Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Hackers will shine a light on government surveillance
Monday, September 23, 2013
The
EUhackathon
returns to Brussels on Tuesday for its highly topical third edition. Thirty computer programmers from 13 countries will participate in the 24-hour coding marathon, entitled
Hack4YourRights
. Their goal is to create insightful visualisations that illustrate the extent of government access to citizens’ online private communications.
The coders will be based at the Brussels Googleplex as they work through the night to transform large
data sets
including network access analyses, corporate transparency reports and Freedom of Information Act requests. Their goal is to shine a light on the degree of government surveillance in various countries around the globe and empower citizens to stand up for their fundamental rights. Greater transparency and awareness are critical to ensuring government surveillance is only used when necessary and proportionate.
After a guaranteed sleepless night of coding, the programmers head to the European Parliament for an awards ceremony hosted by MEP Petru Luhan. It will include a debate between representatives from government academia and civil society. And the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship,
Viviane Reding
, will announce the winner of the EUR5,000 prize for best data visualisation.
Google and Facebook are sponsoring the event. NGOs lending their support include
Access Now
, the
Center for Democracy & Technology
,
Digitale Gesellschaft
, the
European Digital Rights initiative
, the
Electronic Frontier Foundation
, the
Net Users’ Rights Protection Association
, the
Open Knowledge Foundation
,
quintessenz
,
Transparency International
and
visualizing.org
.
We think it’s vitally important to shine a light on how government actions could affect our users. When we first launched our
Transparency Report
in early 2010, there wasn’t much data out there about how governments hamper the free flow of information on the web. But we’re heartened that in the past years and months, more companies have begun to share their statistics too. Our hope is that over time, more data and visualisations will bolster public debate about how we can keep the Internet free and open and protect our privacy and security online.
Posted by Marco Pancini, Senior Policy Counsel, Google
Bringing “Moonshot Thinking” to Germany
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Germany is famous for its entrepreneurial spirit and innovative capacity, which is why it is suprising that Germans have been more reluctant than others to grasp new opportunities offered by the Internet. In an attempt to jumpstart moonshot thinking, Google and its partners
Deutsche Bank
,
Shell
, and start-up hub
Factory
recently launched initiative called
ConSensus
.
Technology & Society: this logo captures the innovative spirit of ConSensus
Since June, ConSensus collected from all over Germany some 280 audacious Internet ideas, ranging from energy & finance to education. This month, business executives, researchers, entrepreneurs and artists came together at the Factory campus close to Berlin’s former wall. Based on the suggestions, steering committee created a
10-point charter
to trigger a new kind of “moonshot innovation” in Germany which was handed over to the Ministry of Economics State Secretary
Anne Ruth Herkes
.
From left to right: Wolfgang Warnecke (Shell), Philipp Justus (Google), State Secretary Anne Ruth Herkes, Simon Schaefer (Factory) and Harald Eisenach (Deutsche Bank); Foto: Jürgen Stüber
The experts also chose 10 “lighthouse” projects for innovation ranging from an online education platform, a cloud computing platform, to an Aupair exchange programme for seniors. Hopefully, ConSensus can help show that Germany is still the country of bold innovators that are willing to take their idea up to the moon - and further.
Posted by Max Senges, Internet Policy and Innovation Manager
Debating the German General Election
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
The Internet allows new and fascinating exchanges between citizens and politics. For Germany’s upcoming September 22 general election, we launched this week
a map
to help German voters find information about the the country's 299 voting districts and learn about the candidates in all of Germany's electoral district. On election night, the map will display official results.
This new feature adds to our recently launched
Election Page
which aims to allow voters to make informed choices. Our motto is "2013+you. It's your election. Take part in the discussion.” The page tracks the campaign’s hottest topics with news, video and other links. It includes a new debating tool on Google+ that allows anybody, with just a few clicks, to participate in discussions and join the German language Google+ Community, "Politics & Elections."
A new series of "Hangouts" with politicians are being held on blogger
Tilo Jung’s "Jung & Naiv"
site. In these video chats, he addresses young, often first-time voters. Tilo already has hosted Pirate party politician
Marina Weisband
and Social Democrat Chancellor Candidate,
Peer Steinbrück
.
Another election partner
politik-digital.de
, provides for the selection of editorial content on
google.de/wahle
n. Much more is planned: we will continue to provide interesting Google search trends. And on election night we will provide fresh election results as they come. Keep coming to our election page and participate!
Posted by Ralf Bremer, Senior Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Berlin
Broadening Google Patents
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Cross-posted from the
Google Public Policy Blog
and the
Inside Search Blog
Last year, we launched two improvements to
Google Patents
: the
Prior Art Finder
and
European Patent Office
patents. Today we’re happy to announce the addition of documents from four new patent agencies: China, Germany, Canada, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Many of these documents may provide prior art for future patent applications, and we hope their increased discoverability will improve the quality of patents in the U.S. and worldwide.
