We're always working to include more Australian locations in Street View. Last week, we added many new streets in Darwin, Geelong and remote parts of the Northern Territory.
With more of the Top End now in Street View, I decided to do a bit of research about the Baz Luhrmann movie Australia, and check out some familiar scenes from the movie in Street View and Google Maps.
Of course, with Kakadu now in Street View, the iconic Australia's outback is now on show for all to see:
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(As you may know, the Kimberley region of WA was the actual filming location for many scenes in the movie - I came across this great Google Maps mashup that Tourism WA has made, showing satellite images of where 'Faraway Downs' and other outback locations were filmed).
While we now have large parts of Darwin visible, the real shooting location for Darwin for the movie was the town of Bowen in Queensland. Recognise these shots?
The main pub, the Territory Hotel, in Darwin (aka GrandView Hotel, Bowen):
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Customs House, Bowen where Bryan Brown's character is seen frequently:
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The police station in Darwin (this is a facade on 2 units in Bowen that the Street View cars photographed):
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Lots of Australians are using Street View to check out their holiday destinations before arriving. As 2009 winds down and we enter summer, I hope you continue to enjoy your Street View exploring (and movie watching)!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Bringing Maps to our Pacific neighbours
We're pleased to announce the launch of Google Map Maker for 43 new countries and territories, including our Oceania neighbours in Fiji, Palau and Midway. Map Maker now allows people to create complete maps for most of Oceania, from Papua New Guinea to Samoa and Micronesia, bringing the total to 164 countries across the world.
Map Maker is all about making local data rich, complete and vibrant. Just take a look at how our users transformed the map of Da Lat, Vietnam in this time lapse video.
We hope that one day, people around the world will have access to high quality maps of their home country, whether that be here in Australia or thousands of kilometres away in Vanuatu. If you want to help by sharing your local knowledge about a favourite destination in Oceania (or anywhere else), go to mapmaker.google.com and start mapping.
Posted by Jori Pearsall, Geo Marketing Manager
Map Maker is all about making local data rich, complete and vibrant. Just take a look at how our users transformed the map of Da Lat, Vietnam in this time lapse video.
We hope that one day, people around the world will have access to high quality maps of their home country, whether that be here in Australia or thousands of kilometres away in Vanuatu. If you want to help by sharing your local knowledge about a favourite destination in Oceania (or anywhere else), go to mapmaker.google.com and start mapping.
Posted by Jori Pearsall, Geo Marketing Manager
The Government is blogging
A few days ago, the Australian Government embarked on an e-government initiative - online policy consultation to "improve the processes for e-democracy in Australia". The Government has announced an online consultation on the future of Australia's digital economy through the Digital Economy Blog.
We think it's great that the Australian Government is taking steps to engage online with all Australians in an open, interactive way. Online consultation and blogging is something that Australian users and businesses have been doing for a while and it's good to see the Government getting in on the act.
We recently posted to the blog in response to the Open Access to Public Sector Information topic, setting out our views on the types of public sector information that should be made available.
In addition, we're pleased that the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy's YouTube channel also showcases some videos of the Minister's addresses to the Digital Economy Forum earlier this year. There's a whole range of politicians using channels like YouTube to communicate with Australians - including the Prime Minister, the Premier of Victoria, the Leader of the Opposition to name just a few.
Check out the Digital Economy Blog and have your say.
We think it's great that the Australian Government is taking steps to engage online with all Australians in an open, interactive way. Online consultation and blogging is something that Australian users and businesses have been doing for a while and it's good to see the Government getting in on the act.
We recently posted to the blog in response to the Open Access to Public Sector Information topic, setting out our views on the types of public sector information that should be made available.
In addition, we're pleased that the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy's YouTube channel also showcases some videos of the Minister's addresses to the Digital Economy Forum earlier this year. There's a whole range of politicians using channels like YouTube to communicate with Australians - including the Prime Minister, the Premier of Victoria, the Leader of the Opposition to name just a few.
Check out the Digital Economy Blog and have your say.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Street View now in New Zealand
Heading to New Zealand over the summer holidays? Planning your trip just got easier with the launch today of Street View in New Zealand.
Covering most of the country, including all major CBDs and many remote wilderness locations, Street View showcases spectacular New Zealand destinations from within Google Maps. Just like Street View in Australia, it allows you to view and navigate 360 degree imagery of New Zealand's streets and towns, and lets you pan and zoom to change your viewpoint.
You can use it to check out restaurants before you make your booking, preview your beach front accommodation, or just enjoy the geography of the country's sub-tropical north or mountainous south.
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New Zealand becomes the seventh country in the world to get Street View - it's also available in Spain, France, Italy, the US, Japan, and of course Australia.
Tourism New Zealand has selected a gallery of Street View images, that highlight some of New Zealand's best tourist attractions and locations to the world, including Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, and the historic Stone Store in Kerikeri. As Tourism NZ chief executive George Hickton puts it, the more that visitors research their holiday before they come, the more enjoyable an experience they have.
If you're heading over the ditch to visit relatives for Christmas, or for a getaway later next year, take a look around with Street View before you leave and really get the most out of your trip.
Covering most of the country, including all major CBDs and many remote wilderness locations, Street View showcases spectacular New Zealand destinations from within Google Maps. Just like Street View in Australia, it allows you to view and navigate 360 degree imagery of New Zealand's streets and towns, and lets you pan and zoom to change your viewpoint.
You can use it to check out restaurants before you make your booking, preview your beach front accommodation, or just enjoy the geography of the country's sub-tropical north or mountainous south.
View Larger Map
New Zealand becomes the seventh country in the world to get Street View - it's also available in Spain, France, Italy, the US, Japan, and of course Australia.
Tourism New Zealand has selected a gallery of Street View images, that highlight some of New Zealand's best tourist attractions and locations to the world, including Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, and the historic Stone Store in Kerikeri. As Tourism NZ chief executive George Hickton puts it, the more that visitors research their holiday before they come, the more enjoyable an experience they have.
If you're heading over the ditch to visit relatives for Christmas, or for a getaway later next year, take a look around with Street View before you leave and really get the most out of your trip.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Transit directions for Adelaide in Google Maps
Getting from Victoria Square to Upper Sturt Park via public transport in Adelaide just got easier, with the launch of transit directions for the city on Google Maps. Adelaide is the second Australian city to get transit directions on Google Maps, after we announced it was launching in Perth earlier this year.
Using information from Adelaide Metro, you can see public transport directions and timetables for Adelaide in Google Maps.
Want to know where the nearest bus-stop is? Planning a trip a week or two in advance? Figuring out a new commuting schedule? The transit feature on Google Maps lets you to customise your searches by specific date and time, so that you can see what's up and coming, and how to get where you need to be.
I'm looking forward to using the feature when I visit Adelaide for my friends' wedding (hi Trav and Jem!) next year. I can now guarantee I won't be late for the ceremony ...
We want to keep providing Australians with useful local tools that make their lives easier, and we're excited about working with other transit agencies to roll out transit directions on Google Maps in even more Australian cities.
Using information from Adelaide Metro, you can see public transport directions and timetables for Adelaide in Google Maps.
Want to know where the nearest bus-stop is? Planning a trip a week or two in advance? Figuring out a new commuting schedule? The transit feature on Google Maps lets you to customise your searches by specific date and time, so that you can see what's up and coming, and how to get where you need to be.
I'm looking forward to using the feature when I visit Adelaide for my friends' wedding (hi Trav and Jem!) next year. I can now guarantee I won't be late for the ceremony ...
We want to keep providing Australians with useful local tools that make their lives easier, and we're excited about working with other transit agencies to roll out transit directions on Google Maps in even more Australian cities.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Improved look for Street View in Australia
Street View in Google Maps has been quite a hit! In fact, when we launched it in August, covering most of the country, searches on Google by Australians for Street View increased by over 5000%.
Lots of Australian businesses are embedding Street View into their websites, and we're hearing great stories of Australians who are using it to find shops and restaurants, places to live, or just explore the country.
Today, thanks to feedback from our users, we've now made Street View even better and easier to use.
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You can read all about the improvements on the LatLong blog here. Or watch the video below where the famous "Pegman" takes you through the streets of Sydney.
Happy exploring!
Lots of Australian businesses are embedding Street View into their websites, and we're hearing great stories of Australians who are using it to find shops and restaurants, places to live, or just explore the country.
