Google Street View Is Coming To Thailand

[MaxYakov]

I wonder how Thai privacy laws will interpret this.

I for one do not want my private abode with detailed location information splashed all over the internet without my permission.

How would anyone link a street-view picture to you personally? They won't be publishing names of people in each house, I presume. Your home address will almost certainly exist on Google Maps and Google Earth already, so this street view development isn't any more "splashed over the internet" than the current situation. And, as someone else already pointed out, anyone can zoom in and see the roof of your house already through Google Earth, but unless they know you personally and know where you live, they'll have no idea it's your house they're looking at.

Relax, dantilley. My hypothesis is that the 'without my permission' is the operative phrase in his complaint.

[WarpSpeed]

^ Nor are we talking about unauthorised mapping, it seems to be overlooked quite conveniently that this is a partnership with the Thai government ..

Edited September 1, 2011 by WarpSpeed

[khaowong1]

I wonder how Thai privacy laws will interpret this.

I for one do not want my private abode with detailed location information splashed all over the internet without my permission.

Too bad, but you don't have a choice. Google will not be trespassing on your private property, and it breaks no laws to take photographs in a public place.

Not that it bothers me, but several European courts have fined Google serious $$$ for breaking privacy laws with this.

CIA front ???? I think so !!!

What the hell do they need a pic of my house for in buttf**k no where ?? Check out this link. very interesting indeed.

http://www.infowars....are-cia-fronts/

Very interesting, thanks...

[Richard4849]

If you can prove damages, take it to court. No tangible damages, no case.

[TAWP]

I wonder how Thai privacy laws will interpret this.

I for one do not want my private abode with detailed location information splashed all over the internet without my permission.

If you don't want people to see a glimpse your house, then move out into the forest or build a really tall wall around your property?

You want to stop people from...seeing such detailed information about you? Do you post a 8 foot big picture of you on the side of your house?

[TAWP]

I wonder how Thai privacy laws will interpret this.

I for one do not want my private abode with detailed location information splashed all over the internet without my permission.

Too bad, but you don't have a choice. Google will not be trespassing on your private property, and it breaks no laws to take photographs in a public place.

Not that it bothers me, but several European courts have fined Google serious $$$ for breaking privacy laws with this.

No, not for taking pics. But for recording data that was leaked from unsecured wifi-networks as they drove around.

[surangw]

check out mapjack for some areas

[bkkjames]

At least now I have a clearer view of where the 8 Billion budget request is heading. Is it too late to invest in google?

[Richard4849]

You think the TAT is paying something to Google?

[notime]

"For Thailand, they (TAT) are hoping that the street view pictures of tourist attractions will help boost tourism."

Hahaha .. TAT people probably never seen "street view" in action. It's not meant to produce lovely, colorised and re-touched pictures of the "tourist attractions" in optimal weather condition but real-life views of streets and nearby houses in mass. I'm afraid that a lot of would-be tourists to Thailand are more likely to be put off by the view of these ugly streets wrapped up in the spaghetti of electrical cables and concrete posts. Google street view may seriously damage the myth the tourism industry here relies on. Good on ya TAT but you are about to kick yourself!

[bkkjames]

You think the TAT is paying something to Google?

I doubt that, but I wouldn't be surprised that they spend a pile of money promoting it somehow.

it's likely to be like everything else: a big public kickoff and ad campaign costing an arm and a leg_hyped up for a month or two till the novelty wears off, then shelved.

Street views of traffic jams, exciting indeed.

[tailspin]

might be time to call my broker and get into "noseglasses" futures.....

[connor6063]

This is new? Then what is the little yellow man you use in google earth? Isnt that street view?

[tw25rw]

This is new? Then what is the little yellow man you use in google earth? Isnt that street view?

Yeah, but it doesn't have Thailand.

[Richard4849]

This is new? Then what is the little yellow man you use in google earth? Isnt that street view?

Yeah, but it doesn't have Thailand.

Yet...

I've got to admit, though, it's never crossed my mind to use street view for pre-tourism purposes.

[ozymandious]

I think I saw one of these vehicals driving around Phuket within the past month. It was a large toyota van of sorts with cameras mounted everywhere. I saw it around the airport at the time.

