Google Streetview gets a local competitor - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

Google might still be hoping to get another foot into the China market, but internet entrepreneur Marc van der Chijs reports now on his weblog that a local company is successfully filling the void for Google Streetview, already covering 41 cities.

A few weeks ago Joop Dorresteijn pinged me about a service he had found that does something similar for cities in China: city8.com. You select the city you want to look at and then you get a streetview-like interface. It works pretty well, but because it’s hosted inside the Great Firewall it is quite slow outside China or when using a VPN.

I tried it out for Shanghai and Beijing and like the functionality and the quality of the pictures. Not only the city center has been covered, but also the suburbs. Even some of the expat compounds are part of the database (ours did not let the camera car in though, so I can’t see my own house), so you can check out most addresses in the city. Just type in the address in Chinese in the search bar and you get to the location right away. You can then move around with the cursor just like in Google Streetview.

More at Marc van der Chijs' weblog.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Related articles

• The booming value of online game firms - Marc van der Chijs (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Disrupted in New York - Marc van der Chijs (chinaherald.net)
• 10 misconceptions on casual gaming - Marc van der Chijs (chinaherald.net)
• The pros and cons of Renren's IPO - Jeremy Goldkorn (chinaherald.net)