Google Maps

November 14, 2009

Saturday, November 14, 2009 4:13 PM/EST

Switzerland Drops Legal Hammer on Google Street View

Switzerland is suing Google over its Street View feature in Google Maps, which provides 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic street-level views of 100-plus cities all over the world.

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November 12, 2009

Thursday, November 12, 2009 12:22 PM/EST

Google Adds Flu Shot Finder to Google Maps

Following its roll out of Google Flu Trends to 20 countries, Google this week added a U.S.-centric "flu-shot finder" in conjunction with the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services (HHS). The site actually tracks seasonal flu shots and H1N1 (swine flu) virus shots. Both are in scarce supply.

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October 30, 2009

Friday, October 30, 2009 5:30 AM/EST

Google Maps Makes Finding Real Estate Listings Easier

Google Maps just got more useful and more layers for real estate. Instead of specifying a real estate search, you can now select the "real estate" option from the 'More' button on the top right of any Google Map and you'll automatically sees balloons on the maps of listings, as well as a pop-up real estate refinement panel on the left.

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October 28, 2009

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:34 AM/EST

Google Maps GPS For Android 2.0 Apes iPhone 3GS GPS

Google today launched Google Maps Navigation, a Web-based GPS with a number of bells and whistles, including voice search, traffic pattern tracking, satellite and Street View overlays, and more goodies to combat Apple's iPhone.

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October 26, 2009

Monday, October 26, 2009 12:01 AM/EST

Google Maps' Biggest Little Refresh for Map, Hybrid Styles

The Google Maps team rolled out dozens of aesthetic refinements to the look and feel of the maps, proclaiming the biggest such changes since it launched 4.7 years ago. Disambiguation between topographical components leads to better usability, which will keep Maps users from going elsewhere and could even bring more Maps users to the fold via word of mouth.

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October 17, 2009

Saturday, October 17, 2009 7:04 AM/EST

Google Now Crowdsourcing Street View with a Trike

Google is letting users suggest parks, college campuses, malls, zoos, landmarks and other points of interest that aren't accessible via the Google Street View car. For me, the it factor is not the trike approach, but the fact that Google is again appealing to users to help it augment its mapping application.

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September 25, 2009

Friday, September 25, 2009 9:14 AM/EST

Google Maps Aims for Stickiness with Place Pages

With its new Place Pages, Google is taking steps to make the application more of a destination where users will spend more time searching for not only directions to places, but for more information about those destinations.

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August 28, 2009

Friday, August 28, 2009 9:34 AM/EST

Google Street View Now Uses a 3-D Marker to Point Out Businesses

Google has also given its great Street View application a lift by making it easier for smartphone users to find local businesses. This is the future of search for local businesses and it is very empowering. If Google keeps these Google Maps upgrades up, it won't be long before people are eschewing Yahoo or Microsoft local business searches from their mobile phones.

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August 25, 2009

Tuesday, August 25, 2009 3:19 PM/EST

Google Maps Now Shows Live Traffic Reports for Back Roads

Google has rolled out live traffic conditions on back roads for some cities. Those who use Google Maps for Mobile with GPS enabled on their phones can warn fellow travelers when traffic is too heavy, just by having the Google Maps for Mobile app launched on their smartphones. I applaud this effort from Google because I believe crowdsourcing is an important practice in propping up almost any kind of Web application.

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August 10, 2009

Monday, August 10, 2009 6:09 PM/EST

How to Make a Google Map for Your Website

Google continues to impress me with its innovation ramping in Google Maps. Today, the company aggregated the information Website and blog owners need to add a Google Map to their Websites. This is a welcome overture from Google toward being more transparent. It will also help hold the hands of users who might be a little stumped as to how to add Google maps to Websites.

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