Google Street View in Asia

Service in Japan was introduced on August 4, 2008. Japan's coverage was initially concentrated in five areas with a total of 10 camera icons. The service has faced criticisms from bloggers in Japan of cultural insensitivity.[3]

On May 26, 2011, Google announced that, in India, capturing of Street View images in Bangalore, the capital of the state of Karnataka, had started. However, Google Street View was banned from Bangalore on June 20, 2011.[4]

On September 2, 2011, Google has revealed that its Street View feature will be introduced to the country in association with the Tourism Authority of Thailand.[5]

On September 3, 2011, Google started to collaborate with Tourism Malaysia to record Malaysian locations to be featured on its Google Map Street View.[6]

On January 24, 2012, Google Street View was launched in South Korea starting with imagery from the country's capital, Seoul, as well as South Korea's second largest city, Busan.[7]

Google Street View in Jordan was launched in November 2015 which included 43 archaeological sites. On the announcement day, Queen Rania wrote on the announcement and praised tourism enhancing efforts in Jordan.[8]

Since March 2022 a large amount of Street view, taken by Google since November 2021, has been added in Bangladesh. This coverage covers mostly agricultural areas of Dhaka Division, and as of April 2022 it continues to expand every few days.

In July 27, 2022 Google added street view coverage in ten major cities of India and its surroundings, ending thus the 11-year-old ban on Google Street View. The footage is shot from Tech Mahindra and Genesys companies and licensed to Google. There is planning for a rollout of the service in national level, and there are daily additions of Indian roads into the platform.

Reference:[9]

 Philippines

Region	Major cities/areas
Metro Manila	Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, Pateros, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela
Ilocos Region	Pangasinan, national road from Pagudpud to Laoag in Ilocos Norte, Crisologo St., Plaza Burgos and Salcedo in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, national roads in Agoo, Tubao, Santo Tomas and Rosario in La Union
Cagayan Valley	Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya
Cordillera	Flora and Santa Marcela in Apayao, Baguio, La Trinidad and Mount Pulag in Benguet, major roads in Pinukpuk, Rizal and Tabuk in Kalinga
Central Luzon	Bulacan, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales
Calabarzon	Cavite including the island of Corregidor, Batangas, Laguna, Rizal and Quezon
Mimaropa	Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and major roads in Palawan
Bicol Region	Albay, Camarines Sur and national roads in Camarines Norte, and Sorsogon
Western Visayas	Iloilo, Guimaras, Capiz, Aklan, Antique, Negros Occidental
Central Visayas	Metro Cebu and nearby towns including Mactan Island all in Cebu, views of ocean floor near Apo Island in Dauin, Negros Oriental
Eastern Visayas	Biliran, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Eastern Samar, Samar, Northern Samar
Northern Mindanao	Camiguin, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, major roads in Bukidnon, and major roads in Lanao del Norte including Iligan
Caraga	Major roads in Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur, Surigao City and its nearby towns
Soccsksargen	General Santos, South Cotabato, major roads across Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and Cotabato
Davao Region	Davao City, Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, major roads in Davao de Oro, and major roads in Davao Oriental
Zamboanga Peninsula	Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur, national roads in Zamboanga Sibugay, Dipolog and Dapitan in Zamboanga del Norte
Bangsamoro	Cotabato City, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur

 United Arab Emirates

Region	Major cities/areas
Dubai	Dubai International Airport (including inside views of an Airbus A380 25.242748°N 55.37196°E / 25.242748; 55.37196), Burj Khalifa
Abu Dhabi	Sheikh Zayed Mosque

As in other places, there has been controversy surrounding plans to bring Street View to various Asian countries.

In Israel, there have been concerns that introducing the service could increase the risk of terrorism to which the region is prone.[20]

In India, the Government had rejected Google Street View until June 2022. But in June 2022 the Indian Government allowed street view in many cities of India including the capital city New Delhi. Now it is available in Mumbai, Bangaluru, Chennai and many others . Security establishments became wary of allowing such image capturing given that planning for the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai is believed to have involved photographic reconnaissance of targets by Pakistani American David Coleman Headley. The Indian Government had plans to talk about Google street view in India, but in March 2018 Government of India finally rejected the Google Street view plan[21] citing that this will compromise the country's security. However, many users have uploaded an increasing amount of Street view in various parts of India, such as Bengaluru and Kerala, among many others. Finally in July 2022 Government of India allowed Google to launch Street View services across the county.

Google had to reshoot all images in Japan because the camera cars that took the original photographs were originally too high, leading to privacy concerns. Japanese houses are generally built quite close to the road. Roads are also narrow, often without pavements. Such factors led to privacy concerns with the original photographs.[22]

Police in South Korea raided Google offices in that country in order to determine if Street View was legal.[23]

In 2013, people in Tambon Sa-iap village, Song District in Phrae Province, Thailand, mistakenly believed that the Street View car was surveying the village for the unwanted Kaeng Suea Ten Dam project and blocked it, not allowing it to take photographs. They also arrested the driver and interrogated him to determine if he was working for the dam project. He was released after swearing on the Buddha that his work was not related to the dam project. After confirming his story, the village's leaders apologized for the misunderstanding.[24][25]

In Indonesia, Google was forced by the Aceh City Government to remove almost every Street View image of Aceh in 2019, leaving exceptions to Langsa, Aceh Tamiang, Southeast Aceh, Aceh Singkil, and Subulussalam City (as well as Street View recordings of certain places that are not in roadways). This incident was caused by some foreigners that were uploading inappropriate images, some of which contain two naked foreigners. One of them wrote the sentence "Protest sharia law."[26] on his hand. The city government discovered this and considered suing Google, as well as asking it why the inappropriate images could be so easily shown to the public.[15] The City Government also reported this incident to Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. With this incident, the government continues to use this as the main reason for defending the Law of Information and Electronic Transactions Act.

•  Indonesia: Part of North Maluku
•  Indonesia: Views of some highways and the central business districts of Papua
•  Papua New Guinea Main cities and tourist places in the whole overseas region of Papua New Guinea
•  New Caledonia Main cities and tourist places in the whole overseas region of New Caledonia

Future coverage

Below is list of the countries that do not currently have official coverage where Street View vehicles are currently driving, where Street View is officially planned, or have reported by media to be driving.

Public streets in Roadmaps 1st March 2024

Continent	Countries and regions officially announced by Google	Countries and regions reported in media or unofficially announced
Asia	East Nusa Tenggara  Indonesia (public streets)	Riau Islands  Indonesia (public streets)
	Saudi Arabia (public streets)	Yemen (public streets)
	Kazakhstan (public streets)	Syria (public streets)
	Tajikistan (public streets)	Iraq (public streets)
	Nepal (public streets)	Iran (public streets)
	Myanmar (public streets)	China (public streets)
	Bahrain (public streets)	Pakistan (public streets)
	North Korea (public streets)
	Maldives (public streets)
	British Indian Ocean Territory (public streets)
	Uzbekistan (public streets)
	Afghanistan (public streets)
	Turkmenistan (public streets)
Oceania	Timor-Leste (public streets)	Maluku  Indonesia (public streets)

• Article on 360 degree Dubai Google street view Archived December 28, 2015, at the Wayback Machine