Most of you must have heard about the Notre-Dame cathedral, the symbol of Paris for centuries was on fire on April 15, 2019. The fire has destroyed most of the cathedral. Now if you want to get an idea of how it was, walk through the cathedral virtually, get some missing information when restoring the cathedral, create a 3d modal of the cathedral, what can you do? I know the user-generated content on Google Maps(photos, videos, 360 photos, reviews) can help you. Without knowing millions of people contributing to Google Maps to record monuments, archaeological sites, etc.
This is exactly what I am doing in Sri Lanka for last few years using Google Maps, recording archaeological sites in Sri Lanka and providing training to the future heritage managers to use Google Maps to record the archaeological sites.
When you consider the Notre-Dame cathedral, the French authorities may have recorded it using new technologies such as laser scanning, and photogrammetry. They may not need any input from photos (traditional and 360), videos or reviews from Google Maps to reconstruct the Notre-Dame cathedral. When it comes to Sri Lanka, where I live, most of the archaeological sites and monuments are not properly documented. If some damage is done, there may be no photo of that site or monument other than the pictures in Google Maps. The images in Google Maps also provide a way to look at the changes in monuments or sites through the time for archaeologists and heritage managers.
For example, if you look at the Kadugannawa Ambalama(an ancient resting place at Kadugannawa) which is very close to the Kandy – Colombo main road has damaged several times, and it is only recorded in Google Maps. I would love to have a feature in Google Maps to see photos on a timeline.
We may be able to produce a 3D modal of the monument using the photos uploaded to Google Maps.
The Google Local Guides program identified the contributions I made to this cause, and they did a video on my contributions in the “Local Heroes” video series. If you have not seen it, have a look at it.
Now, I would like to talk a little bit about the contributions I made to Google Maps on this cause for the last twelve months.
Where should I start, first, I would like to talk about my contributions to Street View imagery in the World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka. This contribution is something I started doing in the last few months.
Adding missing blue lines to Google Street View in World Heritage sites
A Ricoh Theta V camera was given to all participants of the last year Connect Live 2018 attendees. I was lucky enough to receive one camera, and I participated in a session dedicated to discussing the Street View at the Connect Live 2018. During that session, the product team from the Google Street View told us how important it is to update the Google Street View imagery to get good results for the new feature they are going to introduce, that is AR mode in Google Street view. I started contributing to the Street View, and now I have done over 100km of Google Street View imagery.
When I was searching for Google Street View imagery near Sigiriya World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka to plan a meetup, I was amazed. Most of the world heritage sites in Sri Lanka were not fully covered, or available imagery was updated, this has led to hosting the first blue line meetup in Sri Lanka at the Sigiriya World Heritage site and nearby roads. Then I recently concluded adding blue lines in the Polonnaruwa World Heritage site. If you want to know more about these meetups and what we did, please follow the links given below to the recaps of meetups and my post on the Connect about 100km contribution.
The impact: Before and after adding imagery to Google Street View at Sigiriya Wolrd Heritage Site
[Recap] Sigiriya Blue Line Meetup – Almost 20km of Street View imagery
[Recap] Polonnaruwa Blue Line Meetup - Almost 7km of Street View imagery
Yes, it is 100km of Street View Imagery and over 87,000 images
Training future heritage managers to contribute to Google Maps and record archaeological sites on Google Maps
The archaeological site density is very high in Sri Lanka compared to the other countries. Therefore, the recording of archaeological sites in Sri Lanka cannot be done by one induvial. I have carried out two-day workshops for archaeology undergraduates at the University of Kelaniya and Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. They were very successful, and over a hundred participants were trained. I also did a lecture to the tourism students at the University College of Ratmalana on importance of the user-generated content on Google Maps for tourism. Another short workshop was carried out for the members of the Sri Lanka Archaeological Society on how to use Google Maps for recording archaeological Site. Now I have trained over 400 future heritage managers. You can read the recaps of the workshops by following links given below the picture.
The following photo took at the workshop held in the University of Kelaniya was one of my favorite pictures of the year. I am the one in the middle in the front row wearing a Google t-shirt.
