Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Driving into our 55th country and updating Russian imagery
Friday, January 31, 2014
With the eyes of winter sports fans turning to Russia, we thought this would be a good time to add more towns, cities and picturesque sights of this sprawling country to Google Maps. From today, Street View is available in Vladivostok, Yakutsk, Irkutsk and, of course,
Sochi
.
Winter lovers also are treated, for the first time, to images of mountainous Slovenia. This gorgeous Central European country becomes our 55th country to launch Street View.
Map of some of the newly available areas to explore in Russia
In Russia, our drivers reached the far away corners of the world's largest country. Users can take a walk around Yakutsk, the city with the greatest seasonal temperature swings on Earth (the lowest recorded winter temperature was −64.4°C with the highest summer peak hitting 38.4°C).
View Larger Map
Explore the city center of Yakutsk
In total, Street View cars covered 300,000 kilometers in Russia in 2013, an area housing almost 60 percent of the population. We mapped the biggest Russian island of
Sakhalin
and the
Russkiy Bridge
, the world's longest cable-stayed bridge. While snapping the
M52 highway
, also known as
Chuya Highway
or Chuysky Trakt, Street View drivers met indigenous tribes.
The mapping team faced unusual challenges. When taking imagery of the
Tobolsk monastery
the drivers spent two days praying with the Monastery Abbot. In order to get to some remote spots, Street View cars were transported in containers on tracks and boats. There was even place for romance: while shooting Sakhalin, one driver met his future wife!
View Larger Map
The Tobolsk Monastery in Tyumen Oblast
We also are launching our imagery in Slovenia. Virtual tourists now can explore cities like Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje, Kranj, and Koper, as well as beautiful places like
Bohinj Lake
or the sea town of
Piran
.
View Larger Map
Congress Square, Ljubljana
Enjoy some of these amazing sights on StreetView’s journey eastward through Europe.
Posted by Carlos Reolid, Program Manager for Google Street View
Vote for Digital Defender of the Year
Thursday, January 30, 2014
For the past 14 years the
Index on Censorship Awards
have honoured some of the most remarkable fighters for free expression from around the world - from assassinated Russian journalist
Anna Politkovskaya
to Israeli conductor
Daniel Barenboim
and Syrian cartoonist
Ali Farzat
to education activist
Malala Yousafzai
. Until now, distinguished juries have selected all the winners. But this year, we’re working with Index on an innovation - asking the public to vote for the digital activist award, which honours the person who has done the most to defend online freedom.
Take a look at the nominees and vote here. Voting finishes next Monday, February 3, so please do act fast.
This is the fourth year Google has worked with Index on its annual awards event. Total editorial control remains with Index; they choose the nominees. We are just delighted to support this important organization’s new and important work in defence of online freedom. For a taste of the excitement surrounding the ceremony, watch last year’s highlight video below.
This year’s awards ceremony take place on Thursday March 20, 6.30pm, at the
Barbican Centre
in London. In addition to the digital defender award, three other awards will be given out, one for journalism, one for advocacy and one for arts. Tickets are available, so please do join us to celebrate free-expression champions and shine a light on their ongoing struggle against censorship around the world.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
The real story behind high-tech jobs
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
We’ve all heard the damning indictment - technology destroys jobs. While it is true that the digital revolution disrupts the workplace - just as the Industrial Revolution swept away many artisan professions such as weavers -
a new report by University of Leuven researchers
tells a fascinating story of how the high tech revolution is, surprisingly, creating an explosion in non-high tech jobs in Europe. Indeed, for every one high-tech job created, more than four additional non-high tech jobs are created in the same region.
That’s not the only good news, either. Across the European economy, the high-tech sector is showing impressive signs of growth. The new research shows that high-tech employment grew 20 percent in the EU-27 between 2000-2011, while total employment increased by just eight percent.
Growth in high-tech jobs also has a positive spillover effect in local economies. The presence of high-tech workers in a region is likely to create additional work for a wide range of occupations - from lawyers, doctors and school teachers to taxi drivers, waiters and technicians.
This spillover is not limited to Europe’s biggest economies. While Germany contributed the most to total high-tech employment in Europe, it is relatively unexpected regions in Europe that saw the fastest growth in high-tech jobs. For example, Bratislava, Slovakia is one of the fastest growing regions for high-tech employment, growing at nearly 56 percent from 2000-2011. This contributes to the region’s high level of per-capita income and contrasts with assumptions that high-tech jobs are only in traditional hubs.
Not only is the high-tech sector outperforming other sectors in total employment growth, but its workers enjoy high rates of employment, a substantial wage premium (over 65% in some countries, like Portugual and Romania) and higher wage growth. With many economies struggling with stagnant wages, a vibrant high-tech sector makes a strong contribution to these countries.