[Dont Panic]

Awesome!

I 2nd that!

[AlaskaDave]

@tr25rw - Thanks for the tip about Mapjack. I hadn't seen it before. It's packed with very high quality, recent street view photos. Personally, privacy issues aside for a moment, I love streetview in Google Maps. As a traveler it helps to have already seen a building or home before you go trying to find it in an unfamiliar city or town.

There is already mapjack.com which has Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai etc, but no Bangkok.

[ES1]

Hope they go down Walking Street at night

"Walking Street" at "night" when then shut down walking street to traffic. Got it. Ha............ha.

[Dancealot]

I am so happy that many of the forum readers reactions instinctively invoke privacy burglary. And i mean for everybody, not just for people who are trying to hide something but for people with a clear conscious as well. Cheerio

[Cuban]

Remove images.

[webfact]

PRESS RELEASE

TAT launches new tourism promotion initiative to feature Google Maps with street view

Thais will be asked to nominate the tourist destinations they want photographed for Street View

Today the Tourism Authority of Thailand jointly announced with partner, Google Thailand, the launch of a new tourism promotion initiative featuring Google Maps with Street View and plans to invite Thais to nominate their favourite tourist destinations to be captured in images as Google Maps with Street View cars begin driving across the country.

Following the successful launch of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's (TAT) latest campaign promoting sustainable tourism and a record first half of the year for tourism in Thailand with almost 10 million visitors, TAT is partnering with Google Thailand to introduce an innovation that will change the way Thais and tourists around the world can experience Thailand with a little help from technology and some specially designed, very cute cars.

Street View is a popular feature of Google Maps, already available in more than 30 countries. It allows users to virtually explore and navigate a neighborhood through panoramic street-level images. In countries where Street View is available, users can access street-level imagery by zooming into the lowest level on Google Maps, or by dragging the orange "Pegman" icon on the left-hand side of the map onto a blue highlighted street.

Starting today, a fleet of Google cars specially fitted with cameras will begin driving and taking street level photographs of public locations across the country including greater Bangkok and other major regional cities around the country. This activity represents a long term investment with the long term objective of capturing imagery across Thailand over the next 2 -3 years. These images will be made available at a later date in Street View on Google Maps.

Google goes to great lengths to safeguard privacy in Google Maps with Street View while enabling all users to benefit from this feature. Google has developed highly sophisticated technology that effectively blurs human faces and number plates of vehicles to render them unidentifiable. In addition, Google is extremely responsive to any requests received from users to blur any images that features them.

Khun Suraphon Svetasreni, Governor, Tourism Authority of Thailand, explained, "We're very excited to be working with Google to bring Google Maps with Street View to Thailand. The internet is a powerful platform for raising awareness and increasing travel to and around Thailand and with Google cars ready to start capturing images today, we see the long term output of Street View as a real opportunity for Thailand to showcase its tourist destinations and unique culture to the world while strengthening our economy. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has always embraced technology and through this partnership we hope to engage more people in sustainable tourism for a better tomorrow."

In addition to announcing the tourism promotion program featuring Google Maps with Street View, with Google cars ready to hit the roads across the country, TAT and Google are pleased to announce preparations for launching a campaign in Thailand to photograph tourist sites and special locations. This campaign will give Thais the opportunity to nominate their favourite places across a variety of categories which will be captured in panoramic images, incorporated into Google Maps with Street View and shared with the world.

Google has partnered with a number of public and private sector organization to capture imagery from dozens of special locations and famed places around the world, including Stonehenge in the United Kingdom, Pompei in Italy, Legoland in California, and Versailles in France. You can find images and information about the latest locations here.

Pornthip Kongchun, Head of Marketing for Google Thailand said, "Tourism is such an important contributor to Thailand's economy and with the help of features like Google Maps with Street View we can support our partner, TAT, in their efforts to promote sustainable tourism domestically and internationally by giving people a whole new way to experience Thailand - a country we know and love and are pleased to call home. Street View has so many different uses - for urban development planners, law enforcement agencies, house hunters, travelers, etc - it lets users check out restaurants before arriving, make travel plans and arrange meeting points. Businesses can also benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their site for free. Hotels can use it to show off the convenience of their location, and restaurants can use it to raise awareness. Google Maps with Street View is another example of how Google is putting the user first in Thailand, and we looking forward to unveiling the beautiful images we capture as well as announcing how Thai people can help us choose where to drive in the coming months."

