The official blog for Google Maps
It's a click & drag situation
June 28, 2007
Posted by Ryan Sturgell and Barry Brumitt, Software Engineers, Google Maps
Can you imagine going back to clicking arrows and waiting for the screen to refresh just to move the map left/right/up/down? It'd be as big a bummer as going back to
8-track tapes
. Today, we're taking another big step forward with driving directions in Google Maps: now you can
click & drag to change destinations along your route
.
Let's imagine you want to help your friend Terry, who's visiting Seattle this week, by giving her directions to your favorite beach volleyball spot on the waterfront in Kirkland, Washington.
Step 1.
Terry is staying somewhere in downtown Seattle, so you zoom into that location and add this destination by right-clicking on somewhere in that general vicinity.
Step 2.
To set the End Destination, you repeat the same process, zooming in and right-clicking on the park. But if you've selected the wrong park by mistake, you can now change this destination just by clicking & dragging the marker from the wrong park to the correct one. And while you're dragging, you can watch the route change in real time (including a running ticker of the current street name plus an updated distance and time of the route).
Voila! You're done. If you click "Link to this Page," you can email the link to Terry. But wait! She is planning to drive over on a weekday morning during rush hour, and you'd like to adjust the route so that she misses 520 bridge traffic. So...
Step 3.
To ensure the directions take the I-90 Bridge across Lake Washington, you can click on the route itself
from where it goes across the 520 bridge and drag it to the I-90 bridge, again watching the route update while you drag.
So there you have it. Once you've used click & drag for creating and modifying routes, we think you'll find that you simply can't fathom how you managed without it. I mean, where are your 8-tracks?
Google Earth Outreach
June 27, 2007
Posted by Rebecca Moore, Manager, Google Earth Outreach
You may have heard that we've launched an exciting new program for non-profit organizations called Google Earth Outreach.
We hope you'll read more about the
genesis of the program
, watch a
video
of yesterday's launch event, and have a look at the Google Earth Outreach
website
, where you'll find
tutorials
on how to create a great KML,
case studies
written by organizations who are already using Google Earth, and a
showcase
featuring dozens of public-benefit KMLs. And then we hope you'll get started on your own!
We've also posted some video on YouTube from our Google Earth Outreach event on Tuesday. Take a look:
Put your business on Google Maps
June 22, 2007
Posted by
Hubert Pan
,
Product Manager
As part of our quest to build the best local search experience possible, Google's
Local Business Center
is where business owners can go to add or edit their business listing on Google Maps by providing their address, contact information, hours of operation, and even storefront or product photos.
This free process is now even faster and easier to use.
Users in international locales can now receive verification via a phone call or SMS rather than waiting for a postcard in the mail.
With our new verification options, it only takes 10 minutes to create or edit, and then verify your listing. We do the rest -- your business will appear on Google Maps within a few weeks.
The center also has a great new look, and it's easy come back multiple times to make changes to your listing:
So, while you are busy
writing reviews
about your favorite restaurant, barber shop, or any other business, be sure to share the opportunities on Google's Local Business Center with the business owners to help them reach more customers through Google Maps.
More than the sum of its parts
June 20, 2007
Posted by Steve Lee, Product Manager, Google Maps for mobile
Some experiences are more than the sum of their parts. Here at Google, we recognize that to develop the best user experiences, we can't work alone. We'd like to applaud the inclusion of RIM's Blackberry 8800 and Samsung's Blackjack in
PC World'
s list of the
100 Best Products of 2007
. These two devices raise the bar of what is possible in the mobile world, and enable the GPS capabilities needed to fully experience another of
PC World
's top 100,
Google Maps for mobile
.
The Maps for mobile team is honored to share this
PC World
recognition with innovative mobile device manufacturers. We are more excited than ever to continue developing tools to make the mobile device a useful and, some might say, "
religious
" experience when you're on the go.
Add your reviews to businesses on Google Maps
June 19, 2007
Posted by Jonathan Goldman, Software Engineer, Google Maps
The
Cheeseboard Pizza Collective
in Berkeley is one of my favorite places on the planet. My friends and co-workers will tell you, I can't really shut up about the place. But now, rather than continue to impose my unsolicited opinion about this little gem on those around me, I can finally be more constructive by articulating my thoughts and sharing them with the world. That's right,
Google Maps
now offers user ratings and reviews of local businesses.
Google Maps has
offered a collection of reviews assembled from some of the finest sources on the web for some time, but now we're augmenting those with reviews from an even better source: you -- and, we hope, millions of other opinionated Google users.
Search for your favorite places and click on the "More Info" link. From there, click on "Write a Review" to start giving your two cents.
Don't forget that Google Maps indexes a tremendous variety of businesses, and in a number of countries. Tell the world all about your favorite (or least favorite) doctors and dentists, hotels, bakeries, hardware stores, salons, pet spas, auto mechanics, plumbers, and more. Or perhaps even
your favorite restaurant in Tokyo
.
