Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Tackling Urban Mobility with Technology
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Over half the world’s population live in cities and urban areas, and over the next thirty years,
2 billion more people
are expected to become urban residents. Cities are thinking carefully about the challenges associated with such rapid growth - like avoiding over-stressed public transit infrastructure and reducing traffic congestion. We’re interested in these questions too: we’ve been helping people navigate urban areas and route around traffic jams for many years.
So a while ago, we started working with a small group of research partners in the EU and the US to see if we could tackle some of these challenges together, using aggregate, anonymised data about historical traffic patterns to help improve urban mobility for everyone.
Our initial exploration has lead to a series of pilot projects with our partners to find ways to minimize traffic congestion, speed up journeys, improve safety, and reduce the amount of money spent on infrastructure.
In Stockholm, a city with many bridges and tunnels, we’re working with
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
to reduce the number of tunnel closures on the Södra Länken, the second longest urban motorway tunnel in Europe, to improve travel times for citizens.
In the Netherlands, we’re working with the
Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research
(TNO) to see whether it’s possible to reduce their reliance on expensive physical road sensors for information about traffic flows. The aim is to reduce infrastructure costs without compromising on traffic safety. We’re also working with the
Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions
on related questions.
We’re also working with major research institutions and transportation planning groups in Denmark (the
Technical University of Denmark
) and in the US (the
Rudin Center for Transportation
at New York University Wagner School of Public Service,
San Francisco County Transportation Authority
, and the
University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy
).
We only share aggregate, anonymized snapshots of historical traffic statistics with these institutions, including average traffic speed, relative traffic volumes, and traffic trajectory patterns. These statistics are derived from aggregate Location History data that our users have proactively chosen to share with us (and which they can switch off again at any time via
My Account
). This is the same data we use in Google Now to notify users of
disruptions to their commute
due to traffic, and tell them about the
best time to visit
their favourite museum in Google Maps.
To ensure that no individual user’s journey can be identified, we only share representative models of aggregate data employing a technique called
differential privacy
, which intentionally adds “noise” to the data in a way that maintains both users' privacy and the data's accuracy. The technique has also been successfully
tried and tested
in Chrome.
It's still early days, but preliminary results have been positive. In the Netherlands, TNO ran tests on a 10km stretch of highway that regularly faces traffic jams, using our anonymized traffic statistics instead of physical road sensors. They found that they could still accurately detect traffic jams at the right moment and at the correct location on the road without the sensors, potentially saving 50K Euro per year if the redundant sensors were removed. Other pilots are starting to show similarly positive results.
We’re excited by the promise that these initial projects have shown in meeting the challenges of urban mobility, and today, we’re pleased to announce that we’re expanding our pilot programme. We’re seeking to build partnerships with cities and research institutions to evaluate ideas and run experiments, ultimately improving urban mobility for everyone. If you’re working on a project addressing congestion, pollution, safety and similar mobility challenges, and are interested in working with us,
please get in touch
.
Posted by Andrew Eland, Engineering Director
Investing In Growth For Dutch Businesses Online
Monday, November 16, 2015
Last February, we invited entrepreneurs from across Europe, including the Netherlands, to celebrate their online success stories in Brussels. At the same time we made a commitment: to
train 1 million Europeans in crucial digital skills by the end of 2016
. Today we've begun to put those plans into action in the Netherlands
with the launch of the Digitale Werkplaats (Digital Garage) in the city of Eindhoven, a two day training programme. In the Netherlands,
more than 40% of the labor market is made up of small business owners and independent contractors.
Why Eindhoven? Eindhoven is often called the digital capital of the Netherlands, and the region is rich with digital startups that were born there and have grown to international successes. Companies like 3D printing marketplace
Shapeways
, and
Study Portals
, which connects students to international travel opportunities, and which are familiar with the ways that the web can accelerate a business.
With the Digitale Werkplaats we aim to bring the opportunity to use the Internet as a growth engine to the small businesses and independents of the region. And there’s plenty of growth opportunity--in Eindhoven 80% of small businesses have fewer than 20 employees.
