Driving Directions get even better on Google Maps!

The Google Maps Team have added a pretty nifty new feature to Google Maps. Here to tell you about "Draggable Driving Directions" are Jess and Evan, from the Google Maps team (YouTube link):

..This is an awesome feature enhancement! The only way to see how cool (and useful) this can be, is to try it out on Google Maps for yourself! Enter two points in the "get directions" field and grab on the route with your mouse to see it work!

Another change to Google Maps you'll notice that is shown in the Maps Team YouTube clip is a right-click feature that presents a menu to start/end directions, zoom or center the map. It's pretty handy. For more tips on "customizing every step of your next trip", check out this great help page that includes the above YouTube clip, and more example links:
http://maps.google.com/help/maps/directions/
You can also check out the official Google-LatLong Blog post about this new feature enhancement:
It's a click & drag situation
Frank Taylor at the Google Earth Blog can also help you "Take your directions from Google Maps to Google Earth"

Other changes you'll see on Google Maps..

"Link to this page" is now easier! - Click the link at the top right and a drop-down box appears with the full link already pre-selected for you to "Paste link in email or IM" [Thanks Virender!]

New links (bottom left) added: Advertising on Google Maps, Adding your business, using Google Maps for mobile or Adding Google Maps to your website.

For more recent Google Maps News, click the "Google Maps" label below...

[Digg This Post]

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Google map your Picasa Web Albums!

+
(Aug.4/07 - Post Updated: Steps to map photos has been updated - Thanks to comment posters Max and Joni for pointing this out)
Want to share the geo-location of where your photos were taken? Picasa Web Albums now allows you to show family and friends where in the world photos in your album were photographed! If you don't already use Picasa or Picasa Web Albums, check things out here. If you're already a user follow these steps to map your pictures:

• Start by visiting Picasa Web Albums and login with your Google account.
• Build a new album and begin adding photos
• When you have finished adding photos go to the album and click the "Map Photos" button
• Your photos appear in the left margin. Simply drag your photos to the location they were taken (zoom in for better accuracy)
• When you are done, you can go back into the photo itself and correct the location by clicking "Edit Location"
• The above steps may be different for older web albums that already exist
  

Now when you view the album a "View Map" button appears. When you click on it a full size Google Map appears showing all your photos. Here is a photo map I created showing photos I've taken in various locations around the world:


There's a nice feature in map view that lets you "play" a tour of the photos, hopping between each location. This would make a nice tourist info-center slideshow (showing pictures of the area) or tradeshow display on a large plasma screen (to show projects your company has done). Each photo also contains an inset map that indicates where that particular photo was taken. Now you can display your photos on a Google Map easily! Picasa Web Albums is also now announcing a way to view your albums on a mobile device!

Official Google Blog Post announcing this mapping feature:
Put your photos on a map, and Picasa on your phone

[Thanks to Martin Kleppe and Reto Meier for the tip as well!]

Other ways to "Google map" your photos:

Panoramio - Share your best photos through the Panoramio community. Panoramio is a photo sharing site that Google is planning to acquire. While Picasa will let you share your personal photos with family and friends Panoramio will make your photos discoverable through the web and on Google Earth by millions from around the world!

Google My Maps - Google Maps contains a nifty feature called My Maps that lets you create and annotate your own map with a few clicks and without any knowledge of code or programming. Include photos from Picasa Web Albums (or elsewhere) and plot other locations that may not have a photo associated.

Have fun mapping your photos.. I'll warn you.. it's addictive! :)
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(Near) Real-time cloud imagery on Google Maps!

Sterling Udell, creator of the DayLightMap Google Maps tool (which lets you see a world day/night view of the earth) has added a VERY cool new feature.. "Near Real-time" NASA cloud imagery! Take a look:

The images are obtained from NASA and are up to date within the last 6 hours. You can also take a look at the timestamp for the cloud imagery! Pretty nifty! :) Sterling has more info about the imagery on the left side of the page. Be sure to also check out his really amazing "World city lights at night" map which shows a satellite image of the world's city lights taken from space!