So what lessons should we take from these findings?
First, that the EU’s pursuit of high-tech and digital job growth is worthwhile. The Europe 2020 strategy and recent agreements at the European Digital Council provide the opportunity to build on the success of the past ten years to support this vibrant part of the economy.
Second, we know that supporting high-tech jobs will benefit the wider economy. The high-tech sector is generating faster, higher-paying job growth across the EU-27, the knock-on effect of which is positive across the economy.
Third, investing in high-tech and digital skills will pay dividends. The difference in wages between STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs and non-STEM jobs is high right across Europe. And with the high-tech jobs multiplier, supporting skills development in high-tech fields should create benefits beyond traditional high-tech industries.
As these jobs spread across the continent, it is clear that supporting high-tech industries will benefit the whole economy and make a substantial contribution to resolving the unemployment crisis facing many economies.
Posted by Jon Steinberg, Google Public Policy team
Life in the fast lane: Street View on the Top Gear test track
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Thanks to Street View, you might have already traversed the elegant
plains
of Botswana, or discovered the serene
fjords
of Norway. But now for something completely different.
One of our brave Street View drivers has been to a
remote airfield
in Surrey, England — filming location of the BBC’s automotive TV show,
Top Gear
. He went to take on the fearless petrolhead that reigns supreme on the iconic show —
The Stig
. While the Stig raced around in a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black, we took a tour with our own vehicle. Take a look at the results in this behind the scenes video.
View Larger Map
Crossing the chequered line. The track plays host to regular Top Gear features like the Power Lap and Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.
The Top Gear test track is the latest in a line of special Street View collects designed to delight motorsport fans. Previously, we’ve put online the
Laguna Seca
raceway in California and the
Monza
Formula 1 circuit, host to the Italian Grand Prix, among others. Get behind the “wheel” and enjoy!
Posted by Ulf Spitzer, Street View Program Manager, Google
More Swedish wind power for our Finnish data centre
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
We’re keen to make sure that our data centres around the world use as much renewable energy as possible. By entering into
long-term agreements
with wind farm developers over the past few years, we’ve been able to increase the amount of renewable energy we consume while helping enable the construction of new facilities.
Today we announced that we’ve signed a new power purchase agreement (PPA) in Sweden (our
second such agreement
there in less than 12 months). We will buy the entire electricity output of four as-yet-unbuilt wind farms in southern Sweden, at a fixed price, for the next ten years.
Windfarm developer
Eolus Vind
will build four wind farms, in Alered, Mungseröd, Skalleberg and Ramsnäs, Sweden. The 29-turbine project, with a total combined capacity of 59MW, already has all relevant planning approvals and permits and will become fully operational in early 2015.
Picture: Our seawater-cooled data centre in Hamina, Finland
Once completed, the wind farms will provide Google’s Hamina, Finland, data centre with additional renewable energy as the facility
expands
in coming years.
Buying renewable energy in Sweden and consuming it in Finland is possible thanks to Europe’s increasingly integrated power markets, in particular the Nord Pool spot market. This allows Google to buy renewable energy with Guarantee of Origin certification in Sweden, “retire” the certificates and then consume an equivalent amount of power elsewhere in Europe.
This marks our sixth long-term agreement to purchase renewable energy. We keep signing these contracts for two main reasons: they make great financial sense for us, and increase the amount of renewable energy available in the grid, which is great for the environment too.
Posted by Francois Sterin, Director, Global Infrastructure Team
Made in Italy goes digital
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Italy long has been famed for its quality of life, its fashion, its heritage and its food. We believe the Internet can help promote the Made in Italy lifestyle brand and the
Google Cultural Institute
has worked with the
Italian Agriculture Ministry
,
Union of Chambers of Commerce
, the
University Ca' Foscari
,
the
Symbola Foundation
to launch an online platform designed to help bring Made in Italy online.
On the new platform, anybody, anywhere can discover hundreds of digital displays, stories, pictures, videos, and historical documents about Italian craftsmanship. Many of Italy’s most famous culinary and handcraft products are represented, from
Parmigiano Reggiano
cheese and
Prosciutto di San Daniele
ham to
Murano glass
and
Montappone Hats
. Little-known gems also can be uncovered such as
Vercelli accordions
and
Ascoli Piceno
lace.
Discover Montappone Hats
Many of the best Italian producers are small and medium sized, family-owned companies. They are homes to craftsmen who produce niche products. By bringing them online, we hope to help them export and reach global markets. Before, an American or Chinese buyer would have found it hard to obtain many of these Italian gems. With the new site, niche products no longer are forced into niche markets.
