The official blog for Google Maps
Find a place for fun in sun with our latest imagery
July 30, 2010
It's time for another imagery update, and we have a great batch of new data that will help you scout out vacation spots where you can enjoy the height of summer. In our
last update
, we highlighted an ancient Egyptian temple; and this time, we've got updates of another Sphinx, an exhilarating hydroplane race, and of course, a beautiful summer resort where rest and relaxation await.
Las Vegas
Hydroplane racing
Baja California resort
High Resolution Aerial Updates:
USA: Seattle, Sacramento, San Jose, Las Vegas, Des Moines, Waukegan (IL), Boston, Portland (ME), Tallahassee, and the Florida counties of Sarasota, Levy, Hernando, DeSoto and Martin
Canada: Banff, Alert Bay
Netherlands: Soest, Maarssen, Bussum, Vlaardingen
Countries receiving High Resolution Satellite Updates:
Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Somalia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Madagascar, Turkmenistan, Kazahkstan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, China, Mongolia, Russia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia
Countries receiving Medium Resolution Satellite Updates:
Canada, Nepal
Right now these updates are only available in Google Earth, but will be in Google Maps soon. For a complete picture of where we updated imagery, download
this KML
for viewing in
Google Earth
.
Posted by Matt Manolides, Senior Geo Data Strategist
Take the high road or the low road with Earth view in Google Maps
July 29, 2010
Draggable driving directions is one of our
most popular features
in Google Maps. By simply clicking on a route and dragging it, you can choose an alternate - perhaps more scenic or more familiar - route to your destination. This feature wasn’t available when
Earth view launched
in Google Maps earlier this year, but we’re happy to announce that draggable driving directions are now in
Earth view
as well. After getting directions, just grab the blue route line with your mouse and drag it onto alternate highways or streets. The route will update automatically, redrawing your path in 3D as you move your mouse.
As an example, one of my favorite trips to make is to Yosemite Valley from my home in San Francisco. For those of you familiar with this route, there’s a steep shortcut called Old Priest Grade that saves time but can be challenging for larger vehicles. Here is the recommended route taking the grade:
By grabbing the blue line with your mouse cursor and dragging it within the map, you can quickly and easily pick a different route. In this case, I prefer to go around Old Priest Grade and take the gentler Highway 120.
The next time you plan to drive, whether it’s a short day trip to park you’ve never visited or a weekend road trip with your buddies, make sure to check the route and switch it up if you’d like. You can change these same
directions to Yosemite
, or click-and-drag any driving route you create!
Posted by Peter Birch, Product Manager
Rain or Snow, Now You Can See Weather in Google Earth
July 29, 2010
It’s the middle of summer, but for those of us who long for the return of cold winter weather and warm cups of cocoa, throw on your favorite poncho and check out the weather in
Google Earth 5.2
. The latest version projects images of rain and snow over the areas with those weather patterns as it’s actually happening! First enable the
clouds layer
, then zoom in to a particular location where it might be raining or snowing. I’m willing to bet London is a likely spot, even these days, or the Lone Star state (pictured below) which is in the midst of tropical storm season. Currently, our precipitation data cover some areas in North America and Europe; you can see if it’s available in certain places by enabling the
radar layer
.
This is a fun and useful tool for anyone planning to travel or who wants to check a specific area where a friend of relative might be visiting or living. For example, in preparation for my recent trip to the American southwest, I decided to check on the status of Hurricane Alex a few days in advance:
Via Google Earth, I could see that the hurricane was entering Mexico and Texas. Zooming close to ground, I saw that the Texas coastline was getting a bit of rain:
Luckily, I missed the hurricane by a couple of days!
You, too, can make like a meteorologist and track wet weather patterns ranging from light drizzle and snow to hurricanes and blizzards in Google Earth. Feel free to give it a try!
Posted by Quarup Barreirinhas, Software Engineer
Alex Trebek, Teachers and Googlers Unite at the Google Geo Teachers Institute
July 28, 2010
What do Alex Trebek, teachers and Googlers have in common? Last week, these individuals and groups all came together at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA to celebrate exploration and learning.
