The nation's largest transit system could be a bit easier to navigate with Google's new tools, including translation into 23 languages.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Transit now assists New York City residents and visitors with planning trips via public transit, car, or foot.

New York State and City leaders joined Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page at Grand Central Station Tuesday to announce the launch of a feature that makes it easier to navigate the largest transit system in the United States. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs New York City's transit system, gives Web site visitors the option of planning their travels with directions from Google.

Google Transit incorporates the city's subway stops, bus routes, and commuter trains to outlying areas, with its map features, including street views.

Read more: informationweek.com 

Labels: Maps, New York, system, traffic, transit

If the infusion of walking directions in Google Maps interests you, and you don’t mind the privacy concerns voiced about Google’s Street View, and you happen to have a Web-enabled mobile phone on hand, you may be glad to know Google Maps for Mobile is now newly improved with both these features.

As logic would have it, walking directions and Street View compliment each another well. For city residents, walking directions can naturally give you a less circuitous route to your intended destination. Google’s engine isn’t always the best utility to devise pedestrian ways with efficiency in mind, but it’s bound to improve. Street View, in turn, allows you to see where it is your chosen path will lead. On a map that otherwise continuously sports a bird’s-eye view, the inclusion of ground-level roadside captures is pretty much a no-brainer. Bound together, they make for a supremely attractive couple.

Read more: mashable.com 

Labels: Maps, mobile, online mapping, Street View, Walking

Google is under fire today over reports claiming the company failed to include any data for Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan on Google maps. Worse, some reports suggest that once the fighting broke out between Russia and Georgia, all relevant information about the latter was wiped from Google maps.

According to the Azerbaijan Press agency, all “the relevant maps went blank as soon as fighting broke out.” But Google contends that that assertion is simply false and it has not changed anything in quite some time.

“Google has not made any recent change to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Google Maps,” the company said in a statement. “We do not have local data for those countries and that is why local details such as landmarks and cities do not appear.”

Full story: mashable.com 

Labels: mapping, Maps, online mapping

Members of industry group the Open Geospatial Consortium have approved Google’s KML technology as an open standard for describing some geographic data.

KML is used to manage the display of geospatial information in Google Earth, the company’s software for flying over the surface of a virtual globe. With its 3D co-ordinate-based system, people can create models of city buildings, draw a line showing where they have hiked or overlay their own custom place names on a generic map.

Google hopes standardising KML will help mean broader use for the map description language, with rivals such as Microsoft already embracing it. Google already shares its KML format openly, and others have used it in software products, but the search giant now hopes that its status as an official Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard will decrease the number of barriers to further adoption.

Full article: ZDNet.co.uk 

Labels: Earth, mapping, Maps

Want to know what the weather is like right now somewhere else? Today, you can just click around on a radar-enabled Google map to quickly get the lowdown on temperature, humidity, wind conditions, and a lot more.

When you're heading out of town, you're interested in what kind of weather to expect when you get there, right? Well, starting today, answering questions like that is as easy as clicking on a Google map, due to a new "mapplet" rolled out by The Weather Channel Interactive, Inc. (TWCI).

Essentially, Google's map site now has a new weather data layer which is powered by The Weather Channel's HiRAD, a patented technology combining information from Doppler radar, satellite transmissions, computer models, climate profiles, and lightning strike detection systems.

Full article: betanews.com 

Labels: mapping, Mapplets, Maps, radar, weather

Every step you take, Google will be watching you

Cell phone GPS is no big deal in the tech industry — it has been around for a while on various “smart” cell phones. Google took the concept behind this existing technology and on Wednesday unveiled how it is modifying this idea into something new and different. Google is looking to give those without a GPS equipped phone the ability to use their phone as a locater on Google Maps.

The feature which is available for most cell phones which are able to access Google maps. Typically only smart-phones come with built in GPS. Google estimates that the vast majority of user’s cell phones — 85 percent — do not contain GPS support.

