Google Street View Set for Launch in Indonesia

The latest fleet of cars to hit Indonesia’s roads will carry an unusual logo, but one that the country’s wired population is more than familiar with: that of Google, as the Internet giant prepares to introduce Google Street View to the sprawling archipelago.

The project, launched Friday by Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and Google Inc., will be one of the tech giant’s largest initiatives in Asia. Custom Google cars fitted with cameras have already been deployed across the country with the end goal of allowing anyone with an Internet connection a panoramic view of key cities through street-level images, not expected to be ready for a few years.

Indonesia will be the third Southeast Asian country to get Google’s Street View service, after Singapore and more recently Thailand, where Google also partnered with the country’s tourism authority. Like many other Street View initiatives, the primary target audience is tourists and other visitors, allowing them to check out hotels and other attractions before planning itineraries, as well as serve the potential market within Indonesia’s 250 million people.

This could be especially useful in Indonesia where infrastructure bottlenecks have hidden some of the most beautiful tourist destinations – including secluded beaches, pristine dive sites and legendary temples – away from keen visitors. Businessmen, too, are now flocking to Jakarta and other key cities in the hope of tapping into Indonesia’s strong growth, but often need to strategically plan meetings close to hotels and offices to avoid Jakarta’s notorious traffic jams.

“With these digital tools, hotels, tourism sites and businesses can be more creative in making it easier for visitors to find their stores, location and websites,” said Mari E. Pangestu, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, at the sidelines of an exhibition where the service was launched.

Google said in a press statement that the project will be a “long-term investment,” without giving a specific date for the introduction of Street View, though it expects some images to be online in the next few years.

The company has run into privacy issues elsewhere when capturing Street View data, which involves real-time panoramic images, allowing anyone to scope out various locales without leaving their screens. Though some find the service convenient, others have expressed strong sentiments against having their faces, car license plate numbers and the like potentially exposed to millions.

Her daughter arrived in 2009, and when Lori returned from maternity leave, even more leadership changes had occurred. She found the company was taking her lab in a completely new direction. She was also being asked to report to a colleague who she felt was not the right resource to lead the business unit. Lori reached out to leadership at the larger parent company where she had great relationships and explained her frustration. They created a new role for Lori: chief technology catalyst at a different business unit.

The big change for Lori was that travel used to be mainly for industry trade shows, speaking at events and meeting clients. But with this newly created position, Lori had to work with leadership and senior resources who were on the east coast while she was living on the west coast. For the better part of the next two years, her job focused on constant travel, and it was overwhelming.

The job was interesting, and Lori still desired to be the self described "powerful innovation girl," so she traveled with her nanny and her young daughter. She found this at least gave her more time together with her daughter, and she felt like she was balancing both worlds that she enjoyed. But the company wasn't funding her daughter's travel or the nanny's, so it became very expensive.

She says that she really felt the need to have the nanny in tow unless she traveled to a location where she had family.

Lori was exhausted after each trip and frustration was mounting. Then, after two years of non-stop travel, her role at the company was changing yet again and becoming very undesirable. Her mentor at the parent company who created the job left the company, and she could see her role's focus dissipating.

During 2011, her daughter started school at age two and Lori couldn't take her on trips anymore. The balance had shifted. She missed her daughter when she was traveling, even for just two or three nights. Lori says "It was a strong chemical reaction that I couldn't ignore."

The tipping point was in January/February 2011 when all of the tech conferences take place between Las Vegas, Florida and Barcelona. Lori says "While it sounds romantic and exciting and I was enjoying the intellectual stimulation during the day, I was miserable underneath. I was this strong business woman during the day and I cried at night."

Neither happy in her personal nor business life, Lori knew it was time to make the transition to something more balanced with motherhood. "This New York based role was definitely not working, and I had come to the tough realization that the job I signed up for was no longer there. So I began discussions with HR. I had a severance package that would give me some time to figure things out on my own."

In June 2012, Lori become a Mompreneur. She wanted this balance desperately, and she was determined to find a way. During her tenure at McCann, Lori was very active in her industry; she sat on boards, did many speaking engagements and moderated panels, making terrific contacts along the way. She believed she could find opportunity, but there was no guarantee of income and only six months of severance pay.

The first two months of being her own boss were a major adjustment. She bought a new computer, set up her home office, dealt with insurance and got a new phone plan. All the things that corporate had always taken care of for so long were now her responsibility. She struggled with being at home and learning how to balance being relaxed and enjoying her daughter while being productive and starting a business.