(This also would make a great Mapplet!)

Google Maps Apple iPhone Mashup

+ = iPhone.Findnearby

Millions are anticipating the launch of the Apple iPhone on June 29th. As excitement builds a new Google Maps mashup and tool has emerged to help you get your hands on one of these new devices on launch day or in the weeks following:
http://iPhone.Findnearby.Net/:

..It combines Google Maps with the locations of where the iPhone will be available including (US) AT&T and Apple stores and relevant eBay and Craigslist listings. Search by an up to 200 mile radius from a given location or by US zip code and sort the results by price, time and distance.

Be sure to also check out the Apple TV ad for Google Maps on the iPhone!

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Technorati Tag: iPhone

Google Maps Mania links for 2007-06-27

GeoWalk is awesome with Adobe Flex3 (Try it out)!

Harald Kotte from Germany has dropped me a line to let us know that he has created a new version of his great Google Maps travel and exploration mashup (See previous version of GeoWalk). If you're a long time reader you've heard me mention various updates that Harald has made but the new UI using Adobe Flex3 will blow you away. Flex3 enables a virtual desktop where you can control the map using various widgets. Geowalk lets you do things like search for a geo-location, map airports, UNESCO World Heritage Sites and lots more. This mashup will keep you playing with it for a while as you discover new controls and mashup options. Nice work Harald!

Pictures of in-flight Google Maps on JetBlue Airways - Back on June 7th I posted about the Google - JetBlue partnership that will see Google Maps as the in-flight map on personal tv screens in-flight. Google Blogoscoped has the scoop on some of the first pictures taken of this implementation by Jeff Greco. Looks nifty! I can't wait for some other airlines to start adopting this (Hope you're reading this Air Canada!) :)

• Google Maps Street View Real Estate Mashup
• The MyMapsPlus "Big Map" - Showing locations of My Maps around the world
• Scuba Dive Log Maps Mashup - Upload your dive logs, GPX, Flickr pics or YouTube vids.
• Google Maps Wind Assessment Tool
• Rivers of the World Map - Map will only show up once you've drilled right down to the river name itself.. [Via ProgrammableWeb]
• Google Maps mixed with YouTube - LA Times (June 24/07)
• Find a Dance Class (UK, Canada, US)
  

Sky News (UK) using Google Maps to show Yorkshire UK Flooding

[Via Press Gazette]


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10 great new Google Maps mashups from Canada!

Toronto: TTC + Pubs + Parking:

AllTorontoPubs is a Google Maps mashup that plots the locations of 470+ pubs, bars and clubs in the Toronto area, as well as TTC stops and Green P Parking lots nearby. Great for a tourist to the city or for folks looking to meet up with friends near a subway stop for a pint!

Toronto: Taxi Fare Finder - Mike DeGraw-Bertsch has extended his Google Maps Taxi Fare Finder tool to Toronto! Simply enter your start and end address (or select popular hotspots) and an approximate taxi fare is calculated for you. Based on a friend yesterday who took a cab from the airport to a downtown location the calculation was pretty close!

Canada: CBC News Google Map of Canadian casualties around Kandahar, Afghanistan - This Google Map created by the CBC plots the locations of bombings and other attacks that have killed Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. John Bowman from the CBC writes: "..The locations are approximate, based on the information given to us by the Dept. of National Defence and from media reports. For example, the latest casualty occurred "about 40 km north of Kandahar" as the soldier's convoy was driving to a base in Khakrez, according to the DND news release. So, using Google Earth and various online mapping tools, I found a point on the road to Khakrez about 40 km away of Kandahar. For security reasons, DND won't give any more detailed information, so it's the best we can do."

Toronto: Live Toronto Traffic Map - Toronto.com has implemented a nice live traffic map for the city. Choose an area and Collisions, Construction, Closures, Delays and Incidents are mapped for you.

Waterloo Region: Construction Congestion Map - Hats off to TheRecord.com for making use of Google Maps to help folks in Waterloo Region avoid traffic this summer! Click the worker icons to get a closeup street map and details of the construction.