Today, thanks to feedback from our users, we've now made Street View even better and easier to use.
View Larger Map
You can read all about the improvements on the LatLong blog here. Or watch the video below where the famous "Pegman" takes you through the streets of Sydney.
Happy exploring!
Monday, November 24, 2008
My Maps Australia Awards 2008 - Three Days to Go
The 2008 My Maps Australia Awards are soon coming to a close. Over the past month we've been receiving My Maps from across the country highlighting your special knowledge of Australia. Some great examples include:
Photodiary of a Nomad
Big Things of Australia
Brisbane Coffee
Have an idea for a My Map you would like to share with the world? There's still time to enter the 2008 My Maps Australia Awards and receive one of ten "Best My Maps Awards" or the grand prize of a 13" 2.1 GHz Macbook and eternal Australian mapping fame. Entries close this Friday, November 28.
Photodiary of a Nomad
Big Things of Australia
Brisbane Coffee
Have an idea for a My Map you would like to share with the world? There's still time to enter the 2008 My Maps Australia Awards and receive one of ten "Best My Maps Awards" or the grand prize of a 13" 2.1 GHz Macbook and eternal Australian mapping fame. Entries close this Friday, November 28.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Keep in touch with voice and video chat
Today we're launching a new feature that lets you have free, high-quality voice and video chats with friends and family anywhere in Australia or overseas. Gmail voice and video chat takes place all without leaving the browser -- no more switching to another window or running another program.
Sometimes there's no substitute for speaking to and seeing someone, and in tighter economic times, an online video or voice chat is a cost-effective option. If a smiley face and a 'lol' aren't getting your message across, with a simple click you can now share your real meaning face-to-face over a video connection.
All that's needed is a webcam and small browser plugin, and you can start video chatting with your friends, family, and colleagues in Gmail. If you don't have a webcam, you can simply chat by voice.
To get started, visit this site.
Sometimes there's no substitute for speaking to and seeing someone, and in tighter economic times, an online video or voice chat is a cost-effective option. If a smiley face and a 'lol' aren't getting your message across, with a simple click you can now share your real meaning face-to-face over a video connection.
All that's needed is a webcam and small browser plugin, and you can start video chatting with your friends, family, and colleagues in Gmail. If you don't have a webcam, you can simply chat by voice.
To get started, visit this site.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The 2009 Google Online Marketing Challenge is on
Online advertising is an increasingly important part of Australian businesses' marketing mix.
In 2008, we launched an Online Marketing Challenge to give students the chance to experiment with the medium and empower small local businesses to harness the power of the web to attract more customers.
The response to last year’s Challenge was so overwhelming that we decided to make this an annual competition. Giving students direct experience of online marketing whilst they are studying is a great way for Universities to provide students with direct practical skills they can use on graduation. Whether they find a job in marketing, accounting or retail, or set up their own business, graduates can all benefit from understanding online marketing.
The 2009 Google Online Marketing Challenge is now open. It's a global online marketing competition that is open to any higher education institution, anywhere in the world. To find out more or to register your team, visit the 2009 Challenge website.
1650 different teams across 47 different countries took part in 2008, pitting their wits against one another to further develop and maximise returns for real world local businesses' online marketing strategies.
Using free $200 vouchers to spend on Google AdWords, each student proposes and implements a campaign for their chosen local business, makes tweaks and then final recommendations at the conclusion of a three week competition period.
Full details on 2008’s winning teams and finalists can be seen here.
Last year, a team from the University of Western Australia was the global winner. We're hoping Australia can go back-to-back this year!
Recently, the 2008 Asia Pacific regional winners – from the Australian Graduate School of Management, and two regional finalists – The National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences (Taiwan) and The National Taiwan University – visited Google's headquarters in Sydney for the Regional Finalists' retreat. For many students, it was their first visit to Australia and a chance to compare approaches, discuss strategies with online marketing optimizers at Google and gain some insights prior to the 2009 Challenge.
For us at Google, it was immensely gratifying to meet these students and hear them speak of the enthusiasm and benefit they received from competing. In fact, one of our winners had to leave early for a job interview, and it was fantastic to hear that his Challenge experience is helping him in his quest to find a job!
We hope lots of Australian students from across different academic disciplines will get involved in 2009. Good luck!
Posted by Will Blott, University Programs Manager
In 2008, we launched an Online Marketing Challenge to give students the chance to experiment with the medium and empower small local businesses to harness the power of the web to attract more customers.
The response to last year’s Challenge was so overwhelming that we decided to make this an annual competition. Giving students direct experience of online marketing whilst they are studying is a great way for Universities to provide students with direct practical skills they can use on graduation. Whether they find a job in marketing, accounting or retail, or set up their own business, graduates can all benefit from understanding online marketing.
The 2009 Google Online Marketing Challenge is now open. It's a global online marketing competition that is open to any higher education institution, anywhere in the world. To find out more or to register your team, visit the 2009 Challenge website.
1650 different teams across 47 different countries took part in 2008, pitting their wits against one another to further develop and maximise returns for real world local businesses' online marketing strategies.
Using free $200 vouchers to spend on Google AdWords, each student proposes and implements a campaign for their chosen local business, makes tweaks and then final recommendations at the conclusion of a three week competition period.
Full details on 2008’s winning teams and finalists can be seen here.
Last year, a team from the University of Western Australia was the global winner. We're hoping Australia can go back-to-back this year!
Recently, the 2008 Asia Pacific regional winners – from the Australian Graduate School of Management, and two regional finalists – The National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences (Taiwan) and The National Taiwan University – visited Google's headquarters in Sydney for the Regional Finalists' retreat. For many students, it was their first visit to Australia and a chance to compare approaches, discuss strategies with online marketing optimizers at Google and gain some insights prior to the 2009 Challenge.
For us at Google, it was immensely gratifying to meet these students and hear them speak of the enthusiasm and benefit they received from competing. In fact, one of our winners had to leave early for a job interview, and it was fantastic to hear that his Challenge experience is helping him in his quest to find a job!
We hope lots of Australian students from across different academic disciplines will get involved in 2009. Good luck!
Posted by Will Blott, University Programs Manager
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Aussie Scholars visit Grace Hopper Conference
1500 women technologists in one room: this is the 2008 Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) of Women in Computing! As one of a number of Google Australia Anita Borg scholars, I was sent to this year’s GHC as part of the scholarship. Held in Keystone, Colorado, nestled in the beautiful Rocky Mountains at an elevation of about 9300 feet (just less than 3000m), GHC participants are urged to drink plenty of water to ward off altitude sickness; but, feeling woozy and out of breath from simply walking up stairs doesn't deter me from jumping headfirst into the networking, technical, and career development sessions!
GHC was unlike any other technical conference that I have been to before. With only a handful of men present (quite the opposite of a typical engineering conference), participants were a range of ages and from different technical backgrounds - be they students, academics or industry professionals (or all of the above!). The sessions covered a wide variety of professional development and technical topics, from petaflop computing to projects helping the developing world. Also, social activities and networking were as integral to the conference schedule as the technical sessions.
Universities and industry, invited to hold stalls at the conference, lined the foyer with information about graduate programs, internships and job opportunities; not to the mention the plethora of freebies including T-shirts, pens, water bottles, notebooks, bags, lip gloss, Rubik's cubes and rubber duckies (holding laptops, no less!). Armed with only a backpack, I ended up having to return a few of the freebies as they just wouldn't fit!
GHC gave me the chance to share experiences and ideas with other Google scholars (from the US, Latin America, and Canada), undergraduate and graduate students, academics and women from the computer technology industry - including Googlers! It was a really motivating experience to be in a room with so many like-minded women who share a passion for technology; from just one of the keynotes I walked away inspired and amazed by how much one woman had achieved with the OLPC project!
My thanks to Google for the scholarship which made my first trip to the US possible, and without which I might not have heard about GHC. I've taken home with me the importance of having mentors and a strong support network, ideas and opportunities for after study (a second PhD!), inspiration for innovative technology that can help change the world, and the knowledge that there is always more than one path to achieve what you really want.
GHC was unlike any other technical conference that I have been to before. With only a handful of men present (quite the opposite of a typical engineering conference), participants were a range of ages and from different technical backgrounds - be they students, academics or industry professionals (or all of the above!). The sessions covered a wide variety of professional development and technical topics, from petaflop computing to projects helping the developing world. Also, social activities and networking were as integral to the conference schedule as the technical sessions.
