On Friday the 23rd January 2015 Google held their Google Maps Business View Annual Awards of 2014 and Chameleon was lucky enough to be the winners of an award for the “Most Creative Use of Maps API” which was following the amazing work that we carried out for the Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.

We travelled to Google’s European Engineering Centre in Zurich, Switzerland compliments of Google to collect our award and had the pleasure of meeting some other great people that had also won awards in various other categories.

The award ceremony took place with Google staff from all over the globe joining the celebration’s for specific achievements carried out by companies working with Google Business View.

We won the award for:

Most Creative use of Maps API
Creative use of maps API on top of the Business view Virtual tour – TOUR
WINNER: Adam Langeveld, UK

This award was for the work we completed at the Wolverhampton Wanderers Football club which raised Google Maps to new limits and impressed the search engine giants with its size (over 700 individual panoramic views), but also the new innovation for integrating multiple tours within one interface allowing the ability to flow between specific locations quickly.

This award is a new category for 2014, open to both Google Trusted Photographers (TIPS) and agencies.

Other Award Categories:-

Google Trusted Photographer of the Year Award
Photographer with the highest weekly average of completed shoots, and has been with the program for at least 6 months.
WINNER: Jean-Michel Guegnon, France

Highest Shoot Count in the 1st Half of the Year
Photographer with the highest amount of published shoots in a 6 months period.
WINNER: Dejavan Sohrab, France

Highest Shoot Count in 2nd Half of the Year
Photographer with the highest amount of published shoots in a 6 months period.
WINNER: Adrian Symonds, UK

Excellence in Quality Award
Photographer with the highest percentage of first time passes per shoots.
WINNER: Felix Steck, Germany

Marketing / PR Award
Photographer with the most successful, innovative and original marketing strategies (most press, biggest events & great social media presence).
WINNER: Oliver Murray – Republic of Ireland

Most Creative Tour Award (SHARED)
Photographer with the most creative shoot (ex. amazing API integration, scavenger hunt, unique places like movie sets, etc.) TOUR.
WINNER: Eric Gaborlaud

Most Creative Tour Award (SHARED)
Photographer with the most creative shoot (ex. amazing API integration, scavenger hunt, unique places like movie sets, etc.) TOUR.
WINNER: Sylvain Froidevaux & Oliver Wayre

Google Business View Agency Awards

Agency of the Year
Agency with the highest weekly average of completed shoots, and has been with the program at least 6 months.
WINNER: Identity

Highest Shoot Count in 1st Half of 2014 Award
Agency with the highest amount of published shoots in Q1 & Q2.
WINNER: Royal Tour

Highest Shoot Count in 2nd Half of 2014 Award
Agency with the highest amount of published shoots in Q3 & Q4.
WINNER: Local Exposure

Excellence in Quality Award
Agency with the highest percentage of first time passes per shoots.
WINNER: Panoramas CZ Google Award

Helping you Connect with your customer Award
Marketing / PR Award.
WINNER: Better Reach

 What is Google Zurich Like?

Obviously whilst at Google we had a tour of the headquarters which was amazing, we really admired the ethos that they follow regarding work life balance. The office environment was fun and relaxing yet professional and this is something that all technical companies with professional coding guru’s need to follow.

It is clear that the people working for Google are extremely motivated and full of energy allowing them to creative fantastic ideas. Google even have a 20% development room where you can take yourself away to work on new ideas during your day.

My favorite room had to be the aquarium where you could switch off and take a power nap with the tranquil sounds of nature. All around you was beautiful tropical and Malawi fish tanks integrated into the walls.

Outside Google Zurick Office.

Playing Pool at Google Reception.

The Google Meeting Rooms looked funky and fun!

Google branding on the most adorable muffins.