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I love using the google maps, both for exploring from the comfort of my own home and for when I am out and about in my car or on my bicycle. However, the problem with maps in Thailand these days for foreign tourists is that it is in the Thai language by default. Many people keep asking me how to change it. At first I thought that it was looking at your IP address, and seeing that you are in Thailand changed the language to Thai. But, apparently, there is an easy setting that you can change to get English.
All you have to do is select “English” in the drop down list in the top right-hand corner where you can see the links for “Earth” and “Satellite”. It’s that simple. I am not sure how long that has been there. I only found out last night from @bm_ about this. It’s good that they do this now but it doesn’t seemed to work when you link to a map. So, if I tweet a link to a google map you will need to make sure that you have selected “English” in the preferences otherwise it will be in Thai. If you have any other useful tips like this, then please let me know in the comments.
Thanks for this tip.
I also found Street View to be extremely useful, especially when navigating to places which I’ve not been to. One can easily do screen-capture, and store them into your mobile device for quick easy and accurate reference when on the road. This would be extra helpful for those without a mobile internet plan, as the image can be shown to the taxi driver as well.
As a bonus, one can also decide to view Street View in 3D, with a simple pair of red & blue 3D glasses. They cost a mere 150Baht at Panthip Mall.
Another use for Google Maps, is the ability right-click, and “drop Lat Ling Marker”. That way, you’ll have the GPS coordinates of the place which you intend to get to. Which you can also copy-paste into your favourite GPS Mobile software.
Hope this helps
Not on my map. picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Tz5iEn-IlwHdJzO3eRtH0n3iqZqYJ9trVYNFreOCstk?feat=directlink
You seem to have English already on the map and so it is not really an issue for you
So I cannot switch back to Thai if I wish?
Are you using google.co.th? Or maybe is your IP showing that you are outside of Thailand?
Yes, that’s it! I was using google.com and I guess it didn’t check my IP. Thanks as always.
Great tip. Thanks!
Not for maps but I have a way to stop Google annoyingly redirecting to the local version of it’s search results.
Just type /ncr at the end of the google url ie. www.google.com/ncr
This stands for “No Country Redirect” and gives you the standard Google results without the localized version of results including local language sites.
What about iPad that do not have this drop down menu?