabling companies in the United States to grow their renewable energy purchasing from about 100 MW in 2012 to over 3,000 MW last year.

With this support from Google, CRS will begin examining how best to structure these programs across Asia to create robust voluntary renewable energy markets. They will also begin building a coalition of international stakeholders from the public, private, and NGO sectors to drive these efforts forward.

Organizations interested in supporting these efforts may get more information here.

Posted by Marsden Hanna, Global Energy Policy and Strategy

Explore the wonders of Thailand with Street View

Monday, March 28, 2016

Nestled in northern Thailand, Sukhothai Historical Park was once the capital of ancient Siam. Sukhothai means “dawn of happiness”, and now you too can explore this happy place from the palm of your hand with Google Maps. Today, the park joins over 150 new places and national treasures that are now available in 360-degree panoramic imagery on Google Street View.

From ancient temples, to tropical beaches, to strawberry plantations and rice terraces, this new Street View collection showcases the beauty and diversity of The Kingdom. Our intrepid trekker walked 500 kilometers with a heavy backpack across the length and breadth of the country to capture images of places like this:

Trekking around the Chai Watthanaram Temple at Ayutthaya Historical Park in Central Thailand

Temple visits are a must for any visitor to Thailand.
Now you can wander virtually through the ruins of the Chai Watthanaram Temple and pay your virtual respects to Buddha peaking out from behind ancient tree roots at the Ayutthaya Historical Park. See ancient Khmer ruins at Phanom Rung National Park, or get up close to the intricate Buddhist and Hindu sculptures at the The Sanctuary of Truth — a temple made entirely of wood, just outside Bangkok.

You can also explore the Chinese architecture of the Viharn Sien Chinese Cultural and Religion Museum.

Or take a whirlwind tour around Thailand’s most famous monuments and architectural attractions all in one place at Ancient Siam. Dubbed the world's largest outdoor museum, the park is shaped like Thailand and is home to monuments of The Old Market Town and The Pavilion of the Enlightened.

For good fortune, why not head over to the Erawan Museum just outside the capital? There you’ll find a giant Erawan statue, a mythological three-headed elephant, filled with antiquities and artifacts.

Our trekker also found some real elephants on his travels, too. As well as bringing the 'retirement home' for elephants to Street View, we also had a chance to say hi to this big feller while capturing the Thai Thani Art & Culture Village in Eastern Thailand.

Trekker says hi to the elephants at the Thai Thani Art & Culture Village

For something a little cooler, head north to Chiang Mai where you can see mist rolling over the 2000 Tea Plantation and the Ban Nor Lae Village Strawberry Fields.

Those strawberry fields really do feel like forever when you’re carrying the trekker:

No trip to Thailand is complete without a tour of The Kingdom’s stunning southern beaches. You can laze around Koh Samui’s white stretches of sand, take in the lagoons, cliffs and islets of Hin Ta Hin Yai and Koh Nang Yuan, or find a quiet grotto to watch the boats go by. There’s no shortage of inspiration for your next diving or beach get away.

Taking in the views at Koh Nang Yuan

Whether you continue your journey in Google Maps or are inspired to visit in person, we invite you to enjoy exploring the wonders of Thailand. We hope that visiting The Kingdom with Google Maps (available on iOS and Android) will inspire a deeper appreciation for the beauty and history of this beautiful country.

Posted by Cynthia Wei, Program Manager, Google Street View

Ayubowan Sri Lanka!

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

When the explorer Marco Polo visited Sri Lanka in 1265, he described it as “the finest island of its size in all the world.” Tourists from around the world agree, as it’s become an increasingly popular travel destination, especially for those who want to explore the country’s rich history and natural beauty. Now even more people around the world will be able to discover some of the jewels that this fine island has to offer — minus the treacherous sea voyage — with Street View.

From the hustle and bustle of downtown Colombo, to the cool tea plantation hills, and onwards to the sandy white beaches, Sri Lanka is as beautiful as it is diverse. To capture this imagery, we drove close to 50,000 kilometers across every state and province so that you can virtually explore this beautiful landscape from coast to coast.

Start your tour — perhaps with a cup of Ceylon tea in hand — on the winding Beragala-Hali Ela Highway. Home to many of the world’s best brews, you’ll be able to see people growing, picking and packing tea among the lush rolling hills along the way.

