With the full support of Tourism Malaysia in tow, Google drove its Street View cars through Malaysian streets for the first time this week, subsequently publishing special Street View imagery of sites around the country.
If you haven’t heard of Street View, it is a popular feature of Google Maps, that allows people to virtually explore and navigate a site on the map through 360-degree panoramic street-level images. Street View is currently available in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Kicking off in the city of Kuala Lumpur, Google has equipped Street View cars with special cameras to collect imagery for Google Maps with Street View. Google will continue capturing images across the country, a long-term process that will be actively pursued over the next few years.
Google has published Street View images of 18 sites across Malaysia, including Taman Tasik Titiwangsa, Sri Subramaniam Temple Batu Caves and Masjid Sultan Sallahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah. Refer to the list below for the full list of sites:
- Taman Tasik Ampang Hilir
- Dharmikarama Burmese Temple, Georgetown, Penang
- Fort Cornwallis, Penang
- Kapitan Keling Mosque, Penang
- Penang War Museum
- Taman Putra Perdana, Putrajaya
- Taman Rimba Riang Park, Selangor
- Taman Tasik Shah Alam, Selangor
- Sunway Lagoon
- Shah Alam Go Kart
- Taman Desa Water Park
- Taman Tasik Titiwangsa
- Taman Rimba Kiara
- Taman Botanical Kepong
- Taman Tasik Kepong Metropolitan
- Sri Subramaniam Temple, Batu Caves
- Masjid Sultan Sallahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, Shah Alam
- Desa Park City
The 360-degree panoramas are made possible with the use of Street View Trike, a tricycle-based camera system, a very innovative piece of kit in itself.
Where the Street View car or the Street View Trike cannot reach especially on off-road sites, Google also has the Street View Trekker, a wearable backpack camera system; and Street View Trolley, a push car camera system. The Street View Trekker weighs 18kgs, and mounted on the back of a Google ‘trekker’. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it. So if you ever spot a Google trekker, do pat him on the back and say thank you.
With the roll-out of Street View to Malaysia, Google hopes to provide Malaysians with more relevant and useful online map services; also to provide more ways for Malaysians and visitors to explore more of Malaysia.
“We have always embraced technology and through this partnership with Google we hope to engage more people, both around the world and here in Malaysia, in discovering and re-discovering the unique heritage of our country,” said Dato’ Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, Director General for Tourism Malaysia. “Google’s mapping technology will offer various benefits and help us create a new experience of Malaysia online.”
Some quarters have been concerned over privacy issues of the technology but Google has gone through great lengths to safeguard privacy on Google Maps. Google has sophisticated technology that blurs human faces and license plates of vehicles to render them unidentifiable. This ensures users benefit fully from Google Maps with Street View imagery. Additionally, Google is responsive to requests from users to further blur any images that feature them. All you need to do is use the ‘report a problem’ tool on the bottom right corner of Google Maps.
Images collected for Malaysia will be available at maps.google.com.my
