Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
YouTube Space Paris: a new home for French creators
Friday, October 2, 2015
In France, just like in other cultural centres in Europe, the YouTube creative community is booming. French creators like
Poisson Fecond
(a psychology student who delights and educates 700,000 fans every week) and
Cyprien
(a comedian whose videos have been viewed nearly a 1 billion times) are building global audiences on YouTube. And well-established cultural organisations like the
Institut National de l'Audiovisuel
are using YouTube to share French history and culture with viewers around the world.
With all the creativity coming out of the French capital, it was obvious that we should open a YouTube Space -- a collaborative space with state-of-the-art equipment that can be used for free by anyone with a growing YouTube channel -- to help the local YouTube community find even more success.
The Paris YouTube Space is our third in Europe - the others are in London and Berlin. Since 2012, more than 25,000 creators, from emerging comedians to established TV stations, have visited London and Berlin Spaces to produce over 1,500 high quality, highly original videos. Collectively, they’ve garnered over 225 million views and 16 million hours of watchtime from their fans.
We’re happy to invest in our European YouTube Spaces because European creators are… well… talented and prolific! A quarter of videos watched on YouTube worldwide are created by Europeans, helping propel European culture onto the global stage.
At the same time, YouTube has become a vehicle for Europeans to build businesses—more than 3 million creators and partners in Europe make money on YouTube from advertising and we’re looking at new ways to send even more revenue to our creators.
Back at the YouTube Space Paris, as we officially open the doors for the first time, the first month of workshops are already fully booked, and the excitment is palpable. It’s impossible to predict what the French
communauté de créateurs
are going to create here, but I can’t wait to see. And nor can the billion people out there on YouTube, waiting to press play.
Posted by Sebastien Missoffe, Vice President of Content and Operations at YouTube
Vote now open in France’s Google Impact Challenge
Thursday, September 17, 2015
In April we launched the
Google Impact Challenge
in France, inviting all French non-profits and foundations to share their ideas for how they would use technology and grant funding from
Google.org
to make a better world, faster.
We received hundreds of ideas from non-profits across France and were blown away by the creativity, passion, and innovation we saw in the submissions. It was tough to narrow the field, but today we’re happy to share the 10 finalists and ask for your help in choosing which non-profit should receive a €500,000 grant and mentoring from Google to help bring their project to life. Cast your vote now at
g.co/impactchallengefrance
.
The 10 finalists are:
1001fontaines
is developing an entrepreneur-driven network of water purification stations in rural areas to give people access to clean water.
Agence du Don en Nature
is enabling consumer product donations directly on e-commerce sites and redistributing them to populations in need.
Banque Alimentaire du Rhône is building a matching platform for retailers to share unsold food directly with nonprofits to fight against hunger and food waste.
Libraries without Borders
is rolling out the Ideas Box, a portable media center that provides access to information, education and culture for refugees emerging from humanitarian crisis situations.
My Human Kit
is enabling people in need of prosthetics to have access to low-cost, open-source 3D printed models.
Jaccede.com
is crowdsourcing accessibility ratings of public places to empower people living with a physical disability.
MakeSense
is building a platform to enable social entrepreneurs to tap into the skills and talent of the community to help them scale their ideas.
Ticket For Change
is developing a unique online curriculum to help social entrepreneurs more quickly realise their ideas.
Voxe.org
is developing an app that will reengage citizens in politics by providing tailored political information.
Y Generation Education
is creating a unique online vocational education training curriculum for underprivileged youth.
Your votes will help decide which of these projects gets up and running in a big way. Vote now for the ideas that most inspire you, and stay tuned for the announcement of the winners on October 8th. Good luck to all of the finalists!
Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director, Google.org
Launching the Google Impact Challenge in France
Thursday, April 30, 2015
We believe technology can contribute to help solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges and we want to support innovators who are finding new ways to make an impact. This is why we’re announcing the third European edition of the Google Impact Challenge in France, a program supporting non-profits who are using technology to have a positive impact.
French non-profits can submit their ideas via
g.co/impactchallengefrance
until 4 June and in September, ten finalists will be chosen by Google experts based on the project's potential impact, feasibility, scalability and degree of innovation
Four winners will each receive a €500,000 grant, as well as mentoring from Google employees, to help make each project a reality.
One winner will be chosen by public vote, and the other three by a judging panel made up of Bernard Kouchner, former French Minister of Foreign Affairs; Nadia Bellaoui, President of Le Mouvement Associatif; Ismaël Le Mouel, founder of HelloAsso; Anne-Cécile Mailfert, President of Osez le Féminisme; Alain Deloche, Co-Founder of La Chaine du Coeur; Nick Leeder, Managing Director of Google France; and Jacquelline Fuller, Director of Google.org.
Other Google Impact Challenges around the world have supported ideas ranging from
smart cameras for wildlife conservation
to
solar lights for off-grid communities
to a mobile application that
helps protect women from domestic violence
.
Technology can make a real difference in tackling some of the world’s biggest social challenges. We can’t wait to see what French non-profits will come up with.
Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director of Google.org
Hallo, hola, olá to a new powerful Google Translate app
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Often the hardest part of traveling is navigating the local language. If you've ever asked for "pain" in Paris and gotten funny looks, confused "embarazada" with "embarrassed" in Mexico, or stumbled over pronunciation pretty much anywhere, you know the feeling. We’ve now updated the
Translate app
on
Android
and
iOS
to transform your mobile device into an even more powerful translation tool.
Instant translation with Word Lens
The Translate app already lets you use camera mode to snap a photo of text and get a translation for it in 36 languages. From today, you can instantly translate text. While using the Translate app, just point your camera at a sign or text and the translated text will overlaid on your screen—even if you don't have an Internet or data connection.
This instant translation currently works for translation from English to and from French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, and we’re working to expand to more languages.
Have an easier conversation using the Translate app
When talking with someone in an unfamiliar language, conversations can... get... sloowwww. While we’ve had real-time conversation mode on Android since 2013, our new update makes the conversation flow faster and more naturally.
Starting today, simply tap the mic to start speaking in a selected language, then tap the mic again, and the Google Translate app will recognize which of the two languages are being spoken, letting you have a more fluid conversation. For the rest of the conversation, you won’t need to tap the mic again—it'll be ready as you need it. Asking for directions to the Rive Gauche, ordering bacalhau in Lisbon, or chatting with your grandmother in her native Spanish just got a lot faster.
These updates will be coming to both Android and iOS, rolling out over the next few days. This is the first time some of these advanced features, like camera translations and conversation mode, will be available for iOS users.
More than 500 million people use Google Translate every month, making more than 1 billion translations a day to more easily communicate and access information across languages. Today’s updates take us one step closer to turning your phone into a universal translator and to a world where language is no longer a barrier to discovering information or connecting with each other.
Posted by Barak Turovsky, Product Lead, Google Translate
Explore the haunted corners of Europe....if you dare
Friday, October 31, 2014
Something wicked this way comes… Whether you’re a trio of
witches
back from the dead or just a trick-or-treater, chances are you’re hitting the streets (or riding a broom!) on Halloween night. For those looking for an extra fright, take a tour of spooky places from around the world on Google Maps.
Start in 19th century Paris. While cheery guests listen to the beautiful arias at the Opéra Garnier, a dreary lake lies beneath the streets. Floating above the silent water, a
phantom
lurks. Are your eyes playing tricks on you... or is that a cloaked figure looming in the shadows?
For the holiday, we've also just released some new imagery in Italy, Romania and Slovakia. Start with Italy's premier witchcraft museum, the
Museo della Stregoneria di Triora
.
Continue onto Slovakia and the Čachtický hrad, a castle where Elizabeth Báthory, a countess from the renowned Báthory family, lived. Stories describe her vampire-like tendencies (most famously the tale that she bathed in the blood of young servant girls who she killed - to retain her youth).
Conclude with the spookiest site of them all in Romania - Dracula's own Bran Castle. The Dracula's Castle was built on the edge of the Bran Pass and nowadays lures guests worldwide who wish to partake in the legend of the Count Dracula.
If these spooky spots whet your appetite for fear, get up close with some of the most frightful locations in Google Maps Gallery and find ghouls and goblins in haunted houses around the world. If you’re looking for a laugh instead of a scream, take a hayride through your local corn maze, find the perfect jack-o-lantern at your neighboring pumpkin patch, and scout the best trick-or-treat routes near you.
