Google Maps Updates

[M.J.Sadiq]

Already posted by madhan bro with same title..

https://onlytech.com/community/threads/google-maps-news-updates.8200/

 

[mmadhankumar]

Google said Tuesday it began integrating into its online maps features from the Waze traffic app it acquired earlier this year in a deal said to be worth some $1 billion.
"No one likes getting stuck in traffic. That's why the Waze and Google Maps teams are working together to harness the power of Google technology and the passion of the Waze community to make it easier to navigate your daily life," said the tech giant's Brian McClendon in a blog post.

"Users of Google Maps for Mobile will now benefit from real time incident reports from Waze users," he added.

McClendon said "Wazers" reports on accidents, construction, road closures and other issues will appear on the Google Maps app for Android and iOS in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, Britain and the US.

In June, Google announced plans to buy the crowd-sourced map app Waze, which was launched in Israel to help users of Apple and Android smartphones.

In addition, the Waze Map Editor now includes Google Street View and satellite imagery to make it easier to correct map errors reported.

"We've incorporated the power of Google Search to the mix," a Waze blog post said.

"Google Search joins a host of other search providers featured on Waze, from Foursquare to Yelp, making it easy to find favorite businesses, home addresses and more."

Google's upgrade of its maps comes as it ramps up efforts against Apple and other rivals to be at the heart of mobile Internet lifestyles, particularly when it comes to providing advertising or services relevant to where people are at any moment.

Satellite tracking technology commonly built into smart phones lets Waze automatically measure traffic flow while simultaneously verifying or modifying public street information in its database.

Drivers can upload comments, along with pictures, from along their routes to alert fellow "Wazers" to anything from accidents or detours, to a favorite place to grab a cup of coffee. Waze also provides users with turn-by-turn directions.


Google Maps for iOS and Android now feature Waze traffic reports | NDTV Gadgets

 

[mmadhankumar]

Google has reportedly made its redesigned Maps embeddable in websites.

The search giant has added a feature for users to embed maps featuring the overhauled design that it debuted back in May.

According to The Verge, the new Google Maps were apt for searching and browsing when it was first launched in beta, but missed a number of features and easy shortcuts that have since been added in.

The embedded versions of the new Google Maps will largely function similar as the full website and will remember past searches and display ads.

Google said that it will be soon rolling out the ads feature, based on the past location searches and interests and show them in different colour.

The report added that the existing map embeds will still display in the old Maps style.


Google makes redesigned Maps embeddable in websites - Sci/Tech - DNA

 

[superdudebuddy]

Google launches indoor maps for 75 locations in India


SUMMARY

The maps will carry detailed floor plans of popular buildings and public spaces





You will never again get lost in a mall. Yes, the reigning diety of lost souls, Google Maps, has launched indoor maps for malls, supermarket and movie theatres in India.


From March 5, there will be as many as 75 popular indoor venues in India listed on Google Maps. The maps will carry detailed floor plans and will automatically appear when you’re using the Google Maps app on iOS and Android, and are zoomed in on a building for which the indoor map data is available.

In Delhi, Google’s Indoor Maps will initially be available at Ansal Plaza, Khel Gaon, Ambience Mall Vasant Kunj, DLF Emporio Mall, Vasant Kunj, DLF Place Saket, DLF Promenade Mall, MGF Metropolitan Saket, MGF Square City, Pacific Mall (Tagore garden), Select City Walk Saket and National Gallery Of Modern Art. Other locations are spread across 22 Indian cities including Delhi – NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Coimbatore and Ahmedabad.


Companies and businesses can get themselves listed here — maps.google.com/floorplans.





http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/technology-others/google-launches-indoor-maps-for-75-locations/

 

[mmadhankumar]

Tired after a hectic round of shopping on a lazy day or client meeting outside office and now want to have a quick nap on way? 'Google Naps' would help users find such a 'sleeping' spot. It lists the "the world's cosiest and coolest places to take a well-deserved nap."
Created by a group of Dutch developers, the Google Naps facility gives users choices like open fields, beds and benches in the park outside office or home.

The parody map, called 'Google Naps', uses Google Maps and its Pegman to plot good 'dozing' spots.

Here is how users are meant to find a 'nap' spot. To view a napping spot, click the Pegman.

A pop-up box would tell why the location is a good place for dozing off. Fields are indicated by a Pegman lying on a green rectangle.

