Dubai now available on Street View
Today, we announced the arrival of Street View in Dubai, a feature by Google Maps that allows users to view and navigate 360 degree street-level imagery of major streets across the city. This is the first time Street View is made available on a street-level in the Arab world.
Street View was launched in May 2007 and is already available in more than 3000 cities across 63 countries around the world. Google Street View imagery provides users with a rich, immersive browsing experience and allows users to explore world landmarks, view natural wonders, navigate a trip or other points of interest.
Some of the main areas captured by Street View in Dubai today are: Sheikh Zayed Road, Downtown Dubai, Al Sufouh, Dubai Marina, Business Bay, Bur Dubai, Deira and more. In these areas, users can access street level images by zooming into the lowest level on Google Maps, or by dragging the orange "Pegman" icon on the left-hand side of the map onto a blue highlighted street.
Street View imagery is gathered by a vehicle equipped with advanced imaging technology--- a camera mounted on the roof of a car that collects imagery and location data. After collection, the imagery is stitched together to create the 360° panoramic images that allows you to move around and explore locations as if you were there.
Google wants to make the everyday lives of users easy whether it was previewing the location before moving into a new neighborhood or discovering the location of a restaurant or cafe. Users can check out a restaurant or hotels before arriving or arrange meeting points. House hunters can save time not only by exploring properties they are interested in but also their surrounding area in advance which will make selection of property they are interested in more efficient.
Businesses can also benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their site, helping them to promote a hotel or increase awareness of a local store or restaurant. Tourists will instantly be able to check the surroundings of a hotel without taking a risk.
We are constantly improving our maps with tens of thousands of updates everyday throughout the world - from the latest road names, business addresses to public transit schedules and photos. Street View provides easily accessible tools for flagging inappropriate or sensitive imagery for review and removal. Each image contains a link to a “Report a problem” tool where users can report objectionable images.
Google Street View will allow millions of people from around the world to discover Dubai in a new way ----to see and experience useful and beautiful 360-degree imagery of one of the most touristic cities in the world. Wherever we have launched Street View, we have seen positive response, and believe that people and businesses in the UAE and across the world can benefit on many levels from having this imagery available.
Posted by Mohamad Mourad, Regional Director for Google, Middle East and North Africa
