Google Street View Expands to Five Ukrainian Cities

Kyiv, April 20, 2012. Travel Ukraine without leaving your home? Starting today you can: Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa join the long list of sites across 30 countries of the world that are featured in Google’s Street View. In addition to other locations, Google presented panoramas of such outstanding Kyiv sites as UNESCO World Heritage Site Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and Khreshchatyk – the central street of the Ukrainian capital that witnessed the Orange Revolution.

The places in Ukraine that one may now visit virtually include Andriivskyi Uzviz – a historic descent connecting Kyiv’s downtown and the Upper Town (many craftsmen and artists showcase their creations there), Saint Sofia Square in Kyiv, Lviv’s Market Square (Ploshcha Rynok), Miner Square (Shakhtarska Ploshcha) in Donetsk, and Freedom Square in Kharkiv.

Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Lviv are the four cities hosting the European football championship EURO-2012 in June of 2012. Introduction of the new Google service will be of much help to the fans travelling to the Ukrainian cities for the football matches. Now they can check out the stadiums, plan sightseeing routes, and choose hotels based on much more information about the location.

On March 23, 2012, Google launched Street View for Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw, and Poznan (Polish EURO-2012 hosts).

Being featured on Street View opens new opportunities for business and tourism, Google notes in their official statement. Users now have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with turns and interchanges on their route, visualizing the future journey. The cell phone version of the Street View is also available, making travelling yet even more convenient.

In March of 2012 Google also introduced Google Navigation in Ukraine. The service is factually a GPS hooked up with internet. It provides Android mobile phone users with free, interactive, and automatically updated maps of Ukraine.

Previously, Google also dedicated quite a few doodles to Ukraine. On the most recent Independence Day of Ukraine – August 24, 2011 – Google presented a blue and yellow doodle featuring a sketch of kobzar (a Ukrainian bard usually accompanying himself on a lute instrument). The 2010 Ukrainian Independence Day Google doodle featured one of the most loved flowers in Ukraine – sunflower. Naturally, the colors of both doodles reflected the national colors of Ukraine – blue and yellow.