Google hosted its first Geo Teachers Institute, an intensive two-day workshop in which 150 educators received hands-on training and experience with Google Maps, Google SketchUp and Google Earth, including features like Mars, Moon and SkyMaps. Attendees from around the globe not only learned how these products work, but also discovered tips and resources for introducing these tools to students and using them to conceptualize, visualize, share and communicate about the world around them. Through this event, teachers were hopefully inspired to bring the world's geographic information to students in compelling, fresh and fun ways.
John Hanke, VP of Product Management, addressing the audience of educators
As part of our continued effort to collaborate with teachers and help students get a better sense of places across the globe, we also announced that Google Earth Pro is now available to educators for free through the
Google Earth for Educators site
. Educators from higher educational and academic institutions who demonstrate a need for the Pro features in their classrooms can now apply for single licenses for themselves or site licenses for their computer labs. A similar program exists for SketchUp Pro through the
Google SketchUp Pro Statewide License Grant
, which is currently being provided via grants to 11 states, and available to all others at the K-12 level at no cost.
In conjunction with these exciting Geo-related events and announcements, the Geo Education team also thought it’d be timely and fun to test Googlers’ geographic knowledge by hosting the company’s first ever
Google Geo Bee
. With help from National Geographic, 68 teams relived their school years and took a written geography exam, competing for a spot on stage with Alex Trebek, who hosted the main event. The competition was based on the group version of the
National Geographic Bee
for students, which Google has sponsored for the past two years. Questions included those like “Which country contains most of the Balkan Mountains, which mark the boundary between the historical regions of Thrace and Moesia?” and “Ben Nevis, the highest peak in the United Kingdom, is located in which mountain chain?”
The winners of our Google Geo Bee: Ian Sharp, Marcus Thorpe and Rob Harford
The final three Google teams (the Tea-Drinking Imperialists, the Geoids and the Titans) all showed off their geographic literacy and answered a plethora of diverse and complex questions. In the end, it was the Tea-Drinkers who emerged the winners when they figured out that Mecca was the answer to the clue, “Due to this city’s location on a desert trading route, many residents were merchants, the most famous of whom was born around A.D. 570.” And they didn’t just walk away with bragging rights; thanks to Sven Lindblad from
Lindblad Expeditions
, they also won an amazing adventure trip to either the Arctic, the Galapagos or Antarctica.
Through all of these education efforts - for teachers, students and grown-up Googlers alike - we hope people of all ages never stop exploring.
Posted by Tina Ornduff, Geo Education Team
Two Chilean cities added to Google Building Maker
July 27, 2010
[Cross-posted from the
SketchUp blog
]
For those of you who haven’t yet tried it,
Google Building Maker
is our simple 3D modeling tool that allows you to construct buildings by aligning various types of blocks to photos - all from your Internet browser. The completed models are automatically geo-located and then reviewed for inclusion in the
3D Buildings layer
on Google Earth. When the tool was originally released last fall, users could create buildings in 50 cities. Since then, more cities have continually been added, and the growing tally is now at 94.
As part of our latest offering, we’re excited to announce that the cities of Santiago and Valparaiso in Chile are the first South American cities available in Google Building Maker.
Modeling in Santiago, Chile with Google Building Maker
We should note, however, that geo-modeling with
Google SketchUp
has been steadily increasing in that region for some time now. For example, avid user
gananunez
has been modeling in Valparaiso for a year and has more than 50 models in the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth!
Valparaiso, Chile
Two other long-time users,
GecKo StuDio.
and
Sergio
, have been modeling Santiago since 2007 and each has more than 30 models in the 3D Buildings layer. Some users, like
jgago93
, are just getting started in the area.
Santiago, Chile
Now everyone can help model these two cities with Google Building Maker.
Click here
to start, and get your models on the 3D map!
Posted by Nicole Drobeck, Geo Community Advocate
Google Places team answers questions via YouTube
July 27, 2010
When
Google Places was reintroduced
with its new name and additional features earlier this year, we thought it’d be an opportune time to experiment with a new way of engaging with our users. So we launched a
Google Moderator page
and invited business owners who use Google Places to ask and vote on questions and submit product ideas. Our team also committed to answering the top posts via video.