So if you want to learn about a
Chinese dual-drive bicycle
, a
German valve for inflating bicycle tires
, attach a
Canadian trailer to your bike
, or read the
WIPO application for pedalling with one leg
, those and millions of other inventions are now available on Google Patents.
Thanks to
Google Translate
, all patents are available in both their original languages and in English, and you can search across the world’s patents using terms in any of those languages. When there are multiple submission languages, you can move between them with a single click on the tabs at the top of the page, as shown in the screenshot below:
Posted by Jon Orwant, Engineering Manager
Moving journalism into the digital age
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
As the news business experiments with new ways of creating and delivering journalism in the digital age, we’re keen to offer support at the grassroots level. Over the past two years, the Google-funded
IPI News Innovation Contest
has awarded $2.7 million in grants to media projects throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
On September 13, we celebrated the fund’s 17 winners at the Guardian in London. The event included a Google+ Hangout on Air to allow contest winners who couldn’t make it to the event in person to participate - and to allow the public to watch.
Grants were given to both non-profit and for-profit organisations working on digital journalism initiatives, including open-source and mobile technology projects created by or for journalists and distributed in the public interest. Winners ranged from the
Guardian’s own experiment with collaborative journalism
to the
World Wide Web Foundation’s Citizen Journalism project
in Africa to
Mediacenter Sarajevo’s data journalism program
in Bosnia. You can find links to all the projects here.
In London, much of the discussion focused on making the winners’ innovations sustainable. IPI plans to host an ongoing online dialogue to keep track on progress. We’re delighted to be part of that conversation.
Posted by Peter Barron, Director, Communications, Europe, Middle East and Africa
The HALO Trust: Helping communities clean up mines
Monday, September 16, 2013
From time to time we invite guests to post about subjects of interest and today we’re pleased to share a post from Guy Willoughby, Executive Director of
the HALO Trust
, a U.K.-based nonprofit dedicated to landmine clearance in post-conflict areas. Hear how HALO is using
Google Maps for Business
to fight the war against mines, clearing more than 1.4 million landmines worldwide.
-Ed.
When conflicts end, making communities safe and livable often means removing dangerous remnants of war. “Getting mines out of the ground, for good,” as we say at the HALO Trust, has been our mission over the last 25 years. We work in more than a dozen countries and regions across the globe, clearing landmines and other explosives, many of which have been buried underground. While we’ve been in operation for almost three decades, there is still more to be done.
In Kosovo, where people are reclaiming their homeland after the conflict in 1999, we’re working in close cooperation with the government and local population to collect and share information about where mines are located. It’s a true community effort—farmers tell us where they’ve seen signs of mines and where accidents have occurred. It’s our job at the HALO Trust to take this data and make it usable, accessible, and visually compelling, so clearance becomes more efficient and happens faster.
One of our biggest challenges is keeping our field teams safe. We need easy-to-use tools that can help us find, map and clear hazardous areas without putting our operations at risk. Over the years, we’ve continuously improved our mine clearance techniques, including the deployment of
Google Earth Pro
.
Google Earth Pro makes it easier for the HALO team to do the dangerous and detailed work of finding and mapping at-risk areas. Because it’s based on the same technology as Google Maps and Earth, it’s easy for our teams to use and create maps without IT or
GIS
expertise. It’s a tool that is familiar to our employees and something they use in their daily lives, so we can start mapping right away.
The information we gather, including GPS references to landmines in the field, is imported into Earth Pro so that we can plot mine locations. We also use the incredibly detailed satellite imagery in Google Earth to identify and map hazardous areas. These high-resolution maps serve many people: from families who live near mines, to crews who clear them, and donors and other organizations that support us. When donors view the vivid interactive maps of our project areas—with mines so close to schools, farms and houses—they understand why the HALO Trust’s work is so critical.
Accurate maps from Google Earth Pro mean safer working conditions for our local teams, and faster progress toward our goals. In Kosovo alone, we’ve removed thousands of landmines, cluster munitions and other explosives. And with the help of Google’s mapping tools and our donors, we’ll be able to declare the country mine-free.
Posted by Guy Willoughby, Executive Director, the HALO Trust
Explore the Galapagos’ biodiversity with Street View
Thursday, September 12, 2013
This week marks the 178th anniversary of Darwin’s discovery of the Galapagos Islands. This volcanic archipelago is one of the most biodiverse and unique places on the planet, with species that have remarkably adapted to their environment. Through observing the animals, Darwin made key insights that informed his theory of evolution. Here’s a short documentary that captures the 10-day expedition:
Today, in partnership with the Directorate of the
Galapagos National Park
and
Charles Darwin Foundation
, we’re launching the 360-degree images from the Galapagos Islands that
we collected in May
with the
Street View Trekker
. Now, you can visit the islands from anywhere you may be, and see many of the animals that Darwin experienced on his historic and groundbreaking journey in 1835.