Universities and industry, invited to hold stalls at the conference, lined the foyer with information about graduate programs, internships and job opportunities; not to the mention the plethora of freebies including T-shirts, pens, water bottles, notebooks, bags, lip gloss, Rubik's cubes and rubber duckies (holding laptops, no less!). Armed with only a backpack, I ended up having to return a few of the freebies as they just wouldn't fit!
GHC gave me the chance to share experiences and ideas with other Google scholars (from the US, Latin America, and Canada), undergraduate and graduate students, academics and women from the computer technology industry - including Googlers! It was a really motivating experience to be in a room with so many like-minded women who share a passion for technology; from just one of the keynotes I walked away inspired and amazed by how much one woman had achieved with the OLPC project!
My thanks to Google for the scholarship which made my first trip to the US possible, and without which I might not have heard about GHC. I've taken home with me the importance of having mentors and a strong support network, ideas and opportunities for after study (a second PhD!), inspiration for innovative technology that can help change the world, and the knowledge that there is always more than one path to achieve what you really want.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
My Maps Australia Awards 2008
Local knowledge is a great thing. It can be the difference between an OK visit and a great visit to a particular destination. Today, we launch the My Maps Australia Awards for 2008, and are asking you to share your special knowledge of a corner (or corners) of Australia with the rest of us.
What is a My Map? It is a personalised version of a Google Map you can create, complete with customised pins, text, pictures, video and more. Many Australians are already using My Maps for invitations, or to share information with friends or the world at large. We have a couple of celebrity guest My Maps created for this initiative to help illustrate some of the things you can do. These include:
Favourite surf beaches in Australia: Mick Fanning, 2007 ASP World Title holder
Famous gardens in Sydney: Jamie Durie, Horticulturalist, landscape designer, TV Host
Best coffee in Melbourne: David Makin, Australian Barista of the Year
Famous grave sites: Helen Harris OAM, Professional historian
Ten winners will receive "Best My Maps Awards" and one of these will win the grand prize of a 13" 2.1 GHz Macbook and eternal Australian mapping fame. They'll be judged on three criteria of creativity, originality and ease of use.
Entries close November 28, so take part and enter your submission now.
Favourite surf beaches in Australia: Mick Fanning, 2007 ASP World Title holder
Famous gardens in Sydney: Jamie Durie, Horticulturalist, landscape designer, TV Host
Best coffee in Melbourne: David Makin, Australian Barista of the Year
Famous grave sites: Helen Harris OAM, Professional historian
Ten winners will receive "Best My Maps Awards" and one of these will win the grand prize of a 13" 2.1 GHz Macbook and eternal Australian mapping fame. They'll be judged on three criteria of creativity, originality and ease of use.
Entries close November 28, so take part and enter your submission now.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Happy birthday, Sydney Opera House!
You may have noticed the doodle of the Sydney Opera House on our homepage today. Joern Utzon's famous creation is instantly recognised by millions worldwide as an Australian cultural icon and one of our most famous landmarks.
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It's 35 years today since Queen Elizabeth II opened the iconic building, so we thought we'd send our birthday wishes!
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It's 35 years today since Queen Elizabeth II opened the iconic building, so we thought we'd send our birthday wishes!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
From across the ditch: YouTube and the NZ election
Last night, more than one million New Zealanders watched the groundbreaking ONE News YouTube Election Debate when it aired on New Zealand's TV1 last night.
New Zealanders got their first chance to see current leaders battle it out head-to-head in their first debate leading up to the November 8 poll.
The ONE News YouTube debate enabled New Zealanders to put their questions to the two party leaders, Prime Minister Helen Clark and Opposition Leader John Key, in the leadup to the 2008 New Zealand election. What made this debate particularly special was that New Zealand citizens were called upon to ask the questions via YouTube and they did so enthusiastically, submitting over 100 questions. The debate marked the first time a head of a national government and the challenger for the top job have appeared in an official live televised debate answering questions posted as video questions through YouTube.
The full-length debate is now accessible worldwide through the YouTube debate homepage. Expat Kiwis can keep up with the New Zealand election happenings with our iGoogle gadget.
13 New Zealanders had their questions put to the candidates during last night's debate, including:
Last night was just one example of how YouTube and online video are changing politics around the world. In the 2007 Australian election, the main Australian political parties all established YouTube channels to engage with voters. Since then, Victorian Premier John Brumby has set up an official YouTube channel and many more of our leaders and politicians are realising the importance of online video and direct engagement.
New Zealanders got their first chance to see current leaders battle it out head-to-head in their first debate leading up to the November 8 poll.
The ONE News YouTube debate enabled New Zealanders to put their questions to the two party leaders, Prime Minister Helen Clark and Opposition Leader John Key, in the leadup to the 2008 New Zealand election. What made this debate particularly special was that New Zealand citizens were called upon to ask the questions via YouTube and they did so enthusiastically, submitting over 100 questions. The debate marked the first time a head of a national government and the challenger for the top job have appeared in an official live televised debate answering questions posted as video questions through YouTube.
The full-length debate is now accessible worldwide through the YouTube debate homepage. Expat Kiwis can keep up with the New Zealand election happenings with our iGoogle gadget.
13 New Zealanders had their questions put to the candidates during last night's debate, including:
- 16-year-old Carmen McDougal from Pukekohe, who asked what will the parties do to help low and middle-income families to get through the recession.
- Ex-pat Kiwi Adrian Parker, who asked from London what the parties would do to reduce tax rates to bring them in line with Australia and the UK.
- Amberley resident Mike Jowsey, who questioned if climate change was for real and if so, who was causing it.
- Praveen from Auckland, who asked what plans there are to ensure shopkeepers are able to protect themselves from violent crime.
Last night was just one example of how YouTube and online video are changing politics around the world. In the 2007 Australian election, the main Australian political parties all established YouTube channels to engage with voters. Since then, Victorian Premier John Brumby has set up an official YouTube channel and many more of our leaders and politicians are realising the importance of online video and direct engagement.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
A Google Code Jam Story - Aussie Style
There is nothing like starting off the week with a coding competition - especially when the prize one lucky Aussie will be receiving is a trip to Mountain View, California, to compete for a share of $80,000.
Google Code Jam was created as a 20%-time project by a team of Google engineers. The contest aims to bring together the best and the brightest programmers from across the globe to solve complex algorithmic challenges, similar to brainteasers, in a limited amount of time. Coding is the process of converting information into coded values (typically numeric) for the purpose of data storage, management and analysis. The competitors create codes to solve each of the problems.
2008 marks the first year we've held semifinals in this competition, bringing top coders from across the region together to meet and compete. The contestants were selected after a series of online rounds, with each round consisting of a mini-code jam competition, and were given the chance to face off in Sydney as well as in Bangalore, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo. 100 finalists will then go to the Googleplex in Mountain View to compete for glory and a cut of the $80,000 in prize money on offer.
The Sydney regional Google Code Jam competition was held last Monday morning at our Sydney offices. The 21 contestants, representing eight countries played a few games of pool to fend off some pre-competition jitters and then got down to competition.
As a spectator in a coder's world, you could almost see the gears turning in their heads. As the competition progressed, the scoreboard, with competitors' nicknames, gave real-time updates. In Sydney we saw 'Microsoft' get on the scoreboard first, then 'snguyen', then 'Patience'. After an hour 'TripleM' made an appearance and continued to fight his way up the scoreboard. After two hours, time was called.
A few minutes later, results were posted. In the end, TripleM - real name, Stephen Merriman - had coded his way to trip to the Googleplex, to compete in the final round. Well done and do us proud!
Posted by Lysandra Sapp, People Programs
Google Code Jam was created as a 20%-time project by a team of Google engineers. The contest aims to bring together the best and the brightest programmers from across the globe to solve complex algorithmic challenges, similar to brainteasers, in a limited amount of time. Coding is the process of converting information into coded values (typically numeric) for the purpose of data storage, management and analysis. The competitors create codes to solve each of the problems.
2008 marks the first year we've held semifinals in this competition, bringing top coders from across the region together to meet and compete. The contestants were selected after a series of online rounds, with each round consisting of a mini-code jam competition, and were given the chance to face off in Sydney as well as in Bangalore, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo. 100 finalists will then go to the Googleplex in Mountain View to compete for glory and a cut of the $80,000 in prize money on offer.
