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Google Maps
Google Maps (for a time named Google Local) is a free web mapping service
application and technology provided by Google that powers many map-based
services including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder and embedded
maps on third-party websites via the Google Maps API. It offers street maps,
a route planner, and an urban business locator for numerous countries around
the world.
A related product is Google Earth, a standalone Mac, Windows and Linux
program that offers enhanced globe-viewing features.
Features
Google Maps features a map that can be navigated by dragging the mouse, or
using the mouse wheel to zoom in (mouse wheel up) or out (mouse wheel down)
to show detailed street information. Users may enter an address,
intersection or general area to quickly find it on the map.
Search results can be restricted to a certain area, thanks to Google Local.
For example, someone can enter a query such as "Waffles in Ottawa" to find
restaurants serving waffles near the city. This can be used to find a wide
variety of businesses, such as theatres, restaurants and hotels.
Like many other map services, Google Maps allows for the creation of driving
directions. It gives the user a step-by-step list of how to get to their
destination, along with an estimate of the time required to reach it and the
distance between the two locations. Since July 2007, it has been possible to
drag a point on the route to another location, adding a waypoint, and
instantly showing the revised route and length while dragging.
Google Maps offers four viewing modes by default: Map (topographic and
street map), Satellite (satellite and high-resolution aerial photographs),
Hybrid (Street maps overlaid on satellite and high-resolution aerial
photographs) and Street View, the feature introduced May 30, 2007 (ground
level 360 degree view of certain streets).
The "link to this page" link on each Google Maps map targets a URL which can
be used to find the location on the map at a later time. The latitude and
longitude can be used as input to NASA World Wind or TerraServer-USA, which
in some cases have higher-resolution imagery.
Satellite view
Google Maps provides high-resolution satellite images for most urban areas
in Canada and the United States (including Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and
the U.S. Virgin Islands) as well as parts of New Zealand, Australia, Egypt,
France, Germany, Iran, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Iraq, Japan, the Bahamas,
Bermuda, Kuwait, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and many other
countries. Google Maps also covers many cities including Moscow, Istanbul,
and most of India.
All the images shown in Google Maps' satellite mode are at least a year
old[citation needed] and in some places date back to 2001. Various
governments have complained about the potential for terrorists to use the
satellite images in planning attacks.[citation needed] Google has blurred
some areas for security (mostly in the United States), including the U.S.
Naval Observatory area (where the official residence of the Vice President
is located), and until recently, the United States Capitol and the White
House (which formerly featured erased housetop). Other well-known government
installations are visible including Area 51 in the Nevada desert.
With the introduction of an easily pannable and searchable mapping and
satellite imagery tool, Google's mapping engine prompted a surge of interest
in satellite imagery. Sites such as Google Sightseeing and Virtual
Globetrotting were established which feature satellite images of interesting
natural and man-made landmarks, including such novelties as "large type"
writing visible in the imagery, as well as famous stadiums and unique earth
formations.
Although Google uses the word "satellite", some of the high-resolution
imagery is aerial photography rather than satellite imagery.[2]
Implementation
Like other Google web applications, a large amount of JavaScript was used to
create Google Maps. As the user drags the map, the grid squares are
downloaded from the server and displayed to the user. When a user searches
for a business, the location is pin-pointed with a red pin, which is
actually a transparent PNG placed over the map. The technique of providing
greater user-interactivity by performing asynchronous network requests with
Javascript and XML has recently become known as Ajax. Specifically, Google
Maps was built using the AjaXSLT framework.
The GIS (Geographic Information System) data used in Google Maps are
provided by Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ,[3] while the small patches of
high-resolution satellite imagery are largely provided by DigitalGlobe and
its QuickBird satellite, with some imagery also from government sources. The
main global imagery base called NaturalVue was derived from Landsat 7
imagery by MDA Federal (formerly Earth Satellite Corporation). This global
image base provides the essential foundation for the entire application.
Extensibility and customization
As the Google Maps code is almost entirely JavaScript and XML, some
end-users reverse-engineered the tool and produced client-side scripts and
server-side hooks which allowed a user or website to introduce expanded or
customized features into the Google Maps interface.
Using the core engine and the map/satellite images hosted by Google, such
tools can introduce custom location icons, location coordinates and
metadata, and even custom map image sources into the Google Maps interface.