Toronto: Doors Open Toronto - Here is a mashup created by The Toronto Star to showcase those historic locations in Toronto that participated in "Doors Open", an open house for historic buildings. Each point on the map features a great overview of that structure. [via]

Vancouver: EatVancouver Google My Map - An excellent Google My Map which marries food reviews with Google Maps! Check out the Eat Vancouver Blog to see where the posts originate!

Vancouver: 2010 Winter Olympics Venue Map
Vancouver: Map of 14 Key Hotels

Canada: House Proud - Use this Google Maps tool to document your home our neighborhood so upgrades are done in the right style of the home. Read this to learn more.

Hamilton: Over a Hundred Places of Interest

Ted Nye has created a Google My Maps mashup that combines two KMLs directly from MyMaps. It covers "Over a Hundred Places of Interest" in the great city of Hamilton, Ontario. View main city highlights, Schools, Stores and even import the URL of your own Google My Map to overlay onto the map.

StartupNorth.ca gives MyHood some love..

Click on the Canada label below for more recent Google Maps mashups from Canada!

Mapping the world's mood with Google Maps!

Stanley Fok is attempting to map the world's current mood and he needs your help:

He's built the World Mood Map using Google Maps and all you need to do to contribute to this experiment is tell the map what color best describes your current mood and your current location. Enter a few lines describing your mood and name if you wish and your mood selection contributes to the overall "color of the world". Right now the world's feeling a bit purple with a moodmeter reading of 4.4 - Yesterday was a 8.0 at a firey shade of red. :) This is a fun and thought provoking mashup.. Could environmental, seasonal and social factors affect this reading? I think the sample size needs to increase just a bit before we start to draw any conclusions, so enter your mood now! :)

Google Maps + Digg = DiggMap

+ = DiggMap

The Digg Map:

I'm a big fan of real-time Google Maps mashups. A few of my favorites are Dave Troy's FlickrVision and TwitterVision. Each of these maps show you fresh new photos and Twitters being added in real-time and displayed for you by their location on a Google Map. Another Google Maps mashup has emerged courtesy of Alan Spark in this same category, displaying diggs from Digg.com to a live map! It combines the recently released Digg API, the Google Maps API and Google AJAX Search API to make this one mapping app called: The Digg Map. The map will center itself on the geo-location of a Digg user who is currently digging a particular story. It's a fun way to find new Digg stories and also to see what geographies "digg" what..

The TinTin Google Map

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Who better to have a Google Map of the places they have visited than the world famous cartoon comic book reporter known as TinTin?! The TinTin Movie Blog has created a simple Google Map to chronicle TinTin's world adventure on the TinTin Google Map. Here is a description from Chris, the map creator:
"..Ever wondered all the places Tintin went to? Or wondered where Herge based Syldavia on? Well find out now on the Tintin Map. It's not quite finished and I’ve only added a few books so far but the world is starting to fill up with the real and fictional
places Herge's Tintin visited on his adventures.. It uses the gMaps API and a MySql database so that visitors can add to and improve the maps locations."

Related Google Maps mashups:

• Book Maps Mashups: Part 1 & Part 2 - (category listing here..)
• TV Maps and Movie Maps

..Do you want to easily create a Google Map of places that you have visited? Use Google My Maps!

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Google Maps News for 2007-06-23

News..

Geocoding has recently launched in:

• Norway
• Denmark
• Finland
• Russia (for 24 cities)
• ..Back on May 8th geocoding was launched for Brazil, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Portugal

..This means you can now search for cities, towns and street addresses in these countries on Google Maps! Local business listings and a country specific domain name have also been added for:

Sweden - http://maps.google.se
Denmark - http://maps.google.dk (Check out Soren Johannessen's post about this..)

Other News:

Google acquires photo sharing Google Maps mashup Panoramio:

Google Maps Mania has long followed the introduction of Panoramio, the photo sharing site that lets you map your photos using both Google Maps and Google Earth. The Panoramio team is excited to announce that Google has acquired their company! Check out the blog post link above for all the details - And be sure to check out Panoramio!