The Sydney regional Google Code Jam competition was held last Monday morning at our Sydney offices. The 21 contestants, representing eight countries played a few games of pool to fend off some pre-competition jitters and then got down to competition.
As a spectator in a coder's world, you could almost see the gears turning in their heads. As the competition progressed, the scoreboard, with competitors' nicknames, gave real-time updates. In Sydney we saw 'Microsoft' get on the scoreboard first, then 'snguyen', then 'Patience'. After an hour 'TripleM' made an appearance and continued to fight his way up the scoreboard. After two hours, time was called.
A few minutes later, results were posted. In the end, TripleM - real name, Stephen Merriman - had coded his way to trip to the Googleplex, to compete in the final round. Well done and do us proud!
Posted by Lysandra Sapp, People Programs
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
More eye candy for iGoogle
In case you're looking for some more personality to add to your iGoogle page, we've just unveiled a fresh collection of iGoogle artist themes in Australia -- an ongoing project we launched in April for which we invited world-class artists to design dynamic themes for your iGoogle homepage.
The new collection features designs from 28 leading artists from the worlds of fashion and music, such as top fashion designers Anna Sui, BCBGMAXAZRIA, Burberry, Gucci, Havaianas, Jimmy Choo, kate spade, Paul Frank, Vera Wang and many more -- and from musicians like Keith Urban, Radiohead, and Bob Dylan. So depending on what you're interested in, there's lots of great art to choose from to suit your personality, taste or mood.
We hope this new collection of themes gives you more choices so your iGoogle page reflects your personal style. Changing it is easy and requires only a few clicks. If you have a hard time selecting just one, add the sampler theme, which displays a different artist every day.
Stay tuned as we continue to collaborate with more artists from Australia and from around the world.
The new collection features designs from 28 leading artists from the worlds of fashion and music, such as top fashion designers Anna Sui, BCBGMAXAZRIA, Burberry, Gucci, Havaianas, Jimmy Choo, kate spade, Paul Frank, Vera Wang and many more -- and from musicians like Keith Urban, Radiohead, and Bob Dylan. So depending on what you're interested in, there's lots of great art to choose from to suit your personality, taste or mood.
We hope this new collection of themes gives you more choices so your iGoogle page reflects your personal style. Changing it is easy and requires only a few clicks. If you have a hard time selecting just one, add the sampler theme, which displays a different artist every day.
Stay tuned as we continue to collaborate with more artists from Australia and from around the world.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Diving into the Great Barrier Reef
Australia is home to many geographical treasures, and the Great Barrier Reef has to be one of my favourites. There's a magnitude, a depth, and a diversity of marine life that just leaves me in awe of this ecosystem that stretches more than 2,500 kilometres along the Queensland coast -- from Bundaberg up to Cape York.
You can now use Google Maps to find and explore the largest reef system in the world. Through close collaboration with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, we now provide map data and updated satellite imagery of the islands, reefs, cays, and rocks in Google Maps.
You can plan holiday travels, scope out your dives, engage your students, and visualise the reef with greater interactivity. Of course you can also overlay your own information on the reef system and share with family, friends, or the world.
It's also my hope that in line with the goals of the International Year of the Reef 2008, the addition of the Great Barrier Reef to Google Maps will help strengthen awareness, improve understanding, and generate action to help conserve our international treasure.
If you're lucky enough to have visited the reef, enjoy reliving your memories. If you've not yet been, happy discovering.
Raul Vera, Head of Geo Products, Google Australia
You can now use Google Maps to find and explore the largest reef system in the world. Through close collaboration with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, we now provide map data and updated satellite imagery of the islands, reefs, cays, and rocks in Google Maps.
You can plan holiday travels, scope out your dives, engage your students, and visualise the reef with greater interactivity. Of course you can also overlay your own information on the reef system and share with family, friends, or the world.
It's also my hope that in line with the goals of the International Year of the Reef 2008, the addition of the Great Barrier Reef to Google Maps will help strengthen awareness, improve understanding, and generate action to help conserve our international treasure.
If you're lucky enough to have visited the reef, enjoy reliving your memories. If you've not yet been, happy discovering.
Raul Vera, Head of Geo Products, Google Australia
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Introducing our 2008 Anita Borg Scholars
On Friday we hosted our annual Anita Borg Scholars' Retreat at our Engineering Centre in Sydney as a way for women to come together and share their experiences as leaders in the field of computer science.
The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship started in the United States in 2003 in association with the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology to honour the legacy of Anita Borg and her efforts to encourage women to pursue careers in computer science and technology. Australia became the first country outside of the US to launch the scholarship in 2006, and in 2007 we extended the opportunity to students studying in New Zealand.
This year we received applications from women at 28 universities throughout Australia and New Zealand, and we're pleased to announce Andrea Schweer, from the University of Waikato and Janina Voigt, from the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, as the recipients of $5,000 scholarships for the 2009 academic year.
A big congratulations as well to the twelve 2008 finalists, each of whom will be awarded $1,000:
- Gretel Png (University of Adelaide)
- Heather Macbeth (University of Auckland)
- Iris Yan (Monash University)
- Jenine Beekhuyzen (Griffith University)
- Magdalena Stremeski (Swinburne University of Technology)
- Miriam Hochwald (University of Queensland
- Olena Medelyan (University of Waikato)
- Sally Hodson (University of Western Australia)
- Sarah Killey (Queensland University of Technology)
- Shaoqun Wu (University of Waikato)
- Sue Lynn Choy (RMIT University)
- Tamara Beames (University of South Australia)
The scholarship recipients and finalists enjoyed their retreat, which included tech talks, workshops, career panels and social activities and provided an opportunity to network with other women in technology-related fields.
One of the scholarship winners, Janina Voigt, told me, "It's been a great experience to meet people with similar views of issues we all face as women in this industry - we're all girls going through the same thing right now. It has also been great to share ideas and participate in the workshops."
The scholars are studying a wide variety of disciplines and talked openly about their projects, inspiring and learning from each other.
Shaoqun Wu shared how she's creating a system to assist with second language learning. Having moved to New Zealand from China seven years ago, she understands what it's like to learn a second language first-hand. Her project has been funded by the New Zealand government, and she hopes to continue developing her career around this area. During the retreat, she emphasised how important it is that women in IT connect and help one another.
We also discussed how to encourage other women to enter the field of engineering and computer science. Sue Lynn Choy, a Ph.D. student in surveying, geomatics and cartography, told me "Studying computer science or other IT-related fields can be a big stepping stone to other things. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination."
Posted by Will Blott, University Programs, Australia & New Zealand
Monday, September 22, 2008
Fill 'er up
With rising fuel prices increasingly factoring into our driving decisions, Australians are feeling our fair share of pain at the petrol pump.
To help Australians get the best value for their fuel dollars, Google Australia has partnered with Motormouth to help provide everyone with easily accessible information about petrol prices. We've developed an iGoogle gadget (here) that allows you to find out the price of various fuel types across parts of major metro areas in Australia.
You can quickly see the prices for your area in a list or on Google Maps. Prices are updated twice daily during the week and once on Sundays by Motormouth's scouts who report the prices from service station price boards.
Currently, over 50% of metropolitan service stations are covered, which hopefully include a few near you.
With the daily work of these petrol price scouts now accessible from your personalised iGoogle homepage, we hope this handy tool will go some way to keeping you informed and ensuring that you're not over-paying at the pump (note that prices can change at any time, except in Perth where they're locked for 24 hours).
Of course, the best way to reduce your fuel bill would be to walk, cycle or catch public transport to wherever you're going. Google Maps and, in Perth, Google Transit, can help you with that.
Now go and get the keys to the Cortina so you can move the Camira so Dad can get the Torana out of the driveway and fill up the Commodore. This gadget will pay for itself.
To help Australians get the best value for their fuel dollars, Google Australia has partnered with Motormouth to help provide everyone with easily accessible information about petrol prices. We've developed an iGoogle gadget (here) that allows you to find out the price of various fuel types across parts of major metro areas in Australia.
You can quickly see the prices for your area in a list or on Google Maps. Prices are updated twice daily during the week and once on Sundays by Motormouth's scouts who report the prices from service station price boards.