Now get your cauldrons bubbling and monsters mashing because after all, this is
Halloween
!
Posted by Valentina Frassi, Google Maps Zombie Bride
Launching youtube.com/government 101
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
When the
French Foreign Ministry
wanted to engage with citizens, it chose to launch a special YouTube channel. From live streams of
award ceremonies
, to
press conferences
on important issues and
Hangouts
with constituents, YouTube has become an important platform where citizens engage with their governments around the world and elected officials. The Foreign Ministry uploads on average more than one video each day.
In order to help government officials get a better idea of what YouTube can do, we are launching
youtube.com/government101
, a one-stop shop where government officials can learn how to get the most out of YouTube as a communication tool.
The site offers a broad range of YouTube advice, from the basics of creating a channel to in-depth guidance on features like live streaming, annotations, playlists and more. We’ve also featured case studies from government offices around the world that are using YouTube in innovative ways.
If you're a government official, whether you are looking for an answer to a quick question or need a full training on YouTube best practices, we hope this resource will help you engage in a rich dialogue with your constituents and increase transparency within your community.
Posted by Brandon Feldman, YouTube News & Politics
Seizing the digital opportunity in France
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
All too often, fast-moving, disruptive digital innovation is presented as the enemy of Europe’s enviable social system. The reality, according to a
new study
published this week in Paris by consultants Roland Berger, is that digital companies not only boost economic growth - they also increase worker satisfaction.
Launching the new Roland Berger Internet report
Berger studied 505 companies, all with more than 50 employees, classifying them in four categories by how much they use the Internet. Its study focused not on sexy Internet startups, but on traditional industries such as chemistry, energy or manufacturing. The conclusion was striking: new digital technologies are just as important in these traditional sectors as for high tech startups. The most “digital” grow six times faster than the “least digital”.
Given this finding, it is unsurprising that French companies sense the opportunity: some 57% interviewed put digital transformation as one of their medium term strategic priorities. Unfortunately, actions do not follow these intentions. Only 36% of French companies have a formal digital strategy and French corporate Internet engagement lags far behind French consumer use. While nearly six in 10 French people shopped online in 2013, only one French company in 10 sold online.
If more French companies embarked on the digital journey, Berger argues they would not only improve their performance - they also would please workers. Employees of the most digitally mature companies feel at least 50 percent more involved and happier in their professional life than those of the least matures ones. In a country famed for its quality of life, this is indeed an impressive finding!
Posted by Elisabeth Bargès, Senior Manager, Public Policy and Government Affairs, France
Fighting against hate speech
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
At a time when racism and hate speech is rising, it is urgent to unite and act to preserve it as a space of tolerance.
This week, we joined with leading French anti-racism organizations SOS Racisme, UEJF, LICRA and MRAP to launch
“Pousse Ton Cri”
, an online platform allowing people to voice their opposition to discriminations by recording a short “shout” via video.
The campaign aims to raise awareness amongst young internet users by mobilising them around a symbolic and collective act against the voices of intolerance on the web. Users will also learn more about how to report hate speech online.
Over the next six weeks, we will help organize three Hangouts on Air to debate racism in various fields. On September 17, we will look at racism in sports. The following week, on September 24, will investigate racism in music and the final one, on October 3, will focus on hate speech on the Net.
Each Hangouts will give young people the opportunity to ask their questions to famous figures in these different fields. Among others, French YouTuber
“Jigmé”
, who now has more than half a million subscribers, will share his story of how he uses humor to highlight prejudices.
You can register to participate to one of these debates via this
link
.
Posted by Florian Maganza, Senior Policy Analyst, Google France
Change the world: the 2014 Google Science Fair Global Finalists
Friday, August 8, 2014
Samuel Burrow, 16,from the U.K., wants to improve the environment by reducing pollution. Taking inspiration from the chemical used in sunscreen, Samuel created a
special coating
that reduces waste chemicals in the air when subjected to ambient light. Guillaume Rolland,17, from France, aims to revolutionize mornings by creating a scent which will wake you up with maximum energy at a prescribed time.