New feature: Add your reviews to businesses on Google Maps - Do you love a certain pizza place or want to tell the world about a restaurant that makes a mean cheeseburger? Tell the world about it using a new feature on Google Maps - User business reviews. From the Google LatLong Blog: "..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."

Google Maps Tour Updated! - Take a look at the new tour on Google Maps to learn how to make use of all its features!

..Click the "Google Maps" label below for other recent Google Maps News!

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Google Map of San Francisco Solar Activity

San Francisco Solar Map:

The city of San Francisco has launched a Google Maps mashup today that plots the locations of solar installations and activity throughout the city. Map markers indicate if the solar installation is residential, commercial or municipal and unique installations are called out with an expanded case study for you to read more about. The map also allows you to enter your specific address to learn more about what solar power can do for you as a home or business owner based on the size of your roof and other factors.

Try out "11 Grove Street" for an example:

Roof Size: 5936 sq. ft.
Estimated solar PV potential: 7 - 15 kW
Estimated electricity produced: 12775 - 27375 KWh/yr
Estimated electricity savings: $1460-$3129 per year
Estimated carbon savings: 9530.15 - 20421.75 lbs per year

This fantastic maps mashup is a joint initiative between SFEnvironment and CH2MHill..

Coverage of this launch:
Google News results
Blogosphere: Technorati, Google Blog Search

[via]

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A New Zealand Google Maps Mashup Roundup

Bay of Islands Accommodation Map - Heading to the beautiful Bay of Islands region of New Zealand? If you're planning on visiting New Zealand, this area is not to be left off of your itinerary. When you go, use this Google Maps mashup to find accommodation.

Kim Walbridge of Air New Zealand commented on a post I made on Oct.31/06 titled: "Air New Zealand uses Google Maps on its website". She has this to say:

Some more info about Air New Zealand and Google Maps...

• Yes maps are also available as part of the airline's online booking system for customers in Australia, the UK and USA (and soon Hong Kong)
• As well as seeing individual flights displayed on Google Maps, once you've selected both outbound and return flights, from the next page you can access a map showing the whole itinerary
• Another more recent use of Google Maps on the Air NZ website is a locator for its retail stores

New Kiwi sites making use of Google Maps:

• Zenbu - New local New Zealand search engine (see "Maps" tab)
• MenuMania - Maps locations of restaurants (Example)
• Taranaki Wiki - Uses Google Maps to plot points of interest & locations in the Taranaki Region

From the Blogosphere: Jithen Singh is excited about New Zealand driving directions while Chris Noble shares some cool New Zealand sights found on Google Maps!

Do you know of other great New Zealand Google Maps mashups that haven't been mentioned on Google Maps Mania? Please post a comment to let others know!

To see recent New Zealand themed posts, click the "New Zealand" label below!

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9 new US Google Maps mashups and tools!

MoreMap is a mega maps mashup! - Lets you perform Package Tracking, check Weather, track Earthquakes, view Traffic, find Movies, Banks, and Radio Stations on a Google Map. There are a few other cool features from within the UI including printing and map enlargement. I've been in touch with Adam Richman for several months as he has been hard at work creating the site and I know a lot of time has gone into making this a good user experience. Nice work Adam! (This would make a great Mapplet!)

Gas-Cost Map Tool - Enter your car's gas mileage and where you are going and it gives your gas cost and directions, using the latest gasoline prices... on a Google Map! (This would make a great Mapplet!)

New Luxury Real Estate Mashups:
LuxurySiliconValley.com
LuxuryMonterey.com
LuxuryNorthBay.com
From the creator of these sites: "The goal of the application is to provide easy access to the limited inventory of luxury properties in a specific market (vs. our standard map-based MLS search product which gives access to all for sale properties) with intuitive, classy user interface. Property hotspots can be clicked-through to the respective brokerage's site for complete details. The maps are full screen, kiosk ready, and utilize social bookmarking, viral marketing via email tools and an industry unique feature of RSS notification of just listed properties in a given map extent. While others, like Trulia provide RSS feeds of a new listings per city, I am not aware of any other real estate site, which provides RSS feed of matching properties within a specific map boundary."