Online interest is growing in Italian “cultural” products. Google searches in these categories grew by 12 percent last year; fashion is the most searched category, followed by tourism and food. Even so, Made in Italy producers still lag with their digital activities: only 34 percent of Italian SMEs have their own website and only 13 percent use it to do e-commerce.
Media partner
Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso
, excited about the economic potential of the internet, dedicated an entire
section
to the project, focusing on examples of successful Italian entrepreneurs going digital. Savor this new digital platform - and encourage more and more Italian purveyors of the sweet life to benefit from the Internet.
Posted by Luisella Mazza, Program Manager, Cultural Institute and Diego Ciulli, Public Policy Analyst, Rome
Help train the next generation of computer scientists
Monday, January 20, 2014
Developing computer science and STEM skills is something that should start at an early age. That’s why we’ve been supporting efforts like the
RISE Awards
and
Raspberry Pi
to help inspire a new generation of computer scientists who will build the apps and programs of the future. We are passionate about improving the way computer science is taught in schools and believe that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science.
We are pleased to announce that applications are now open for the
2014 Google CS4HS
(Computer Science for High School) award program. The program funds universities to work with local high schools to give teachers the training and tools they need to bring computer science and computational thinking into the classroom. Apply before midnight GMT, February 17th, 2014 via
www.cs4hs.com
.
Throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa, many high schools have limited access to training and curriculum resources. Teachers often struggle to keep up with fast changing technology and they have difficulty demonstrating that computer science can be a rewarding and “cool” career choice. The Google CS4HS award helps teachers meet those challenges. In 2013, the CS4HS program funded 34 computer science education projects
across 18 countries
in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
We’re excited to have the opportunity to help even more educators learn how to teach computer science and encourage students to take up computer science. Together, we can help inspire the next generation of computer scientists!
Posted by Posted by Michelle Finnegan, University Relations Specialist, UK
Honoring Irish casualties from World War I
Friday, January 10, 2014
During World War I, about 50,000 Irish soldiers died fighting in the British army. Until now, these records were located only in a book released in 1923 and published in a mere 100 copies. Google has worked with the Irish genealogical history and heritage company
Eneclann
and the
In Flanders Fields Museum
in Ypres, Belgium to build a
new Irish memorial website
, bringing a list of Irish war dead available online and making it searchable with
this simple tool
.
Today, Ireland’s Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
Eamon Gilmore T.D.
, launched the new website with Northern Ireland First Minister
Peter Robinson
and deputy First Minister
Martin McGuinness
at our Dublin headquarters. “While the digitisation and online access to this record will be a rich resource for genealogy, most significant is its value in facilitating the simple and important act of remembering the individuals, Irish men and women, who lost their lives in the First World War,” Tánaiste Gilmore said.
The two Northern Irish leaders spoke movingly about the project. “My presence is a clear indication of the maturity in confronting history on this island. For many years, this as something that people were not prepared to talk about, to face up to, to acknowledge,” said deputy First Minister McGuinness. First Minister Peter Robinson agreed, saying: “As we enter an important decade of commemorations in both our countries, it is my hope that what has been established here today will keep alive the history and the stories of those who did not return from war.”
Deputy First Minister McGuiness
Work on the archive dates back to July 2012 when the Irish ambassador to Belgium, Éamonn Mac Aodha approached Google and In Flanders Fields Museum. During the research, the museum discovered that the records for Irish casualties of the First World War were neither fully correct nor complete. More records simply list France as place of death. Many probably instead died in Flanders - in all some 11,060 out of the 49,000 have now been identified as being killed or commemorated or buried in Belgium.
More than 100 guests attended today’s launch. These included family members who had researched relatives who died in World War One; members of the diplomatic corps; political representatives and historians and academics, and members of commemorative organisations. Our idea is to engage the public and increase knowledge about these casualties. If you find an ancestor or locate a long-lost relative in the list send, documents, pictures, letters or any other relevant information, email namenlijst@ieper.be. The information will be verified and added to the website.
The new Irish World War I records search tool
This event marks the opening of the ceremonies for the 100th year of the outbreak of World War I. We’re proud to play a part in this project as a sign of our commitment to Ireland, our European headquarters, and to using technology to fill in holes left by history.
Posted by William Echikson, External Relations, Europe, Middle East and Africa
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Driving into our 55th country and updating Russian...
Vote for Digital Defender of the Year
The real story behind high-tech jobs
Life in the fast lane: Street View on the Top Gear...
More Swedish wind power for our Finnish data centre
Made in Italy goes digital
Help train the next generation of computer scientists
Honoring Irish casualties from World War I
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