Some of the more well-known of these "Google Maps Hacks" include tools that
display locations of Craigslist rental properties,[5] student apartment
rentals,[6][7] and local map Chicago crime data[8] (or check Misdaadkaart.nl
showing crimes of one entire country[9]). The script-insertion tool
Greasemonkey provides a large number of client-side scripts to customize
Google Maps data, and the mygmaps.com website provides an interface for
easily adding your own set of locations and viewing them on Google Maps.
Combined with photo sharing websites such as Flickr, a phenomenon called
"memory maps" emerged. Using copies of the Keyhole satellite photos of their
home towns or other favorite places, the users take advantage of image
annotation features to provide personal histories and information regarding
particular points of the area.
Google Maps API
Google created the Google Maps API to facilitate developers integrating
Google Maps into their web sites with their own data points. It is a free
service, which currently does not contain ads, but Google states in their
terms of use[10] that they reserve the right to display ads in the future.
By using the Google Maps API you can embed the full Google Maps on an
external web site. Start by creating an API Key,[11] it will be bound to the
web site and directory you enter when creating the key. Creating your own
map interface involves adding the Google JavaScript code to your page, and
then using Javascript functions to add points to the map.
When the API first launched, it lacked the ability to geocode addresses,
requiring you to manually add points in (latitude, longitude) format. This
has since been rectified.
At the same time as the release of the Google Maps API, Yahoo! released
their own Maps API.[12] Both were released to coincide with the O'Reilly Web
2.0 Conference. Yahoo! Maps lacks international support, but included a
geocoder in the first release.
As of October 2006, Google Gadgets' Google maps implementation is much
easier to use with just the need of one line of script. The drawback is that
it is not as customizable as the full API.
In late 2006, Yahoo began a campaign to upgrade their maps, to compete
better with Google Local and other online map companies. Several of the maps
used in the survey were similar to Google maps. The online survey is here.
Google Maps actively promotes the commercial use of their API. One of its
earliest adopters at large scale are real estate mashup sites. Google's case
study is about Nestoria, a property search engine in the UK and Spain.
Google Maps for Mobile
In late 2006, Google introduced a Java applet called Google Maps for Mobile,
which runs on any Java based phone or mobile device. Most if not all web
based features are available from within the app. (in-depth review)
Google Maps parameters
In google Maps, the URL parameters may be tweaked to offer views and options
not normally available through on-screen controls.
For instance, the maximum zoom level offered is normally 18, but if
higher-resolution images are available, changing the z parameter, which sets
the zoom level, will allow the user to access them, as in this view or this
view using the parameter z=23.
A list of Google Maps parameters and their descriptions is available here.
Development history until recent issues
Google Maps was first announced on the Google Blog on February 8, 2005 [1]
and was located at http://maps.google.com/. It originally only supported
users of Internet Explorer and Mozilla web browsers, but support for Opera
and Safari was added on February 25, 2005. Currently (July 1, 2006) Internet
Explorer 6.0+, Firefox 0.8+, Safari 1.2.4+, Netscape 7.1+, Mozilla 1.4+, and
Opera 8.02+ are supported (see Google Maps Help). It was in beta for 6
months before becoming part of Google Local on October 6, 2005.
* In early April 2005, an alternate view was activated to show Satellite
images of the area displayed.
* In late April 2005, Google created Google Ride Finder using Google Maps.
* In late June 2005, Google released the Extensibility and customization.
* In mid July 2005, Google began Google Maps and Google Local services for
Japan, including road maps.
* On July 22, 2005, Google released "Hybrid View". Together with this
change, the satellite image data was converted from plate carrée to Mercator
projection, which makes for a less distorted image in the temperate climes
latitudes.
* In July 2005, in honor of the thirty-sixth anniversary of the Apollo Moon
landing, Google Moon was launched.
* In September 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Google Maps
quickly updated its satellite imagery of New Orleans to allow users to view
the extent of the flooding in various parts of that city. (Oddly, in March
2007, imagery showing hurricane damage was replaced with images from before
the storm; this replacement was not made on Google Earth, which still uses
post-Katrina imagery.[13]
* As of January 2, 2006, Google Maps features road maps for the United
States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, and certain cities in
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Coverage of the area around
Turin was added in time for the 2006 Winter Olympics.
* On January 23, 2006, Google Maps was updated to use the same satellite
image database as Google Earth.