More Google Maps Mashups from ProgrammableWeb.com:

The Smartest American Cities
Long Island Vineyards Map
Where a Bill becomes a Law
Motel6.com Attractions Finder Mashup

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Google Maps Mania links for 2007-06-19

• MyMapps Mashup - Photos, videos, news, Wikipedia articles, flight deals, hotels, events, Yahoo! answers listings, Yahoo! local listings, real estate, weather, and traffic reports... for each point on the map. Lots of viewing options..
• iPernity - Share blog, photos, videos, audio
• Momenty.com - Tracking memories on a map
• Angling Atlas - Find fishing charters from around the world
• GoogleSightseeing.com: Street Fight
• GoogleSightseeing.com: Angelina Jolie’s Geocache Tattoo
• GoogleSightseeing.com: Knot's Landing
• GoogleSightseeing.com: The Solar Project
• Mibazaar.com new: Top 100 Most Powerful and Best Paid Celebrities and One Hit Wonders
• New from ProgrammableWeb's Google Maps API Category:
• YouTube Slideshow - An interesting YouTube API + Google Maps API implementation to view and search for YouTube videos. Search by tag then move around a tiled "map" of thumbnail images.
• Windows Vista Google Maps eBay Sidebar Gadget/Mashup
• Cricket World Map: Highest Test Scores - From GeoMapsInfo (9 other cool mashups here)
• Ip-Adress - Get an ip and trace visitors, readers, spammers and servers.
• Getting Google's Street Views (BusinessWeek - Jun.19/07)
• Nestoria used as an example of Google Maps API (e-Consultancy.com Jun.12/07)

A Google Maps Mashup Showcase

Here is a cool montage of Google Maps mashups that was compiled for the recent Where 2.0 Conference and Google Developer Day. The video features lots of cool mashups in action: Take a look:

See your mashup in this video? If so, post a comment with the URL! :)

Other cool new videos:
Google Developer Day Spain
Google Developer Day (worldwide) video

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Google Maps Creation Tools - Part 16

Google Maps API:

Lots of cool new things to add to your Google Maps mashup, compliments of the Google Maps API team!

Add Google Maps Local Business Search to your Google Maps mashup

Want to add a new data source to your mashup? Google has added a way for you add Google Maps local business results to your API site. Link through to this post over the Google Maps API Blog for more details. This is a great way to add more value to your Google Maps mashup, especially if you're focused on things like tourism or sporting venues. This will work for countries that support local business search on Google Maps.

Add US traffic to your Google Maps mashup


DragZoomControl v1.0 = Easier zooming! - This is a great zoom control method.. go through to this post and try it out!

Geocoding now available in Brazil, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic

Google Mapplets

Back on May 31st I introduced you to "Mapplets". Mapplets are compact versions of a Google Maps mashup or tool that will can be available to users on the web right within Google Maps itself. At this stage Mapplets are only available for use by visiting this special preview URL:
http://maps.google.com/preview
..Eventually Google Maps will make these Mapplets widely available for use so millions of users will be able to choose from a gallery of Mapplets to add one or many to their Google Maps view. Don't want to be left out when Mapplets get switched on? Take a look at this fantastic post by Pamela Fox over on the Google Maps API Blog that will help you turn your mashup into a Google Mapplet:
Got a Maps Mashup? Make it a Mapplet!
To take a look at the Mapplets which have already been created - Check here..

