Google Maps

Google recently updated its Views platform with comments and +1 support. This lets people reach out to photographers about their photo spheres and opens up conversations for subjects like technique and travel. Packed with awesome images, some of the community produced photo spheres have already racked up millions of views, according to Google Maps product manager, Evan Rapoport.

Ahead of Android One rollout, Google launches Maps in Hindi on both web and Android

Jordan Kahn Jul 22 2014 - 5:46 am PT

Just in time for Google’s Android One rollout in India and other developing nations, Google is opening up Maps to millions of native speakers in India today with localized Maps on both the web and Android that show Hindi for the first time alongside English:
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Google Maps update adds biking elevation info, new voice commands, more

Chance Miller Jul 17 2014 - 4:24 pm PT

Google this afternoon updated its Maps app on Android to version 8.2 with a plethora of new features, enhancements, and changes. The biggest changes come to the biking routes that Maps offers. With this update, biking routes now show elevation, including the ability to compare the elevations for various routes. This, of course, means that you can now easily tell which bike routes will be the easiest on your legs. This feature is listed as beta for now, though.

You’ll soon be able to take a virtual trip to London as Google Earth adding 3D imagery of the whole city

Ben Lovejoy Jul 17 2014 - 4:50 am PT

London may be an expensive tourist destination, but Google will soon offer the next best thing to hopping on a plane: complete 3D imagery of the entire city. The London Evening Standard reports that every building in London will soon be included.

A Google Maps spokesman said: “Using 45-degree aerial imagery, we’re able to recreate entire metropolitan areas in 3D. This means every building, not just the famous landmarks, the terrain, and any surrounding landscape of trees are included to provide a much more accurate and realistic experience of the city” …

Google now allowing businesses to purchase its Earth imagery data

Chance Miller Jul 16 2014 - 10:58 am PT

In a blog post on its official enterprise blog today, Google announced that it is opening up its collection of Google Earth data to businesses. Businesses and governmental organizations will now have the ability to purchase imagery collected by Google and use them for whatever they need. Since it launched 9 years ago, Google Earth has built up an incredible collection of image data, and it only makes sense for the company to continue to profit off of it.

Google’s Street View cars now sniffing our methane leaks in major U.S. cities

Ben Lovejoy Jul 16 2014 - 7:37 am PT

New Scientist reports that Google is now using Street View cars to detect methane leaks from corroded pipes, landfill sites and other sources.

Sensors strapped to the top of the cars have mapped hundreds of methane leaks around Boston, New York’s Staten Island and Indianapolis […]

Methane leaks are a triple threat: they can cause explosions, accelerate the growth of global warming and waste money. A study last year found that US methane emissions are 1.5 to 1.7 times higher than current estimates, a discrepancy that has been attributed to hard-to-detect leaks …

Google Maps mixup falsely identifies Moray Firth as ‘Loch Ness Lake’

9to5 Staff Jul 11 2014 - 11:00 am PT

We’ve all heard about the Loch Ness Monster, which according to legend is a cryptic lake monster that roams through the waters of the Scottish Highlands. While the creature has never been proven to exist, it appears that the Google Maps team has decided to name a lake in Scotland after it in what amounts to a strange mistake.
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Google Business View lets you take a tour of Adam Savage’s workshop

Mark Hearn Jul 10 2014 - 9:09 am PT

When MythBusters co-host Adam Savage isn’t trying to debunk urban legends, he’s most likely working on projects at his workshop in San Francisco, which the TV personality refers to as “the cave.” Aside from its raw industrial motif, Savage’s setup is loaded with a vast collection of costumes and gadgets that rival a big budget movie studio. Although his shop isn’t exactly open for public tours, Google’s Business View is offering the next best thing.

Google Maps now lets you measure and calculate the distance between multiple points

Mark Hearn Jul 9 2014 - 7:16 am PT

Google recently updated its desktop version of Maps with a new feature that lets users measure the distance between two or more points on the map. To toggle this option, right-click on a starting point on the map and select “Measure distance,” and then choose a destination to see the distance between the two points.