Many takes later, we’re excited to share
eleven new videos
that are now live on the
Google Places YouTube Channel
. While we’re aware that the film quality could be improved, we hope you enjoy putting faces to the names of our
forum guides
, seeing some of our team’s personalities reflected in the videos, and even getting to hear from a
Google intern
.
Video responses are a new method of interaction for us, so we’ll track viewership, business owners’ reactions and other factors to determine if this is a useful project we should continue. In the meantime, feel free to watch our most popular video to date about
ranking
from local product manager Jeremy Sussman, or any of our other video responses.
Report a Problem
Changing the Street View imagery on your Place Page
Aggregated Reporting of listings
Home-based Businesses
Duplicate Listings
Support Resources
Fields on a Place Page
Using Lat-Long to provide a specific location
Multi-Language Listings
Finding listing on Google & Percent Completion
Happy viewing, and we hope these videos are helpful, informative and interesting for all you business owners using Google Places!
Posted by Brianna Brekke, Sr. Strategist, Google Places
An Even Better Way to Find Places Nearby
July 26, 2010
[Cross-posted from the
Google Mobile Blog
]
With six updates in six months,
Google Maps
for Android has been getting plenty of new features, both big and small. A continued focus with each update has been on giving you better ways to find places nearby. In the most recent updates, Maps has gotten features like
swiping
between search results and info like photos, reviews, and
more helpful content
on the result pages. With today’s launch of Google Maps for mobile 4.4, we’re introducing an even easier way to find places around you: a dedicated Places icon that lets you quickly look up nearby places and pick a place to go using updated Place Pages, just like
on your computer
.
On Android-powered phones with Google Maps 4.4, you’ll find the new Places icon in the app launcher with the rest of your apps. Press and drag it right onto your home screen to use it when you’re looking for a restaurant, shoe store, movie theater or any other type of local business. You'll get a detailed list of all the nearest places and can choose one to learn more about it on its Place Page.
Search for several convenient types of places with the default categories or add your own for your most frequent searches. You can also use the search bar at the top to type or speak any query. I tend to use the “coffee” search a lot, but I’ve also looked for “gas stations” on the road, “ice cream shops” in my neighborhood, and even specific places like “Chelsea Market” on a recent trip to New York.
Of course, you’ll often want to learn more before deciding where to go. With updated Place Pages, you should be able to find all you need to know about a place, whether you’re wandering into a new restaurant or deciding from your couch. In addition to photos and reviews, Place Pages now have a bunch of new details, such as prices, parking and menu links to inform your quest for the perfect steak. You'll also notice that the search results list now highlights business opening hours in addition to compass direction and distance -- consider it your late night caffeine radar.
Google Maps for mobile 4.4 is available now for Android 1.6 and above. Just search for
Google Maps
in Market or tap
here
from your phone. The Place Page and search result updates are coming soon for BlackBerry users so keep an eye out for an update at
m.google.com/maps
(from your BlackBerry Browser) or on our
Twitter
and
Facebook
pages.
Visit our
Help Center
to learn more, ask questions in our
Help Forum
, or give us suggestions and vote on other people’s on the
Mobile Product Ideas
page.
Posted by Michael Siliski, Product Manager, Google Mobile Team
Sit back, relax, and explore: new seatback maps with Virgin America
July 22, 2010
One of my favorite truisms is, “no matter where you go, there you are.” Call me sappy, but it’s a nice way to remember that every place on Earth has meaning, history and identity. But let’s face it: when you’re on an airplane, traveling over unknown lands at triple-digit speeds, it’s hard to get a sense of where you really are.
That’s why I’m happy to announce that as a part of our continued partnership with
Virgin America
, we’ve completely updated the Google Maps data on the touchscreens of every airplane seat. As before, the map shows you almost exactly where you are, and you can zoom and pan to explore. Now, with our beautiful terrain view and fresh Google data, the maps are not only prettier, but also highlight mountains, elevation and other natural features. In other words, it more closely matches what you’d actually see if you had cloud-penetrating eyesight and looked out the window from 35,000 feet.