Other Links:

• Developer Day Maps API + KML Recap - If you're a Google Maps API developer or interested in starting to create a Maps API site, Mapplet or Google My Map, be sure to take a look at this post on the Google Maps API Blog that will point you to all relevant talks that were held at the recent Google Developer Day from all world cities.
• How-To: Mapping Blogger using geo:lat and geo:long - Enables Blogger posts tagged with geo:lat and geo:long values to be tracked on a Google Map. See this example..
• How-To: Use KDE's DCOP communications to build applications that use Google Maps - A Google Maps hack that can be used on Linux
• Pamela Fox Talks About Google Maps - Google Blogoscoped (Jun.12/07)

The decadent urban Google Maps travel guide

Gridskipper is known as Gawker Media's "decadent urban travel guide" and with their recent redesign which heavily incorporates Google Maps, I'm now calling it the "decadent urban Google Maps travel guide"! Head over to Gridskipper and check out the blog-style posts that line the page and notice the prominent Google Map thumbnail image indicating that a map exists for that post. Click on it and you enter a unique reading and exploring experience with Google Maps helping you to locate the places mentioned in that particular post. In addition to Google Maps you can also view the maps in Google Earth.

Gridskipper has long covered Google Maps related items in their global city travel posts, and I've even been known to contribute to this great travel blog from time to time. Gridskipper has recently quintupled their stable of international contributors, bringing new particular focus to the cities of Berlin, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco, and Sydney. If you're interested check out this overview of the new Gridskipper design and a few examples of the new design in action: Where to get dumplings in New York or Where to eat French food in London.

WashingtonPost.com Google Maps Local Explorer

The WashingtonPost.com Local Explorer is a great new community guide powered by Google Maps which covers the Washington, D.C., area and various Maryland and Virginia communities. Mashed up on the map are recent area home sales, crime incidents and schools. You can also map fire and police stations, restaurants, bars, hospitals, movie theaters and more. It also has facts and figures, local news, classifieds and upcoming events within a great user interface!

WashingtonPost.com has long been an innovator of Google Maps applications. Past projects include: Faces of the Fallen and Clinton's Golden Voice, as well as the Washington Post's subway tabloid-daily Express which produces "MetroLinks" (very similar to Local Explorer).

Google Maps Mania links for 2007-06-13

• Wild Sanctuary Sound Map - More info here [via]
• Animated Las Vegas Street View - One more here for New York
• Address #1 + Address #2 = Mezzoman "Meet-In-The-Middle" Tool!
• GoogleSightseeing Forums go live - Post your interesting Google Maps Street View sightings!
• Google Maps + Indian Idol
• Trulia raises $10m in funding (e-Consultancy)
• Google Experimental: Maps View Adds Geo Context To Searches (WIRED Blog)
• Ixtapa, Mexico Hotel Map - This is the town that was in the final scene of "The Shawshank Redemtion"
• Web pioneer Holovaty goes solo (MediaNation Blog)> - Read why on Adrian's blog post.. - For note Adrian Holovaty created one of the first Google Maps mashups - ChicagoCrime.org
  
• Speedgeeking - best Aussie mashups (Google Australia Blog)
• South Florida Sentinel: Map of Florida boating accidents - Writes Jeremy Milarsky of the Sun-Sentinel: "we now have public information available to the public, rather than sitting in a government computer and gathering cyber-dust."
• NBC 8 Grand Rapids: Search West Michigan - Maps local events and businesses. More info here..
• Albany Times Union: Your Town - Mapping news, businesses and events
• Rochester Crime Mashup - Review crimes by date and type on a Google Map.
• Michigan Webcam Map - Also see: Detroit Golf Weather Map
• US Nanotechnology Map [via]

Big Google Maps Satellite Imagery Update!

New imagery for Hong Kong..

It's taken a few days but the satellite imagery updates that were posted to the Google Earth Community on June 2nd now seem to be fully available for viewing now in Google Maps! Here is the list taken from that post. To check out the new imagery in these locations, copy and paste the names below into a Google Maps search to find the place and see the update!

