Google Street View in Asia

In Asia, Google Street View is available in Bangladesh, Bhutan, British Indian Ocean Territory, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, India, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. This includes territories disputed by both Israel (Golan Heights and West Bank) and India (northern Arunachal Pradesh). It is also available for a few select tourist attractions in the People's Republic of China, Iraq, Nepal and Pakistan.
Service in Japan was introduced on August 5, 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.
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 21, 2011.
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.
On September 3, 2011, Google started to collaborate with Tourism Malaysia to record Malaysian locations to be featured on its Google Map Street View.
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.
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.
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.
On 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.
On March 22, 2024, Google added street view coverage throughout the country of Kazakhstan, covering all regions. The coverage mostly consists of major roads and urban areas.
In April 2024, Google added street view coverage in Lebanon.
In January 2025, Google added street view in Coron in The Philippines
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In 2016, the Government of India denied Google's request to cover India through Street View photography, citing concerns that military installations or other sensitive areas would be photographed.
In 2022, after a change in government policy, Google was permitted to launch in India; its Street View project in the country is a partnership with Genesys and Tech Mahindra. It competes with MapmyIndia. At launch in July 2022, Street View covered 150,000 kms of roads in India; it also formed partnerships with traffic authorities in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Gurgaon, and Agra.
As of October 2024, it is available to some extent in all states and union territories.
Google Street View covers most regencies and cities in Sumatra (except most of Aceh), Java, Nusa Tenggara Islands, Borneo, Sulawesi, and North Maluku (includes Ternate, Tidore, and parts of Halmahera). There is currently no official coverage in Maluku (province) and the Papua region, if it exists, then all of them are unofficial. Before 2015, only Java, Madura, and Bali were covered by the Street View.
In October 2019, Google excluded and removed most of the Street View images of Aceh due to a controversial incident. The Banda Aceh City Government considered suing Google about why the inappropriate image can be easily passed and shown to public. Even so, the government still allows Street View recordings in certain places that are not in roadways. The City Government also reported this incident to Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.
Since then, only parts south of Subulussalam; several meters away from border gate between Southeast Aceh Regency and Karo Regency; parts east of Lhokseumawe; a a very small (several meters long) fragment of Teuku Nyak Arief Road at Banda Aceh, a fragment of Blang Bintang Lama Road and a Chinese housing complex at Neuheun in Aceh Besar Regency are currently covered in Aceh.
The West Bank which is also covered in Google Street View is commonly considered to be part of the partially recognized State of Palestine. The coverage also includes Israeli settlements within the West Bank.
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Upcoming Google Street View coverage for Oman was confirmed in February 2024, and was published in October 2024.
For European Russia, see Google Street View in Europe
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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.
In India, the Government had rejected Google Street View until June 2022.This was due to privacy concerns.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 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 country.
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.
Police in South Korea raided Google offices in that country in order to determine if Street View was legal.
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.
In Indonesia, Google was forced by the Banda 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." 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. 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.