Google Street View service comes to Thailand

Google has officially announced the launch of its Street View service for Thailand, following a tour of the Amazon and the Japanese caves and it’s a welcome delight for couch surfers. The company has released a huge album consisting of street view images of the country and it’s a must watch for travelers and non travelers, alike. All you need is a web connection and you can literally surf through Thailand, from the food stalls to the Palace to the streets and get a glimpse of the country without getting off your chair. Google has also introduced images of Chiang Mai, the northern city and the beach resort in Phuket. The country is the 35th nation to get Street View and is the second one in Southeast Asia after Singapore. This project has been on the road, since September 2011.

Getting the Street View

David Marx, Google’s Asia Pacific communications manager, said that “We really wanted to show people that the floods were over and that Thailand was back, and to have (Street View) be useful for tourism around the world.”

"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 Kongchun, head of marketing for Google Thailand, said. As reported by WSJ, Amy Kunrojpanya, Google’s head of communications and public affairs in Thailand, mentioned that they wanted to showcase to the people that things in the country are back to normal, after the floods had hit in late 2011. That definitely helps increase the company’s tourist value to an extent. These high resolution images were clicked together by Google’s cars that consisted of rooftop cameras with 15 lenses. The cameras clicked 360 degree still images and stitched them together to create panorama images. So, in case you guys haven’t visited the country, have a look at the images on their page (you'll need Google Translate) and explore the country, from your browser. Obviously, it’s nowhere close to the actual deal, but something is better than nothing, right?