The official blog for Google Maps
Imagery Update: Week of November 28th
November 30, 2011
The winter and holiday seasons are quickly approaching but that hasn’t stopped the
Google Earth
and
Maps
Imagery Team from updating aerial and satellite imagery throughout the globe. Today, we’d like to share several interesting features identified in this latest release.
The first example shown below is part of an aerial image acquired this past September of the ski slopes in
Breckenridge, Colorado
. The slopes have already accumulated several inches of snow over the past few weeks and although it’s still very early in the ski season, a third of all ski lifts are now open! If you can’t make it to the mountains quite yet, be sure to
experience the next best thing
with
Street View imagery
from some of the most popular ski destinations.
Perspective view of ski slopes in Breckenridge, Colorado
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is full of iconic landmarks from American history. The aerial image shown below, which was acquired this past October, shows some of the most well known buildings along the east bank of the Schuylkill River. At the bottom left of the image are the fifteen structures comprising
Boathouse Row
, and the upper right shows the
Fairmount Water Works
and the
Philadelphia Museum of Art
. In the far right corner of the image are the stone steps made famous in the
Rocky movies
.
Boathouse Row, Fairmount Water Works and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“X” marks the spot in the satellite image below of part of Miramar, Argentina. Of course, the feature is comprised of roads that lead to the town’s central sculpture,
Monumento al Gral Alvarado
, and the four parks comprising the central plaza.
Miramar, Argentina
As we close in on the Christmas season, it seems appropriate to feature several well known churches that have been updated with new imagery. The first example, shown below, is aerial imagery of the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in
Gdańsk, Poland
. The structure is considered one of the largest
Brick Gothic
buildings ever constructed, and has sufficient space to hold 25,000 people!
Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Gdańsk, Poland
This next example shows updated aerial imagery of Burgos, Spain. In the upper left, is the Burgos Castle, overlooking the
Burgos Cathedral
in the lower right. This cathedral is famous for its vast size and unique French Gothic architecture.
Burgos, Spain
Finally, below is an updated image of the Calvary Baptist Church of Hi Vista, California, perhaps one of the more notable churches of late. This church was of course used famously in the Kill Bill Vol. I movie as the site of near demise for the heroine, “The Bride.”
Calvary Baptist Church, Hi Vista, California
If you’d like to receive an email notification when the Google Earth and Maps Imagery team updates your favorite site(s), we’ve got just the tool: The
Follow Your World
application!
These are only a few examples of the types of features that can be seen and discovered in our latest batch of published imagery. Happy exploring!
High resolution aerial updates:
USA: Alamosa, CO; Albany, NY; Altoona, PA; Atlanta, GA; Bartlesville, OK; Bishop, CA; Boise City, OK; Clarksville, TN; Clayton, NM; Edwards, CA; Erie, PA; Georgetown, SC; Great Bend, KS; Guymon, OK; Hot Springs, AR; Lamar, CO; Lawton, OK; Llano, TX; McAlester, OK; Merced, CA; Oklahoma City, OK; Palmdale, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Redding, CA; Roseburg, OR; Scranton, PA; Springfield, MO; Texarkana, TX; Twin Falls, ID; Vail, CO
Poland: Bielsko-Biala, Lubaczowski, Malborski, Mazowieckie, Mielecki, Wolowski, Wolczyn,
Spain: Burgos
Switzerland: Horgen
Countries/regions receiving high resolution satellite updates:
Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Greenland, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Svalbard, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, West Bank, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
These updates are now available in both Google Maps and Google Earth. For a complete picture of where we updated imagery, download
this KML
for viewing in
Google Earth
.
Posted by Eric Kolb, Geo Data Strategist
A new frontier for Google Maps: mapping the indoors
November 29, 2011
(Cross-posted on the
Official Google Blog
)
“Where am I?” and “What’s around me?” are two questions that cartographers, and
Google Maps
, strive to answer. With Google Maps’ “
My Location
” feature, which shows your location as a blue dot, you can see where you are on the map to avoid walking the wrong direction on city streets, or to get your bearings if you’re hiking an unfamiliar trail. Google Maps also displays additional details, such as places, landmarks and geographical features, to give you context about what’s nearby. And now, Google Maps for Android enables you to figure out where you are and see where you might want to go when you’re indoors.