Benches are depicted by a Pegman sat on a seat, while a Pegman under the covers indicates the napping spot that features a bed.

Anyone can add a napping spot by clicking on the location and filling in the required details, said media reports.

One such 'nap' spot has even plotted in the Atlantic Ocean aboard a boat!

The parody site is created by Amsterdam-based creative agency Venour.

"Whenever you are in the Netherlands, have a nap on our couch if you want," the letter read.

What's more, the creators have written an open letter to Google, saying:

"Dear Sergey & Larry (and other Googlers)

Hello, please don't be mad this is just a joke, a parody. We don't mean to damage your brand or anything, we just want to bring a smile on the faces of Google fans. So please don't take this to court, we only have a few hundred Euros in the bank. And we also don't want to go to jail because we're too busy with other things at the moment. But whenever you are in the Netherlands you can have a nap on our couch if you want, just e-mail us: [email protected]. We can also make coffee and bake eggs if you like that (for a small price)."


Google Naps, a Google Maps parody that helps users find nap spots | NDTV Gadgets

 

[Karan rocks]

THIS NEW SATELLITE WILL MAKE GOOGLE MAPS MUCH BETTER​

DIGITALGLOBE'S NEW SATELLITE WILL LET ANY PRIVATE BUYER PURCHASE IMAGES​

SO SHARP, THEY CAN IDENTIFY INDIVIDUAL TREES AND CARS ON THE GROUND.​

A few months ago, the Commerce Department made a small change that has big ramifications for Google Maps, private industry, and privacy advocates. Regulators gave a satellite company called DigitalGlobe permission to sell imagery with 25 cm resolution to private third parties like Google. This Wednesday, DigitalGlobe launched their new WorldView-3 satellite, which six months from now will let any private buyer purchase images that are almost twice as sharp as what Google Earth could obtain before--so sharp that the images can identify individual trees and cars on the ground.

In a telephone interview, DigitalGlobe CTO and founder Walter Scott told Fast Company that the new satellite, which launched from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, lets users view images at a 31 cm resolution from space. Customers can also request images up to 25 cm. Or, as he put it, “With that resolution you can see whether a vehicle is a sedan, convertible, minivan, SUV, or a delivery truck. You don’t just see if there’s a vehicle there, but if it’s the same one as before. You can read lettering painted onto the street, and even estimate the number of bathrooms or fireplaces on a house.”

DigitalGlobe’s biggest customer is the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, which works with both the Pentagon and spy agencies--but DigitalGlobe also serves a wide variety of private corporations the company refers to as “location-based customers,” primarily mapping firms like Google or Microsoft/Bing, as well as players in agriculture, forestry, energy, mining, and other private sectors. DigitalGlobe also licenses imagery to other departments of the United States government.

One of the satellite’s selling points as a profit generator--Reuters estimates that Wednesday's launch could unlock approximately $400 million in opportunities for the company--is that it takes pictures from space, on demand, for government and private sector clients on the ground. Through contractor Satellite Imaging Corporation, DigitalGlobe offers pictures of the ground within 24 hours of an order, promising “rush tasking orders for satellite image data around the world are accepted in support of live events, natural disasters, global security, and various other applications in which FAST delivery of image data is critical.” DigitalGlobe has previously offered this service through other imaging satellites they currently have in the sky. However, as mentioned, the new satellite offers significantly improved imagery.

If the new WorldView-3 satellite can identify individual cars on the ground, it's a safe bet that future commercial satellites will have sensors powerful enough to identify individual people on the ground. When that happens, it poses a potential privacy issue for mapmakers and the public--it's easy to blur faces of individuals on Google Street View, but blurring individuals out from satellite images poses entirely different future challenges.

Infographic explaining satellite's capabilities for potential customers | Click to expand​

For most of us, the new satellite will mean one major change: Over the coming months and years, Google Maps (and Bing Maps) will become much sharper in resolution. DigitalGlobe is Google’s biggest vendor of satellite imagery, and the WorldView-3 will lead to significantly improved image quality. Most of Google Maps consists of 70 cm imagery; photos from the WorldView-3, as they’re added to Google Maps, will make imagery much sharper.

However, the ultimate cash maker for the satellite firm--which contracted with Ball Aerospace to build the satellite itself, with the rocket being launched into space by Lockheed Martin--is in the very specialized cameras it can use on behalf of American and foreign government agencies and corporate buyers with the need to analyze large plots of land.