Full article: dailytech.com 

Labels: GPS, locator, Maps, mobile, My Location, phone

There's a reason GPS units are so popular among geeks and non-geeks alike: people get lost easily and often. A map is helpful... if you can figure out where you are to begin with. Google knows this, which is why it has rolled out a new beta to its mobile mapping service that will allow users to automatically determine their location without GPS.

Called "My Location," the feature comes as part of the release of version 2.0 of Google Maps for mobile. My Location uses cell tower ID information to determine (approximately) where you are. Google says that it uses special "Google-developed-algorithms" to determine this, which sounds like fancy talk for triangulation (a supported phone can determine how far it is from the three closest cell towers and then pinpoint the approximate spot of the caller).

Full article: arstechnica.com 

Labels: beta, GPS, Maps, mobile, My Location

Google Maps has launched a collaborative map-making feature that lets you invite people to contribute to a map you have created.

Map makers can ask friends or family to contribute, or click the “Allow anyone to edit this map” to make it open to anyone. The new feature makes it easier for multiple people to plan events on Google Maps.

Read more: webuser.co.uk 

Labels: feature, Maps, share

Google Maps has added a new feature that allows users to correct inaccurate locations by fine-tuning an address within 200 metres of its original label.

Business or residential locations can be tweaked, but those that are moved over 200 metres from the previous label are double-checked for accuracy by Google to prevent abuse of this feature, otherwise the moved marker appears instantly.

Businesses that have been listed and verified through Google’s Local Business centre cannot be changed, nor can government buildings or hospitals and other public buildings.

Read more: siliconrepublic.com 

Labels: buildings, mapping, Maps, users

Gas pumps with Internet service, color screens, and touch pads use Google Maps to guide drivers to nearby landmarks.

Gasoline pump maker Gilbarco Veeder-Root on Wednesday unveiled a new service that lets drivers use Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps at the pump to get directions to destinations chosen by gas station owners.

The service, unveiled at the National Association of Convenience Stores conference in Atlanta, is part of Gilbarco's Applause media system, which has been incorporated in its Encore pumps with color screens and Internet connections. Applause is an extension of Gilbarco's SMART Merchandising system that retailers can use to display promotions and advertisements, and offer coupons through the pump's receipt printer.

Read more: informationweek.com 

Labels: Gilbarco, mapping, Maps, online mapping

Google has just announced the latest project to bubble up out of Google Earth--International Cleanup Weekend, a coordinated global effort taking place Saturday, October 13, and Sunday, October 14, 2007, at locations throughout the world.

Who's doing the organizing? You are, naturally, using Google Maps to plot cleanup sites.

What began as an internal corporate eco-venture for local involvement has now been embraced by communities in 15 countries. Google Earth's outreach team is asking groups of six to 10 people to pick a modest project close to home, do it, then share their accomplishments by posting photos and videos to the team's Google Map.

Individuals can coordinate their own events or try to contact Google's partner organizations, like Idealist.org, Sierra Club, and The Scout Association in the U.K., which are urging their members to form local projects.

Full article: news.com 

Labels: Cleanup, international, Maps, Weekend

There's a new feature on Google Maps that enables you to easily embed an interactive map on your website or blog just by copying and pasting a snippet of HTML (much in the same way as embeddable YouTube videos work).

On Google Maps, pull up the map you want to embed-- it can be a location, a business, a set of driving directions, search results, or a map you've created. Then copy the embed code by clicking "Link to this page," and paste the code into your blog or website.

You can
create a map using the map-making tools in the My Maps tab and display it on your website using this embed feature.

Read more: Google Maps 

Labels: APIs, blogs, embed, Maps, Web

MUCH of Sydney's city centre as it appears in the satellite images on Google Maps Australia has been fuzzed out, just weeks before the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit.

Google says the imagery was downgraded as a result of a "commercial issue" with a supplier, but there is speculation it was done at the request of police in order to minimise the risk of a terrorist attack during the September summit, where Sydney will host 21 world leaders including the US President, George Bush.