The Bergala tea estates on the Beragala-Hali Ela Highway

For even more majestic jungle and some mountain views, take a tour along the country’s first modern highway — the Colombo-Kandy road. Starting in Sri Lanka’s biggest city, you will journey through some spectacular scenery as you head inland to Kandy where you can see the relic of the tooth of Buddha.

You’ll see hills, jungle and many a three-wheeler on the Colombo-Kandy road

You can then take virtual leap across the island to the Kandy-Jaffna highway, which heads out to the coast and down to the Elephant Pass Causeway. While you may not see any elephants, this stretch of road connecting North and South Sri Lanka gives you a 360 degree view of the Indian Ocean on either side of the road.

The Elephant Pass Causeway is surrounded by the Indian Ocean

While you’re on the coast why not check out Arugum Bay? This popular surfing spot in the country’s southeast is renowned for its amazing point break. If you prefer spending time on the sand rather than on a board, the sleepy little fishing village of Point Pedro on the northern tip of the island has some pristine beaches to explore.

Point Pedro is home to many remote beaches

Once you’ve taken in Sri Lanka’s natural beauty, you might be ready to take in some culture. Head north to Anuradhapura, and catch a glimpse of the ancient Ruwanwelisaya Stupa. Believed to have been visited by the Buddha himself, it was built in 140 B.C. and today remains one of the world’s tallest monuments, standing at over 100 meters.

The ancient Ruwanwelisaya Stupa peaks out from behind the trees

Why not complete your tour by heading back to Colombo where you can see Old Parliament House. Built during the British colonial era, it is home to the first democratic parliament, and the Independence Memorial Hall which commemorates Sri Lanka’s independence from British rule 1948.

Street View cars parked at the Independence Avenue

We hope that visiting Sri Lanka with Google Maps (available on iOS and Android) will inspire a deeper appreciation for the beauty and history of this beautiful country. Whether you continue your journey in Google Maps or are inspired to visit in person, we invite you to enjoy the Land of Lions.

Posted by Nishant Nair, Program Manager, APAC Street View Operations

Women Techmakers: Encouraging women to dream

Monday, March 21, 2016

Women Techmakers began just three years ago, and since then it has grown into one of the strongest communities and resources for women already involved in technology—and for women who dream of becoming future techmakers.

On the back of International Women’s Day, there are dozens of Women Techmakers events hosted by the Google Developer Groups (GDGs) taking place around Asia Pacific. If previous years are anything to go by, this will be a fantastic opportunity to meet and be inspired by women who are realizing their tech dreams. Here are some of the events taking place before the end of the month:

Brunei, March 25
Hanoi, March 26
Kuala Lumpur, March 26
Madurai, March 26
Chennai, March 26
Seoul, March 27
Jodhpur, March 27
Zamboanga, March 29

You can find the full list of more than 100 events here.

We don’t just want to involve women in tech, we also believe in celebrating their achievements and inspiring many more. Our homepage doodles have long been highlighting the work of women in the arts, film, literature, the law and beyond. For International Women’s Day this year, we wanted to look forward to the doodle-worthy women of the future. We invited every woman around the world to share their hopes with us by using the #OneDayIWill hashtag on social media.

Here are just some of the dreams from women in Asia that inspired our doodlers to design special doodles: Build a solar power system to reduce global warming. Get more girls interested in engineering. Write storybooks. Be a passionate performer. Run my own business empire.

We’ve always believed that sharing a dream helps you get closer to realizing your vision. We hope that some of these #OneDayIWill stories will inspire you to share yours, or even join us at one of the Women Techmakers events in your country

Posted by Erica Hanson, Program Manager, Google Developer Relations

What a hike! Yushan't see another view quite like this one

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Mount Yushan is not only the tallest peak in Taiwan, it’s the tallest mountain in North East Asia. At a 3,952 meters, almost 13,000 feet, it’s higher than Japan’s Mount Fuji, and as our trekker operators can tell you, it’s no easy climb.

Now you can get to the top of the peak without breaking a sweat, with the launch of Mount Yushan on Street View.