Currently, over 50% of metropolitan service stations are covered, which hopefully include a few near you.
With the daily work of these petrol price scouts now accessible from your personalised iGoogle homepage, we hope this handy tool will go some way to keeping you informed and ensuring that you're not over-paying at the pump (note that prices can change at any time, except in Perth where they're locked for 24 hours).
Of course, the best way to reduce your fuel bill would be to walk, cycle or catch public transport to wherever you're going. Google Maps and, in Perth, Google Transit, can help you with that.
Now go and get the keys to the Cortina so you can move the Camira so Dad can get the Torana out of the driveway and fill up the Commodore. This gadget will pay for itself.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
More information for advertisers about our Content network
Our Australian advertisers often ask: "What kinds of web sites make up the Google content network?"
To help answer this question, we just re-launched the Partners page on the Google content network microsite to include a more comprehensive set of examples of where your ads can appear. The content network is comprised of hundreds of thousands of web sites worldwide, from information and news sites like The Sydney Morning Herald and the New York Times, to wedding sites like I-do.com.au. The revamped Partners page is meant to better demonstrate a small selection of the variety of sites available. Below are some features of the new Partners page:
To help answer this question, we just re-launched the Partners page on the Google content network microsite to include a more comprehensive set of examples of where your ads can appear. The content network is comprised of hundreds of thousands of web sites worldwide, from information and news sites like The Sydney Morning Herald and the New York Times, to wedding sites like I-do.com.au. The revamped Partners page is meant to better demonstrate a small selection of the variety of sites available. Below are some features of the new Partners page:
- Sites are organised by category. This will help you browse sites by categories that represent your target audience, such as finance, entertainment and technology. For example, if you sell rental cars, you might browse through the "Travel" category to see examples of relevant sites. Or, if your target is female, you can try the "female interest" category.
- Once you find a site that's relevant to your product or service, you can use placement targeting to target your ads to that site directly. We recommend you use the Placement Tool to help you with this. If your campaign is already running on the content network, you can see the sites where your ad has appeared by running a Placement performance report.
- For those of you targeting users in other countries, a drop-down menu lets you browse sample partner sites in countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Working with Bravehearts
Today is White Balloon Day. An annual event run by Bravehearts, Australia's largest child protection advocacy group, White Balloon Day is a very important event during National Child Protection Week. White Balloon Day’s overarching message is to "Break the Silence on Child Sexual Assault" by raising awareness and by show of balloons, demonstrating community desire for Australian children to be safe.
We've been working with Bravehearts to raise awareness of the day and encourage all Australians to buy special white balloons. We've been doing this by providing Google Grants, so that when Internet users search for relevant terms on Google, "Sponsored Links" for White Balloon Day appear alongside search results.
We also created a special Google Maps "My Map", showing the Mowerthon journey of Claude Harvey, "The Lawnmower Man", as he mowed his way 850kms from the Gold Coast to Sydney to raise funds and awareness for victims of sexual assault for White Balloon Day.
Google Australia and Bravehearts are committed to deepening their ties for White Balloon Day in future years, by using new media and technologies to educate families about how to stay safe online and raise awareness of the tools that empower families to control their activity online.
We share Bravehearts' belief that new technologies and new media are a vital way to educate children and parents about family safety online. We hope to work together to help parents and kids take advantage of tools that help put them in control of their online experiences and make Web surfing safer.
You can check out our Tips for Online Safety and Online Family Safety Guide for helping families stay safe online. These provide quick links to tools like Google SafeSearch and other resources. Google SafeSearch is a tool that allows users to filter unwanted content from their search results. (You can customise your SafeSearch settings by clicking on the 'Search Preferences' link to the right of the search box on Google.com.au).
So please support Bravehearts, buy a white balloon today, and help break the silence.
We've been working with Bravehearts to raise awareness of the day and encourage all Australians to buy special white balloons. We've been doing this by providing Google Grants, so that when Internet users search for relevant terms on Google, "Sponsored Links" for White Balloon Day appear alongside search results.
We also created a special Google Maps "My Map", showing the Mowerthon journey of Claude Harvey, "The Lawnmower Man", as he mowed his way 850kms from the Gold Coast to Sydney to raise funds and awareness for victims of sexual assault for White Balloon Day.
Google Australia and Bravehearts are committed to deepening their ties for White Balloon Day in future years, by using new media and technologies to educate families about how to stay safe online and raise awareness of the tools that empower families to control their activity online.
We share Bravehearts' belief that new technologies and new media are a vital way to educate children and parents about family safety online. We hope to work together to help parents and kids take advantage of tools that help put them in control of their online experiences and make Web surfing safer.
You can check out our Tips for Online Safety and Online Family Safety Guide for helping families stay safe online. These provide quick links to tools like Google SafeSearch and other resources. Google SafeSearch is a tool that allows users to filter unwanted content from their search results. (You can customise your SafeSearch settings by clicking on the 'Search Preferences' link to the right of the search box on Google.com.au).
So please support Bravehearts, buy a white balloon today, and help break the silence.
Monday, September 1, 2008
What's on the Google homepage today?
As a predominantly urbanised nation, we often overlook the enormous contribution made to Australia's growth and progress by our farmers and farming technology.
For some Australians, the best known "Mr Plough" is the one portrayed by Homer in a famous Simpsons episode (the episode refers to a snow-plough). However, in 1876, it was the invention of a quirky and ingenious farming implement in South Australia that had everyone talking. Used throughout the world to this day, the "stump jump plough" revolutionised farming worldwide and is one of this country's greatest inventions.
In the 1800s, much of South Australia's wheat farming land was covered by vast expanses of mallee scrub. This was a particularly difficult obstacle to remove with traditional methods such as an axe. It often made ploughing the land excruciatingly slow and expensive; traditional ploughs would smash into the stump and cease working. The stump jump plough, with hinged mould-boards attached to the plough's frame, was able ride over or "jump" the mallee scrub (or stone, or other obstacle) without stopping - and without damage.
The man credited with the invention by the South Australian Parliament, Richard Bowyer Smith, was born on 2 September 1837 and I'm delighted that Google is honouring his birthday with a special homepage doodle today.
Smith's invention was initially received with scepticism. Many at the Moonta show in 1876 called him a "fool" and a "lunatic". Smith, however, had a vision, believing that his new plough would open up new lands and new prosperity. He was right. His invention unleashed a new wave of innovation. His brother Clarence, and the inventor George Whittaker, among others, created their own versions of the stump jump plough, which helped innumerable farmers in Australia and worldwide to overcome an age-old problem. The stump jump plough is a true example of Australian ingenuity and persistence in the face of a difficult problem.
In 2002, the National Trust of South Australia and BankSA named the stump jump plough as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. It joins other South Australian icons on the list like the Hills Hoist, checkside punt, and the wine cask.
The National Trust of SA aims to raise awareness in the broader community on cultural and natural heritage matters. With over 100 historic buildings, as well as 28 nature reserves under our management, the National Trust is the largest community heritage organisation in South Australia. I'm thrilled that Google, with today's doodle, is bringing Richard Smith's invention to life for the online generation and raising awareness of Australia's heritage icons.
Google Insights for Search in Australia
You may have read a few interesting articles (here, and here) about a new tool called Google Insights for Search, a new product that allows advertisers and marketers to better understand search behaviour across the globe.
Like Google Trends, you can type in a search term to view search patterns, and we've also included some interesting new features like a geographic heat map to graphically display search volume and regional interest.
Like Google Trends, you can type in a search term to view search patterns, and we've also included some interesting new features like a geographic heat map to graphically display search volume and regional interest.
We figured it would be great to highlight some Australian-specific insights we've found using Insights for Search. Hopefully they'll stimulate your own discovery of other interesting online trends in Australia!
As an example, if you perform a basic enquiry, leaving all the default settings and simply type [didgeridoo], this will show you search information from across the world, from 2004 to today. As you might expect, there is a lot of interest in didgeridoos here in Australia. But what you might not expect is the other countries with a large relative interest in didgeridoos, like Austria. If you were in the business of making fine, handcrafted didgeridoos here in Australia, you could build your international business by focusing your online advertising within the most relevant international markets: Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
It's also possible to compare search terms by location, time range and category. With the Categories filter, you can hone in on results based on different categories. For example, you can enter the search query [the vines] and isolate results to the music category, to see interest in the rock band The Vines, rather than the WA resort. If you throw in a few more bands for comparative purposes, it's interesting to see how popularity is changing over time, and that great bands have peaks and troughs (often around album sales or tours)! [The Vines] peaked in early 2004, [Wolfmother] peaked in 2005/2006, but [Crowded House] continues to be consistently popular. It's also interesting to note which in which Australian regions [The Vines] are searched - as a proportion of total searches, they're most popular in Perth.
