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The charitable arm of Google and the UN have teamed up on a new website aimed at helping people better understand the Syrian refugee crisis through the combination of data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) along with satellite imagery, 360 degree photos and stills, videos,\u00a0stories from refugees, and more. The new site, called \u201cSearching for Syria<\/a>,\u201d presents this information to visitors in an accessible way \u2013 by providing simple but visually immersive answers to questions like \u201cWhat is happening in Syria?\u201d and even, \u201cwhat is a refugee?\u201d<\/p>\n Google explained<\/a> that it\u2019s been able to gauge how much worldwide interest there is on the web from people using its search engine for answers to basic questions about the refugee situation in Syria. \u201cWhat is happening in Syria?\u201d was among the top trending searches in Germany, France and the U.K. last year, for example, and over tens of millions in 2016 searched for information on the Syria.<\/p>\n The company, including\u00a0its Google.org arm, partnered with the UNHCR to combine the organization\u2019s\u00a0annual Global Trends report \u2013 which contains facts and figures about refugees,\u00a0asylum-seekers, migrants and others \u2013 with Google\u2019s Search trend data. The idea is\u00a0to offer web searchers better answers to their\u00a0ongoing questions, but one that taps into more visual imagery to\u00a0help paint a picture of the human side of the crisis, and the scale of the situation in the country of Syria.<\/p>\n The site begins with a brief introduction, then takes you pages of questions about Syria, like \u201cWhat was Syria like before the war?,\u201d \u201cWhat is going on in Syria?\u201d \u201cWhere are Syrian refugees going?\u201d and others.<\/p>\n Questions are\u00a0answered with short text blurbs relying factual answers and statistics, which are combined with full-screen photos, some of which can be turned 360 degrees for a more immersive viewing of a given place or scene.<\/p>\n For example, one section of the website lets you visit half a dozen UNESCO world heritage sites in 360 degrees, including the ancient cities of Aleppo, Bosra, and Damascus, the ancient villages of Northern Syria,\u00a0Crac des Chevaliers and Qal\u2019at Salah El-Din and the site\u00a0of Palmyra. After panning through the beautiful imagery, you scroll down to the next slide and learn that the war in Syria has damaged or destroyed them all.<\/p>\n Visualization in the form of charts and graphs are also sometimes present, along with personal stories from refugees and videos from YouTube.<\/p>\n There are only five questions on the site, but scrolling through all their components takes some time. In reading through and watching the material, visitors are meant to understand the true human toll the war has taken on Syrian lives.<\/p>\n The site also encourages visitors to learn how they can help \u2013 by signing the UNHCR\u2019s petition to pledge your support that you stand #WithRefugees, making a donation, or just sharing the website to raise awareness.<\/p>\n Though largely an educational experience, there\u2019s of course a political undertone to Google\u2019s investment in this resource.<\/p>\n The U.S. and some other countries have pushed back against allowing Syrian refugees to cross\u00a0their borders. This includes Trump\u2019s hardline stance on Syria in general in which the president has proposed cuts to foreign aid, including the U.N. and agencies helping refugees. He has also tried to stop Syrian refugees from entering the country twice \u2013 moves that were blocked by courts. Meanwhile, on Sunday, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. \u2013 seemingly ignoring Trump\u2019s proposed budget \u2013 has\u00a0pledged increased support<\/a> from the U.S. for the refugees.<\/p>\n This is not Google.org\u2019s first time addressing the crisis \u2013 it\u00a0has already invested more than $20 million in grants supporting solutions to provide over 800,000 refugees with emergency support and access to critical information and education, the company says.<\/p>\n The new site is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n