Take in the view from Yushan’s North Peak on Street View

Regarded locally as a symbol of the Taiwanese spirit — fierce and beautiful — Yushan draws hikers from around the world. The lower part of the track starts as a nice walk in a lush and picturesque forest. However the final stretch is a real feat to accomplish. The track narrows down to a ledge which zigzags along a cliff face. Our trekker operators, carrying the 18kg Trekker to capture the mountain in all its splendour, held onto chains on some parts of the track, but higher up they had nothing but their feet for support.

Our intrepid trekker operator navigates rocks and fog while making the ascent to the top of Mount Yushan

The journey might be daunting, but the view from the top makes it all worthwhile. During the winter months, Yushan is capped with thick snow that glimmers like jade which is why people often refer to it as “Jade Mountain”.

Android hitched a ride to the top of Yushan Mountain with our climbers. As if carrying the 18kg trekker wasn’t enough for them!

Discover more behind-the-scenes shots from the climb and the collection here:

We hope you enjoy your virtual climb with Google Maps (available on iOS and Android) and exploring this beautiful peak from wherever you are in the world.

Posted by Cynthia Wei, Program Manager, Google Street View

Want to tell news stories in new ways? There’s a MOOC for that.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Data journalism and the Internet are about telling stories in the best possible way. And it’s also allowing us new ways to teach people how to do it.

It is changing the way we work as reporters, giving us access to new tools which tell stories in new and exciting ways. Of course, busy journalists and editors struggle to find the time to catch up with this stuff.

The "World of Change"interactive visualizes how the world searches for information about climate change.

That’s why I’m so excited to be participating in an online five-week course offered by the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong that will kick off on April 4.

This five-week course will cover the fundamentals of data journalism, alongside experts from media houses across Asia such as IndiaSpend (India), Malaysiakini (Malaysia), KataData (Indonesia), Caixin (China) and DataLEADS (India). Aimed at busy journalists who want to take a crack at something new, we’ll be covering the basics of finding, collecting, assessing data and then visualizing those insights in a compelling way.

The class starts on April 4, please sign up!

Posted by Simon Rogers, Data Editor at News Lab

Indonesian Startups Ready To Launch

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

During Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s visit to Google’s headquarters in California last month, we announced a plan to help train 100,000 Indonesia mobile developers by 2020. As part of these efforts, we’ve just kicked off applications for round two of the Google Launchpad Accelerator Program.

This program is geared towards later stage startups and includes $50,000 in equity-free funding, a two-week all-expenses paid bootcamp at Google headquarters and six months of ongoing mentorship and access to Google tools and resources. Spots are open and we’re accepting sign- ups now.

Nayoko’s story
In case you’re on the fence about applying, here’s a story from one Jakarta-based entrepreneur, Nayoko Wicaksono, who participated in round one of this program and has just returned from California.

Nayoko Wicaksono (CEO Seekmi.com) talks about The Google HQ Accelerator Program

Nayoko, who heads up popular Indonesian services listing app, Seekmi.com, learned many things during his two weeks in California. Perhaps the simplest was that the mantra of the digital age is actually true: focus on the user and all else will follow. Especially when it comes to designing a clean and simple user experience:

“Thanks to the Accelerator program, we were able to improve our UX tremendously. In December our bounce rate was at 70% which is terrible. Now in February, our bounce rate has declined to 10% and we see a lot more conversions through our site. My hope is for the Indonesian community to be able to improve their products and engineering skills through this program and improve the industry as a whole. This is key to developing an ecosystem where startups can rise up to international standards."

Seekmi.com was developed to match people looking for all kinds of services with individual professionals who can provide them, like photographers, yoga teachers, piano instructors and more. So, it makes sense, that when Seekmi.com, which aspires to make a tricky process a whole lot easier, applied its new UX knowledge, it had a big impact.

Much more to come
Over the next four years, Indonesian developers will have access to multiple resources to kickstart their Android skills. We’ve got lots of cool programmes to help train developers. This year, we’ve added the Indonesia Android Kejar, short for “Kelompok Belajar,” which means “study groups” in English. These are more intensive, facilitator-led study groups that will be held across five cities—in Bandung, Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, and Yogyakarta—to reach as many people as we can. Sign-ups for facilitators and participants are open now.

The 8 Indonesian startups who participated in the first Launchpad Accelerator Indonesia Program have returned from Mountain View to Jakarta.

If you are inspired by Seekmi.com’s success, don’t sit around any longer, get your application in for the second round of the Launchpad Accelerator Program now. The deadline for applications is March 31, 2016.