Darwin may have first sighted San Cristobal Island
from the water
, perhaps near where we sailed with the Trekker strapped to a boat in order to observe the
craggy shoreline
and the
Magnificent Frigatebirds
that the rocky landscape shelters. After landing on San Cristobal, we made our way to Galapaguera Cerro Colorado, a breeding center that helps to restore the population of the island tortoises, seriously threatened by invasive species. Wearing the Trekker, we walked by
giant tortoises munching on leafy stalks
and recently hatched
baby tortoises
.
View Larger Map
The Galapaguera plays a critical role in conservation of the giant tortoises
Darwin visited Floreana Island, but he didn’t have the scuba gear needed to properly explore the marine life just off the island’s coast. Thanks to our partner,
Catlin Seaview Survey
and their
SVII underwater camera
, we were able to collect underwater imagery of some especially
energetic and inquisitive sea lions
that came out to see whether the divers wanted to play!
View Larger Map
The playful Galapagos Sea Lion is one of the endemic species of the islands
On our hike through the wetlands of Isabela Island, we spotted some marine iguanas, including
this one
sunning itself after a morning swim. On North Seymour Island, we got up close and personal to
blue-footed boobies performing their mating dance
and the
Magnificent Frigatebirds with their red throat sacs
.
View Larger Map
The blue-footed boobies on North Seymour island
The
extensive Street View imagery of the Galapagos Islands
won’t just enable armchair travelers to experiences the islands from anywhere in the world—it will also play an instrumental role in the ongoing research of the environment, conservation, animal migration patterns and the impact of tourism on the islands. See our
Lat Long blog post
for an example of how the imagery will be used for scientific research.
Visit our
behind-the-scenes experience
and tune in to an exclusive
Google+ Hangout
with the Google Maps team and our partners at 9:00 a.m. PT today to learn more about this special collection of imagery.
Posted by Raleigh Seamster, Project Lead, Google Earth Outreach
Labels
Academics
18
Advertising
10
Africa
26
Austria
7
Belgium
25
Big Tent
11
Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
Browsers
1
Brussels Tech Talk
7
Bulgaria
5
Campus
2
Child Safety
24
Cloud computing
17
Competition
16
Computer Science
35
Computing Heritage
37
Consumers
11
controversial content
2
COP21
1
copyright
34
Crisis Response
2
Culture
116
Czech Republic
16
Data Centre
15
Denmark
4
Digital News Initiative
6
Digital Single Market
1
Diversity
7
Economic Impact of the Internet
57
Economy
24
Elections
7
Energy + Environment
16
Engineering
6
Environment
5
Estonia
6
European Commission
21
European Parliament
14
European Union
104
exhibitions
1
Finland
13
France
77
Free Expression
88
Free flow of information
47
German
1
Germany
65
Google for Entrepreneurs
9
Google in Europe Blog
846
Google Play
1
Google TechTalk
2
Google Translate
1
Google Trends
3
Google+
4
Greece
16
Growth Engine
3
Hackathon
3
Hungary
16
Innovation
70
Internet Governance
7
IP
10
Ireland
16
Israel
17
Italy
42
Journalism
34
Latvia
1
Lithuania
1
Luxembourg
3
Maps
17
Middle East
18
Netherlands
6
News
2
News Lab
1
North Africa
6
Norway
3
online
1
Online Safety
2
Open data
8
Open Government
7
Open source
2
Poland
24
Portugal
6
Power of Data
25
privacy
49
Publishing
30
Right to be Forgotten
9
Rio+20
1
Romania
3
Russia
18
Safer Internet Day
4
San Marino
1
Science
5
Security
7
Single Market
7
Slovakia
16
Slovenia
2
SMEs
24
Spain
39
Startups
6
State of the Union
2
STEM Education
36
Street View
38
Surveillance
1
Sweden
13
Switzerland
11
Telecoms
11
The Netherlands
4
Tourism
1
Transparency
12
Tunisia
4
Turkey
3
Ukraine
3
United Kingdom
94
Vatican
2
Youth
2
YouTube
42
Archive
2016
Sep
Introducing YouTube Creators for Change
Announcing a Google.org grant for XperiBIRD.be, a ...
Bringing education to refugees in Lebanon with the...
Juncker embraces creators -- and their concerns
Tour 10 Downing Street with Google Arts and Culture
European copyright: there's a better way
Digital News Initiative: Introducing the YouTube P...
#AskJuncker: YouTube creators to interview the Eur...
An extinct world brought back to life with Google ...
Project Muze: Fashion inspired by you, designed by...
Come Play with us
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Feed
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