New high resolution imagery for these locations:

Canada: Whistler, BC; Kitchener-Waterloo & Toronto, Ontario; Nanaimo, BC; and Fort Saskatchewan, AB
England: Base 50cm coverage of nearly entire country
Germany: Cities/Regions of Greifswald, Trier, Köln, Stuttgart, Bonn, Oldenburg, Rostock, Saarbrücken, Hamburg, Hannover, and Ritterhude
Austria: Villach region
France: Cities of Caen, Dijon, Metz, St Etienne, Toulouse and Rouen
Spain: Catalonia and Valencia
Andorra
Areas of the United States: Imperial County (CA); Yellowstone National Park (WY);
Galveston/Houston (TX); Peterborough (NH); Cheyenne (WY); Burke, Wake, and Cabarrus Counties (NC); Racine and Kenosha Counties (WI); Washington, DC; St Paul (MN); and the State of Alabama
Japan: City/Regions of Kochi, Asahikawa, Koriyama, Miyazaki, Nagano, Utsunomiya, Akita, and Toyama

Large Digital Globe (60cm) update

..Includes areas in Sudan, expanded Africa, Australia, Mexico coverage and smaller areas of coverage in Asia, Polynesia, South America, Canada, Europe, Middle East plus some interesting islands in Antarctica and Greenland Updated Imagery:

Americas: Bogotá, Columbia; Mission Viejo (CA, US); Hillsborough County (FL, US) EU: Dublin, Ireland Middle East/Africa: Beirut, Lebanon and Tripoli, Libya Asia: Hong Kong and Manila, Philippines

GoogleSightSeeing.com is already tracking great new sights found within this imagery!

[Thanks to Frank Taylor at the Google Earth Blog for the tip on this update!]

Sweden - How to use Google Maps as a Tourist Agency

(post by Robert de Heer)

VisitSweden.com - Thinking of visiting Sweden this summer? The most easy way to find more info on this country, is using the country-website VisitSweden.com. Like many other country-websites, also this one has had a map-application online. Recently, Margareta Björnberg and Tommy Sollén of VisitSweden.com decided to change their current paid-for map-provider for the free Google Maps-solution. Not just because of pricing, but also because of what you all can do with Google Maps, and not with other providers. They have now implemented many points-of-interest, in an easy clickable way to use. This is how all Tourist Agencies should use their website to allow visitors to quickly see, what all can be done in a country.

Watch 2 transit systems live on Google Maps (Finland & USA)

Live Real-time Helsinki Public Transport Map:

Long time readers of Google Maps Mania will know that I get pretty excited when I see Google Maps mashups showing the real-time GPS-equipped locations of things like trains.. or people. This next mashup takes the locations of buses and trams in the Helsinki City transport network and plots their real-time location to a Google Map for you to watch, live! Click on the vehicle and and the info-window gives you the option to show the route this it's traveling, plot the stops and also center the map on that bus/tram as it makes its way around the city. Watch the times to each stop as well. It's an invaluable tool to Helsinkians or tourists, as well as fun and addictive to watch for the rest of us! Very nicely done! [Via Digg]

UCSD Bus Map - Tom Trottier dropped me a line with the link to this Google Map which plots the location of a UCSD (University of California, San Diego) shuttle bus winding its way around the campus there. Writes Tom: "When my son asked me to look it up, I saw the bus being pulled off and sent to a maintenance garage, where it winked out when they turned the GPS off." Click the bus and the map centers on it to move along as it drives. Info includes the exact time (to the second) when the location was last updated, the heading it's on and a nice meter that shows the percentage of the bus that's currently full of passengers. This looks to be a pilot project by a company called Syncromatics..

DartMaps in Dublin, Ireland is another fantastic example of a live transit map (and was one of the first)..

Recent and related to transit:

• Google Maps adds transit data for dozens of cities worldwide! - Google Maps Mania, June 7/07
• Google Transit Planner - Recently updated to include San Diego & Reno (USA) and Japan (All regional and national rail networks, domestic airlines and ferries)

• Google Transit Data Feed Project - Open Source Software project aimed to gather open source tools which generate transit data in the Google Transit data feed format from existing transit industry data formats.
• New user-created transit Google Maps mashups from: Moscow, New Jersey, Los Angeles --> More transit mashups here..

All Germans speak German, or do they?

