Google Maps

You may remember the fiasco back in May wherein defacements were being discovered in Google Maps due to bad edits making their way through the approval process. Google subsequently shut down Map Maker, the tool the company used to crowdsource the improvement of its mapping products (and the same one through which these defacement edits were submitted), on May 12th to “take a pause” until “we have our moderation system back in action.” It looks like that pause on submissions will soon come to an end.

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Late last week, Google updated its Maps Android app to version 9.11.0. Although its user interface remains the same, it has one new, awesome feature: you can now send locations, navigation instructions and directions straight to your Android phone.

We put together a short video to guide you through the very quick and painless method. This feature competes directly with that built in to the Mac Maps app included in OS X Mavericks which allows iPhone users to send directions direct from Mac to their phones.

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Image via Android Police

Google has published an update to its Android mapping app, as noted by Android Police, that allows users to hide certain UI elements and adds support for new sharing options. The first of these new features lets users hide the majority of the interface when browsing maps in all modes except for turn-by-turn directions.

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Google-owned Waze looks to have its sights set on competing with the ride-sharing service Lyft. Reuters reports that it is trialling a ride-sharing service, initially in Waze’s home market, Israel.

The new application, called RideWith, will use Waze’s navigation system to learn the routes drivers most frequently take to work and match them up with people looking for a ride in the same direction.

Waze is at pains to point out that it is not trying to compete with Uber, where drivers are able to operate full-time and make a profit. RideWith will limit drivers to just two journeys per day, allowing them to share the cost of their journey to and from work … 
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Google’s My Maps product was launched all the way back in 2007 and still isn’t very well known, but it’s a really cool service for Apps customers and it’s receiving even more attention now with a quick-access button inside Google Drive.

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In a world where we’re increasingly reliant on our phones to navigate the world, online reviews can make or break local businesses. Lawsuits regarding negative reviews show up in the news at least a couple times every year, and these review pages are increasingly becoming the battleground where individuals protest against businesses partaking in practices they disagree with. On the other hand, however, a good rating online can entrench and create a moat around a business for years to come. That’s why Google now allows advertisers to include their Google reviews in their AdWords ads.
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I honestly can’t think back far enough to remember the days when people had to rely on paper maps to navigate to places, but I can still appreciate how the combination of Google Maps and the Google-owned Waze makes life much easier than ever before. The one dedicated GPS I ever owned couldn’t even beat my Nexus 5 because it’s arrival estimates always seemed completely off-base. Unsurprising really, because unlike Google Maps, it didn’t have real-time information about traffic density on the roads my route would take me on. Now, Maps users in 12 cities in India will be able to enjoy the same real-time traffic information we have stateside.

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The number of railroad crossing accidents that occur in the United States has declined 80 percent since 1970, but last year that number inexplicably rose 9 percent to approximately 1,100, 270 of which resulted in deaths. Today Google and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced a partnership in which Maps users will receive audio and visual alerts when they’re coming close to a railroad crossing in their route, according to a report in the New York Times. The FRA has a vast database of every rail crossing in the country.

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Yosemite’s El Capitan is one of the most famous rock-climbing locations in the world. Once considered impossible to climb, the 3000-foot route is still one of the most difficult climbs around. So naturally when the Google Street View team asked El Capitan veterans Lynn Hill, Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell to attempt it with the added challenge of 360-degree camera gear, they jumped at the chance.

Climbing is all about flirting with the impossible and pushing the boundaries of what you think you can be done. Capturing Street View imagery 3,000 feet up El Capitan proved to be an extension of that, especially when you take a camera meant for the inside of a restaurant and mount it thousands of feet up the world’s most iconic rock wall.

The imagery captured combines conventional stills of the climbers at work with the 360-degree cameras needed to allow you and I to join them in a virtual climb of the entire route … 
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Transportation service Uber has hired a longtime mapping expert from Google as the company focuses on boosting its own mapping expertise. As Recode reports, Brian McClendon has left his engineering VP role at Google to oversee Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center. McClendon previously led development for Google Earth and Google Maps and has worked for the company for 10+ years…
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Yesterday, at WWDC 2015, Apple introduced transit directions to its native Maps application for the first time. It’s a feature that has long been in the works, and it’s still not actually coming to consumer devices until later this year. But those who have access to the iOS 9 beta can try out the feature in select cities, including New York City, San Francisco, and others.

Transit directions aren’t new, though, and you probably know that Google has offered them in its own official Maps app for many years. But since Apple split off from using the Google-powered Maps app with iOS 6, the company has been struggling to match Google’s offerings. Here, we take a look at Google’s transit directions in comparison to Apple’s new offering…
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Google has launched a new website that will offer monthly updates on its driverless car project including reporting accidents the vehicles have been involved in.
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Google is marking World Oceans Day, on Monday, with underwater Street View imagery in three amazing locations: Bali, the Bahamas and back to the Great Barrier Reef. The Google Maps blog says that the company wanted to draw attention to the environmental damage we are doing to our oceans.

Home to the majority of life on Earth, the ocean acts as its life support system, controlling everything from our weather and rainfall to the oxygen we breathe. Yet despite the ocean’s vital importance, the ocean is changing at a rapid rate due to climate change, pollution, and overfishing, making it one of the most serious environmental issues we face today.

The company says that mapping the ocean not only showcases its beauty, but also provides baseline imagery which can be used to monitor changes and highlight threats … 
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Google announced today that it’s improving transit data in Maps with real-time updates showing a summary of your journey that’s easily accessible.

It also announced that it’s adding 25+ new partners to the 100+ it works with to gather real-time transit data. The new additions bring more transit data to customers in the U.K., Netherlands, Budapest, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle.
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Hidden among the other news announced at Google I/O today, Google has also added the ability for developers to use the Google Maps API directly on Android Wear. The feature, which comes as part of Play Services 7.5, aims to offer users a wearable-designed Google Maps experience and was detailed in a blog post.

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As part of its Google I/O developer conference today, Google is offering some updates on its Google Places API for iOS as well as future updates arriving for its Maps app.
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Stephen and I are off to Google I/O 2015 this week (the first time we’ve sent 2 people – for double the coverage!) but we wanted to preview what we we’re excited about this week. I’d run through the list of expectations but Chance already made 90% of the list when the sessions were launched. Go check it out. Here’s what I’ve been hearing…
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Earlier this week, users discovered an issue with Google Maps that centered around typing in a racial slur and being directed to The White House. This evening, Google has issued an apology on its official Maps blog. The company says that it is “deeply upset” by the issue and is currently in the process of fixing it.

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