Google Maps

Google has added a gorgeous new set of Street View imagery, quoting Tales of Iceland author Stephen Markley in describing the views as “soul-enriching, breath-taking, life-affirming” … 
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Google has acquired Jetpac, a city guide application for iPhone, the app’s developers announced today (via The Next Web). The free app (and others by the Jetpac team) will be removed from the App Store in the coming days, and the service that powers it will be shut down on September 15th.

Google hasn’t said exactly what it plans to do with the company’s technology, which automatically scans users’ photos to detect local points of interest like coffee shops or “hipster hangouts.” The service featuerd data for over 6,000 cities, according to the App Store description.  It seems logical, however, that Google would attempt to integrate these features with Google Maps or a location-based Google Now feature.

You can grab the Jetpac app for free on the iTunes Store, though it won’t be very useful beyond its mid-September shutdown.

Google’s Street View has been around for a little more than seven years and while Mountain View’s touring software has made a lot of progress since its launch, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Aware of this, a hearing aid manufacturer named Amplifon is looking to update Street View’s silent movie feel by introducing a new concept called “Sounds of Street View.”

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Google announced today that it’s completely turning down Google Maps API for Flash on September 2nd. This decision follows suit with the company’s initial depreciation period, which started almost three years ago. Developers now have three weeks to migrate their outdated applications to JavaScript Maps API v3 in order for them to remain relevant.

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Google announced today the availability of 76 historical sites in India that can be viewed from Google Maps or through the Google Cultural Institute site. These 360-degree photos will let you take a tour of the Kangra Fort without having to pack a single bag. Thanks to support from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), along with previous efforts, Google’s imagery of historic shots of India has surpassed 100 pictures, with locations like the Taj Mahal and Humayun’s Tomb already available to view.

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Google has announced that it’s bringing more ads to Google Maps on both the desktop and mobile by integrating local ads into the new list view for search results it rolled out recently. That means that when you search for things like restaurants, hotels, and other points of interest, you’ll see ads appear at the top of the search results in addition to overlaid on the map itself (as pictured above).
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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.

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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 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.

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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” …

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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.

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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 …

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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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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.

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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.

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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.

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