(post by Robert de Heer)

All Germans speak the same German, or do they? Well, not according to this site called Diwa.info. They have collected and recorded many dozens of audiofiles of Germans speaking German in a certain region of Germany. When plotted on a Google Map (the original file is a Google Earth file) you will see many icons spread all over the country, you can click on. Try it out, and you will hear what German sounds like when someone from Berlin speaks it, or someone from Munich. For more info, check also here.

6 Ways to Find Cool Google Maps Street Views

Update: GoogleSightseeing.com launches forums - check the comments for more sites!

When Google Maps was first released, a huge amount of interest was generated by new satellite photos available for viewing throughout the world. The "I can see my house from here" effect took hold as everyone used Google Maps for the first time. Sites like GoogleSightseeing.com and others emerged as a place to keep track of all of these interesting sights as a blog/index to tune into. In fact, GoogleSightseeing was the first ever site covered here on Google Maps Mania back on April 13th, 2005!

The new Street View addition to Google Maps is giving rise to a new form of Google Maps sightseeing as Google Maps users start to cover new ground and virtually explore Street View cities (New York, Miami, San Francisco Bay Area, Las Vegas and Denver). Check out my post last week about Google Maps Street View if you missed it. Blogs are starting to post interesting sights and established Google Maps sightseeing sites are also revealing plans to keep track of these interesting sites. Sit back and watch this new area of web mapping evolve and take a look at the links I've been able to find thus far which are aiming to track cool new street view sites here in the early days. These come in the form of blogs, Google Gadgets, indexes and news sites:

6 Ways to Find Cool Google Maps Street Views:

1. Geo-Trotter - Stéphane Clérice of Geo-Trotter is blogging about cool new street views with interesting posts and fun pictures. Currently only in French but you can translate or just click the images!

2. StreetViewr.com - This site has emerged as a way to index new street views in raw, text format. See an interesting street view? Submit it here or just peruse the list and look for interesting descriptions. Examples: "Hey dude - high five!" or "Love is the answer - but what is the question?"

3. iGoogle "Street View Of the Day" Gadget - Keir Clarke of the Virtual Tourism Blog is helping you keep up with cool Google Maps Street Views by both syndicating and helping you to syndicate this new street-level imagery. Keir has created a great new Google Gadget that displays one cool Google Maps street view per day. Put it on your iGoogle homepage and have fun checking out the new sights! Also be sure to take a look through Keir's recent entries on Virtual Tourism to learn how to embed Google Maps street views in an iframe on your blog or webpage. Here it is in action with some views of San Francisco:


...More Nice Views from Virtual Tourism:
Collection of street views for the Apple fans
Five Popular US streets

4. GoogleSightseeing.com - The grand-daddy of Google Maps sightseeing sites has plans of its own to include neat street views. For now, let this post quench your Street View thirst and watch for the Turnbull brothers to release a forum in the next day or so where you'll be able to post your cool Street Views.. Interesting views will make it to the front of the GS Blog. Update: Forums are now live!

5. Street View Fun - This is a fantastic site that is indexing new Google Maps Street Views and giving you the chance to vote on them. By the looks of the number of votes this site is just starting out but looks like it should be a nice home to cool new Google Maps Street Views.

6. LaudonTech's Gallery - LaudonTech is posting cool new images via email submission and listed for your review.

7. Blogs and Social Bookmarking sites - Blogs, News sites and Social Bookmarking sites will always be places where you'll find interesting new images, tools to mash up Google Maps Street Views and news pertaining to this new imagery. Here are some recent finds:

• Mashable Blog: Top 15 Street View Sightings
• Some funny and just plain weird Google street view images
• C|Net's Daniel Terdiman wants to see your interesting images!
• Hacking Google Street View
• Google Street View Scraper
• Search: Digg, Del.icio.us, Technorati, YouTube

Do you know of another site that is tracking new Google Maps Street Views? If so, post a comment! Be sure to take a look at the comments section for new sites!
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Technorati Tags: "Street View", "Google Maps"