For more information about the Tourism Authority of Thailand's sustainable tourism campaign please visit: http://thai.tourismthailand.org/home/.

For more information about Street View and how it can be used for recreational purposes and by businesses please visit: google.co.th/streetview.

-- The Nation 2011-09-02

[sikishrory]

i think its a good idea but theres still the problem of using google to search a street name in thailand and it rarely coming up. infact i cant think of one time that i've done a successful street search on google maps thailand.

im guessing because theres thai and english/thai spelling and then many interpretations of that thai/english spelling. eg, sawasdee, sawadee, sawatdee, sa wa dii.

they need to fix that for it to be any use to tourists.

[katasyd]

Cool.I'm going to drop some rubbish on the side of the road today and i'll check in 6 months time to see if it's still there.

Odds on it will be.

[Lizard2010]

Great when will they be doing Chiang Mai

[chmiroau]

I wonder how Thai privacy laws will interpret this.

I for one do not want my private abode with detailed location information splashed all over the internet without my permission.

Um, time to get over yourself. This is just a harmless piece of computer software available for all to use for leisure.

When they started doing this in Australia people were up in arms about it, but if you really think about it its no worse than someone driving their car down your street to have a look at the houses. Most of the dumb people complaining were complaining that thieves would be able to see if they were home, or on holiday and then be able to better plan their robbery of your house. UM! A photo is all that is taken, a very small moment of time, there was no increase of criminal activity.

The photo of my house in Australia shows me out the front fertilizing the grass. No big problem here but many of my friends emailed me telling me to complain about it, my garage was open and you could see my car, but google had done the right thing and blurred the number plate. Why they did this I don't know, because if you wanted to know mu number plate then all you had to do was follow google maps to my house and wait until I got home,,, you could have easily seen my number plate. Obviously this never happened.

[Kananga]

Should make Lower Suk interesting viewing, or will they just completely blur out between Nana and Asoke?

Wonder how many years this is going to take to complete factoring in Bangkok traffic...

[MILT]

I wonder how Thai privacy laws will interpret this.

I for one do not want my private abode with detailed location information splashed all over the internet without my permission.

When I worked for the City of Las Vegas, our GIS department published interactive maps on the Internet that could break down the view into parcel numbers for tax purposes, water assessment, owner, etc. All public information available to anyone with a way to get on the Internet. Our aerial photos were much more detailed than Google's but the highest magnifications were for internal user only.

"Privacy" is an obsolete term.

What happen to What goes on in vegas stays in vegas lol

[MaxYakov]

i think its a good idea but theres still the problem of using google to search a street name in thailand and it rarely coming up. infact i cant think of one time that i've done a successful street search on google maps thailand.

im guessing because theres thai and english/thai spelling and then many interpretations of that thai/english spelling. eg, sawasdee, sawadee, sawatdee, sa wa dii.

they need to fix that for it to be any use to tourists.

An excellent point. I think it is very fortuitous that Bankok street names are even Anglofied and many Sois are numeric. The Mochit/Mo Chit spelling is a prime example. I've usually been able to ID at least to the street with Google maps in most cases with persistence and once with Lat. Lon. coordinates being used. Can you imagine what the bigger problem would be if Bangkok had decided to use Thai, including Thai numerics? At least we're well afar from that nightmare for tourists, but Thai street names wouldn't have necessarily addressed the multiple spelling and inaccuracy problems.

At least with the address situation in Google maps as it is, one should be able to usually find the street and then wander down it with Streetview looking for addresses, but good luck with that from what I've seen in the unreliability of posted numerical addresses on Bangkok streets.

Edited September 2, 2011 by MaxYakov

[RaoulDuke]

Google maps is absolutely worthless in Thailand, especially outside of Bangkok. It has no idea how to process the addresses. I can click on a link for a hotel, with the correct address in the listing, and the map will show it 30 miles away from the actual location. Wonder how far off the streetview will be?