* On March 12, 2006, Google Mars[14] was launched, which features a
draggable map and satellite imagery of the planet Mars.
* In late April 2006, Google Local was merged into the main Google Maps
site.
* On April 3, 2006, version 2 of the Maps API was released.
* On June 11, 2006, Google added geocoding capabilities to the API,
satisfying what it called the most requested feature for this service.
* On June 14, 2006, Google Maps for Enterprise was officially launched. As a
commercial service, it features intranet and advertisement-free
implementations.
* Beginning in February 2007, buildings and subway stops are displayed in
Google Maps "map view" for parts of New York City, Washington, D.C., London,
San Francisco, and some other cities.[15]
* On February 28, 2007, Google Traffic info was officially launched to
automatically include real-time traffic flow conditions to the maps of 30
major cities of the United States.
* On May 29, 2007, Google driving directions support was added to the Google
Maps API.
Coverage details
The specific features of Google Maps available depend on the location of the
world.[16]
Maps, local business search, street-level search, and driving directions are
fully functional for
* Australia
* Belgium
* Canada
* China (beta via ditu.google.com)
* France
* Germany
* Netherlands
* Italy
* Spain
* United Kingdom (local search only functional via maps.google.co.uk)
* United States
Maps, local business search, and street-level search are fully functional
for
* Japan
Google Local Business Center for business owners to add listings to Google
Maps is available in
* Australia
* Canada
* China
* Japan
* France
* Germany
* Italy
* Spain
* United Kingdom
* United States (is currently also the only country with street view)
Maps only are fully functional for
* African continent (street coverage – select major cities only)
* Andorra
* Austria
* Belgium
* Belarus (highway coverage only)
* Brazil (street coverage - major cities and select other areas; highway
coverage elsewhere)
* China (highway and passenger rail coverage only)
* Croatia (street coverage - major cities; highway coverage elsewhere)
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* Gibraltar
* Greece (street coverage for most cities, highway coverage elsewhere)
* Hong Kong
* Hungary
* India (street coverage for most cities, highway coverage elsewhere)
* Ireland
* Latvia (street coverage - cities, highway coverage elsewhere)
* Liechtenstein
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Moldova (highway coverage only)
* Monaco
* New Zealand
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Russia (street coverage – major cities, highway coverage elsewhere)
* San Marino
* Singapore
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Taiwan
* Thailand
* Turkey (street names in Istanbul, Ankara, and Bursa only, street
alignments shown in cities, highway coverage elsewhere)
* United Arab Emirates (street names in Dubai and Abu Dhabi areas only,
street alignments shown in cities, highway coverage elsewhere)
* Ukraine (highway coverage only)
Satellite imagery of varying resolution is available worldwide.
International
Country ↓ Link ↓
America http://google.com/maps
Australia http://google.com.au/maps
Britain http://google.co.uk/maps
Canada http://google.ca/maps
China http://bendi.google.com
Denmark http://google.dk/maps
Finland http://google.fi/maps
France http://google.fr/maps
Germany http://google.de/maps
Italy http://google.it/maps
Japan http://google.co.jp/maps
Netherlands http://google.nl/maps
Norway http://google.no/maps
Russia http://google.ru/maps
Spain http://google.es/maps
Sweden http://google.se/maps
amount 16
Google's use of Google Maps
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for
expansion.
This article has been tagged since January 2007.
The main Google Maps site includes a local search feature, finding
businesses of a certain category in a geographic area.
Google Ditu
Google Ditu (谷歌地图 lit. "Google Map") was released to the public on February
9, 2007, and replaced the old Google Bendi (谷歌本地 lit. "Google Local"). This
is the Chinese localized Google Maps and Google Local services only cover
China.
There are some differences in frontier alignments between Google Ditu and
Google Maps. On Google Maps, sections of the Chinese border with India,
Pakistan and Tajikistan are shown with dotted lines, indicating areas or
frontiers in dispute. However, Google Ditu shows the Chinese frontier
strictly according to Chinese claims with no "dotted lines" anywhere. For
example the area now administered by India called Arunchal Pradesh (referred
to as "South Tibet" by Chinese official sources) is shown inside the Chinese
frontier by Google Ditu. Google Ditu also shows Taiwan and the surrounding
islands as part of China.