These are just a few of the European examples of the 15 incredible projects we’ve named as the global finalists for 2014 Google Science Fair. This is our fourth time hosting the competition as a way to encourage the next generation of scientists and engineers. From Russia to Australia, India to Canada, this year’s finalists (ages 13-18) are already well on their way to greatness. Europe accounts for a full third of the finalists. Read about them - and about all 15 finalist projects - on the
Google Science Fair website
.
What’s next for our young scientists? Well, next month, they’ll be California-bound to compete at Google HQ for the three
Age Category Awards
(ages 13-14, 15-16, 17-18) and of course, the overall Google
Science Fair Grand Prize Award
. The competition will end in style with an awards ceremony, which will be live streamed on the
Science Fair YouTube channel
and on our website. Tune in to be one of the first to find out this year’s winners!
But first, you get to have your say! We need you to pick your favorite project for the 2014 Voter’s Choice Award. Show your support for the finalists and cast a vote on the Google Science Fair website beginning September 1. Every year, we are blown away by the projects and ideas these young people come up with, and you will be too.
Posted by Clare Conway, Google Science Fair Team
Seeking advice on the Right to be Forgotten
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Earlier this summer we announced the formation of an
Advisory Council
on the Right to be Forgotten. As the Council begins its work, it is seeking
comment
from experts on the issues raised by the CJEU ruling. Experts will be considered for selection to present to the Council in-person during public consultations held this fall, in the following cities:
September 9 in Madrid, Spain
September 10 in Rome, Italy
September 25 in Paris, France
September 30 in Warsaw, Poland
October 14 in Berlin, Germany
October 16 in London, UK
November 4 in Brussels, Belgium
The Council welcomes position papers, research, and surveys in addition to other comments. We accept submissions in any official EU language. Though the Council will review comments on a rolling basis throughout the fall, it may not be possible to invite authors who submit after August 11 to present evidence at the public consultations.
Stay tuned for details on the Council’s activity.
Posted by Betsy Masiello, Google Secretariat to the Council
Commemorating World War I
Friday, June 27, 2014
A century ago, a Serb nationalist assassinated Austrian Archduke
Franz Ferdinand
, sparking World War I. Today, we are launching a new
channel
dedicated to commemorate the war’s centenary. It brings together World War I content, paintings, photographs, letters, documents, soldiers’ poems and more, from a range of Museum partners, ranging from the German Federal Archives to the Belgian Mundaneum to the Imperial War Museum.
A search for Franz Ferdinand brings up
photos
relating to the Archeduke’s assassination. They show the Franz and his wife Sophie arriving in Sarajevo. Outfitted in regal dress, treated with the pomp and circumstance of royalty, they stroll through the streets. A final image shows police arresting Serb assassin
Gavrilo Princip
.
Other exhibits explore the art around the conflict and personal impact of the conflict. Belgium’s Mundaneum has collected postcards sent from POW camps. The Imperial War Museum’s features
Christopher Nevinson's bleak landscapes
. The British authorities censored some of the paintings for being too “negative.” At the same time, the museum also features
John Nash’s patriotic paintings
.
The German side of the war is well represented, with more than
200 new items in 13 new exhibits
. Items include photographs, newspapers, letters, army documents, ration cards, and unusual items like the anti war poem written by a German soldier which lead to his detention. Exhibits range from German policy around the Sarajevo assassination to the rise of German airships to problems of nutrition due to the conflict.
The exhibits are designed for for a wide audience and full of exciting details for specialists. More content will be added over the coming months and years as commemorations around the Great War continue.
Posted by James Davis, Google Culture Institute, Paris
After a week in Brazil, here are the hot trends on the field
Friday, June 20, 2014
The 2014 FIFA World Cup™ is heating up, and it’s capturing the imagination of Europeans.
Google Trends
gives your real-time guide to the players, teams and moments that football lovers are interested in. Here’s a flavour of what Europeans have been searching for during the first week of action in Brazil.
During a match without national anthems due to a technical glitch, France searches for anthem La Marseillaise increased more than 3x
In a game that went all Germany’s way, Müller’s hat-trick scored 3x more local searches than Pepe’s head-butt.
