Google Lat Long: Making of Maps: Ground Truth glue

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Making of Maps: Ground Truth glue

September 9, 2014

The final post in our Making of Maps series shows you how Ground Truth brings all the pieces of Google Maps together. Catch up on posts 1, 2, & 3 for more info! — Ed.Henman HillMurray MounddebateMap Maker toollocationMap MakerReport a ProblemLabor DayTexasa lot

All the streets in Sondergarden, Denmark were renamed this year as part of a country-wide initiative to make addresses easier to understand
golf courses

Satellite and aerial images are used to trace roads, bodies of water, and more (St. Petersburg, Russia) With Street View, we can also add the granular detail needed to give you good directions. Intersections become easy to navigate because we can tell which direction each lane will take you; points of interest are easy to find because we can add information that can only be seen from the street, like the name of a restaurant or building address. Combine this with the fact that our Street View cars are designed to pinpoint exactly where each photo was taken, and the map starts to look like a mirror of the real world.

Street View images can help pinpoint businesses and determine lane directions (Brașov, Romania)
Ground Truth takes information from thousands of sources—governments, imagery, organizations, individuals—and makes it into one cohesive map. But the best part of putting together this giant puzzle is how it helps people every day. It can save you time, empower you to get things done, and give you the opportunity to travel and explore without worry. Reaching our 50th Ground Truth country was an important moment for this project, but it’s far from the end. As long as the world keeps changing, we’ll keep mapping.

Posted by Nick Volmar, Program Manager & Ground Truth Operator