Posted by Erica Hanson, Developer Relations Program Manager, Google

AlphaGo’s ultimate challenge: a five-game match against the legendary Lee Sedol

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Game 5 - March 15, 2016
After a loss in Game 4, and a move early on that looked like a mistake, but could have been a creative and effective new move, AlphaGo won Game 5 against the legendary Lee Sedol. This final game of the match was close until the very end, with commentators going back-and-forth about who was on top. But after 280 moves, Lee resigned, having gone through two byō-yomi overtime periods.

This concludes the 5 game match between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol, with AlphaGo winning the match 4 games to 1 against the best Go player of the last decade, achieving a major milestone for artificial intelligence a decade earlier than many predicted.

Michael Redmond, 9-dan, American commentator said:

“It was difficult to say at what point AlphaGo was ahead or behind, a close game throughout. AlphaGo made what looked like a mistake with move 48, similar to the mistake in Game Four in the middle of the board. After that AlphaGo played very well in the middle of the board, and the game developed into a long, very difficult end game...AlphaGo has the potential to be a huge study tool for us professionals, when it’s available for us to play at home.”

Kim Seongryong, 9-dan, Korean commentator said:

“Just like the scientists, Go players are always trying to find new methods and approaches. And we are so happy when we find them. This Challenge Match has brought us Go players to new areas we’ve never explored. We are now seeing a lot more interest in playing Go. And even in one week, I feel like my Go playing has improved.”

Chris Garlock, Managing Editor of the American Go E-Journal said:

“This match… the drama, the historic aspect, the quality of the games, the brilliance of AlphaGo, the brilliance of Lee Sedol, and then the amount of media coverage. I just want to say thanks to the entire DeepMind AlphaGo team. This is a gift to Go. This is going to do a lot to bring Go to new audiences. We could not have dreamed this up any better, and it delivered beautiful games. This match has done what Go always does: brings people together in friendship and cooperation, and that, like the game itself, is beautiful.”

With AlphaGo’s victory, Google DeepMind will donate the UDS$1 million in prize money to UNICEF, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) charities, and Go organizations.

Here are the results and final board position from Game 5:

If you'd like a quick recap of the game, here is a 90-second overview from commentators Michael Redmond and Chris Garlock:

Tōhoku in pictures: Five years after the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami

Monday, March 7, 2016

This week marks the fifth anniversary of the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami. The most powerful quake recorded in Japan’s history, it devastated coastal areas across northeastern parts of the country. For the last five years, Google Maps has been capturing 360-degree, panoramic imagery of these areas with Street View cameras, as well as aerial photographs. These snapshots show what has changed in the aftermath of the disaster—and what hasn’t.

You can now see updated Street View imagery from 59 cities, 19 towns and 4 villages from the Ibaraki, Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, which was collected between June 2015 and January 2016. Part of the “Great East Japan Earthquake Digital Archive Project," this is the third Street View imagery update since the disaster.

By using Street View technology to record, exhibit and archive the damage, we hope to give people—both those who used to live there, and those who have never been—a way to see and understand the destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami. It may also give future generations a vivid way to understand and remember what happened.

One of the areas most affected by the disaster was Fukushima prefecture. Naraha in Fukushima was an evacuation zone until September of last year, but is now being rebuilt and repopulated. The people of Naraha wanted to capture this rebuilding process, so they borrowed the Street View Trekker as part of the Trekker loan program so they could show the world what Naraha looks like today and share their hopes for the future.

In addition to the updated Street View imagery, we also have satellite and aerial imagery of the coast stretching from Hachinohe to Iwaki from before and after the disaster. As this timelapse with scenes from the Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures shows, the road to recovery is a long one.

Miyako was one of the areas most devastated by the tsunami, with waters reaching at least 37.9 meters above sea level. As this timelapse shows, the seaside town was filled with homes and businesses before the earthquake struck in 2011. Everything was swept away by the tsunami. Clearing the rubble from the disaster took years; today, most of the new houses are being built on top of the mountain, not by the sea, in case of a future tsunami.

View of Miyako from 2009 to 2016

You can see all this imagery, as well as Street View images of these areas from before the disaster on the Google Maps "Memories for the Future" page.

Posted by Wakaba Ohkura, Google Street View Program Manager

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