RECAP Google Maps for Heritage Researchers Workshop
[Recap] Workshop: Google Maps and other Google Tools for Archaeology Explorers
Tourism and Digital Transformation: Power of User
Hosting meetups to promote the recording of archaeological sites
When I am hosting meetups I focused on hosting them in archaeology related site. In the last twelve months, I have hosted seven meetups and except two meetups, I hosted other meetups in a world heritage site or archaeology related place. I have mentioned the other meetups in this post and here is the only missing meetup I held at Galle Fort World Heritage Site.
[Recap] Galle Fort Photo Walk March 14, 2019
Adding photos
This is something I am doing from the day I started to contribute to Google Maps. In the last twelve months, I have added lots of photos to Google Maps. Here is one photo I love.
The magnificent view of Sigiriya rock from the Lion’s Paw
I love the photo walk I host for the @PaulPavlinovich’s 36-Walk initiative.
If you want to get an idea about the photos I took, please visit this Google shared photos album.
Adding 360 photos of the archaeological sites.
Although I had a 360 camera for some time, I did not upload 360 photos of archaeological sites that often. During the last few months, I have added lots of 360 photos of archaeological sites to Google Maps. I have uploaded over 1100 photo spheres to Google Maps. You can see a recently added 360 photo of Nalanda Gedige by me.
Adding videos of Archaeological Sites
This is another great way to record our sites is uploading videos to Google Maps. This way we can capture the details of rock carvings, statues, etc. Whenever I visited a new place, I am uploading videos with details. Now I have uploaded over 380 videos in 183 places.
Creating archaeology related events
There is a new feature in Google Maps to add events to Google Maps PoI. I started to use this feature a few months back, and I am adding archaeology related events to PoI in Google Maps. Here are a few events I added to Google Maps.
Creating lists of archaeological sites
I was not a big fan of Google Maps lists. When I went through the requirements to apply for the Connect Live 2019, I came to know publishing at least one list is a must. Then I wanted to add lists of archaeological sites in different cities. The first and only list I have created so far is the “Galle Fort Attractions”. I am looking forward to adding more archaeology related lists to Google Maps.
archaeology.lk, a dedicated website for Sri Lanka
Apart from my contributions to the Google Maps on this cause, I am also running an award-winning website to disseminate the new knowledge in Sri Lanka archaeology to the world. This website is non-profit, and it is volunteer work. This year we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the archaeology.lk website. This website is the only dedicated and most popular archaeology website in the country. We are catering to the requirement of school children, undergraduates, and the general public through this website. The archaeology.lk also sponsor the Merit Award for the best student in Archaeology at the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.
Receiving the e-Swabhimani Award, 2012
Other contributions to Google Maps and Local Guides Program
I have posted a few posts on the Connect, and I have hosted seven meetups during the last twelve months. The number of photos I uploaded to Street view is over 1200, and the total photo count on Street View is over 87,000 (with photos created from my contribution to Street View imagery). I am maintaining the Sri Lanka Local Guides Facebook group and Sri Lanka Local Guides YouTube channel, which was launched a few weeks ago. I have also created video recaps for all meetups. I love following the meetup video recap.
I am also proud of my contribution to translate the main posts of the Clean the World campaign by @ermest. I posted five posts translated to Sinhalese.
The video and post I did about a restaurant owner in the Galle Fort (another world heritage site) who wants to do an Eco-Friendly business is something I love.
The students of the University of Kelaniya invited me for their first meetup at the University, and that was something I enjoyed. Thank you @sithara_mahalekam for hosting and inviting me.
If you want to know more about my contributions you can read the posts I posted for the 2017 summit and 2018 Connect Live.
2017 - The Story of Anuradha, a proud member of a large global community
2018 - The Story of Anuradha: The journey continues with friends around the globe
@KarenVChin This is my post for the connect live 2019. Thank you for encouraging and giving suggestions, and I hope you would enjoy this.
This is my story, and I am Anuradha, a level nine Google local guide from Sri Lanka.
