Published On:Thursday, 23 October 2014
Posted by Celebrate Life Style information Blog
Google offers peek into Bhutan with Street View launch
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| FABLED LAND: Young Buddhist monks walking in the grounds of the Dechen Phodrang Monastery in Thimphu. Google provided a sneak peek into Bhutan Thursday by unveiling a Street View project for the remote Himalayan kingdom, featuring panoramic views of its majestic mountains, monasteries and crystal-clear rivers. — AFP |
The "Land of the Thunder Dragon" has long been one of the most isolated countries on earth, only lifting its ban on television in 1999. Most foreign tourists have to pay a minimum US$200 (RM655) a day to visit.
But in a sign of its more recent
embrace of modern technology, the government allowed Google to undertake a
Street View project that could showcase some its natural treasures for Internet
users.
"Most governments love
Street View because it promotes tourism — they are drawn to its commercial benefits,"
Google's Divon Lan, one of the Street View managers, told AFP on Thursday as
the project was launched.
"In Bhutan, the conversation
was very different — essentially along the lines of 'how can we bring Bhutan to
the world without having floods of tourists turn up and erode our
culture?'"
The project kicked off in March
2013 with a Street View car travelling across the country's 3,000-kilometre
road network.
The car, mounted with a
custom-built camera containing 15 lenses that recorded more than a million
photos, drew some curious responses during its journey, Lan said in an
interview in the sleepy capital Thimphu.
"Villagers would see this
strange-looking car and ask the driver about it. When he told them it was being
used to take photos, they would get very excited and try to peer inside,"
added Lan, who was involved in the digital mapping of Cambodia's Angkor Wat
temple complex.
The resulting stream of
rapid-fire 75 megapixel images offers audiences a view of a land seen by very
few, with the country welcoming its first tourists just 40 years ago.
Since then, its stunning scenery
and its reputation as a Buddhist "Shangri-La" has attracted tourists,
but numbers are tightly controlled.
Damcho Rinzin, spokesman for the
national Tourism Council of Bhutan, said that while visitors were welcome, the
country did not want to become just another travellers' destination.
The push to preserve traditional
culture is reflected in the traditional clothing worn by men and women —
mandatory at public functions and offices.
"Google Street View is a way
of preserving our culture at a time of great change. It reminds us of what we
have in Bhutan," Rinzin said. — AFP