When you’re inside an airport, shopping mall or retail store, a common way to figure out where you are is to look for a freestanding map directory or ask an employee for help. Starting today, with the release of
Google Maps 6.0 for Android
, that directory is brought to the palm of your hands, helping you determine where you are, what floor you're on, and where to go indoors.
Detailed floor plans automatically appear when you’re viewing the map and zoomed in on a building where indoor map data is available. The familiar “blue dot” icon indicates your location within several meters, and when you move up or down a level in a building with multiple floors, the interface will automatically update to display which floor you’re on. All this is achieved by using an approach similar to that of ‘My Location’ for outdoor spaces, but fine tuned for indoors.
Mall of America in Minneapolis before and after, with a floor selector
San Francisco International Airport before and after, with 3D tilt
We’ve initially partnered with some of the largest retailers, airports and transit stations in the U.S. and Japan, including:
Mall of America, IKEA, The Home Depot, select Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, Daimaru, Takashimaya and Mitsukoshi locations and more. Watch an IKEA demo
here
.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Narita International (NRT), among others.
JR and Tokyu Corporation
For a detailed list of participating locations, please visit our
help center
. And this is just the start--we’ll continually add new indoor maps to public buildings across the world. If you’re a business owner interested in getting your location’s floor plan included in Google Maps, visit
maps.google.com/floorplans
.
We’re thrilled Google Maps continues to provide you with new and helpful perspectives—whether you’re rushing through the airport or finding your way around a mall. To visit our website and learn more about indoor Google Maps and other features, start
here
.
Posted by Brian McClendon, VP of Engineering, Google Earth and Maps
Visualizing water and energy solutions in a warming world
November 28, 2011
Editor’s Note:
Today’s guest author is Zachary Hurwitz from International Rivers, an environmental and human rights organization with staff in four continents, who has worked to protect rivers and the rights of communities that depend on them for over 25 years. International Rivers was the recipient of a
Google Earth Outreach Developer Grant
, funded through the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund at the
Tides Foundation
. We are excited to showcase International River’s innovative use of Google Earth and KML tours.
Today, the
COP17 climate meeting
starts in Durban, South Africa. The climate meeting is themed “saving tomorrow today.” One hot topic currently being discussed is the construction of dozens of mega-dams for Africa’s major rivers. At
International Rivers
, we believe that this proposal could place tomorrow’s ecosystem sustainability at risk. In order to bring this issue to life, we worked with
Friends of the Earth International
and Nigerian activist
Nnimmo Bassey
(winner of the prestigious
Right Livelihood Award
) to create a Google Earth tour aimed at increasing awareness around the environmental impact of such widespread damming in Africa.
This new
Google Earth
tour takes viewers on a trip to the world's dam-building hotspots to visualize the effect that large dams have on the climate, river ecosystems, and the communities that depend on them. You can learn about topics such as reservoir emissions, dam safety, and adaptation while visiting real case studies in Africa, the Himalayas and the Amazon.
International Rivers’ Google Earth tour shows the effects of large dams on ecosystems around the world.
The tour also includes animations, which show how over time melting glaciers in the Himalayas – an effect of climate change – may lead to higher flood and safety risks for communities living downstream of dams. You’ll also plunge under water in one of Brazil's dirtiest reservoirs, the Tucuruí Dam, to see in 3D how rotting organic material creates methane gas, which bubbles up from dam reservoirs to emit greenhouse gases in the tropics.
We also hope this tour makes it easier to visualize better water and energy solutions that already exist, including solar, wind, geothermal, energy efficiency, and decentralized grids to give energy access to the poorest of the poor in places like Africa, who are often far away from central grid connections.
The Google Earth tour shows many data layers, such as hydropower use across Africa.
Google Earth has enabled us to share this research in a more interactive way by making it possible to really show the broader impact of large scale damming. Download the interactive tour (
KML file
) or watch the
tour video
to learn more.
Posted by Zachary Hurwitz, International Rivers
Street View comes to beautiful Belgium
November 23, 2011
Belgium may be a small country but it’s big on culture with more than 300 castles, 40 UNESCO World Heritage sites, 200 museums, 500 types of beer and 2000 chocolate shops. Today we are opening up our beautiful sites to users all over the world as we launch the country at the centre of Europe on
Street View.
