The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The streets in Bhutan can now be viewed on Google’s ‘Street View Imagery’, a feature on Goggle Maps. The launch of the digital wonder took place on October 23 in Thimphu.
The online mapping tool initiative is expected to boost tourism industry and promote marketing of the Bhutanese businesses, among many others.
The new Google Maps enables an individual to view 360 degree panoramas of over 3000 kilometers of the roads in Bhutan, including streets within Thimphu, Paro and Trongsa through the internet.
“Street View will create a real opportunity for Bhutan to showcase our unique country to the world while also creating a new way of preserving our country as it stands today,” the MoIC Secretary, Dasho Kinley Dorji, said.
As Bhutan is strengthening its information and communications technology, the MoIC Secretary said the launch takes Bhutan a step closer towards digital Bhutan.
He further added that it would boost the tourism industry and help in bringing socio-economic development. In addition, it would also help planners to plan better after viewing the roads, streets, cities, and towns.
Street View Imagery also makes it easier for people around the world to search for local destinations and gain access where it is available. Even the locals could use the street level
panoramas to check out new views of familiar and unfamiliar landscapes, research driving routes, arrange meeting points, and explore their own town more closely.
For Bhutanese businesses, one can also set in their site directly from the street view technology of Google Maps. The 360 degree digital imagery would also let the people around the world, who have never a chance to experience in person, but willing to know about Bhutan, to experience sites including iconic locations and highway vistas across the country.
“This new Street View Imagery of Bhutan showcases how countries are embracing online tools, such as Google Maps, as mediums for preserving their culture and landscapes, and sharing them with the world. We hope this new online imagery of Bhutan will create new ways for people around the world to discover and learn about this wonderfully unique country,” the Product Manager, Google, Divon Lan, said.
Google has developed a highly sophisticatedtechnologythat effectively blurs human faces and license plates to render them unidentifiable, Divon Lan said some images would have to be left clear, but upon requests from users, Google can further blur any images that feature them.
The project was started in March 2013 with the street view car having 15 lenses (75 megapixel each) recording a million photos, travelling across the country