Using the "Categories" filter, you can also see the most popular searches for an entire category, such as [basketball], where you can notice the huge spike in interest around the Beijing Olympic Games.
A further use of Insights for Search is to see popular searches and rising queries, from here and abroad. An analysis, for example, of Australian vacation destinations that Germans are searching for, shows that Ayers Rock/Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef are popular destinations, with the Whitsundays and Tasmania rapidly increasing in popularity in the past 18 months.
Businesses can further use Insights for Search by viewing search trends for over time. The seasonality of searches can be used to target advertising campaigns around events like Fathers Day or Christmas. Look at the spike in searches for [car stereos] in the lead up to Christmas.
We hope you'll find Google Insights for Search to be an extremely valuable tool. Given the various methods of comparison, the ability to filter by category and visualise heat maps by region, hopefully you'll discover new and engaging information about your products, markets, and advertising!
As an example, if you perform a basic enquiry, leaving all the default settings and simply type [didgeridoo], this will show you search information from across the world, from 2004 to today. As you might expect, there is a lot of interest in didgeridoos here in Australia. But what you might not expect is the other countries with a large relative interest in didgeridoos, like Austria. If you were in the business of making fine, handcrafted didgeridoos here in Australia, you could build your international business by focusing your online advertising within the most relevant international markets: Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
It's also possible to compare search terms by location, time range and category. With the Categories filter, you can hone in on results based on different categories. For example, you can enter the search query [the vines] and isolate results to the music category, to see interest in the rock band The Vines, rather than the WA resort. If you throw in a few more bands for comparative purposes, it's interesting to see how popularity is changing over time, and that great bands have peaks and troughs (often around album sales or tours)! [The Vines] peaked in early 2004, [Wolfmother] peaked in 2005/2006, but [Crowded House] continues to be consistently popular. It's also interesting to note which in which Australian regions [The Vines] are searched - as a proportion of total searches, they're most popular in Perth.
Using the "Categories" filter, you can also see the most popular searches for an entire category, such as [basketball], where you can notice the huge spike in interest around the Beijing Olympic Games.
A further use of Insights for Search is to see popular searches and rising queries, from here and abroad. An analysis, for example, of Australian vacation destinations that Germans are searching for, shows that Ayers Rock/Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef are popular destinations, with the Whitsundays and Tasmania rapidly increasing in popularity in the past 18 months.
Businesses can further use Insights for Search by viewing search trends for over time. The seasonality of searches can be used to target advertising campaigns around events like Fathers Day or Christmas. Look at the spike in searches for [car stereos] in the lead up to Christmas.
We hope you'll find Google Insights for Search to be an extremely valuable tool. Given the various methods of comparison, the ability to filter by category and visualise heat maps by region, hopefully you'll discover new and engaging information about your products, markets, and advertising!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Webinars For Those Too Busy For Seminars
Ever sat in a seminar or conference and thought how much better it would be if you could learn all of the material being presented without being physically there?
Well, we've started holding webinars for our advertisers, to provide further information and training in how to make the most of AdWords (Google’s online advertising program), which you can enjoy from the comfort of your own armchair (or, more likely, your desk).
Our first webinar, "Introduction to Optimisation" was held in June, and saw hundreds of advertisers sign up. (Optimisation refers to the ability to make changes to your keywords, ad text and account structure in order to maximise the effectiveness of your online advertising). Advertisers heard from one of our local optimisation experts who presented tips and tricks for making online advertising campaigns perform better. Two of our AdWords team members were also on hand to respond to advertiser questions via chat throughout the webinar.
If you're interested in our upcoming webinars on all sorts of advertising-related topics such as Analytics, AdWords Editor and other AdWords topics, click here for a calendar of events.
Well, we've started holding webinars for our advertisers, to provide further information and training in how to make the most of AdWords (Google’s online advertising program), which you can enjoy from the comfort of your own armchair (or, more likely, your desk).
Our first webinar, "Introduction to Optimisation" was held in June, and saw hundreds of advertisers sign up. (Optimisation refers to the ability to make changes to your keywords, ad text and account structure in order to maximise the effectiveness of your online advertising). Advertisers heard from one of our local optimisation experts who presented tips and tricks for making online advertising campaigns perform better. Two of our AdWords team members were also on hand to respond to advertiser questions via chat throughout the webinar.
If you're interested in our upcoming webinars on all sorts of advertising-related topics such as Analytics, AdWords Editor and other AdWords topics, click here for a calendar of events.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Googlers search for the finishing line
Getting up early on Sundays is practically taboo for most Australians. Getting up early on Sunday to jog 14km is almost unheard of. So when the annual Sun Herald City2Surf marathon attracts a crowd of 70,000 enthusiastic participants, it’s quite clear that Sydneysiders are more than happy to break a few rules in the name of charity.
This year our very own team of Googlers and their families took to the start line at 9am, ready to tackle Heartbreak Hill, dodge crowd-pleasers in fancy dress and make it to the finish line without a single stain of yellow Gatorade on their shirts. From Engineering, to Sales and Marketing, there was healthy representation from almost every Google team. Nikolai Pitchforth, Senior Industry Analyst for our Travel team, finished in just under an hour, while others such as myself walked a steady pace, reaching Bondi Beach in double that time.
This year our very own team of Googlers and their families took to the start line at 9am, ready to tackle Heartbreak Hill, dodge crowd-pleasers in fancy dress and make it to the finish line without a single stain of yellow Gatorade on their shirts. From Engineering, to Sales and Marketing, there was healthy representation from almost every Google team. Nikolai Pitchforth, Senior Industry Analyst for our Travel team, finished in just under an hour, while others such as myself walked a steady pace, reaching Bondi Beach in double that time.
(You can see the route we all travelled here on Google Maps or with our Street View flipbook video).
So whether you walked, danced, jogged or ran on the day, your participation helped to support many great causes and community projects. Congratulations to all who entered and good luck in your recovery over the next week!
Google Team get ready for a cold start
Left to right: Patrice McCauley, Gabriella Scott, Angela Lawrence
Rob Schonberger secures his spot at the Start Line:
So whether you walked, danced, jogged or ran on the day, your participation helped to support many great causes and community projects. Congratulations to all who entered and good luck in your recovery over the next week!
Google Team get ready for a cold start
Left to right: Patrice McCauley, Gabriella Scott, Angela Lawrence
Rob Schonberger secures his spot at the Start Line:
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Keeping up with the Summer Games
Now that the Games are underway, we're happy to present the 2008 Summer Games on Google, a site featuring a number of Google products to help you stay updated on happenings. Whether you're cheering for Australia, or living, working, or traveling here and supporting your home country, the gadget is available in 31 languages.
We collaborated with a data provider to make it easy for you to keep current on event schedules and get updates on results, as well as track medal counts with an iGoogle gadget. You can also get schedules and results right on the Google homepage. (Check out the results for swimming).
We collaborated with a data provider to make it easy for you to keep current on event schedules and get updates on results, as well as track medal counts with an iGoogle gadget. You can also get schedules and results right on the Google homepage. (Check out the results for swimming).
We're also including the newest Summer Games highlights through Google News. The Summer Games on Google Maps lets you view medal and event information based on your favourite regions and sports. Read more about these efforts on the Lat Long Blog.
Also, be sure to check out this collection of 3D stadiums and venues created with Google SketchUp. And since we know many of you are often on the go, all this information is available for mobile devices, where Google Mobile is available.
Also, be sure to check out this collection of 3D stadiums and venues created with Google SketchUp. And since we know many of you are often on the go, all this information is available for mobile devices, where Google Mobile is available.
We hope these tools make it easy and enjoyable for you to follow all the action at the Summer Games.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Street View: the view from Day 2
I suspect I'm not alone in admitting that I spent quite a while using Street View to look up some of my favourite spots in Australia yesterday. I first checked out my neighbourhood in Sydney and then took some time traveling down "memory lane" looking at some of the places I've lived and visited. It was the first time I could share street-level panoramic imagery from Australia with my friends who live overseas.