In the heart of the capital, Brussels, you can now take a virtual stroll around the famous Grand Place which houses the town hall, markets, cafes, museums and the magnificent flower carpet.
View Larger Map
Grand Place, Brussels
Belgium was one of the founding members of the European Union and Brussels is home to many EU and international headquarters. You can now explore the area around the European Parliament and the European Commission.
View Larger Map
European Parliament, Brussels
Beyond Brussels is a world of landscapes, castles and stone-built villages. From the scenic town centre of Bruges to the castles of Bouillon, Belgium’s magnificent sites are now available for all via the Street View feature of Google Maps. Imagery of the historic battlefield of Waterloo is also now available, where the fate of Europe was defined almost 200 years ago.
View Larger Map
Waterloo memorial, Brussels
from the road
We’re thrilled to be releasing the imagery of our small yet fascinating country, known by connoisseurs to be Europe's best hidden secret. As we continue to expand Street View, we look forward to bringing many more European countries for you to explore.
Posted by Julien Blanchez, Google Belgium
Street View special collections: ski and snow edition
November 21, 2011
(Cross posted on the
Official Google Blog
)
From the streets to the slopes,
Street View
in
Google Maps
recently updated its special collections to include a number of
new ski resorts
, so you can tour some of the world’s most beautiful ski terrain right from your browser. Whether you’re planning your annual trip to your favorite resort or hunting for an exciting new adventure, Street View can transport you to your desired destination. Tour a few of our favorite ski resorts below.
First stop off the ski lift is the world famous
Squaw Valley
, in northern California. Squaw Valley has been a ski destination since it hosted the Olympic Winter Games in 1960.
View Larger Map
Squaw Valley Resort - Going down
Gold Coast Face
Following a record setting 519 inches of snowfall last season,
Breckenridge Ski Resort
is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Take a tour of this famous Colorado destination.
View Larger Map
Breckenridge Resort, Looking down
Four O’Clock
Last, but surely not least, you can tour
Whistler Blackcomb
, home of the 2010 Winter Olympics. We captured Whistler with our Street View cameras
last year
and made some recent updates. Located in the Coast Mountain range of British Columbia, Whistler, known for both its scenery and adrenaline-pumping runs, is one of the most famous ski destinations in the world.
View Larger Map
Whistler Blackcomb,
Whistler Peak
All snow view imagery was captured by the
Street View snowmobile
which made its debut two years ago at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. To get a glimpse of a few more resorts you can go to the gallery or watch the video:
Whether you’re a snowbird, a beach bum, an urban adventurer or something else entirely, there’s something for everyone in our growing set of Street View collections. To see some of our favorite special collections, visit the
Street View gallery
.
Enjoy the slopes!
Posted by Ryan Falor, Product Manager, Street View Special Collections
Finding the perfect home with Google Fusion Tables
November 21, 2011
Editor’s Note:
This is a true story, but some of the details have been changed for privacy purposes.
My husband and I were recently in the market for a new home. We worked with a realtor for a few months, looking at several houses every weekend. As we checked out each house, we tracked our thoughts about it in a Google spreadsheet, which included columns for the address, our pros and cons, individual ratings and the combined rating of the house.
One day, while my husband and I were rating a recently viewed home, he came up with a brilliant idea to put all of our home data on a map. We realized that adding geographic information to our personal opinions would help us find trends, such as which neighborhoods we preferred. A light bulb went on over my head:
Google Fusion Tables
!
Fusion Tables is a data management web application that makes it easy to view tabular data on a
Google Map
. Columns with location data, such as addresses, points, lines, or polygons, are automatically interpreted and mapped. The map features can be styled according to the data in your table. It’s also simple to share the map visualization with others.
In just a
few steps,
we were able to convert our spreadsheet into a
fusion table
:
This was a great start, but what we really wanted was to quickly get a glimpse of this data on a map. All we had to do was select
‘Visualize > Map’
from the table menu and the data in the ‘Address’ column was geocoded (i.e. converted into latitude and longitude coordinates) and the markers were displayed on the map. Clicking on the markers showed additional information about the house pulled from our spreadsheet, including the pros, cons and ratings we inputted for each location.
Our house ratings viewed in Google Maps (after being converted into a Fusion Table).