Virgin America also announced this morning that it will soon show up in more places on the map. With an order of 60 aircraft,
the airline will triple its fleet size
and expand to many new destinations. So whether you’re flying one of those planes from San Francisco to Seattle, or New York to Los Angeles, we hope the new Google Maps can help answer questions like, “Is that Mt. Hood or Mt. St. Helens on the right?” and “What’s that huge canyon over there?” Or, if you want to explore Street View or satellite images of where you’re headed, Google Maps also works great on the in-flight WiFi Internet!
Posted by Jesse Friedman, Product Marketing Manager
To the Canadian Arctic… and Beyond!
July 21, 2010
For all those interested in outer space (come on, who isn’t at least a tad bit curious?), we want to let you know about an exciting project just getting underway. As part of Google’s ongoing relationship with NASA, Googler Tiffany Montague is on her way to the high arctic to participate as a crew member in some remote NASA field tests.
Haughton Crater, located in the Canadian arctic, is an extreme environment that simulates Martian conditions – otherwise known as a planetary analog. Tiffany just happens to have both extreme expedition and near-space suit experience, so she’ll be spending a week at a remote research station operated by the Mars Institute and sponsored by SETI and NASA.
Among the cool things she’ll be doing while in the field are landscape documentation, prototype space suit testing, simulating pressurized rover traverse missions, surveying new aircraft landing sites, and characterizing the geology of the Moon, Mars and NEO-like terrain. Many of these activities are even being planned using
Google Earth
!
Tiffany will be blogging about her adventures as Internet connectivity in the station permits. Check out her
first post
and follow her blog,
Voices from Space
, to keep up to date, and we’ll also ask her to share a full report complete with favorite stories and photos when she returns.
Posted by Deanna Yick, Lat Long Blog Team
Try Google Tags for free: Tag, you’re it, local business owners!
July 21, 2010
Last month we
announced
the U.S. launch of Google Tags, a new advertising product that allows local business owners to add a yellow tag and additional information to their listing for an affordable flat monthly fee. Thousands of businesses are already using Tags - ranging from New York City to Rancho Cucamunga, from dentists to limo drivers.
Some folks are offering coupons to incentivize sales and provide better value, while others are using videos to engage with audiences and give their business listing more personality. The positive feedback has led to overwhelming excitement about helping even more business owners connect with local customers. So to spread the word about Google Tags, we’re offering every business across the country the chance to
try Google Tags free for 30 days!
We’ve designed Google Tags for busy local business owners who want an easy and low-maintenance way to advertise online. It allows you to highlight qualities that differentiate your business from the crowd, and helps customers make easier, more informed decisions about the places they want to call or visit. Signing up is simple and fast, and there’s no additional work or ongoing management after that. Please keep in mind that the tag will not affect your listing’s ranking on a Google.com or Google Maps results page.
Your free trial comes with no strings attached. You can cancel before your trial is over and never pay a dime. If you run a local business, you can appeal to customers with a coupon, customized message, video, photos, menu, reservations or website. Once you’ve verified your business on
Google Places
, you might also watch a series of videos we created to walk you through the process of
learning more about Google Tags
,
how to sign up
,
choosing the best tag type for your business
and
activating your tag
.
To start your free 30 day trial today, please visit our
signup page
or check out the
help center
for more details.
Posted by Shalini Agarwal, Product Manager
Improving the quality of borders in Google Earth and Maps
July 20, 2010
At Google, we are constantly making improvements to all of our products, from Search to Gmail, Blogger to Chrome. When it comes to products like Google Earth and Google Maps, we work hard to improve our cartography and depict geopolitical features as accurately as possible. Last year,
we discussed
the ways we strive towards that accuracy, and today we are happy to announce some significant improvements to our borders for over 60 countries and regions (the updates are live in Maps and are coming to Google Earth shortly). To provide some background on this update, we thought we would take the opportunity to talk a bit more about our approach to mapping geopolitical features like borders.
Making Google's mapping tools as accurate as possible is a complex process, especially when a map's accuracy has both quantitative and qualitative aspects. We receive spatial data of all kinds - imagery, boundaries, place names, etc. - from a variety of sources worldwide, and we review them carefully before integrating them into the best representation of a given location in Google Earth and Maps.
