Google unveils shophouse for SG50

SINGAPORE — Explore Singapore’s landmarks with a new app. See new Google Street Views locations. Check out the entries to this year’s Doodle 4 Google contest. These are just some of the things you can do at the Google Shophouse, which opened yesterday.

As part of the SG50 celebrations, Google has transformed a shophouse along Spottiswoode Park Road into an interactive pop-up space featuring new technologies specially developed to mark Singapore’s Golden Jubilee. Google’s birthday gift to Singapore is a new mobile app called Singapore Time Walk. It was developed together with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), National Heritage Board (NHB) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), which provided the content and archive images.

The app lets users pull up historic information about the location, complete with animation of said location. Google Shophouse visitors can try the app onsite or by downloading it from the Google Play Store.

Another highlight of the Google Shophouse is the Cultural Institute initiatives, through which the NHB, URA and Singapore Art Museum will be showcasing artwork, artefacts and stories. Among the exhibits of the Cultural Institute Initiatives is the NHB’s Great Peranakans: Fifty Remarkable Lives, which examines the histories of 50 famous Singaporean Peranakans (the physical exhibition is currently ongoing at the Peranakan Museum).

Visitors can also see more than 40 new street view locations from Singapore, which will be published on Google Maps for the first time, including locations such as ION Orchard, Pulau Ubin, and the Southern Ridges.

“In our SG50 year, many Singaporeans have shown an even greater interest in reflecting on Singapore’s history and rediscovering our rich and diverse cultural heritage,” said Lawrence Wong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, who was the guest-of-honour at the launch event. “Technology is a good enabler for us to do so, and this Google Shophouse will allow many to have access to the Singapore Story.

“This is a timely initiative for our Jubilee Year, and I look forward to seeing more of such public-private partnerships in presenting and preserving our heritage gems and national treasures.”

Heritage aside, the Google Shophouse will hold coding camps for students in Singapore, which will be conducted by local organisations 21C Girls and Saturday Kids. “Imagination is the key to invention and innovation. We hope that supporting such coding camps for students will not just familiarise them with the tools and technology that will power the future, but also spark the imagination of Singapore’s next generation of innovators,” said Joanna Flint, country director of Google Singapore.

The Google Shophouse will be opened to the public on Aug 1 and 2; and Aug 7 to 10; from 10am to 5pm. Visitors can ask the Google Shophouse team for more information about the coding camp.