Historypin and Google announce “Pinning The Queen’s History” Diamond Jubilee Online Gallery
Historypin and Google Joint Press Release
World invited to submit photos, videos and other memories of The Queen’s visits to an online archive, which includes items from Royal Archives
[London; March 11, 2012]
The public are being asked to submit photos, videos and other memories of The Queen over the last 60 years to an online gallery to celebrate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee.
“Pinning The Queen’s History” is a partnership between Google and Historypin, a non-profit initiative, who have worked with Buckingham Palace to create an interactive global archive of The Queen’s visits and Jubilee celebrations over six decades to mark the Diamond Jubilee. The Queen has undertaken a huge number of visits around the UK as well as a total of 261 official overseas visits (including 96 State Visits, to 116 different countries).
The collection has been boosted by photographs of items from the Royal Archives and the Royal Collection. The items provided by Buckingham Palace include a map showing the air routes for the Royal Visit to South Australia during the 1953-1954 Commonwealth Tour, an image of an earthenware vase presented to The Queen by the Prime Minister of Japan in 1975 and a photo of a sitar presented to The Queen during her visit to India in 1997. Also included are a collection of images from The Queen’s overseas visits taken by press photographers.
People from across the world are being asked to contribute alongside these by uploading their own memories of The Queen to Google Maps through the Historypin site at www.historypin.com/DiamondJubilee.
The geographical gallery enables people worldwide from across generations to share photographs, videos and other materials that feature The Queen’s visits from her 60 year reign and celebrations for her Coronation in 1953, her Silver Jubilee in 1977 and her Golden Jubilee in 2002.
The Historypin platform allows users to pinpoint the exact location of where the content was captured, using Google Maps and Street View, so that they can literally visualise the past 60 years of Her Majesty’s reign across the globe.
At the time of The Queen’s accession in 1952, being able to share photographs, alongside official imagery, in one global space, was considered science fiction. Today, anyone can access, view and share photos on this unique platform.
Ed Parsons, geospatial technologist at Google UK, said:
“The interactive gallery is an amazing opportunity for anyone to be able to contribute to and celebrate The Queen’s 60 year reign from one global platform. We are honoured that Google Maps can form the foundation of this official gallery through our extensive mapping of the world. Our Street View technology also allows users to compare historic images of The Queen at a particular location with how it looks today.”
Nick Stanhope, CEO of We Are What We Do, who run Historypin site, said:
“Over the last 60 years, The Queen has made well over 250 visits around the world, hundreds more across the UK and celebrated her Silver Jubilee and Golden Jubilee. Millions of photos, videos and other materials have been captured over this time and we’re very excited to be able to help people bring them together onto Historypin and create a “Royal Time Machine” that let’s us all explore The Queen’s remarkable reign.”
Dickie Arbiter, Royal Commentator, said:
“Most of us capture a cherished moment on camera, be it a family occasion, a holiday, a loved one or even a very important person. For many lucky enough that very important person is The Queen. But once that picture is taken what do you do with it? Now you can post it online. Google and Historypin must be commended for inviting a global audience to share that special moment when they met The Queen and, in this Diamond Jubilee year, pinpoint where she has been and what she has done over the past six decades.”
Today users can access and contribute to the collection at www.historypin.com/DiamondJubilee
___
Notes to Editors
How it works
1. Go to www.historypin.co.uk/diamondjubilee and login with a Gmail address
2. Click ‘Pin’ to upload your photo, story and pin it to the map
3. After your content has been reviewed you can find it on the Pinning the Queen’s History
Facts about Google Maps
#1 mapping site in the world.
Provides detailed street maps in over 65 countries
Millions of Google Maps users in the UK every week
Facts about Historypin
75,000 “pins” added and 3 million visitors from 181 countries since July ‘11 launch
Over 200 major archives and 40,000 users contributing
Created by the not-for-profit organisation, We Are What We Do
The Official Site of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee www.thediamondjubilee.org
For more information
Historypin: Tori Flower +44 (0) 207 148 7668
Google – Laurian Clemence +44 (0)78 2332 6767, [email protected]
Google press office – Hem Raheja +44 (0) 207 031 3130