Skybox Imaging successfully launches its SkySat-2 Earth observation satellite

Mark Hearn Jul 8 2014 - 2:45 pm PT

Last month, Google announced plans to acquire satellite imaging company Skybox for $500 million. Today, the soon to be Google-owned company announced that it has successfully launched its SkySat-2 Earth observation satellite aboard a Soyuz-2 rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

After the right to be forgotten, celebrities acting on the right to be blurred …

Ben Lovejoy Jul 7 2014 - 5:30 am PT

Amidst the ‘controversy’ of the recently-introduced ‘right to be forgotten‘ on Google, the Independent reports that celebrities and other public figures are asking Google to blur the Street View images of their homes. Musicians Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Lily Allen and Katherine Jenkins are amongst those named as having taken advantage of the Google tool to request this. Google’s Street View privacy page says that in addition to the blurring it already does automatically (including faces, some street numbers and some homes), additional blurring is done on request.

We provide easily accessible tools allowing users to request further blurring of any image that features the user, their family, their car or their home. In addition to the automatic blurring of faces and license plates, we will blur the entire car, house, or person when a user makes this request for additional blurring.

(via Gizmodo)

Google’s Smarty Pins map game tests your knowledge about location-based events

Mark Hearn Jul 1 2014 - 1:37 pm PT

Google released another web-based game today called Smarty Pins that will most likely distract you from other things that you should be doing. Powered by Google Maps, this quiz game tests your knowledge about historical and current events by asking you location-based questions. To answer a question, players drop a pin on the correct location and instead of earning points, you’ll rack up miles to keep the game going. As a slight help, the pin starts out in the same region as the correct answer, so there’s no need to move too far across the map.

Google Maps updated with support for Android Wear devices

Chance Miller Jun 27 2014 - 8:25 am PT

Google this morning rolled out an update to the Maps app on Android with a feature that will certainly make Google I/O 2014 attendees happy. Bumping the app to version 8.1.1, the update resolves the issues surrounding Android Wear’s compatibility with Google Maps.

Many Google I/O attendees noted that the Maps integration with the new Android Wear devices was entirely nonexistent, despite Google’s on-stage demos. Today’s update, however, adds integration between Wear and Maps like Google showed us during its keynote. With Maps on a smartwatch, you can search for a location and start navigation directly from your wrist. The watch, of course, still communicates with your phone for the data.

Now that Google has officially released the full Android Wear SDK, we expect to see a lot of apps updated with Android Wear support over the coming days and weeks. You can download the Google Maps update on the Play Store now.

Google Maps adds Street View imagery for Greece

Jordan Kahn Jun 19 2014 - 6:19 am PT

Google has done a lot of interesting Street View tours recently, which allow Google Maps users to explore streets, parks, historical locations, monuments, and even the inside of some buildings right from their desktop or mobile device. Today Google is adding its 56th country to Street View with the addition of Greece, a country with more than enough cultural and historical monuments to make for quite an incredible Street View experience to explore. As noted by Google, the introduction of Street View can also greatly improve the experience for tourists, businesses and others traveling through Greece:

From now on unique Greek landmarks, such as the Corfu Old Town, the White Tower in Thessaloniki and the Arch of Hadrian in the center of Athens, will be vividly represented on our computer screens… Many Greeks long have been keen for us to bring its benefits to their country, seeing Street View as a powerful tool for the promotion of a country. At a launch event in Athens, Andreas Andreadis, President of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises, said the new service will prove invaluable to tourists coming to Greece — and Greek businesses serving them. Visitors now will be able to check their hotel in advance and preview places they want to visit. Street View benefits everyone from the wheelchair user who can check whether a building has a ramp to the elderly who may check whether there are sufficient parking spots before leaving home. Minister of Culture and Sports Panos Panagiotopoulos welcomed Street View in Greece as nothing less than “a gift from God.”