Kumar Navulur, DigitalGlobe’s director of next generation products (a real job title), told Fast Company that the new satellite can, for instance, produce imagery for agricultural buyers which can measure the moisture in a tree canopy, crop health, and soil composition. Alongside a camera, the satellite uses an infrared system developed by Exelis. The short-wave infrared systems have a powerful and lucrative secondary role: They allow the satellite to take images of the ground even when clouds or smoke are in the way.

DigitalGlobe also has a subsidiary called Tomnod which is a crowdsourcing program for digital imagery. The service is used to aid emergency efforts and was recently applied to California wildfires, flooding in the Sudan, and the Malaysian MH370 disaster. When disasters occur, the subsidiary gives interested amateurs access to free satellite imagery over the Internet to find anomalies that can help rescuers. Tomnod was acquired in 2013 as part of a spate of DigitalGlobe acquisitions-- another was a company called Spatial Energy which mainly serves multinational oil and gas companies.

As satellite imagery becomes more affordable and powerful--WorldView-3 is the sixth satellite DigitalGlobe has put in the sky--and geographic information systems become embedded in every industry from retail to landscape architecture, Google Maps and competitors like Bing Maps will become even more powerful. Meanwhile, the unknown factor in Google Maps’ future operations is Google’s own satellite company--California-based Skybox.

Google acquired Skybox for $500 million earlier this summer. Interestingly, the acquisition went through the day before DigitalGlobe publicly announced they had permission to sell higher-resolution images from the Commerce Department. It's not known whether the timing of Google's Skybox purchase had anything to do with the government allowing higher resolution satellite images for the commercial market. Despite speculation by some that Google would switch to primarily using Skybox, the new DigitalGlobe satellite (which has been in the works for years) is significantly more powerful than any of the satellites in Skybox’s constellation. Analysts believe a major factor in the Skybox acquisition was the company’s powerful geographic analytics engine rather than the satellites themselves. The new satellite means Google, despite having their own satellite company, are effectively locked into their competitor’s ecosystem for years to come.

In the meantime, get ready for your Bing and Google Map satellite imagery to get way less fuzzy in 2015.

This New Satellite Will Make Google Maps Much Better | Fast Company | Business + Innovation​

 

[mmadhankumar]

Google is adding Material Design features to all of its core app over the past few weeks and today it is updating Maps. Android and iPhone apps for Maps are getting a major overhaul along with few integrations and features.

The version 9.0 of Google Maps now feature bold colors and textures that enhances the overall look of the app. It also focuses on animations and brings maps closer to real locations.

“Over the next few days, when you open up Google Maps on your Android or iPhone, you’ll be greeted by bright colors and a fresh new design. This new look is all about creating surfaces and shadows that echo the real world; with Google Maps’ new material feel, layers and buttons come to life so you know just where to touch to get directions, recommendations and imagery.” posted Evelyn Kim, Google Maps UX Designer, in a company blog post.

In addition to a revamped look, Google’s popular Explore option is now seen at the bottom of a map for fast access of nearby local hot spots. These locations or point of interests are displayed with larger images in card style format. Moving on, Google Maps now gets Uber and OpenTable integration. In case of Uber, Maps will now show the estimated pick-up time and price for an Uber journey, versus the same journey by public transit. However, to get this info users will need to have the Uber app installed.

While OpenTable integration will enable users to reserve a table directly from within Google Maps. This functionality is available only in the US. Google said that new Maps is set to roll out over the next few days on Android and iPhone.


Google Maps for Android and iPhone updated with Material Design and more

 

[Dinesh jain]

very nice update bro

 

[mmadhankumar]

Survey of India on Saturday filed a complaint with police against Google Maps for alleged wrong depiction of India's international boundaries.
Dalanwala Police station in charge Anil Kumar Joshi said that the Survey of India, in its complaint, said that Google Maps is depicting India's international boundaries in a "wrong" manner, that is not justified.

Joshi said the Survey of India has sought police action in the matter.

After verification of the points raised by the Survey of India in the complaint, police will file an FIR, Joshi said.

Survey of India is country's national survey and mapping organisation under the department of Science and Technology.


Government Files Police Complaint Against Google Maps | NDTV Gadgets

 

[Sgokul Gp]

Gud share.