Fusion Tables also allow you to style the features on the map according to data in a numerical column in the table. We had the perfect column to use for this purpose: the ‘Total Rating’ column!
In order to color code the map markers by their ‘Total Rating’ score, we
customized the icons
based on a range of scores, with red representing the lowest scores, yellow show mid-range scores and green showing the houses with the highest combined rating. After saving these new settings, the map markers were immediately styled:
Our new map made it much easier to see what locations we were most interested in (the house just south of Redwood City) and the neighborhoods of low interest (those that were closer to the bay or hills).
We shared the map with our realtor and she loved it. It helped her refine the selection of homes she showed us and in just a matter of weeks, I’m happy to say that my husband and I found the perfect house!
Posted by Kathryn Hurley, Developer Programs Engineer, Geo DevRel
Follow robotic wave gliders on a record setting Pacific crossing in Google Earth
November 17, 2011
Join a journey of discovery virtually in
Google Earth
, as
Liquid Robotics
launches four wave-powered robotic gliders to cross the Pacific ocean in their
Pacific Crossing (PacX) Challenge Expedition
. The wave gliders are attempting to set a new world record for the longest distance ever attempted by an unmanned vehicle and will be collecting data about the Pacific ocean for use by scientists and students back on dry land. These R2D2s of the sea will cross 25,000 miles over 300 days and collect over 2 million data points, helping build the record of oceanic knowledge.
Wave glider robots await launch from San Francisco in this first expedition blog post in Google Earth.
To follow the wave gliders in Google Earth, download the expedition
KML file
or open the
PacX Gallery page
and click on the ship icon. You will be able to read updates from scientists sharing the latest robotic observations, from wave height in storms to weather measurements like barometric pressure, wind speed and air temperature. The ship icon will represent the location of the wave gliders, starting in the San Francisco bay.
Good luck to the wave gliders and congratulations to the scientists who will be monitoring their progress!
Posted by Jenifer Foulkes, Product Manager, Ocean in Google Earth
See your rated places and discover new ones directly on the map
November 15, 2011
(Cross-posted on the
Google Places Blog
)
Since the
My Places tab was released
earlier this summer, you’ve been able to view all the places you’ve rated in one manageable list. This list is now being used to personalize your view of Google Maps, enabling you to visualize all the various places you’ve visited, loved, loathed, and might want to check out right on the map.
Starting today, business labels for locations you’ve rated with
Google Places
will be highlighted on the map with your corresponding rating beneath it. Additional places that our system thinks you might enjoy visiting -- either to eat, shop, or more -- will be highlighted as well. These personalized recommendations are based on the places and ratings you’ve already shared.
Rated Foreign Cinema 5 Stars. Ritual Coffee & Spork are recommended by Google Places
Whereas old paper road maps only became “personalized” when you accidentally folded them the wrong way, spilled a drink on them while driving or physically got out a highlighter to circle locations of interest, we hope this simple and lightweight way of emphasizing the places you’ve shared your opinions about makes Google Maps even more personal, relevant and helpful.
These highlighted map labels are available on the desktop and
Google Maps for Android
. To get started, sign in with your Google account and either check out a place you’ve rated or contribute more Places ratings.
Posted by Myles Jordan, Software Engineer
Map your military service for Veterans Day
November 11, 2011
Today is Veterans Day in the U.S., and we’re
honoring this community
by sharing relevant Google tools for veterans and families all over the world--you can learn more on the Google for Veterans and Families
site
. I specifically wanted to highlight a couple of these tools that enable people to map and tell their stories using Google Earth and Google Maps.
Explore veteran tours in Google Earth
For Veterans Day we’re featuring
several stories
created by veterans that show how Google Earth can be used to create a 3D virtual tour of their service history, complete with photos and videos. Fly back to the 1940's to hear about
six siblings
who served in WWII and an
Army nurse
who worked in post-war Japan. Then see where a
Marine Lieutenant
spent four years during the Vietnam War.
Watching these tours
requires the Google Earth plug-in, which you can download
here
. We hope to make this story-telling tool available to everyone soon.
Make a Custom Map of your service
Google Maps makes it easy (and fun!) to create a simple Custom Map and also share with others. With our mapping tools, veterans can
map their service
and then
share the personalized map
with their families and friends. Stories, photos and videos can be geo-located so the complete story is recorded and marked on a map.
We hope our mapping tools can be useful to the veteran community for sharing and recording life stories. For more other relevant Google products, we invite you to explore the Google for Veterans and Families site,
www.googleforveterans.com
.
Posted by Sean Askay, Developer Advocate
Announcing the 2012 Google Model Your Town Competition
November 10, 2011
[Cross-posted from the
SketchUp blog
]
Following the
success
of last year’s Google Model Your Town competition, today we're launching the second
Google Model Your Town Competition
. Model Your Town is about geo-modeling – making photo-textured models of real-life buildings that appear in Google Earth. The Model Your Town Competition is also a chance to celebrate your town by adding it to the 3D map. Of course, the USD$25,000 for a local school/district is a nice incentive too.
Barranco, Lima, Peru
The
Model Your Town Competition
is open to just about everyone, just about everywhere in the world. Form a team, model buildings (using
SketchUp
or
Building Maker
) and upload them by the end of February 2012.
You can model as many structures as you like – which types of buildings you choose to include is entirely up to you. The important thing is that your choices say something about the character and history of your town.
If your town wins, a bunch of us from the SketchUp team will visit, throw you a dinner party and do our best to make you feel like the local hero that you truly are. Check out the
competition website
for details, and start rounding up teammates!
Here's some inspiration by way of the 2010 winner, Jorge De Albertis, from Lima, Peru (just to get your creative juices flowing):
New to geo-modeling? Learn more at
Your World in 3D
, then get started modeling your town!
Posted by Allyson McDuffie, Google Geo team
Getting to know you
November 10, 2011
Every week, we try to share a fun little something about Google Maps and Google Earth on our social channels to help you stay tuned in to the latest product announcements and provide tips on how to get the most out of your Maps and Earth experiences.
But to make sure our posts are interesting and valuable to you, our readers, we thought it’d be useful to ask what you’d like to read, watch and share. Whether you're a user, developer or journalist, we want to know more about who you are and what you’d like to see from us. To collect your feedback, we’ve set up an anonymous form with a few questions —
you can find it here
.
We’ll leave the form open for the next few days. Thanks in advance to those of you who take a few minutes to respond!
Posted by Brian Hendricks, Google Maps marketing
Get news, learn tips and join Hangouts on the Google Maps Google+ page
November 7, 2011
Just a few moments ago, the
Google+ team introduced Pages
to help you better get to know your favorite brands, businesses and organizations. But the exciting news doesn’t end there! Today, we’d like to welcome all fans of Google Maps to
join us on Google+
by adding our new page to your circles.
Here’s just some of the stuff you’ll find when you follow us on Google+:
Product news and announcements. Stay up to date and share with friends.
Hangouts with the Maps team. Bring your questions!
User spotlights. We want to showcase you, our awesome community members.
#GMapsTrivia. Put your geo skills to the test for bragging rights.
Pro tips. Tricks from Googlers and fellow users so you can get the most out of Maps.
This page is a place for you to connect with our team and other Maps fans, discuss ideas and share feedback, and learn a new thing or two about our product. So say hello in the comments on our page, and we’ll see you soon in a Hangout!
Posted by Vanessa Schneider, Google Maps and Places community manager, and Brian Hendricks, Google Maps marketing
Share biking and walking directions with Custom Maps
November 3, 2011
Attention avid bikers and walking enthusiasts: You can now use your desktop to create a biking or walking itinerary using Custom Maps in Google Maps. You can choose to share these directions by allowing people to view your Custom Map and avoid the hassle of scribbling them down or printing them out. Additionally, you can access these stored directions from your phone with the Google Maps Android application.
This provides a quick and easy way to navigate trips that have multiple routes and stops when you’re on-the-go. Give it a try the next time you plan a group bike ride or to keep track of your favorite jogging routes.
To start, first get directions to your destination(s) and select the biking or walking icon in Google Maps. Next, scroll down to the bottom of the directions in the left-hand panel and click the “Save to My Maps” link.
You can then save the directions to an existing custom map or create a new one. Once the directions have been added to a custom map, you can continue to insert extra stops or make notes. After you complete mapping out your itinerary, you can choose to
share it
with friends or a workout buddy.
If you have an Android-powered device, you can access stored directions in Custom Maps right from your mobile phone - just click on the layers icon in the upper toolbar and select the saved Custom Map you want.
If you don’t have an Android phone, you can open your Custom Maps using your phone’s browser and visiting
maps.google.com
.
For more tips on custom maps, visit our
help center
.
Posted by Beth Liebert, Product Manager, Custom Maps
Recap: Google Geo User Summit in Barcelona
November 2, 2011
Settled between the Catalan Coastal range and Mediterranean sea, the city of Barcelona is home to an array of culinary treasures, iconic architecture, endless museums and beaches, and the impressive FC Barcelona football stadium. The city’s distinctive mix of tradition and innovation thus proved the ideal host to the
Google Geo User Summit Barcelona
. From October 12th-14th,
Google Map Maker
,
Google SketchUp
and
Building Maker
, and
Panoramio
welcomed some of our most passionate mappers, 3D modelers and Panoramio photographers across Europe and the Middle East to celebrate their invaluable contributions to an ever-growing Geo Community.
View of Barcelona from Museu Nacional D’art de Catalunya by
Matthew Walters
, Panoramio contributor
The summit was an exciting opportunity for many of our top contributors to share their geographic crowd-sourced efforts, work directly with Google engineers to brainstorm potential new product features, and set strategies for improving the overall Geo community. Attendees also had a chance to mind-meld with our product leaders during a day of unconference sessions, sharing thoughts, ideas, and stories about their experiences that will help us to improve our products.
Following a keynote address by Aidan Chopra, Google Geo Evangelist, attendees shared their inspiring projects and practices with a rapt audience. We learned from
Levan Beruchashvili
how the
National Agency of Public Registry
helped map the entire country of Georgia for its
recent graduation
to Google Maps.
Arek Pawlowski
described hosting multiple SketchUp workshops at his university, creating almost 450 models in an ongoing effort to put all of Toruń, Poland into 3D. As it is the user-generated content that fuels the Google Geo products, these and other contributor testimonials stood out as the highlight of the summit.
Attendees at the Google Geo User Summit Barcelona!
To learn more about the Google Geo User Summit Barcelona, visit the
event website
, where you can browse
photographs
of the conference and its beautiful setting along the Mediterranean coast. Extensive
session notes and user presentations
are also available. If you’re interested in attending future events, please see the
Map Maker Events Calendar
,
3D Events Calendar
and
Panoramio Events
Calendar. This summit was one exciting part of an ongoing celebration of the passionate mappers, modelers, and photo contributors who are improving Google Maps and Google Earth for the world to share. A tremendous thanks to all those who attended and helped make the event a success!
Posted by Lori Savageau, Community Manager, Google Map Maker
Connect with mapping enthusiasts in the Google Earth Community
November 1, 2011
Do you ever wonder what
Europe’s light pollution
looks like? You might be curious to tour
the world’s mazes
. Or maybe you have a school project to research all of
New York City’s cemeteries
? In the
Google Earth Community
, we’ve learned that if you can dream it up, you can map it.
Map showing artificial night sky brightness in Europe, posted by member markdj in the Google Earth Community.
Exploring the Google Earth Community’s discussion forums, you’ll discover a unique geographic encyclopedia built from user contributions. From
the beautiful
to
the bizarre
, Google Earth Community maps are spawned from the
curiosity
and collaboration of forum discussions. The scope and quality of these maps are thanks largely to the Google Earth Community moderators, a core group of forum members who help curate content and educate users on how to use Google Earth as both an exploration and a documentation tool.
Recently, we hosted several members of the Google Earth Community, educators, bloggers and Help Forum Top Contributors in Rome for a user summit. Apart from discussions around new features in Google Earth and the future of geographic content sharing, the event was also a special opportunity for passionate Google Earth users to meet in person. Many Google Earth Community members have been contributing to forum discussions for over 8 years now, long enough to become friends as well as
collaborative cartographers
.
Attendees of the Rome user summit enjoy a day at the Vatican (photo courtesy of Frank Taylor).