It was almost overwhelming to see the excitement and interest in Street View from people in every State and Territory yesterday. We've heard from lots of Australians who checked it out - both here and abroad. We've also heard from people overseas who are already scoping out their next holiday destinations here in Australia -- from Airlie Beach to Exmouth and many places in between.
Some of you have asked "when will imagery for my street, my neighbourhood, or my town be available on Street View?" Although the coverage of Australia is extremely comprehensive, rest assured; we are absolutely continuing to add more areas and new public roads throughout Australia so keep your eyes peeled.
Speaking of which, we were thrilled that one of our users found the first ever "Street View Kangaroos":
View Larger Map
Lots of Australian users and businesses are already using Street View in important ways.
We knew property seekers would be thrilled at the ability to use Street View when looking to buy or rent, but within a matter of hours following the feature's availability, the real-estate website, Domain.com.au, integrated Street View into all their property listings across the country. Now, when you look up homes or apartments at domain.com.au, you can walk down the street and see your new neighbourhood.
Google and the Sun-Herald City2Surf have also launched a "flipbook" video using still images from Street View to create a video of the race route, which takes place in Sydney this Sunday (10 August 2008). This is the first time in the world that a fun run has made a video of its course using Street View images. Runners can visualise the route and spectators can find the best vantage point in Sydney to cheer on their friends, co-workers and relatives. And please remember to donate and support the runners!
As a reminder, while Street View contains views from public roads, if you identify any imagery you consider sensitive or inappropriate, you can easily flag it for removal by clicking on "Street View Help" in any Street View window.
To all of you -- those who are long-time users of Google Maps and those who've discovered Google Maps for the first time -- thanks for your excitement and interest. Hope you continue to enjoy your journeys across Australia.
It was almost overwhelming to see the excitement and interest in Street View from people in every State and Territory yesterday. We've heard from lots of Australians who checked it out - both here and abroad. We've also heard from people overseas who are already scoping out their next holiday destinations here in Australia -- from Airlie Beach to Exmouth and many places in between.
Some of you have asked "when will imagery for my street, my neighbourhood, or my town be available on Street View?" Although the coverage of Australia is extremely comprehensive, rest assured; we are absolutely continuing to add more areas and new public roads throughout Australia so keep your eyes peeled.
Speaking of which, we were thrilled that one of our users found the first ever "Street View Kangaroos":
View Larger Map
Lots of Australian users and businesses are already using Street View in important ways.
We knew property seekers would be thrilled at the ability to use Street View when looking to buy or rent, but within a matter of hours following the feature's availability, the real-estate website, Domain.com.au, integrated Street View into all their property listings across the country. Now, when you look up homes or apartments at domain.com.au, you can walk down the street and see your new neighbourhood.
Google and the Sun-Herald City2Surf have also launched a "flipbook" video using still images from Street View to create a video of the race route, which takes place in Sydney this Sunday (10 August 2008). This is the first time in the world that a fun run has made a video of its course using Street View images. Runners can visualise the route and spectators can find the best vantage point in Sydney to cheer on their friends, co-workers and relatives. And please remember to donate and support the runners!
As a reminder, while Street View contains views from public roads, if you identify any imagery you consider sensitive or inappropriate, you can easily flag it for removal by clicking on "Street View Help" in any Street View window.
To all of you -- those who are long-time users of Google Maps and those who've discovered Google Maps for the first time -- thanks for your excitement and interest. Hope you continue to enjoy your journeys across Australia.
Monday, August 4, 2008
View Australia like never before
Ever since Google Maps was first developed right here in Sydney, those of us at Google Australia are excited by its continued developments. Today, we're really pleased to introduce Street View for Australia, a feature which enables you to view and navigate 360-degree street-level imagery of public roads in Australia, from the CBD to the outback, from Geraldton to Coffs Harbour.
Check out the Street View page with introductory videos and tips here.
Below is a slideshow of Street View images from around Australia.
We're particularly excited that Australia is one of the first countries to launch Street View and to do so with such extensive coverage.
Whether you're checking out a restaurant before arriving in Cairns, working on a classroom project about Alice Springs, making travel plans to Adelaide, showing customers your business in Bondi, finding a holiday home in Bunbury, or arranging a meeting point with friends in St Kilda, Street View has a myriad of great uses.
Many Australian organisations - including Tourism Australia, the Real Estate Institute of Australia and the Australian Geography Teachers Association - have already identified significant opportunities for Street View to be used in travel, tourism, house buying and renting, education and helping make small businesses easier to find.
It's important to stress that we have gone to great lengths to safeguard privacy while enabling all Australians to benefit from this feature.
Street View only contains imagery that is already visible by anyone from public roads. And of course, none of the imagery is "real time". In addition, Street View features technology that blurs identifiable faces and vehicle license plates are unidentifiable. If you consider that Street View contains imagery that you consider sensitive or inappropriate, you can easily flag it for removal by clicking on "Street View Help" in any Street View window. We have consulted extensively and worked closely with many privacy and community groups in developing the Street View feature and privacy safeguards.
As you try out the feature for yourself on Google Maps, we hope you enjoy your journeys as you explore, learn about, and share our beautiful country in a way that's old and yet new -- with a street view.
Check out the Street View page with introductory videos and tips here.
Below is a slideshow of Street View images from around Australia.
We're particularly excited that Australia is one of the first countries to launch Street View and to do so with such extensive coverage.
Whether you're checking out a restaurant before arriving in Cairns, working on a classroom project about Alice Springs, making travel plans to Adelaide, showing customers your business in Bondi, finding a holiday home in Bunbury, or arranging a meeting point with friends in St Kilda, Street View has a myriad of great uses.
Many Australian organisations - including Tourism Australia, the Real Estate Institute of Australia and the Australian Geography Teachers Association - have already identified significant opportunities for Street View to be used in travel, tourism, house buying and renting, education and helping make small businesses easier to find.
It's important to stress that we have gone to great lengths to safeguard privacy while enabling all Australians to benefit from this feature.
Street View only contains imagery that is already visible by anyone from public roads. And of course, none of the imagery is "real time". In addition, Street View features technology that blurs identifiable faces and vehicle license plates are unidentifiable. If you consider that Street View contains imagery that you consider sensitive or inappropriate, you can easily flag it for removal by clicking on "Street View Help" in any Street View window. We have consulted extensively and worked closely with many privacy and community groups in developing the Street View feature and privacy safeguards.
As you try out the feature for yourself on Google Maps, we hope you enjoy your journeys as you explore, learn about, and share our beautiful country in a way that's old and yet new -- with a street view.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Knol is open to all Australians
The key principle behind Knol is authorship. Every knol will have an author (or group of authors) who put their name behind their content. We are also introducing a new method for authors to work together that we call "moderated collaboration." With this feature, any reader can make suggested edits to a knol which the author may then choose to accept, reject, or modify before these contributions become visible to the public.
The web contains vast amounts of information, but not everything worth knowing is on the web. An enormous amount of information resides in people's heads: millions of people know useful things and billions more could benefit from that knowledge.
Knol provides a great way for Australians to share their knowledge, and to give people around the world an expert glimpse into Australia. Who wants to be the first to tackle an explanation of the Tribunal system for Aussie rules? Anyone an expert on the world's deadliest spider, and can explain what to do if bitten? Or how about the history of Australian Nobel Prize laureates?
You can read more about the announcement, and the process for submitting and suggesting edits for knols on our Official Google Blog. To see what others have written and to get started with your own knols, check out knol.google.com.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Goodbye to the "World's Oldest Blogger"
Olive Riley, who, at 108, was the "world's oldest blogger," passed away last Saturday at her nursing home near Sydney, Australia. Olive posted many YouTube vlogs retelling tales of her youth and sharing songs that helped to convey her most fundamental belief: "I want to be happy, but I can't be happy 'til I make you happy too."
Back in October 2007, we were fortunate to have Olive be a part of the YouTube Australia launch for which she made this welcome video:
We will miss the woman who once said: "If a woman who left school in 1914 can embrace the Internet in her 106th year, what is there you can't do, friend?" If you knew Olive or have thoughts on her passing, feel free to upload a video memorial to her on YouTube.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Going to school with Google
As an organisation that began life in a Stanford University dorm room, Google has deep roots in the world of education. In addition to providing a range of tools that support teachers in their effort to empower students, encourage creativity, and build confidence in computing skills, Google is committed to delivering solutions that facilitate students and teachers sharing information and ideas.