Google Moon
In honor of the 36th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing (July 20,
2005), Google took public domain imagery from NASA of the Moon, and
integrated it into the Google Maps interface, and created the tool called
Google Moon.[17] By default this tool, with a reduced set of features, also
displays the points of landing of all Apollo spacecraft to land on the Moon.
This tool also includes an easter egg, displaying a Swiss cheese design at
the highest zoom level. Google Moon, as it is called, was linked from a
special commemorative version of the Google logo displayed at the top of the
main Google search page for July 20 (UTC).
Google Mars
Google Mars provides a visible imagery view, like Google Moon, as well as
infrared imagery and shaded relief (elevation). Users can toggle between the
elevation, visible, and infrared data, in the same manner as switching
between map, satellite, and hybrid modes of Google Maps. In collaboration
with NASA scientists at Arizona State University, Google has provided the
public with data collected from two NASA Mars missions, Mars Global Surveyor
and 2001 Mars Odyssey.[18] At present, the Google Earth desktop client
cannot access the data, but the feature is in development.
It is currently not known whether or not Google Mars will become a
stand-alone program.
NASA has made available a number of Google Earth desktop client maps for
Mars here
Google Ride Finder
Google launched an experimental Google Maps-based tool called Ride Finder
[2], tapping into in-car GPS units for a selection of participating taxi and
limousine services. The tool displays the current location of all supported
vehicles of the participating services in major US cities, including Chicago
and San Francisco on a Google Maps street map.
Google Transit
In December 2005, Google launched Google Transit[3]. This is a web
application (listed in Google Labs), that plans a trip using public
transportation options. Google Transit launched with support for Portland,
Oregon. Information for Eugene, Oregon; Honolulu, Hawaii; Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania; Seattle, Washington; and Tampa, Florida was added on September
27, 2006.[19], with more added since. The service calculates route, transit
time and cost, and can compare the trip to one using a car.
Google My Maps
In April 2007, My Maps was a new feature added to Google's local search maps
[4]. My Maps lets users create their own map by positioning markers,
polylines and polygons onto a map. The interface is a straightforward
overlay on the map. A set of 84 pre-designed markers is available, ranging
from bars and restaurants to webcam and earthquake symbols. Polyline and
Polygon colour, width and opacity are selectable. Maps modified using My
Maps can be saved for later viewing and made public (or marked as private),
but cannot be printed.
Each element added to a My Map has an editable tag. This tag can contain
text, rich text or HTML. Embeddable video and other content can be included
within the HTML tag.
Upon the launch of My Maps there was no facility to embed the created maps
into a webpage or blog. A few independent websites have now produced tools
to let users embed maps and add further functionality to their maps. [5].
Google Street View
On May 25, 2007, Google released Street View, a new feature of Google Maps
which provides 360° panoramic street-level views of New York City, San
Francisco, Miami, Denver, Las Vegas, and their surrounding metropolitan
areas. This feature has raised some privacy concerns, with views found to
show men leaving strip clubs, protesters at an abortion clinic, sunbathers
in bikinis, and other activities.[20] Google maintains that the photos were
taken from public property. Before launching the service, Google removed
photos of domestic violence shelters, and allows users to flag inappropriate
or sensitive imagery for Google to review and remove.[21] However, the
definition of inappropriate content is not yet as comprehensive as some
claim it should be. Further, the process for requesting that an image be
removed is not trivial.[22] Images of potential break-ins, sunbathers and
individuals entering adult bookstores have, for example, remained active and
these images have been widely republished.[23]
Google has plans in the near future to add other U.S. cities to Street View,
including Phoenix, Arizona, Los Angeles, California, Washington, D.C.,
Atlanta, Georgia, Chicago, Illinois, Baltimore, Maryland, Boston,
Massachusetts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Seattle, Washington. It is
not known when other parts of the U.S. and world will be included.
Copyright
Google Maps Terms and Conditions[6] state that usage of material from Google
Maps is regulated by Google Terms of Service[7] and some additional
restrictions. Terms and Conditions, among others, state:
For individual users, Google Maps [...] is made available for your personal,
non-commercial use only. For business users, Google Maps is made available
for your internal use only and may not be commercially redistributed
[...][8]
Criticism
It has been suggested that the information in this article's "Criticism" or
"Controversy" section(s) be merged into other sections to achieve a more
neutral presentation. (see talk)
Street map overlays, in some areas, may not match up precisely with the
corresponding satellite images. The street data may be entirely erroneous,
or simply out of date:
The biggest challenge is the currency of data, the authenticity of data,"
said [Google Earth representative] Brian [McLendon]. In other words: The
main complaints the Google guys get are "that's not my house" and "that's
not my car." Google Maps satellite images are not in real time; they are
several years old.[9]
Restrictions have been placed on Google Maps through the apparent censoring
of locations deemed potential security threats. These locations are fully
listed on Satellite images censored by Google Maps.