Ultimately, it’s that kind of collaboration that makes the community around Google Earth so special. Have a question about overlays or tours? Top Contributors from the
Help Forum
are on it. Looking to share your own map of the
animals you’ve found in Street View
? The Google Earth Community will point you in the right direction. Read more about
sharing your Google Earth content
, and then begin your own exploration of
Google Earth
. After all, if you don’t map all the
neolithic monuments of the Sahara
, who will?
Posted by Robin Ziegler, Google Earth Community Manager
A new way to get information about real-world places
November 1, 2011
(
Cross-posted on the
Inside Search
blog
.)
I love eating out with my friends and trying new places, but one of the most difficult questions you can ask me is "Where do you want to eat?" Today, we’re making a few improvements to Google search that will make it a lot easier and faster to answer this question. For example, I mentioned to a friend that I’ll be visiting Boston, and he suggested that I check out a barbecue place called Redbones BBQ in Davis Square. Since I don't know that restaurant, I do a quick search for [redbones bbq] to see if it’s a place I’d like.
When I do, I see the same familiar search results page but I notice that there's now a new panel to the right of the results -- where previously only a map appeared -- with much more information than before. I see two images with
pegman
, the Street View mascot, below the map so I click on the first one. This instantly takes me to an immersive
360-degree interior view
of the restaurant, as if I were virtually teleported to Redbones.
I pan around and see that it's a cool colorful restaurant with a nice, comfy feel. What's more, when I go back to the search results panel and click on the second image, I’m able to look around the outside of the restaurant and get a sense for the neighborhood via the familiar Street View experience. I’m beginning to really like this place! Further down the panel, I see the price range indicating it won’t be too expensive and an “at a glance” summary that tells me Redbones has great beer and pulled pork sandwiches -- and menu links if I want to see more. Thanks to this helpful information right on the search results page, I’ve quickly been able to make my decision: I’m going to Redbones for a pulled pork sandwich.
Even if I’m not looking for a particular place by name, I can learn about places and quickly decide which ones are right for me. If I want to find a bar near Redbones for a few drinks after dinner, I can just search for [bars davis square] and get a familiar list of results. Only now, scanning the list and comparing places is easier than ever, since the
instant preview feature
will show the same detailed information about the various bars when I hover over the “>>” symbol to the right of each result. After just a few seconds perusing the additional local information for different places, I know that Joshua Tree has a great beer selection and that the Orleans has live music but is a bit farther away.
This new type of layout may appear on the search results page for a range of real-world places -- restaurants, hotels, local businesses, landmarks, museums and more. Of course, the local information that appears will vary depending on what’s available online. So the next time you plan your visit to the
New England Aquarium
or
Fenway Park
, you might be able to check out their opening hours, get directions, and find the nearest transit stops, all from a simple Google search.
In the coming weeks, you’ll start seeing the improved local search experience in more than 40 languages. Give it a try and start discovering new local favorites, near and far!
Posted by Jim Müller, Tech Lead
Take a walk in the park with Street View
November 1, 2011
(Cross posted to
Official Google Blog)
Whether you’re planning a trip to a park around the block or around the world, you’ll now find more parks showing up in Street View. Over the past year, the Street View team, equipped with the
Street View trike
, traveled to 22 different countries to photograph some of the world’s most beautiful and unique parks. Starting today, you can explore the couple hundred new special collections we’ve added by visiting
our gallery
.
You can now tour
High Line
, which sits 30 feet in the air, over the bustling streets of New York City. The park sits on an elevated freight train spur that spans 1.5 miles and cuts through the western side of Manhattan. Because of Robert Hammond and Joshua David’s efforts, visitors can experience an innovative park that would have otherwise been a demolished urban structure.
You can tour the park in Street View here:
View Larger Map
Across the pond, you can visit
Kensington Gardens
in London. Once privately owned by Kensington Palace, the majestic arbor skyline and delicate flower beds draw locals and tourists alike. Kensington Gardens is also dotted with famous statues, such as
Peter Pan
, and home to the idyllic Serpentine Bridge.
View Larger Map
Community parks are where we take our evening stroll, play sports on weekends and picnic with friends.
Koganei Park
in Tokyo, Japan is one such place, especially during the cherry blossom season—a charming park beloved by photographers, joggers and romantics.
View Larger Map
You can see more Street View special collections in this
gallery
or get inspired to travel with
this video
.
Posted by Ryan Falor, Product Manager for Street View
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