We can show you what questions fans are most asking Google about the tournament, and we can give you a flavour of the national sentiment before or after a match, by analysing posts on Google+. Compare how Costa Rica and Italy are feeling before today’s game:
At
google.com/worldcup
you can explore these moments throughout the tournament, whether it’s insight on how a country is feeling ahead of a big match, or where fans stand on a controversial match-winning refereeing decision.
Posted by Gareth Evans, Communications, London
Commemorating D-Day’s 70th anniversary
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
On the 70th day of the momentous
D-Day Normandy landings
, our Cultural Institute is launching two initiatives to commemorate: a
G+ Hangout on Air
with veterans and five new online exhibitions.
The Hangout with D-Day veterans will allow anybody, anywhere to hear direct from veterans on their D-Day experiences. It takes place live from the
Caen War Memorial
at 6 p.m. Central Europe time. French television journalist Gilles Bouleau will host and Caen Memorial historian Christophe Prime will lend his expertise. American, French and British veterans will participate. High school students from both the U.S. and France will join the discussion.
At the same time, we’re publishing online
Normandy landings exhibitions
from the Caen War Memorial and other Cultural Institute partners, including the U.K’s Imperial War Museum and Bletchley Park code breakers center, the George C Marshall Research Foundation and the US National Archives. The exhibitions include exciting, previously unshown
video footage
of the landing,
letters
from soldiers and the original
assault plan
. All told, 470 new documents and images are included.
Take some time to browse - and reflect on the sacrifices made to secure Europe’s freedom.
Posted by Sixtine Fabre, Associate Program Manager, Google Cultural Institute
Tennish champ Federer takes to the court with Glass
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Right in time for the
French Tennis Open
, which opens in Paris on May 25, two of the greatest tennis players of all time, Roger Federer and Stefan Edberg, recently took Glass for a swing. It’s safe to say that their combined 23 Grand Slam titles will be the most that ever step foot on Google’s tennis courts at our headquarters in Mountain View.
"It was really fun shooting this video through Glass,” said Roger. “It's not often you get to explore new angles of watching tennis. I hope fans enjoy this new perspective.”
As our Glass Explorer community has grown, we've heard time and time again that Glass is a great companion for sports. Glass has been a hit with several pro athletes from Indiana Pacer
Roy Hibbert
and PGA player
Billy Horschel
. Take a look and swing away.
Posted by Chelsea Maughan, Communications Manager
Visiting Marseille’s unbeaten tracks
Monday, April 7, 2014
Have you ever visited a city and wished that a local could share their insider secrets? Wouldn’t it be even better to be able to put on your headphones and listen to their advice while strolling? In France, together with Marseille radio journalist Julie de Muer, we’ve just launched a fascinating online experiment, called “
Night Walk
.”
Julie and several artists involved with local broadcaster
Radio Grenouille
created the project. Using her recording skills, Julie created “soundwalks”: audio tours that explain the history and hidden sights and sounds of the streets, with stories told by local inhabitants. Visitors just have to download a sound track and a Google Maps route from the
Soundwalks website
to travel in the steps of these unusual guides, through their stories and their sounds.
More than 40 soundwalks have been created and marked out on Google Maps. Since 2013, they have enabled more than 20,000 visitors to discover the southern French cities of Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, and Aubagne.
Creating the soundwalks has been quite a task. It has taken no less than four years of collective work exploring the cities, meeting new people, recording streets and sounds and putting together the interactive website.
Want to take a walk through the Marseille streets yourself? It's simple: follow an evening soundwalk around
Marseille’s Cours Julien
, with local musician Christophe Perruchi guiding you as you walk. See a graffiti artist at work. Listen to a jazz jam in one of the neighborhood’s bars, find the 35 “secrets” hidden in the neighborhood, discover a fire-eater or the city’s most surprising garage entrance…and enjoy!
Posted by Chloe Broughton, Product Marketing Manager, Paris
Bringing the Opéra to the Cultural Institute
Thursday, March 27, 2014
For the first time, the Google Cultural Institute has been given ‘access all areas’ to one of the world’s most famous Opera Houses: the Palais Garnier in Paris, the setting for
The Phantom of the Opera.
