Street View Page on Thailand

Google Street View is available through Google Maps and Google Earth and provides panoramic views along many streets in the world. It was started in 2007 in the United States and has since expanded to include a large number of countries. Some countries have objected to this form of data gathering and have not allowed Google to take the imagery, Germany being the main hold-out. Available Street View imagery available is shown as blue lines on Google Maps once the so-called pegman has been activated. Images are most often taken by car but a variety of other modes of transport have been used. Once captured, the images are subsequently stitched together. In some areas, Street View images are augmented by privately-done photospheres.

Outline

  1. Street View screen captures
  2. Links to Street View panoramas
  3. TripGeo Street View Animations
  4. Moore's Where to Invade Next

1 Street View Screen Captures

A picture containing grass, sky, outdoor, mountain Description automatically generated 

Elephant Nature Park is located in Chiang Mai and is one of the few Elephant sanctuary’s in Thailand that is actually good to the elephants. They only keep disabled elephants that can’t return to the wild. The story and rescue of each elephant is offered on their website.

 

Red lotus sea is one of the most popular places to visit in Thailand. The sea isn’t as luscious as some photos make it seem. This was taken in December, which is during the peak blossom time. This is as good as it gets.

2 Links to Street View Panoramas

Wat Tanod is one of the many floating markets in Thailand. The Wat Tanod temple is located on the Om Nok Canal and is open to the public. Wat Tanod is one of the markets that hasn’t become all about tourists, many locals come here.

Example-1:  Elephant Nature Park

Example-2: Red Lotus Sea

Example-3: Wat Tanod Floating Market  

3 TripGeo Streetview Player

 

Downtown Bangkok to Grand Palace

Grand Palace was the home of the King of Siam for many centuries, but the King no longer resides there. It is still used today for royal rituals and other banquets and official functions. The park consists of many buildings, and visitors can enter the area for a fee. There is a dress code (long pants, no short sleeves, take off shoes upon entering). The route from Bangkok to the palace is mostly city streets, with varying quality.

 

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Grand Palace to Don Inthahon

Don Inthanon in Chaing Rai is on the highest peak in Thailand. It is one of the best lookout spots. There are gardens, waterfalls, and temples in the park. The route begins with city highway and goes through country backroads and mountain roads. The animation stopped a while short of the park even though I put in the correct address.

Don Inthahon to Mae Surin waterfall  

Mae Surin waterfall, in Mae Surin National Park is 100 meters tall, and surrounded by a very green forest. The route is mostly rural, passing through a few small towns.

4 Moore's Where to Invade Next

Moore's documentary is politically polarizing. Conservative columnists, such as Armon White, are sharply critical of the movie. First, comment on the validity of White's negative review. Then, putting aside politics, what can the movie show us about the value of travel in understanding our own country.

Armon Whites criticism of Where To Invade Next is really harsh. The review wasn’t so much about how she doesn’t like the movie, but about how she doesn’t like Moore all together. Despite the cattiness, White is right that Moore never tells the whole story of the countries he visits. He wasn’t able to visit just one country that was a eutopia, each country had one or 2 things it was “doing right.”  I think there could have been some mention on how no country was perfect, but here is what they are doing right.

 I also think that White missed that his attitude and questions in these countries were satire about how American’s really do think. Moore isn’t actually that ignorant, but he was creating a movie. Acting. Moore’s bluntness and inconsideration is how a lot of Americans actually do act around people from other places. Americans at large are uneducated about anything that goes on outside the US, except for what’s put on TV about the middle east on the nightly news. I think that the movie did a great job of shining light on area’s America has room to grow and change back into the country we were founded on being.

The movie shows what Moore is learning about his own country by visiting others, which is unavoidable. The moment you step out of your homeland the compare/contrast starts.  I know personally that travel shows you what you really do appreciate about America, and what you could change at home. For example, I just spent a week in Mexico and didn’t eat any processed foods, and it really effected my body. I had more energy, more mental clarity, and slimmed down some. However, I also learned to appreciate that our roads are so well policed. I thought it was going to be my last every time I went for a ride. Nobody follows any of the rules, probably because they aren’t enforced.

Submitted by Taylor Kocina on 4/6/2019.