Caption: FILE - In this June 28, 2012 file photo, a police officer
stands guard at Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple complex in Siem Reap
province, some 230 kilometers (143 miles) northwest Phnom Penh,
Cambodia. The spectacular temples of Cambodia’s historic Angkor
civilization have been incorporated into Google’s Street View. The
Internet giant said in a statement Thursday, April 3, 2014 that Street
View now includes more than 90,000 photographic panoramas of the area,
and allows viewers to zoom in to study carvings and other artistic and
archaeological details. (AP )
Associated Press – April 3, 2014
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The spectacular temples of Cambodia's Angkor
civilization have been incorporated into Google's Street View, a boost
to the impoverished country's tourism industry that also adds urgency to
efforts to preserve the sprawling historic site.
The Internet giant said in a statement Thursday that Street View now
includes more than 90,000 photographic panoramas of the sprawling temple
complex, and links to Google's online World Wonders Project, allowing
viewers to zoom in to study carvings and other artistic and
archaeological details.
Built between the ninth and 14th centuries, Angkor is a symbol of
Cambodian national pride and also the country's biggest tourist
attraction, receiving about 2 million visitors a year.
Cambodia's Tourism Minister Thong Khon said the rich collection of
images will "inspire more tourists" to visit Cambodia, according to the
Google statement. Those who have already visited will be able to see
new, undiscovered areas of the country through Street View, he said.
The numbers of tourists to the temple complex has
swelled in recent years. As recently as 2001, annual visitors to Angkor
totaled about 250,000.
Preservation advocates are concerned the influx has hastened
deterioration of edifices already buffeted by invasive tropical
vegetation and monsoon rains. Some have called for limits on visitors to
the complex, which has been designated a World Heritage Site by the
U.N.'s cultural agency.
Cambodia's Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol said he hoped the Street View
project would encourage more young people to learn about the Internet
and develop technical skills.
Street View is a facet of Google's online maps that presents 360-degree
photographic images taken at street level in 55 countries.
The World Wonders Project, aside from showing close-ups of temple
murals, will display items such as black and white photos of the temples
taken in the 1940s, and "artists renderings of what life may have been
like in medieval Angkor," said Google's statement.
The project is run by the Google Cultural Institute, whose director
described its mission as making "the world's heritage accessible for
global audiences and to preserve it digitally for generations to come."
Other project locations include shrines in Kyoto, Japan, archaeological
areas of Pompei, Italy and natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon in
the United States.
Caption: In this Thursday, July 19, 2012 file photo, tourists take a
tour to the Angkor Wat temple complex in Siem Reap, some 230 kilometers
(143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The spectacular temples
of Cambodia’s historic Angkor civilization have been incorporated into
Google’s Street View. The Internet giant said in a statement Thursday,
April 3, 2014 that Street View now includes more than 90,000
photographic panoramas of the area, and allows viewers to zoom in to
study carvings and other artistic and archaeological details. (AP
Photo/Heng Sinith, File)
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