As you may have heard, a number of schools and universities in Australia have signed up recently for Google Apps Education Edition. Last year, Macquarie University signed up 68,000 students for Gmail, followed in February of this year by StudentNet and the Rudolf Steiner school. Most recently, the NSW Department of Education and Training announced that it will be rolling out Gmail to 1.3 million students across NSW.
We're happy to see now that educators in New Zealand are also setting their sights online. Earlier this year, the University of Waikato successfully deployed Google Apps to their 25,000 students, and yesterday, you may have heard that the largest university in New Zealand, The University of Auckland, also rolled out Google Apps to 50,000 students, staff and alumni.
I'm always interested to talk to schools and universities in Australia and New Zealand, and had the pleasure yesterday of attending QUESTnet 2008, a conference on the Gold Coast focused on IT in education. It was inspiring to hear how open schools are to online tools, and to the collaborative possibilities of online applications like Google Apps.
To learn more about Google Apps Education Edition (which is free to accredited K-12 or higher educational institutions) check out the overview video below or get in touch with us here.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Check out the Tour de France using Street View in Google Maps
For all those who will be cheering for Cadel Evans as he aims to take home the yellow jersey from this year's Tour de France, but aren't planning on making the long haul to be there in person, you may want to check out the new Street View imagery we released today in Google Maps, which allows you to view street-level imagery along the entirety of this year's route.
Each of the 21 stages are clearly marked on the map, taking you over more than 3,500 km (2,200 miles) around the 21 hairpin bends of the notoriously steep Alpe d'Huez to the finishing line on the cobbled streets of the Champs Elysees.
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Nearing the finish line in L'Alpe-d'Huez, found in Stage 17 from Embrun to L'Alpe-d'Huez, arguably the most physically demanding stage of the whole race
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The Eiffel Tower and Seine river in Paris, passed in Stage 21 from Etampes to Paris' Champs-Elysees, the final stage of the race
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The Arc de Triomphe, at the western end of the Champs Elysee. If you zoom in, you can look at the detailed sculptures on the frieze
As we mentioned previously, we're aiming to launch the Street View feature for Google Maps in Australia later in 2008. This new Tour de France imagery gives you a feel for some of the cool and useful applications for Street View, and how it might be used in Australia. It's also a great chance to check out the face-blurring technology we'll be implementing in Street View here in Australia.
The Tour de France 2008 will begin on July 5th (in France), and runs until July 27th. Go Aussies!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Supporting a faster, more accessible, more open Internet in Australia
Google's services – web search, Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube – help to connect millions of individuals, groups and businesses around the world. The technologies of connection are especially useful and important in a geographically vast and isolated country like Australia. As Google's CEO Eric Schmidt told Australian reporters during a visit to Sydney in March 2008:
"Google is helping Australians overcome the ‘tyranny of distance’. We measure distances not in hundreds of kilometres, but in milliseconds."
The same can be said of services provided by other online innovators – diverse names such as Yahoo, eBay, Wikipedia, wotif.com, MySpace, SEEK and Facebook – all of which are popular in Australia, and all of which enhance the ability of Australians to connect, to share, to learn, and to reach customers and audiences regardless of their location. At Google Australia, we've been pleased to play a role in this over the past years.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the economic and social benefits that flow from speedy and affordable Internet connectivity are numerous:
- It spurs creativity, promoting the creation of user generated content that is facilitated by “Web 2.0” applications such as YouTube;
- It drives new forms of economic activity, allowing (i) Australian businesses to reach new customers around the world through online advertising, (ii) Australian publishers to earn money by creating locally and globally compelling content, and (iii) Australian web developers to create innovative internet-based businesses;
- It creates new forms of social engagement and interaction such as social networking, Internet voice links, video sharing and citizen participation in democracy (as seen in the 2007 Google Australian election initiative);
- It cuts costs for Australian enterprises, government agencies and educational bodies, as they are enabled to utilise Web-based applications in ‘the cloud’, making their documents securely available from any computer with an Internet connection at greatly reduced cost;
- It empowers community groups, educational institutions and government agencies to reach constituencies (and each other) in new and innovative ways -- for example, the Catholic Church’s use of social networking for the upcoming World Youth Dayin Sydney, UNSW’s YouTube channel that assists in remote education, and Transperth’s use of Google Maps to provide public transport details to users.
For Australian users, communities and businesses to realise these enormous benefits, no infrastructure is more crucial than advanced communications networks. Indeed, the United Nations has recognised broadband as essential infrastructure, just as necessary as water and electricity.
Google Australia's vision is of an Australia in which competitive broadband Internet is universally accessible, at best-in-world speeds and at affordable prices. As you may be aware, the Federal Government has committed A$4.7 billion to subsidise the rollout of a fibre network accessible to at least 98% of the Australian population. Along with inviting bids from parties to build and operate the infrastructure, the Government has reached out for comment on what regulatory safeguards are necessary to maximise the public benefit.
Google is born of a highly competitive ecosystem – the open Internet – in which alternative services are only ever a click away, and where success only comes by providing superior services, constant technological improvement, and earning users’ trust. We aim to provide our users with the best possible experience and service in a competitive, open and innovative environment, one click at a time.
We believe that similar principles of openness, innovation and competition should be built into the regulatory framework governing Australia’s future national broadband network. Simply put, in a global economy, an open Internet and a competitive broadband market is necessary to ensure that all Australian consumers and Australian businesses can share in the benefits of the digital economy.
Our belief in the possibilities that broadband creates, and our underlying confidence in the innovative power of open and competitive communications environments, motivated us to put together a submission to the Federal Government’s enquiry into the regulatory principles that should govern the national broadband network. Here's the link to the submissions, including ours.
Our submission makes a few important recommendations, including:
- The new broadband network and its owner should preserve the Internet's fundamentally open, neutral, non-discriminatory nature.
- The rollout schedule of the new network should have the goal of prioritising those parts of Australia that are currently unserved, or underserved by broadband services.
- To ensure competition, the winning bidder for the network should offer services on a wholesale basis to retail competitors on non-discriminatory and equivalent terms as it offers them to its own retail operations (from the perspective of both price and non-price terms and conditions). Functional or structural separation of the network owner should be considered as options to ensure this.
- To ensure that those Australians who already have relatively fast Internet do not see a decrease in speed in the short term, existing ADSL 2+ and similar broadband services should co-exist with the new network, at least during a defined transition period.
- As Australians are increasingly important producers, not simply consumers, of content and applications, the Government should ensure the availability of high symmetrical broadband speeds (both download and upload).
- To ensure maximum Internet speeds and efficiencies for Australians accessing the Internet, close attention should be paid to developments in the international capacity market and the peering market.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Developers come together at Developer Day in Sydney
Yesterday's Developer Day was a fantastic time for all involved, especially those who came with their geek caps on. From chats about how developers can use OpenSocial to build social apps across networks, to discussions of the Google App Engine, which provides free storage for anyone to build and scale apps on the internet, it was a day full of lively conversations and exciting possibilities.
Developers from all over Australia had the chance to mingle with one another, and talk with Googlers about how Google products can help to power their applications and online content. Lars Rasmussen, one of the creators of Google Maps, gave an introduction to our Google Web Toolkit, which helps developers to write applications more quickly and easily, while Google Australia's own Dmitri Abramov shared a few tips and tricks for the recently announced Flash Maps API. Developers also got a chance to play with the Google Earth API, announced at Google I/O a couple weeks back, and to hear about the new Android SDK, Google's open mobile platform (and see a few new Android apps demos).
Lastly, to spice things up, Google also held a speedgeeking competition to recognise some of the most creative Australian mashups of Google products and APIs. Yesterday we were proud to announce that http://www.cleancruising.com.au/ were the winners, thanks to their innovative use of multiple Google APIs, creating useful apps involving products such as Google Maps and Google Earth.
With ideas bouncing back and forth, lots of APIs and developer tools to mull over, and Googlers and developers immersed in thoughts for the future, it was great to step back and see what is possible when developers come together as a community.
An open web on which developers can build new and innovative apps is truly a beautiful thing.
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