We’re not alone in these efforts. All across the country governments and SMB organizations are recognizing the need for digital skills--from online marketing to general proficiency in web tools-- in achieving growth. We’re keen to be playing our part. It's simple: SMEs throughout the country get training in the essential digital skills they need to grow online. We'll partner with Dutch microfinance organization
Qredits
, and both small business associations and local governments to achieve big results: our goal is to train 30,000 people in the Netherlands by the end of 2016 through in-person events like this week's and online trainings.
Dutch minister Henk Kamp together with a number of Dutch SMEs
This morning in Eindhoven the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp said: "The Netherlands is one of the most innovative countries in the world, in part because of its strong tech infrastructure. To ensure our country remains competitive, the skills needed for using technology have become indispensable for SMEs. These entrepreneurs create a lot of new jobs and play an important role when it comes to developing products and services. By helping SMEs to become better at using technology, we're building a stronger fundament for economic growth, which leads to more jobs. Google's initiative deserves praise, because it enables this development."
Elwin Groenevelt, the general manager of
Qredits Microfinance
, explained in Eindhoven that they have created 10,000 jobs in the past five years by financing Dutch 7,000 entrepreneurs. By partnering with Google, giving workshops on the topic of microfinance, they want to offer even more opportunities to ambitious entrepreneurs to achieve their growth objectives.
There are many Dutch entrepreneurs who have achieved growth through their smart use of the Internet, and we’re excited to meet thousands more over the next year. What’s inspired us is that these business owners and independents come from
all different backgrounds and levels of tech-savvy -- three that we’ve met in Eindhoven are husband and wife pair
Henk Jan Bruil & Irene, who aspire to scale their new soup and salad bar,
PIT
, nationally; Wendy Govers of
Trimsalon Pet’s Choice
, who has seen her clientele of dogs and cats grow from 20 to over 500, and
Marie-Louise Holl of
Holl
Klompen
, whose 40+ year souvenir business ships “Made in Holland” souvenirs all over the world thanks to the reach of the web.
See
here
for more Dutch success stories.
Posted by: Pim van der Feltz, country director Google Netherlands
The British Museum: a museum for the world
Friday, November 13, 2015
Editor's note:
The Google Cultural Institute creates technologies that make the world’s culture accessible to anyone, anywhere. This week, we announced a new partnership with the British Museum that gives people new ways to access and experience the museum, and new ways to learn and teach. We’ve invited Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum since August 2002, to write a guest post for the Google Europe blog, explaining the partnership.
The British Museum was founded in 1753 by an act of Parliament and is the embodiment of Enlightenment idealism. In a revolutionary move, it was from its inception designed to be the collection of
every citizen of the world
, not a royal possession and not controlled by the state.
Over the succeeding 260 plus years it has gathered and exhibited things from all over the globe – antiquities, coins, sculptures, drawings – and made them freely available to anyone who was able to come and see them. Millions have visited and learned, and have been inspired by what they saw. Today the Museum is probably the most comprehensive survey of the material culture of humanity in existence.
The world today has changed; the way we access information has been revolutionised by digital technology. Sharing knowledge has become easier and we can do extraordinary things with technology which enable us to give new reality to the Enlightenment ideal on which the Museum was founded. It is now possible to make our collection accessible, explorable and enjoyable not just for those who physically visit, but for everybody with a computer or a mobile device.
Yesterday, we announced a partnership with Google that allows us to further our own – extraordinary – mission: to be a Museum
of
and
for
the World, making the knowledge and culture of the whole of humanity open and available to all. This isn’t just about putting the collection ‘online'. Through our partnership with Google, we hope to give people new ways to experience and enjoy the Museum, new ways to learn, new ways to share and new ways to teach.
Thousands of objects from the Museum’s collection will be available to view through the Google Cultural Institute and through a special, dedicated site called ‘The Museum of the World’, which will allow users to explore and make connections between the world’s cultures.