In the case of geopolitical features on our maps, the depiction of borders is something upon which local authorities, governments and internationally recognized bodies often disagree. Our goal is to provide the most legible and accurate maps we can given the information available in these oft-changing areas of geopolitical disagreement. Like most maps, ours include symbology that makes borders and other geopolitical features clearer to users. For example, we employ various boundary styles in Google Earth and Maps to clarify the current status of boundary lines, viewable
here
in the Help Center.
Similar to satellite imagery, boundary data is available in varying levels of resolution; the higher the resolution, the better the boundaries will follow specific geographic features, such as rivers. While we always strive to display the on-the-ground reality of a boundary's position, in practice some boundary lines are not as accurate as we would like them to be due to the available resolution of our boundary data.
With these improvements, many borders will now more closely follow natural boundaries such as mountains and rivers. The pictures below show a portion of the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which follows the
Pamir Mountain Range
, near the
Zervashan River
. As you'll see, the new data follows the mountain ridgeline quite closely, even when zoomed in, which is a great improvement in positional accuracy.
before:
after:
In some areas we have improved our qualitative accuracy by changing the symbology of the boundary lines to reflect the updated status of a treaty or agreement based on political changes, new agreements or negotiations. This portion of the border between Ethiopia and Somalia changed from solid (yellow in Google Earth) - meaning "international" - to dashed (red in Google Earth) - meaning "disputed" - to reflect the ground-based
reality
that the two countries maintain an ongoing dispute in the Ogaden region.
before:
after:
In other cases our previous boundaries lacked key details and the new data provides more information. For example, we now show a
disputed island
near the borders of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina:
before:
after:
There are many other examples of both quantitative and qualitative changes we've made to improve our maps and we invite you to explore them. We will certainly continue to update and improve upon the borders and other geopolitical features in Google Earth and Maps, keeping in mind that the dynamic nature of such areas presents a significant cartographic challenge. Mapping is a field where there is never total agreement, but we try to do our best and will continue to develop new ways to meet these challenges. As always, we are happy to hear from our users with any questions and concerns about our approach to these complex issues.
Posted by Charlie Hale, Geo Policy Analyst
Seville in 3D with Google Earth
July 20, 2010
[Cross-posted from the
SketchUp blog
]
We're pleased to announce that you can now explore the city of Seville in 3D with
Google Earth
. Take a virtual tour of the most symbolic buildings of the Spanish city, that range from the Roman Empire, through the Calatrava bridges to the best examples of contemporary architecture.
This is a unique opportunity to visit the Andalusian capital avoiding the summer heat. We encourage you to walk to the Torre del Oro, Plaza de España or La Real Maestranza - just using your computer mouse.
Posted by Isabel Salazar, Spain Product Marketing Team
Mapping out our new building with art
July 19, 2010
The Geo team recently moved into a new building here at the Googleplex in Mountain View, and we wanted to give the building a real geographic feel. We placed a couple of life-size Google Maps pins outside of the building to connect our physical presence with the online map, and named the conference rooms after famous explorers. But despite Pegman’s constant presence in the building, we still felt something was missing.
That’s when we discovered
artist Christoph Niemann’s creative take on online mapping
. We thought his humorous depictions were the perfect thing to give our new office a fun, distinctly geo feel. We got in touch with Christoph, and luckily, he thought it was a great idea too! We knew that the building design team had been planning to put more generic art on the walls, so we basically charged into their planning meeting and yelled “Wait!” Once we showed them Christoph’s art, they were equally excited about the quirky, funny designs, and they incorporated his art all around the building. You can find his maps in obvious places such as a print on a lounge wall, but also in unexpected places like on glass walls!
My personal favorite is “omelet,” which covers an entire lounge wall on the first floor and even wraps around the corner. I love the way the road tangles and knots in the center, then runs along the wall and turns the corner, escaping the lounge.
We were lucky to have Christoph visit our new office to speak with the team about his design vision and process, as well as his love of maps. His talk drew a large crowd of eager fans who’d been enjoying his work in our building for the past month. He had us rolling on the floor with his witty metaphor-bending designs and acerbic comments about life as a designer. We also appreciated learning more about his creative and iterative approach to mixing maps with humor. We were very flattered that he ended up using Google Maps to inspire this collection of artistry, and thought our maps were a canonical reference that any audience would immediately “get.”
Special thanks to Tai Kuncio for her work with the building planners
and Peter Brueckner for these photos.
So thanks, Christoph, for turning our look on its head, tail, up the stairs and around the corner - and for helping our office feel appropriately fun, silly and, well, Googley.
Posted by Raleigh Seamster, Administrative Assistant
Imagery Update - Week of July 12
July 15, 2010
Hot off the heels of early July's imagery update, we've got another batch of new images ready for people to dive into this summer. Have fun exploring the world from Queens, NY to the Queen Hatshepsut's temple in Egypt.
Queens, New York
Queen Hatshepsut's temple in Egypt
High Resolution Aerial Updates:
USA: Salt Lake City, Fort Worth, Abilene, Cleveland, New Jersey, and the New York boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx
New Zealand: Otaki
Countries receiving High Resolution Satellite Updates:
Mexico, Cuba, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Norway, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Russia, Iran, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, The Philippines, and Australia
Countries receiving Medium Resolution Satellite Updates:
Brazil, Sweden, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Tajikistan, and Laos
For a complete picture of where we updated imagery, download
this KML
for viewing in
Google Earth
.
Posted by Matt Manolides, Senior Geo Data Strategist
Preparing for emergencies with Google Earth Enterprise
July 15, 2010
(Cross-posted from the
Google Enterprise Blog
)
Editor’s Note:
Brant Mitchell is Associate Deputy Director of the
State of Louisiana Department of Homeland Security
. The state of Louisiana Department of Homeland Security is a
Google Earth Enterprise
customer that leverages Google Earth Enterprise for emergency preparedness and now becomes the first Google Earth Enterprise customer to create a Google Earth Enterprise globe specifically for the public.
For the last three years the State of Louisiana has provided our first responder community a secured access to Federal, State and local geospatial data and high resolution imagery of Louisiana through a Google Earth Enterprise client. In preparation of hurricane season, Louisiana is pleased to announce that we have launched the first public version of a Google Earth Enterprise platform.
Louisiana Earth was released as part of the state's "Get a Game Plan" campaign, to assist citizens in creating evacuation plans by providing access to all of the states evacuation routes, sheltering points historical hazard data and other information that is essential during an evacuation such as locations of and available occupancy of hotels, gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, veterinary clinics and banks.
Louisiana Earth will also serve as a mechanism to relay critical data during disasters to help inform the public on the status of response and recovery efforts. Using the Deepwater Horizon Rig incident as an example, there is existing data that Louisiana is making available which includes the latest oil sightings from aerial observations, oyster bed closures, as well as critical environmental data such as bird nesting areas.
During hurricanes and other natural disasters, Louisiana will be able to provide information such as the location of points of distribution (PODs), food stamp offices, unemployment claims offices, disaster recovery centers as well as the status of parishes' power outages as an example.
Finally, while the primary purpose is to utilize Louisiana Earth as a mechanism to provide critical data during emergencies, it will also be utilized to promote Louisiana. We will constantly be adding data that the public can use to take advantage of the many activities and events, such as festivals, that are available in Louisiana.
Louisiana Earth already has information on all of the state parks which consists of lodging accommodations, hiking trails, and camping sites. Historical data and cultural events will also be included and will continue to be updated.
To access Louisiana Earth, go to
laearth.la.gov
.
Posted by Natasha Wyatt, Google Earth and Maps team
Google Maps can now send destinations directly to more than 20 car brands worldwide
July 14, 2010
When we started the "Send-To-Car" service on Google Maps more than
three years ago
with
BMW
, only a few car makers offered connected services to their drivers. The industry has come a long way since then. Several car manufacturers have made industry-changing commitments to bringing connectivity to the majority, if not the entirety of their car line.
We see more and more cars with connected navigation and entertainment systems leaving the assembly line and the trend is here to stay. That's fantastic news for both drivers and the automotive industry.
