Google has been able to offer basic directions to users of their map service for quite some time, just like what most other map services out there offer. All you do is enter in your starting and ending destinations and then Google calculates the fastest route. It's always been a pretty quick process, but Google wanted to make it even faster and better than some of their competitors.
If you visit Google today, you'll notice the usual logo has been replaced with the one you see pictured to the right. It's Google's 9th Birthday, and they're celebrating! While there are actually several dates that could be considered Google's birthday, clearly they acknowledge today, September 27th as their official birthday, the day that they became incorporated and their name was officially Google inc.
I find myself frequently mapping sites to figure out how to get from point A to point B, and today I've got an extension that will speed up the process even more. The extension is called Minimap Sidebar Extension, and it's entire purpose is make viewing a map an unobtrusive and efficient process.
Finally! Google now lets you embed Google Maps into your own site, and even customize various aspects of them! The way they implemented it isn’t extremely technical...they just use an embeddable frame for you to put on your site. So you’re essentially serving up another website inside your own site.
If you live in a big city, you know that getting from point A to point B usually involves lots of cars, honking, and stop and go traffic which can add time to your trip. When you get directions from Google Maps, they conveniently tell you how many miles the trip is, and about how long it will take. The problem though, is that the estimated time really does you no good in the city.
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty excited for the release of the movie “Bourne Ultimatum.” It’s top on my list of “must-see” movies for this Summer, and if you’re as excited as I am, you’ll probably be interested in “The Ultimate Search for Bourne with Google.” Universal Studios and Google have teamed up to promote the movie and prizes are involved!
Remember in May when we wrote about Google’s new Mapplets? The developer preview is over and it’s now live! Mapplets are mini-webpages served inside an IFrame within Google Maps that allows users to create their own mapping mash-ups. According to Google, ever since the official Google Maps API was released in June 2005, over 50,000 Mashups have been created.
I just went over to the Google Maps page and noticed a new feature that said "" Curiosity got the best of me so I decided to try it out to see what it did, and after creating a route I noticed that I can make Google Maps go the way I want it to when giving directions. Check it out in this very quick video that I put together:
Google has stepped outside (literally) with Google Maps by giving you a Street View of a few cities. It is actually pretty cool, and from the looks of it they must have mounted several cameras on top of a vehicle in a 360 degree fashion. Then as they drove along they snapped high-quality images to use with Google Maps. This is the result:
