Google today announced that street-level imagery available in Google Maps has been refreshed with new locations while existing ones have gotten higher-resolution images. They say it’s “our biggest update yet”. New crisp shots of world cities are now available in thirteen countries: Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Romania, South Africa, Taiwan, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom.
You will be soon able to take full advantage of Google Maps Navigation with your Android smartphone while offline thanks to new caching capabilities, the Dutch site All About Phonesreported, citing “an informed source”. Of course, Google Maps has had offline caching via HTML5 since last year, but this only remembers map tiles you’ve accessed rather than the whole map. As a result, there’s no easy way to plot a new route without being connected to the network. That will change soon, the source hints…
The new mode should enable full offline navigation, the story goes. In its present incarnation, Google Maps Navigation provides automatic rerouting when outside network coverage, but only after you’ve begun a route. Without going into much detail, the source basically says that Google will remove the requirement for network coverage plus cache more data, allowing you to navigate to a new destination when outside your network coverage. The publication quoted a parts supplier for Android smartphones who told them that Google plans on rolling out the new full offline navigation via a Google Maps Navigation app update, due this summer.
On the possibility of Apple dropping Google Maps (we’ve heard they aren’t): Mayer says there are 200 million active users of Maps and in June more people will use them on mobile than the desktop. (Although at 100 million iPhones out there, an Apple exodus would put a monster dent in those numbers. Also, new Google Mobile Maps (not iOS) use vector tiles which can be up to 100 times smaller files than the traditional bitmap tiles.
Also, location is getting better as more data is input (learning), especially in big cities like New York with check-ins helping out.
Finally, she expects phones to know what you want before you ask, called ‘serendipity’ or ‘zero-click’.
Google Wallet’s major problem right now is that there is exactly one device on one carrier in one country with the ability to use it. Also that carrier is a small one and that device isn’t a best seller.
The summer trial is only in New York City (yay!) and San Francisco further shrinking the possible userbase. Google Offers also trials in Portland, OR.
There is no reason the other mobile carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon to block Google Wallet, except those three are in a rival mobile wallet consortium with ISIS.
Google Checkout is melded right in – that means when there is a coupon for something at a brick and mortar that you can buy with your Google Wallet, you are likely to be able to buy it online with Google Checkout. Google Checkout will also allow you to spend what is in your Google account.
More devices are coming soon and Google is touting a NFC sticker workaround. My best guess is that the Sprint/Motorola event in two weeks shows off some Motorola NFC Photon 4G type of products.
If you think Apple was adamant about keeping Google Voice off of the iPhone, wait until you see what Apple, Blackberry and Microsoft do to keep you from using Google Wallet on their devices.
Finally, Google Offers coupons will be a big new ad sales technique for Ads for Google. Expand Expanding Close
With Apple’s purchase of two mapping companies over the last couple of years – Poly9 and Placebase – many have speculated that iOS 5 will finally be the iOS release where Apple moves from a Google Maps backend to an Apple backend. Multiple job postings on Apple’s official site backed up this speculation and even Apple promised some under-the-hood maps tweeks for their next-generation iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch operating system.
Now, sources have told 9to5Google that although Apple is working to improve the iOS Maps application, iOS 5 will not bring an Apple developed maps service and Google Maps is still in. Besides Apple’s purchase of both Placebase and Poly9, some speculated that Apple is building their own maps service to either compete with Google or step away from their input into iOS.
Apple began the process of distancing themselves from Google when former Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned over “conflict of interest.” Apple has also added Microsoft’s Bing as a Safari search option and will be competing with Google head-to-head with their upcoming cloud-based music service. Those who enjoy Google Maps should not fear iOS 5, though, and hopefully Apple is working to implement turn-by-turn directions or something else to improve their maps application without changing the backend. Expand Expanding Close
Anyone notice the excitement, catchy tunes, the excessive use of superlatives and the overall shininess in Google’s product videos lately? Yeah, very Applefied.
When you pay with your phone, it automatically redeems offers and earns loyalty points for you
Boom, Google Wallet has gone live at the just-finished presser in Google’s New York office. The search Goliath means business, that’s for sure. They’ve managed to convince the journos like us who have seen it all that Google Wallet is no toy. We have here an end-to-end mobile payment solution which quite possibly marks an inflection point in e-commerce. I ain’t drinking Google’s Kool-Aid, bear with me for a sec.
There are two pieces to it: Google Wallet itself, which runs as a native app on your mobile device equipped with an NFC chip, and Google Offers, a Groupon-like service providing rebates, savings and offers that can be easily redeemed on your device, at the points of sale. One click on an offer on the web sends the coupon over-the-air to your devices authorized for Google Wallet. You can also use your device’s camera to snap the Google Offers icon found on printed marketing materials such as in-store posters, banners, print ads and so forth.
Paying for goods is a one-tap affair involving waving your device in front of the wireless payment terminal at participating merchants. The transaction is processed within seconds and directly settled with your issuing bank. In addition, your device negotiates with the merchant’s terminal to automatically redeem offers and earn loyalty points for you. Someday, Google boldly proclaimed, stuff like boarding passes, tickets, ID and keys will be stored in your Google Wallet. You will also get electronic receipts that will eliminate bills on paper. Looking good so far. What’s the catch?
The keynote demonstration had Google’s speaker buying a shorts for his daughter. He waived the phone and the clerk’s terminal took into account his loyalty card and automatically deducted his saved coupon. The live transaction was handled successfully in the second try.
Bud Tribble, Apple’s long-time vice president of software engineering, testified before a US Senate subcommittee yesterday alongside Google’s US director of public policy Alan Davidson. The two executives fielded questions from Senators related to privacy issues and the practice of location data gathering via mobile devices running iOS and Android software.
Senator Charles Schumer said he was having issues with apps like Buzz’d and Fuzz Alert and expressed his disappointment that neither Apple nor Google pulled down those programs yet, even though RIM did. He suggested Google looks “narrowly” at third-party programs which help avoid police DUI checkpoints.
You agree that it is a terrible thing, and it probably causes death.
Challenged by Senator Schumer, Apple’s Tribble said his company is “looking into” the legality of DUI apps.
We’re in the process of looking into it — we have a policy that we don’t allow apps that encourage illegal activity. If the apps intent is to encourage people to break the law, then we will pull it. I will take that back.
Both Apple and Google have been asked to provide more detailed answers within 30 days, This is my nextreported. Makes you wonder what’s next – going after benign programs that assess your driving skills?
Google has upped the ante in the mapping department with a Google Maps enhancement that lets you see high-resolution interior shots of local businesses in the 360-degree freedom. Business Photos for Google Maps, as it is called, was unveiled Thursday at the Social-Loco conference in San Francisco by Marissa Mayer, Google’s top dog for consumer products.
Google plans to crowd-source the 360-degree panoramas from business owners who will be able to submit interior shots of their restaurant or a bar to Google’s servers that will stitch them together in a panorama view of the place. Google didn’t stop there. The company said business owners can invite Google photographers into their establishments to take high-quality shots of their place.
The search monster will roll out Business Photos next week to users in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. More countries are to follow in the following month.
If you’re unhappy with the underlying information of a business or destination listed in Google Maps for Android, you can now tell Google they’ve got the address wrong – hopefully for future consideration and eventual corrections. It’s the power of the crowd-sourced location data gathering that has gotten Google and Apple in trouble with lawmakers. Another nice-to-have: The app now saves every search query to the cloud so you can access it from another device. The two new features comes in the latest Google Maps for Android version 5.4.0 update.
We told you yesterday how South Korea police raided Google’s Seoul office on suspicion that its mobile advertising arm AdMob was collecting personal location information without consent or approval from the Korean Communication Commission. As the debate about location tracking intensifies, companies like Google and Apple find themselves at the center of the heated exchange involving various groups with vested interests, industry consortium, government regulators and policy makers. It’s easy to accuse Google over the supposedly unlawful practices. Our collective privacy is at stake amid a shift in our understanding of how far the government should go regulating how high tech companies use non-identifiable data collected anonymously from their users.
The problem with location tracking is that it’s an uncharted territory that existing, years-old privacy laws don’t regulate very well. Neither Google nor Apple are collecting this data for the heck of it. The iPhone maker has been crowd-sourcing data about nearby WiFi hotspots and cellular towers from millions of iPhones to help rapidly pinpoint users’ location and support new products, per the official Q&A on Location Data document.
In the case of Google, the leader in online advertising on desktop and mobile devices, location intelligence is needed to personalize mobile advertising in order to serve the adverts relevant to to the user’s location. The problem is, the practice doesn’t sit well with privacy advocates who cry foul and politicians who are looking to score points with voters by hunting down big corporations like Google and Apple. Plus, each country regulates privacy differently, causing nightmare for global operations like Google.
The Mountain View-based search monster also dropped the ball by unintentionally collecting anonymous WiFi hotspot data and passwords which bit them later in countries like the UK and Germany. On top of that, carriers are often required by law to track users and hand over those records at the police request. For example, Verizon Wireless holds onto your location data and other info for seven years. The line needs to be drawn somewhere and it remains to be seen if the lobbyist employed by Google and Apple can use loopholes in existing privacy laws and cheer up the government of South Korea and other countries.
It didn’t take long for the iPhone location tracking issue to escalate and get blown out of proportion. The story spread like a wildfire as we learned that both Google and Apple were summoned for the May 10 Congressional hearing. That was just a warm up, though. Reutersreports that South Korea police is after the search giant, having raided their Seoul office on Tuesday.
The reason? AdMob, Google’s mobile advertising arm, was illegally collecting location data from Android users without their consent. That’s the official line the country’s authorities provided to Reuters.
The probe into suspected collection of data on where a user is located without consent highlights growing concerns about possible misuse of private information as the use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets increases.
A South Korean police official told the news gathering organization:
We suspect AdMob collected personal location information without consent or approval from the Korean Communication Commission.
A Google spokesperson confirmed the raid and said the company was co-operating with investigators. This latest development follows-up on the news that the governments of South Korea, France, Germany and Italy are considering probing Apple over the location data gathering fiasco.
Google may have blocked Android handset maker Motorola from using WiFi hotspot location data from Skyhook Wireless because it wanted to build a quality database of crowd-sourced location data, just as Apple’s been doing since iOS 4 was released, reveals an internal email correspondence leaked to The San Jose Mercury News. The email message reveals that Google CEO Larry Page asked for a clarification from Android chief Andy Rubin over the news that Motorola was planning on tapping Skyhook data to help their phones quickly determine geographical location. Steve Lee, Google’s location product manager, responded:
I cannot stress enough how important Google’s wifi location database is to our Android and mobile product strategy. We absolutely do care about this (decision by Motorola) because we need WiFi data collection in order to maintain and improve our WiFi location service.