Full story: smh.com.au 

Labels: Australia, Maps, satellite

Google has added four more cities to its Maps street view: San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston and Orlando, Fla. San Diego is getting the same high-resolution imagery treatment that Google gives San Francisco; I'm not sure why. I asked Google about this and this is the response I got:

"As you probably know, Street View imagery is gathered by Google and a third-party data provider. Imagery in San Diego, like San Francisco, was gathered by Google. Our focus is on providing coverage for as many cities as possible; I don't have any additional details about our imagery collection schedule at the moment, but we will announce new roll outs on the Lat Long blog."

Read more: webware.com 

Labels: city, Maps, Mountain View, street

If you live and commute in a congested metropolitan area, odds are you live by the traffic updates on your AM radio. Today, Google bolstered its Google Maps with a traffic gauge that shows you the status of local routes in over 30 cities--including Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco. speeds directly on the map.

If the traffic reporting is available for your city, you'll see a stoplight pin-cushioned into your map. Click on that to zoom into a view of the traffic conditions. Major arteries turn red, yellow, and green, to reflect how the current traffic is moving.

Full article: pcworld.com 

Labels: Maps, traffic, updates

In the consumer space, Google Earth and Google Maps go hand-in-hand. Now the same goes for Google Earth for the enterprise.

Business and government users of Google Earth for the enterprise can now view their organizations' geospatial data in 2-D on a browser behind the firewall.

As a part of the product upgrade, Google opened a "special" Maps API for the enterprise. That means administrators can now embed the Google Maps 2-D view into any Web application and create mashups with information from external databases, spreadsheets and other data sources, Noah Doyle, product manager for enterprise geo products, told internetnews.com.

Full article: internetnews.com 

Labels: Earth, enterprise, Maps, Mashup, Spreadsheets

Maps anyone...

Google has acquired ImageAmerica, a company that builds high-resolution cameras and uses them to take aerial photographs.

The search engine giant announced the move on its LatLong blog about Google Earth and its other mapping efforts. It didn't disclose terms of the deal.

Product Manager Stephen Chau said on the blog: "We're excited about how ImageAmerica's technology will contribute to our mapping services down the road. Since we're in the research and development phase right now it may be some time before you see any of this imagery in Google Maps or Earth."

Full article: silicon.com 

Labels: aerial, Earth, ImageAmerica, Maps, photographer

Now Google users can create custom map mashups built from other people's mashups.

The company has rolled together two of its user-generated mapping products -- MyMaps and Mapplets -- to give Google Maps users the ability to create custom maps using dynamic data. Users can add data points like location-based photo searches from Picasa and gas prices from GasBuddy to their custom maps

Read more: wired.com 

Labels: geodata, geography, mapping, Maps, MyMaps

At an event in Google's New York offices on Tuesday, the company unveiled a new initiative to make its Google Earth geography software a more accessible tool for nonprofit organizations.

"We're now officially launching a program called Google Earth Outreach," said John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Maps. "Google is stepping up and validating this as a bona fide program that will be staffed in our group."

Google Earth Outreach is now live, and several downloadable layers from the program's inaugural partners--the Global Heritage Fund, Earthwatch and Fair Trade Certified--are now available online.

Full article: webware.com 

Labels: Earth, geography, Maps, nonprofit, Software

With its empire expanding, the search giant can have an unprecedented breadth of knowledge about you. Can we trust it with so much data?

From search to e-mail, from calendars to spreadsheets and text documents, more and more of what PC users read and create flows through one firm: Google.

Google's pending purchase of online advertising giant DoubleClick (the deal awaited Federal Trade Commission approval as we went to press) will give it access to yet more information: the Web browsing histories collected by millions of DoubleClick cookies. Combine that data with what Google already knows through its homegrown services--Google Apps, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps, Google Desktop, and many others--and the company has the potential to know more about you than any one entity ever has.

Full article: washingtonpost.com 

Labels: apps, data, docs, DoubleClick, giant, mail, Maps, search