One of the Museum’s most important objects, the Admonitions Scroll, a Chinese scroll dating from the 6th century, has been captured in super high-resolution to give you a closer and more intimate view than you could ever get with the naked eye.
We’ve captured the whole Museum via Street View, meaning that if you can’t get to the Museum in person, you can take a virtual walking tour of every permanent gallery, and its outdoor buildings.
And virtual exhibits allow you to see Celtic objects from across UK museums brought together in a unique tour or a thematic exhibition detailing Egypt’s history after the pharaohs.
None of this is to deny the power of seeing an object in the flesh in a gallery - nothing will replace that experience. But it does allow a far greater public access to the Museum and its unparalleled collection.
And this is just the beginning. We’re in a brave new world of information dissemination. As we are transformed by globalisation, it is more important than ever to understand the past of the
whole
world. The breadth of the British Museum’s collection, the authority of the Museum’s scholarship and the skill with which it is presented and mediated: all these are now ready and available for anyone anywhere on the planet.
The more we can work with partners in the technology sphere, and the more we rise to the challenge of making our world a digital one, the greater will be our impact on community cohesion and understanding, domestically and internationally. Through technology, the Museum’s collection can become the private collection of the entire world. And so our great Enlightenment vision moves into a phase our founders in the 18th century couldn’t even have dreamed of.
Posted by Neil MacGregor, Director, British Museum
How good is your YouTube?
Friday, November 13, 2015
Nothing ruins the experience of watching an awesome European YouTube video like
Heroes
more than seeing the dreaded buffering wheel, which is why we're always working to make videos play smoothly in the best quality possible. And when you can't see what you want, when you want, it’s helpful to know why.
Starting today, if you’re in
Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden,
or
Iceland
, you can use the
Google Video Quality Report
to see how well YouTube performs for you.
If you’re regularly seeing videos buffer, this report can give you a better idea of why, as well as tips to make YouTube play better. You can also see the video quality in your area, based on these levels:
HD Verified:
If your provider can consistently deliver HD video, a resolution of at least 720p, without buffering or interruptions--it’s HD Verified.
Standard Definition:
If you can watch videos at a resolution of at least 360p, your provider is delivering Standard Definition.
Lower Definition:
If videos load slowly or frequently buffer, even at resolutions lower than 360p, your provider is delivering Lower Definition performance.
The
Google Video Quality Report
is already available in Finland, Norway, Switzerland, the United States and Canada, and we will continue to roll it out to more countries in partnership with ISPs.
Want to see our methodology? Check out the
geeky details
, and learn how videos get from us to you with this video:
Finally, making sure you can watch YouTube in HD from anywhere, anytime is a shared effort between us, your Internet service provider and even you. So, to make sure you're getting the best video quality possible, check out these seven tips you can use right now:
Posted by Jay Akkad, Product Manager, YouTube
Health Matters: Calling Young Professionals to take Europe's Pulse
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Without health, life is nothing, as the saying goes -- and healthcare policy in Europe is at a crossroads. Young professionals who want to to shape what the continent's systems for health and wellbeing will look like in the future can join the
European Health Parliament
-- and the
deadline to apply
is November 22.
The European Health Parliament is an initiative of the young MEPs' action group
EU40
, news site
Politico
, the
College of Europe
, Johnson & Johnson and Google. Europe needs to confront its numerous health problems, as the costs, both human and financial, are shared by us all.
Because new challenges require new thinking, the European Health Parliament will bring together 50 young professionals in Brussels between December 2015 and June 2016 to discuss what the issues are and how we can deal with them. The results from the sessions will be wrapped into a series of academic papers to share with policymakers and social media.
The first edition of the European Health Parliament was a huge success, with many participants hailing it as a "once-in-a-lifetime experience." There were debates on everything from how sharing patient records across borders can help
prevent the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis
, to
how telemedicine systems
empower patients. The final result was these
seven recommendations
on how to make Europe's healthcare system fit for the future.
