News - Google Asia is using trekkers to photograph new locations
| News about Google Street View | ||
| Previous Article | Current Article | Next Article |
Over the course of this year, social media users spotted Google Street View trekkers around different Asian countries, covering areas where cars are not normally allowed to travel. The places that mainly received spottings were cities in southern Japan as well as the capitals of Taiwan and Malaysia. In addition, motorbikes equipped with Gen 4 Trekkers were also spotted on the island of Java as well as the Dhaka Division, in addition to the Philippines.
In early June 2024, the trekker operator confirmed taking photographs around the Minamiasa River (Japanese: 南浅川) in Hachiōji City (Source: MIIKO via Twitter). On the first of July, several Indonesian tech accounts posted on social media about the tour of motorbikes equipped with Gen 4 trekkers in the city of Ambarawa located in the province of Central Java. (Source: Ambarawa Terkini via Instagram)
Then in late August 2024, social media users spotted the trekker in Yongchungang Park (Chinese: 永春崗公園) located in Xinyi District, Eastern Taipei. (Source: 陳紀墉 via Facebook)
In early September, a motorbike equipped with a Gen 4 Trekker was reported driving through a residential area in the Philippines, one of the few Asian countries where Google still uses these vehicles to photograph certain narrow streets. (Source: Mary Amorin via FB)
In late September, social media users spotted a Gen 4 Google Trekker circling around the suburb of Chan Sow Lin in southeastern Kuala Lumpur. (Source: sleepym0nkey via Twitter), also a Google Trekker was spotted photographing residential areas in Kagoshima Prefecture in Southern Japan. (Source: kuromitsuklnako via Twitter) These cameras have also been spotted in shopping areas around Shinjuku, Tokyo. (Source: koko via Xiaohongshu)
At the beginning of October 2024, the DecodeMap team in Bangladesh released a video of a motorcycle equipped with a Gen 4 Trekker traveling through the Padma Multipurpose Bridge (Bengali: পদ্মা বহুমুখী সেতু) towards Faridpur city (Bengali: ফরিদপুর) (Source: Al Auddin Hossain via Facebook) Additionally, this month a Google Trekker was spotted touring some sidewalks around Achi located in Kurashiki City in Okayama Prefecture. (Source: alnemo_mu via Twitter)
On October 16, the DecodeMap team confirmed that trekkers were circulating in rural areas of Bangladesh. (Source: Al Auddin Hossain via Facebook)
Notes
- Written by Seb and published on October 18, 2024
- Thanks to Salad for finding and geo-locating the Bangladesh Trekkers spottings as well as Doudou and Sora Shion for finding and geo-locating the spottings around Japan.
- Changelog
- October 26, 2024: Adding information about the Philippines. Thanks to Redpork for finding the Gen 4 Trekker in the country