The Google Maps Send-To-Car service has grown, and many car manufacturers have joined over time. Just recently, we announced
Audi's connected car navigation
system
which includes Send-To-Car, and the Google Automotive team is thrilled to announce that we have extended the partner base of our Google Maps Send-To-Car service further to include Ford and GM.
As of today, drivers of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles in the US enabled with
Ford SYNC
can now send business listings or addresses found on
Google Maps
directly to their cars.
(Photo credit: Ford)
In addition, millions of
OnStar
equipped GM vehicles can now make use of this innovative service. Great news if you own a Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Saab or Saturn! Check out
this GM video
to see the service in action:
Drivers can then use their car maker's turn-by-turn navigation system to be guided to their selected destination. With today’s additions, drivers can send destinations from Google Maps directly to their connected vehicles in 19 countries and more than 20 different brands.
In the US alone, Send-To-Car is now available on more than 15 car brands and we hope to see even more partners join us soon.
We think this is a great convenience for drivers - Prepare your route at your desk, send the destination to your car, and safely enjoy your ride - hands on the wheel, eyes on the road.
We also like to think that in the age of green driving, not having to print paper directions anymore is a great start of a green trip!
You can find more information on Send-to-Car on the Google Maps help center.
Drive safely!
Posted by Markus Mühlbauer, Engineering and Product Manager
Changing your perspective, once again...
July 9, 2010
A few months ago we released a
new type of aerial imagery
to our users, first to the developer community through the Google Maps API, and then later as an
experimental feature
in Google Maps Labs. Today, we’re excited to announce the release of 45° imagery of select cities in the U.S. and worldwide to all users of Google Maps. As you may have guessed from the name, 45° imagery is imagery depicting a location from a 45° angle rather than from the top. This type of imagery allows you to explore the sides of buildings and other locations -- you can even rotate around a particular point of interest using the compass ring to view it from four different perspectives. To see the new imagery, simply zoom into an area while in Satellite mode. Where we have 45° imagery available, the imagery will switch from an overhead to 45° angle as you zoom all the way in. You can then pan smoothly across the map to get a richer view of the area. Here are a few of my favorite spots:
SeaWorld, San Diego, California:
View Larger Map
Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California:
View Larger Map
Rialto Bridge, Venice, Italy:
View Larger Map
Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa:
View Larger Map
See below for a map of areas where 45° imagery is currently available.
View
45° Imagery on Google Maps
in a larger map
. 45° imagery is available for portions of the U.S., Europe and South Africa
.
We think you will find this imagery particularly helpful when exploring a new area on the map before a visit. After checking out the landmarks from a new angle, it’s helpful to turn on existing map layers like Photos or Wikipedia to get more context on the area. Even when looking at familiar areas, seeing driving directions overlaid on 45° imagery will give you a whole new understanding of the neighborhood. As we expand our coverage over the coming months, I hope you enjoy this new perspective on the world.
Posted by Randy Wilson, Google Imagery Team
Street View driving update
July 8, 2010
(cross-posted from the
Google European Public Policy Blog
)
In May we
announced
that we had mistakenly included code in our software in Street View cars that collected WiFi payload data. As soon as we discovered our error, we not only stopped collecting WiFi data entirely, but also grounded our fleet of cars globally to give us time to remove the WiFi scanning equipment and discuss what had happened with local regulators.
The WiFi data collection equipment has been removed from our cars in
each country and the independent security experts
Stroz Friedberg
have
approved a protocol to ensure any WiFi-related software is also
removed from the cars before they start driving again. *
Having spoken to the relevant regulators we have decided to start
Street View driving in Ireland, Norway, South Africa and Sweden again
starting next week. We expect to add more countries in time. Our cars
will no longer collect any WiFi information at all, but will continue
to collect photos and 3D imagery as they did before:
Photos
: so that we can build Street View, our 360 degree street level maps. Photos like these are also being taken by
TeleAtlas
and
NavTeq for Bing maps
. In addition, we use this imagery to improve the quality of our maps, for example by using shop, street and traffic signs to refine our local business listings and travel directions; and
3-D building imagery
: we collect 3D geometry data with low power lasers (similar to those used in retail scanners) which help us improve our maps. NavTeq also collects this information in partnership with Bing. As does
TeleAtlas
.