Participants discussed burning issues with key figures in the European Parliament including Giovanni La Via, Philippe De Backer and Eva Kaili. Afterwards, they shared their recommendations with EU Commissioner for Health Vytenis Andriukaitis and Belgian Minister of Social Affairs and Health Maggie de Block.
The upcoming edition isn't just a repeat of the same exercise. As healthcare becomes increasingly digitized -- think everything from
fitness apps on your phone
to operations via videolink and sharing patient records electronically -- it's time for the European Health Parliament to get online as well. Google is keen to make digital skills a theme this year, so candidates with an ICT background are especially welcome. Innovation, creativity and fearless thinking are what Europe's healthcare systems need at this point!
The deadline for applications is November 22. If you are under 35, have a degree, and are available for several meetings in Brussels during coming months -- and, most importantly, want to share your views on how to best shape European healthcare in the future --
apply here now
.
Posted by Marco Pancini, Senior Policy Council Google
Discover Europe’s hidden gems with Google Maps and the Financial Times
Friday, October 30, 2015
We’re always trying to build technology that helps people access and explore the world around them, from the
Liwa desert
to a
tucked-away restaurant
in Playa Carmen. That’s why today, we’re excited to announce a partnership with the Financial Times called Hidden Cities. Hidden Cities is a FT Weekend series that combines Google technology with FT journalism. It allows readers to discover places to eat, drink, and shop in the world’s political and cultural capitals, and easily explore them using Google Maps.
We’re kicking off the series by showcasing gems off the beaten path in Brussels. Readers can expect lots of beer and chocolate recommendations from local tastemakers and FT journalists alike - including picks from master chocolatier
Pierre Marcolini
, brewery chief
Jean Van Roy
, and the
FT Bureau staff past and present
.
You can check out the online experience at
ft.com/hiddencities
and this weekend’s FT Weekend Magazine. Look out for the next Hidden Cities installment in November, which will take users under the surface of another European capital - London.
Posted by Molly Welch, Product Marketing Manager
Opening the Biennale Arte 2015 online
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Editor’s note:
La Biennale di Venezia has for over a century been one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world, showcasing contemporary art from around the world. For the first time, the Google Cultural Institute had the privilege of partnering with La Biennale and bringing the renowned art exhibition Biennale Arte 2015 online for everyone to see. Users can browse over 80 digital exhibitions
and
explore 360 degree Street View images of 71 pavilions of La Biennale at
g.co/biennalearte2015
and
through a dedicated
mobile app
. We hope to see many of you in Venice for La Biennale, and are sure you will continue to discover new and delightful aspects of the art long after you return home.
We’ve invited Paolo Baratta, President of La Biennale di Venezia, to share his thoughts.
***
Our collaboration with Google started a few months ago, when la Biennale shared
an overview
of La Biennale Arte 1999 curated by Harald Szeemann on the Google Cultural Institute website. That edition of La Biennale was the first to use the spaces of the Arsenale, a historic area of Venice, which in turn gave grounds to the development of the two dimensions of the exhibit: one entrusted to the Curator nominated by La Biennale, and the other formed by the National Pavilions.
Today, after that experiment, we continue the collaboration with Google, bringing online a selection of artworks and pavilions from
Biennale Arte 2015
,
All The World’s Futures
, curated by Okwui Enwezor.
La Biennale has a specific role: to research and share the understanding of contemporary art. Access to the results of our research is achieved, for the most part, through our exhibitions, so encouraging access is certainly our key responsibility. Committing to new technologies that can facilitate the sharing of our work in art and architecture, and also in music and cinema, with a wider audience is therefore fundamental to our mission.
This collaboration with Google is the first, and a very important experiment, which I believe can be developed further in the future in a variety of possible if yet still unknown ways. We’ll do our best!
Combining these digital tools with a stronger editorial ability, our goal is to enhance the experience for our audience and to better the document the exhibit.
The bet we’re placing on new technology is most definitely not one that replaces the direct experience with a virtual or indirect one, but, on the contrary, one where virtual viewing is used to help enhance the in-person experience.
Posted by Paolo Baratta,
President of la Biennale di Venezia
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