Google Street View Serves OFWs as Window to Homes in the Philippines

Google’s Street View, which features panoramic views of streets from various positions and was launched in the Philippines in September 2014, Filipinos abroad have made use of this service to view familiar locations back home.

Others, stoked by the sight of their homes, posted screengrabs onto their Facebook accounts.

“Nakaka-miss ang bahay at mag-motor (I miss our house and riding a motorcycle),” said one user who posted a photo of his house with a motorcycle parked outside, as quoted by Inquirer.net.

Others unable to go home, have to contend with what they see on Street View, “Di makauwi…kaya hanggang street view na lang muna (I can’t go home…so I’ll use Street View for now).”

Now a senior citizen, Zafra reportedly said he has long been teaching fellow senior citizens how to utilize technology to include giving instructions on how to navigate the website by showing a link to an elementary school in Bulacan in one of his Facebook groups.

The Philippines is now the 69th country with Google Street View. It was launched last week with an objective to boost tourism in the country.

Meanwhile, Sarangani Representative and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao was among those who commended the application and further said the technology allows him to showcase his province because of its panoramic images.

Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expanded to include cities and rural areas worldwide.

Google has been closely working with the Department of Tourism to promote Philippine tourist spots.

“If you’re going to capture imagery of an archipelago with 7,017 islands to share with the world on Google Maps, you’d better be prepared for the terrain that comes with it,” said Paul Kim, Google’s head of APAC device, content, and retail marketing. “Since we first hit the roads in the Philippines in January last year, we’ve taken our Street View camera on a real adventure.”

Naguilian Road, Baguio City

Calasiao Road, Dagupan City

Concha Street, Manila

Pililla, Rizal

To access Google Street View:

1. Go to www.google.com/maps or maps.google.com and type in your desired address to view.
   
2. Locate the yellow Pegman icon at the bottom right section of the map.
   
3. Drag the Pegman icon on desired location. Note that only areas with blue lines are covered by Street View.
   
4. Adjust the location view by clicking on view; to move to the left, click/tap on the left panel, to move to the right click/tap on the right panel.