We recognize that serious mistakes were made in the collection of WiFi payload data, and we have worked to quickly rectify them. However we also believe that Street View is a great product for users, whether people want to find a hotel, check out a potential new home or find a restaurant. If you want more information about driving schedules, please look here
http://maps.google.com/streetview
.
*We've updated this paragraph to clarify that both the hardware and
software will have been removed from all Street View vehicles before they
resume driving.
Posted by Brian McClendon, VP of Engineering, Google Geo
Follow Team HTC-Columbia on Google Maps
July 6, 2010
As a former professional cyclist, nothing beats the thrill of being in the peloton and racing towards the finish line. Although I’ve traded in my cycling career for life as a Googler, I’m still a fan and enjoy watching my former teammates and friends battle in races like the
Tour de France
, which started on Saturday. While the cyclists were preparing to tackle the pave of Arrenberg and the Cols in the Alps, I got to thinking about ways that we can bring that experience to the hundreds of millions of fans who will be following the Tour de France over the next few weeks. Google is home to
many other cycling enthusiasts
, so we got together to work on ways to build a My Tracks-based gadget that will allow all the other fans to follow the action like never before.
The
My Tracks application
for Android phones lets you record and share your own outdoor activities, and now
Team HTC-Columbia
will use a special version of the app with
SRM
to transmit their telemetry and location in real-time as they make their way through the 3,642 kilometers of the Tour de France. The nine riders (sadly, now eight, as Adam Hanson was injured on Sunday) on Team HTC-Columbia are carrying HTC Legend phones with
ANT+
that use My Tracks to capture their location along with their power, heart rate, cadence and speed. On
www.google.com/mytrackstour
, you’ll see a Google Map showing the team members’ location on the course and a detailed
telemetry
report. You can observe how Michael Rogers’ heart rate spikes as he attacks the climbs in the Alps on Stage 9, see how many watts Mark Cavendish puts out in the sprint on the famous sprinters’ stage into Bordeaux, and see just how fast riders climb the famous
Col du Tourmalet
.
From the image above, you can see how Maxime Monfort took the lead during Stage 2 between Bruxelles and Spa yesterday. Right now, the riders are racing in Stage 3, which takes them across the border into France and you can follow all the latest action on
our website
or directly on
your own iGoogle page
.
The team also built a map gadget that is available for you to embed on your own website or blog. We’re also publishing an API that any web developer or broadcaster can use to build their own custom application or use to enhance the live television coverage. I'm excited about the potential for web developers and broadcasters to make use of the API and data in creative ways to help all the Tour de France followers (myself included!) get even closer to the action.
This project was the work of many Googlers in their 20% time, and as cycling fans ourselves, we’re happy to be able to share it with the world. We hope you enjoy this unique way of following Team HTC-Columbia over the next few weeks.
Posted by Dylan Casey, Product Manager
Celebrate the 4th with fireworks, BBQs, and new imagery
July 4, 2010
We’re happy to announce our latest imagery update, and with America’s 234th birthday today, it’s fitting that we’ve got some great updates for over a dozen cities in the US. Maybe I just have summer travel on the brain, but much of what caught my eye relates to transportation. From left to right, enjoy an airshow in Everett, WA north of Seattle, the battleship New Jersey docked in Camden, NJ near Philadephia, and the Goodyear Blimp off the coast of Miami:
There’s also beautiful imagery of some of the places your family might be interested in visiting, such as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the Epcot Center in Orlando, or a tailgate before a baseball game in Philadelphia:
You’ll also find updates in several countries around the globe. One that we found notable is the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China:
This imagery is now live in Google Earth and will be available in Google Maps shortly. Of course, if you’re looking at it in Google Earth, don’t forget to use the Historical Imagery feature to compare the newest imagery to what we had before.
Whether today is just another Sunday for you, or you'll be taking in fireworks to celebrate your country’s national holiday, have a happy Fourth of July!
Posted by Jesse Friedman, Product Marketing Manager
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