Our indoor Street View
images
feature exquisite detail and allow anyone in the world to tour 11 floors (and 3.7km!) of the Palais Garnier. You can now experience virtually what it’s like to be on stage, backstage, in the rehearsal rooms, the costume room, a hidden lake or even on the roof of the Opéra building, overlooking Paris’ skyline!
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View from the stage (Mezzanine and Orchestra)
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View of the “Grand Foyer”
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View of the ground floor main staircase and “Grand Véstibule”
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View from the “4ème loges”
In our second installment from the Paris Opéra House, we bring you what we think might be the world's first multi-billion pixel image of a ceiling - it's certainly the first one to be captured by our team!
Marc Chagall’s masterpiece in the Opéra Garnier
in Paris sits 18 meters above the auditorium seating, with specific light conditions and a concave shape, making it one of our biggest technical challenges to date.
In his riotously colourful modernist work, Chagall pays tribute to the composers Mozart, Wagner, Mussorgsky, Berlioz and Ravel, as well as to famous actors and dancers. And if you look carefully you might even be able to spot famous characters such as Carmen, or the discreet signature of the artist, 18 metres from the ground.
Finally, the Opéra has produced an online exhibition called
Le Chemin des Etoiles
, with portrait photos and information about more than 80 of its star dancers over the last 74 years.
Posted by Sixtine Fabre, Program Manager, Google Cultural Institute
Involving French citizens in the 2014 municipal elections
Thursday, February 13, 2014
In March, French citizens will head to the polls to decide who is best fit to manage their cities. Before they vote, they will engage in a heated debate on issues ranging from housing, to urban planning and local taxes. We believe the Internet can play a central role in facilitating this debate and access to information. This is why we have partnered with France’s public TV network France Televisions - its information website
France TV info
and its regional TV channel
France 3
- to allow French internet users to question candidates via Hangout on Air.
Visit
“Mon Débat 2014”
(My debate 2014) and register for these live debates or organise your own. More than 50 Hangouts are set to take place across the country in the weeks to come. Once they have taken place, the playbacks of the debates will be available to watch.
This week, the two main candidates in the race to become the next mayor of Paris,
+Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet
and
+Anne Hidalgo
, will both answer questions from citizens via Hangout on Air. Sign up now to participate. Below, see an example of an already conducted hangout.
The platform also will serve as a news hub. Users will be able to browse electoral news curated just as the rest of the platform by our partner, France TV info, and discover election search trends to get a sense of what fellow French citizens have on their mind.
Posted by the Election Team, Google France
Promoting transparency around Europe
Monday, December 30, 2013
When eight technology companies presented a plan this month to reform government surveillance, a key request concerned transparency. At Google, we were the first company to publish a
transparency report
detailing the requests we receive from governments around the world to bring down content or hand over information on users.
But Google’s report represents only a narrow snapshot. It is limited to a single company. Imagine instead if all the requests for information on Internet users and for takedowns of web content in a country could be published. This would give a much more effective picture of the state of Internet freedom. As the year draws to a close, we’re happy to report that
Panoptykon
, a Polish NGO, published this month a preliminary
Internet transparency report
for Poland and
Fores
, a Stockholm-based think tank, issued a
stud
y in Sweden.
In Poland and Sweden, we helped initiate these transparency efforts and supported them financially. NGOs in six other European countries are working on national transparency reports. Our Estonian-supported transparency coalition already published a
report
last spring. In addition, university researchers in Hong Kong moved ahead over the summer with their own
report
. In Strasbourg, the
Council of Europe
recently held an important conference on the subject and hopefully will move ahead to present a series of recommendations on transparency for its 47 members.
Each transparency campaign takes a different approach - we hope this process of experimentation will help all of us learn. The Estonian effort, titled Project 451, focuses on content removals, not government surveillance, because the authors believe this is the most important issue in their country. The name of Project “451″ refers to HTTP Status Code 451, defined as “unavailable for legal reasons” and the report found that many web platforms were taking legal content down due to fears of legal liability.
The new Polish and Swedish reports attempt to shed light on government requests for information on users. Fores contacted
339 Swedish authorities
and found that more than a third had requested data about users or takedowns of user-uploaded content. Panoptykon uncovered that Polish telcos received 1.76 million requests for user information in 2012, while Internet companies polled received approximately 7,500. In addition, Panoptykon discovered that many Polish government requests for information on users were based on a flawed or unclear legal basis.
Admittedly, both the Swedish and Polish reports remain incomplete. Not all Internet companies participated. Much relevant data must be missing. Like with our own Google report, we hope to continue filling in the holes in the future. Our aim is to see this campaign gather momentum because the bottom line is transparency is essential to a debate over government surveillance powers.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Ski with Street View
Friday, December 13, 2013
Europe’s ski season is moving into high gear, making it a perfect moment for us to help you explore some of the continent’s best resorts and runs. We’ve taken our
Street View snowmobile
to the slopes and have launched new imagery of some great pistes in Italy, France, Andorra and Spain.
Italy:
From the western border between Italy and France in
La Thuile
to
Siusi
,
Pusteria
and
Kronplatz
in the eastern Dolomite Stations south of Austria, we are bringing online a total of eight Italian ski resorts. Take a look where the pros will head down the pistes at
Bormio,
which hosts a
World Cup stop
on December 29.
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France:
Val Thorens is one of the highest stations in Europe, while
Les Gets
opens up to the 600 kilometers of slopes on the
Portes du Soleil
.
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Spain:
The Pyrenees boasts some great skiing and we feature
Estació de Esqui de Masella
.
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Andorra:
The small state of Andorra is home to a lot of skiing. We are bringing online two Alpine resorts
Estació Esquí de Grandvalira
and
Estació Esquí de Vallnord
. Together they cover more than 300 kilometers of slopes. You can also explore Nordic skiing facilities at
Estació Esquí de fons de Naturlandia
.
Check out the slopes online, pick up your skis and head to the mountains.
Posted by Ulf Spitzer, Street View Program Manager, Zurich
Online exhibitions made easy with Google Open Gallery
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Do you run a small gallery and would like people to be able to dive into the
hidden depths of your artworks
with a powerful zoom? Perhaps you’ve been busy tidying your loft/attic and discovered a treasure trove of photos that can tell an amazing story, like
Dean Putney who unearthed a huge archive
of photos taken by his Grandfather, a German officer during World War I. Or are you an artist like
Vitor Rolim
from Brazil, and want to show the evolution of your work but are not sure you have the technical expertise?
Help is now at hand with
Google Open Gallery
, which launches today. For the past few years, we've worked with museums around the world to make their collections available on the
Google Cultural Institute
. Now, we’ve opened up the technologies behind this project so that anyone with cultural content can publish it, creating exhibitions that tell engaging stories on their own website. Take a look at how the
Belgian Comic Strip Center
used the Google Open Gallery to tell the story of their iconic Art Nouveau building—the Waucquez Warehouse—through a quirky mix of comic-style drawings, photographs, sketches and first hand experiences.
Google Open Gallery helps you to create a beautiful experience for people to view your collection, at the click of a button. We’ll host your content and give you access to our technology at no cost to you or your organisation. It’s pretty simple—just upload images, add video, Street View imagery and text, interweaving your story among the images to create an exhibition that will truly engage your visitors. The
Fort Collins Museum of Discovery
matches archive photos with modern day Street View imagery. Berndnaut Smilde is a contemporary artist living and working in Amsterdam, famous for creating stunning clouds as part of his Nimbus series. There’s plenty to inspire the budding artist in you with these 45 new Google Open Gallery creations from around the world so why not get exploring!
It’s not just online that we’ve been busy. Today, we officially opened the
Lab at the Cultural Institute
a physical space within our Google Paris office where the worlds of culture and technology are brought together to discuss, debate and explore new ideas. It’s also where we don our white coats and test out things like 3D scanners, million pixel cameras, interactive screens and more, working with museums to try them out inside their spaces to get their feedback.
We’ll be adding new features to Google Open Gallery and more technologies to the Lab as time goes by and will have plenty more to tell you in the coming months so watch this space!
Posted by Robert Tansley, Google Open Gallery Product Manager & Laurent Gaveau, Head of The Lab at the Cultural Institute
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