Find Slovenia on Google Street View

Yesterday, on 30th of January, 2014 Google presented Street View of Slovenia`s streets. For those who don`t know: Slovenia is a small country in the middle of Europe, with population just over 2 million. Talks about Street View can be found on all Slovenian`s social networks and social medias. People are searching for their homes, streets, schools, bars…

Street view was introduced to the world six years ago. And what makes Street View so special? Well if we simplify, you can now visit any place you once wished to see and never before had courage, money or time to see it. With Street View you can climb on top of any mountain, take a walk on sandy beach, or visit almost any metropolis you wish to visit. Your adventure starts when you type in the location you wish to visit. It is completely free, easy, and risk free. 

You are always just one click away from finding everything you wish or need to find and much more. Maps are easy to use, easy to understand, and actually fun and enjoyable (http://geography.answers.com/maps/google-maps-pros-and-cons).

                                

So how do they do it? They:

1. collect imagery – drive around and take photographs
2. align imagery – match images to geographical locations with the help of GPS, speed and directions,
3. turn photos into 360-degrees panoramas – “stitch” photos together into a single 360-degree image,
4. show the right image – use a 3D panorama to show us locations of buildings, objects etc

(http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/)

Nowadays when everything is online; web and social media are really important. So not being there (or found on the web) is the same as not existing. Street View will, hopefully, help Slovenia get better recognition, increase number of tourist and consequently increase profit. Because Slovenia is a “young” and small country, a lot of world population has not heard about it. Marketing and tourism leaders hope Google Street View will position Slovenia “on the map”. More and more tourist visit Slovenia, but main guest population still comes from neighboring countries. Country wants to find a way to become globally known and now with Street View it can.

For the first time you can walk through streets of Slovenia. Just take a few minutes and visit it now:

• see panoramic view of the capital city Ljubljana from Castle Ljubljana,
• walk through old part of Ljubljana city called Stara Ljubljana or check Mesarski most (bridge) – where lovers “lock” their love,
• walk through cities next to sea: old Piran or more modern Portoroz,
• do not forget to visit highest mountain Triglav, you`ll find the view is breathtaking.

We`re already doing the promotion, just by writing these few sentences. 

As can be seen from the article, Slovenians welcomed Street View. Even the president, Mr. Borut Pahor, welcomed the project and gave permission to take photos of president palace, one of most beautiful buildings in Ljubljana and cultural souvenir of the country. Also schools and teachers greet Street View. For them it represents an additional tool for teaching children in school about country’s geography. Is seems that Slovenia grabbed Street View with both hands, as negotiations about Street View of Slovenians ski slopes are also in progress. So from marketing view, Street View is the best thing that happened to Slovenia.

But is going viral really just positive? One of the main problems is privacy. Google promises all the face and license plates will be blurred, but is that enough? What about individuals who do not want their homes to be as public as they are? A bit strange is also the fact that customers can`t review it, nor talk about their feedback.

During writing the blog, we found out that there is almost no research made on the real impact that Street View has on an individual country. So we finish with a question: is Street View really just helping countries from marketing point of view? And if there are, and which ones are, the negative sides of Street View?

About writing the blog:

One of the team members is from Slovenia, that is why we decided to talk about writing about it. Also the article we found was written in Slovene, so if you want to read it, you`ll have to translate it. 

Tina Stojanovic

Karen Madrigal

Sources:

Behind the scenes: Street View (2014) http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/

Google Maps: Pros and Cons (2014) http://geography.answers.com/maps/google-maps-pros-and-cons

Spletni portal 24ur.com (2014) http://www.24ur.com/slovenijo-lahko-pregledamo-tudi-na-googlovi-storitvi-street-view.html

Image Source: 

Free Image Portal (2014) http://www.freedigitalphotos.net