Google Street View has also gained a significant amount of controversy in
the days following its release; privacy concerns have erupted due to the
uncensored nature of its panoramic photographs.[24][25]
Canadian driving directions where the starting address is close to the US
border have recently and mysteriously switched to imperial measure, giving
all directions in feet and miles, though the rest of Canada receives
directions in standard metric.
Popular culture
* In the SNL Digital Short Lazy Sunday starring Andy Samberg and Chris
Parnell, the two comedians rap about a trip to the movies and mention
"Google Maps is the best", "True dat", and "Double True" in a writing scheme
similar to that of Google. This was in comparison to Yahoo! Maps and
Mapquest.
* In the Simpsons episode "Marge Gamer", Marge used Google Maps to view her
house from above. Unlike Google Maps, the satellite view is shown live and
the URL that Marge used was www.google.com instead of maps.google.com.
* In the South Park episode "The Snuke", Stan suggests the Counter Terrorist
Unit-like staffers search Google Maps instead of Mapquest because it has
live traffic.
* In the Australian radio show Get This, the hosts make constant references
to using Google Earth to 'downblouse' unsuspecting women.
Trivia
* As a joke, Google Maps used to provide directions when a clearly
impossible route between certain locations in North America and Europe was
requested; however, one of the steps was "Swim across the Atlantic Ocean",
with a travel time (29 days, 0 hours) and distance (3462 miles/5,572 km)
calculated accordingly, between Le Havre in France and Boston in America.
However, trips across the Pacific Ocean had returned errors.
Comparable services
* Ask.com Maps
* Géoportail (A French rival offering detailed satellite pictures of French
territories)
* Map24
* MapQuest
* Multimap.com
* Seat Pagine Gialle A Italian competitor offering detailed satellite
pictures of Italian territories and navigable street level panoramas of Rome
(very similar to street view).
* Terralink International
* Windows Live Local (Microsoft's mapping service with road maps and
aerial/satellite imagery)
o TerraServer-USA (Public domain (older than 5 years old) satellite imagery
via Microsoft servers)
o Virtual Earth (The original Microsoft map service)
* Yahoo! Maps
* PointAsia.com A Thai company offering detailed satellite pictures of
Thailand territories
* MapJack.com (Similar to Google Street View but clearer images)
References
1. ^ Penang on Google Maps
2. ^ Google Earth FAQ (Google Earth and Google Maps use the same imagery)
3. ^ http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=75#comments
4. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=832264
5. ^ http://www.housingmaps.com/
6. ^ http://www.gooffcampus.com/
7. ^ http://www.ratemyapartments.com
8. ^ http://www.chicagocrime.org/
9. ^ http://www.misdaadkaart.nl/
10. ^ Google Maps API - Terms of use.
11. ^ Google Maps API key.
12. ^ Yahoo! Maps API.
13. ^ House panel: Why did Google 'airbrush history?'. Associated Press
(2007-04-31).)
14. ^ http://mars.google.com/
15. ^ "Google Maps adds subway stops, building outlines to cities", CNET.
16. ^ http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=16634
17. ^ http://moon.google.com
18. ^ http://www.google.com/mars/about.html
19. ^ Happy trails with Google Transit.
20. ^ MacDonald, Calum. "Google’s Street View site raises alarm over
privacy", The Herald, June 4, 2007.
21. ^ Mills, Elinor. "Google's street-level maps raising privacy concerns",
USA Today, June 3, 2007.
22. ^ "Google Waffles on Street View Takedown Policy", Dr. Dobb's Portal,
June 15, 2007.
23. ^ "Google Street View: Accidental Online Community or Real Invasion of
Privacy?", Web Urbanist, June 8, 2007.
24. ^ The Google 'ick' factor. Associated Press (2007-06-01).
25. ^ Want Off Street View?. Wired (2007-06-15).
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