You can check out some of the interesting locations Google captured in Greece in its own Views Gallery collection.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t4m9lII8mk&list=UUS-dIYJRJz01BwmqZBaqVHA]

Google Maps passes 1 billion downloads on the Play Store

Stephen Hall Jun 14 2014 - 11:00 am PT

Following the official Gmail app passing the billion download mark last month, Google Maps has now passed that very same milestone (via Android Police). The app, very obviously one of Google’s most-used services, is widely cherished by both iOS and Android users to get them where they need to go (especially when iOS maps doesn’t quite do the trick).

Notably, this billion downloads for the app means that yes, 1 billion separate Play Store accounts have downloaded the app — it’s not counting repeat downloads on one account. What’s even more crazy? The app passed 50 million downloads in 2011 (and was the first to do so). In just 3 short years, Maps took off exponentially to see another 950 million downloads on separate accounts. That number doesn’t even count iOS downloads.

New ‘Google My Business’ service allows businesses to manage Search, Maps and Google+ information

Chance Miller Jun 11 2014 - 9:04 am PT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LCzri4tXuF0

Google, in a post on its “Google and Your Business” blog, has just unveiled a new service for small business. Dubbed Google My Business, the service is essentially a central location for small business owners to control how their businesses appear in Google search results, Maps, and more.

Google spruces up Flight Search, asks travelers if they’re ‘feeling lucky?’

Mark Hearn Jun 10 2014 - 1:14 pm PT

Back in 2012, Google launched an experimental feature called Explore Flights that was aimed at frugal travelers looking to visit different destinations within a specific region. Still up and ~~running~~ flying, Mountain View will be adding some of the tool’s best offerings to Flight Search, along with a few additional new features.

Google acquires satellite imaging company SkyBox for $500 million, will eventually use it for Internet access

Chance Miller Jun 10 2014 - 10:48 am PT

Satellite company SkyBox just announced that it has been acquired by Google for $500 million. The two have been in talks for several months now, with the deal finally being announced today. SkyBox Imaging is a company that takes high resolution photos using satellites. Google, in a statement, had the following to say about the company:

“Skybox’s satellites will help keep Google Maps accurate with up-to-date imagery. Over time, we also hope that Skybox’s team and technology will be able to help improve Internet access and disaster relief — areas Google has long been interested in.”

UK updating road laws to allow the use of self-driving cars

Mark Hearn Jun 9 2014 - 7:57 am PT

The US isn’t the only country making preparations for self-driving cars, the UK is in the process of revamping its laws to allow driverless vehicles to cruise its roads. Science minister David Willetts recently told Mail Online that he has started talking with the Department for Transport to help British companies develop their own self-driving cars, with efforts currently underway in Oxford.

Google leans on Twitter for help with public safety announcements

Mark Hearn Jun 5 2014 - 8:03 am PT

Google Public Alerts recently incorporated tweets from locations affected by natural disasters. These notifications will be pushed from places like the National Weather Service and will help keep residents informed during times of duress. The idea behind using tweets is to quickly address public concerns like school closures and community evacuations. Google spreads this type of emergency information through several of its platforms, including Google Maps, Google Now and its Public Alerts website.

Google Street View time machine images show the sad decline of Detroit from 2009 to 2013

Ben Lovejoy Jun 5 2014 - 5:55 am PT

WebUrbanist drew our attention to a Tumblr blog that captures the sad decline of Detroit from 2009 to 2013 using images captured from Google’s Street View time machine.

Back in April, Google added a clock icon to the top-left corner of images, which opens out into a slider that allows you to see the same image photographed at different times …
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Google Maps adds Street View support for Brazilian stadiums, tourist attractions ahead of World Cup

Chance Miller Jun 5 2014 - 12:01 am PT

The 2014 World Cup is set to kick off next week in Brazil, and Google seems to be excited about the event. Earlier this week the company updated the Chromecast with support for WatchESPN streaming, meaning that all 64 World Cup games will be able to be streamed to the device. Now, in a post on the Lat Long blog, Google has announced some new features for Maps exclusively for the World Cup.
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Police investigate when someone reported an apparent axe-murder spotted on Google Street View

Ben Lovejoy Jun 3 2014 - 6:57 am PT