Give it a try
to make your opinions known and discover new favorites.
Trading a bow and arrow for a laptop
June 15, 2007
Posted by Rebecca Moore, Google Earth team
Recently, several of us on the Google Earth team had the great honor to meet with Chief Almir, leader of the Surui Indian tribe in the Brazilian Amazon. Chief Almir had travelled for many hours and thousands of miles to our Google headquarters in Mountain View, in order to propose an unusual partnership. He had come to ask for our help in protecting the rainforest lands as well as the culture and lives of his people.
The Amazon rainforest and its indigenous peoples are disappearing rapidly. This has serious consequences locally and globally, both for our environment and for the cultural diversity of our planet. If you look at the Surui land today in
Google Earth
(search on "Ministro Andreazza, Brazil" and then head due east), you'll see that their "island" of healthy, green, primary rainforest is surrounded almost completely by clear-cut, barren land. The stark contrast at their boundary is dramatic, and begins to convey what is at stake.
During his visit, Chief Almir proposed that, in collaboration with their partner, the
Amazon Conservation Team
, we work together to annotate Google Earth with informative markers and photographs that show the Surui villages, hunting grounds, sacred sites, and cultural sites as well as areas where they've found illegal mining and logging incursions onto their land. By doing so, he hopes to raise global awareness of the Surui people's struggle to preserve their land and culture, by reaching the more than 200 million Google Earth users around the world.
In the early 1980's, Almir's father, Chief Marimo, entered into tribal legend by single-handedly stopping a logging truck full of men with machine guns and revolvers, using only his bow and arrow. His son, Chief Almir, told us that he had realized that the time had now come "to put down the bow and arrow, and pick up the laptop."
We're excited to help Chief Almir on this project. It will take time, but when completed, we hope that it will have a positive impact on the lives of the Surui people and other Amazon tribes.
Google Maps in Sweden
June 12, 2007
Posted by
Giorgo Scherl, Product Manager
Traveling to Sweden and want to make sure your hotel in Stockholm is actually close to the gorgeous waterfront?
Or, if you are like me, you want to find a
Pippi Langstrump (aka Pippi Longstocking)
doll for your daughter while in Sweden. Well, now you can, as this search for
Pippi
on
maps.google.se
shows.
We are very pleased to announce today that Google has launched maps for Sweden. On
maps.google.se
we worked with Swedish content providers such as Eniro and Samtrafiken to integrate local business listings, public transport stations, and enhanced content like reviews and photos - in Swedish! This content is available on both Google maps and
Google Earth.
Find your
pizza in Luleå
-- the northern city of Sweden or plan a trip from
Stockholm to Göteborg.
So go and virtually visit
Sweden
-- it's a great country.
Labels
#streetview
#treasuremap
+1
3D
8bitmaps
Adwords Express
Africa
Amazon
Andorra
Android
api
Art Project
Audi
biking
Boost
Boulder
Brazil
Bulgaria
Business Photos
Business View
businesses
Canada
check-in
community
competition
contest
crisis response
Culture
custom maps
developer
Developers
directions
disaster response
discovery
earth outreach
education
Emmy Awards
Enterprise
Estonia
Europe
Explore
Fusion Tables
gadgets
Gibraltar
GMM
google
Google Earth
Google Earth Engine
Google Map Maker
Google Maps
Google Maps API
Google Maps Engine
Google Maps for Mobile
Google Maps Gallery
Google Maps Navigation
Google Maps Transit
Google Places
Google Plus
Google Search
Google Street View
google.org
Google+
googlenew
Grand Canyon
ground truth
Halloween
historical
history
holiday
Hotpot
Hungary
imager
imagery
Indoor Maps
iOS
iPhone
Iraq
Japan
Latitude
Latvia
layers
LBC
Lithuania
London
Making of Maps
Malaysia
Mall of America
Map Maker
Maps Blog
Maps Gallery
mapsgl
Matt Harding
Mexico
Mobile
Monticello
My Maps
my places
my tracks
National Geographic
navigation
new Google Maps
oblique imagery
ocean
offline maps
Olympics
Outreach
Pakistan
Panoramio
Parks Canada
Pegman
Photo Spheres
photo tours
photos
picasa
Polar Bears
Quiz
real estate
restaurants
road trips
Russia
Santa
Santa Tracker
search stories
SketchUp
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Sudan
space
Spain
sports
Street View
summer
SXSW
Tags
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Tip of the week
tips
tour guide
traffic
Train
Transit
travel
trees
Trekker
Trike
Trolley
U.S. National Park Service
Ukraine
University of Virginia
Valentine's Day
Veterans Day
Views
voice search
walking
Waze
weather
webgl
Your Timeline
zagat
Archive
2016
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2007
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Feed
Google
on
Follow @googlemaps
Follow
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
Follow
