In more news of Flash’s impending decline, Google is announcing that it’s “deprecating” the Google Maps API (application programming interface) for Flash. This API previously allowed developers to add Google Maps functionality within their Flash-based applications.
However, as of today, use of the API is limited, says Google, with only a small number of applications taking advantage of features unique to the Maps API for Flash alone. → Read More
Google’s push into voice search is no secret: it’s baked into most builds of Android, and Chrome users have been enjoying the search-by-voice feature since July. It wasn’t so much a question of if Google would keep running with it, but where and when would it pop up next. Google’s Lat Long Blog has that answer for us today, as voice search is now available in Google Maps.
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It’s hard to believe that Google’s Street View has been in use for over four years. What’s more amazing, perhaps, given the rate at which they have canvassed the world’s streets and alleyways, that there is anywhere left unmapped. But while their teams have successfully traced the surfaces of most large cities and a number of other interesting areas, I suppose it won’t come as a surprise that the remote reaches of the Amazon have not yet been put under the lens.
They aim to change that, however, and have detailed in a blog post their plans to Street-View-ize a large section of the river. It’s being done in collaboration with the Foundation for a Sustainable Amazon, a nonprofit working in the area. → Read More
How many apps does it take to recharge a vehicle? Apparently, one is not enough. Several companies offering mobile apps to drivers — to help them find a place to charge up or refuel in an environmentally sustainable way — made product and milestone announcements around Earth Day. Here’s the run down.
ECOtality (NASDAQ: ECTY) — a San Francisco company that’s building electric vehicle (EV) technology and infrastructure in the U.S. and China— unveiled its Blink Network mobile app (screenshot, above) to help users find and reserve a nearby, available charging station at the Electric Drive Transportation Association conference in Washington D.C. Reservation and status-update features made ECOtality’s app distinct from other charger-finders for about a minute.
On Monday, however, Coulomb Technologies announced an upgrade to the ChargePoint app, including similar functionality… → Read More
It’s hard to believe, but for the last few years Google Maps users in the United States have been missing out on a pretty important feature (though there’s a decent chance you’ve never heard of it). It’s not particularly sexy, and many of the people reading this post will probably never take advantage of it, but we’ll all reap the benefits over the coming months. Meet Google Map Maker.
The feature is pretty self-explanatory: it allows users to create (or, in the case of the US, edit) Google Maps, and it’s already had a major impact worldwide. You see, in the United States, we’ve been able to access online maps for years because companies have been plotting and licensing the data to services like MapQuest and Google. But in many countries, there wasn’t any data for online maps to speak of — so Google created a web-based tool so people could create their own. Edits are submitted by users, and after a moderation process, they’re added to Google Maps. → Read More
With all the buzz surrounding electric cars, it goes without saying there are a few concerns from customers. The biggest of concerns — range anxiety — could be lessened if people could easily find a place to plug in. → Read More
Audi was once known as the German car that came with all-wheel-drive. That notoriety is changing and Audi is becoming a huge player in the tech game; their interfaces are fantastic and run with exceptional speed and style. And now, they are bringing the internet to their navigations systems: the Google maps of navs, if you will. → Read More
Do you remember the other day when Andy Rubin himself showed off the new, 3D Google Maps app?
Well, if you do remember it, and are as keen as I am to see more, Google have now released a video showing off all the new features as run on a shiny new Nexus S.
Best of all, we’ve gone and embedded it for you after the jump! → Read More
The Google Map App on Android phones will soon get a major upgrade which will allow it to render map images a lot faster, incorporate 3D buildings, offer offline caching, and use the compass to orient the map. In a talk this evening at the D Mobile conference, Android chief Andy Rubin gave a sneak peak of the new app.
At the heart of the new app is a dynamic map rendering engine which draws maps as you use them, and offers smoother transitions when zooming in and out of different levels. The dynamic rendering will also make it possible to start to show 3D buildings as you zoom into the street-level view. The touch screen will allow you to tilt and rotate the map and buildings. → Read More
When Google put their faith in Wave, an ambitious new project last year, they knew it was a gamble. But a big part of it was the team behind the project. A team led by Lars Rasmussen, the engineer best known as the co-creator of the hugely successful Google Maps. And now he’s left the company. And from what we hear, he’s heading to Facebook.
Rasmussen confirmed his departure on his Facebook page. Yesterday was his last day of work at Google. He didn’t give any indication where he’ll be heading next, other than he’d be “a whole big ocean closer” (he was living in Australia where the Wave team was based). But the fact that he put all this info on Facebook is telling. From what we’re hearing, he will be joining Facebook. → Read More
Google has just released a series of updates for their Google Maps Android application. Two of these updates are useful: Place page reviews and the ability to filter search results. But one of them is really interesting: real-time location updating in Google Latitude.
To be clear, this feature is an experimental one that Google is trying out. But if you enable it, your friends on the service will be able to see where you are in real-time (and vice versa, if they enable it too). Previously, location updates through Latitude would occur regularly, but not in real-time. The reason is that this constant sending of location data can wear down mobile phone batteries much quicker. Many service that update location in the background instead tend to ping towers to see if you’ve moved periodically. → Read More
The Internet is rife with Google Translate failures, but this is the first we’ve seen on Google Maps. Apparently the Rio De Janeiro = Landfill issue on the newly launched Google Maps Brazil is known within Google and is caused by a mixup between a landfill site near Rio and a poor Portuguese to English translation, where the Portuguese is okay but the English is um, suspect. → Read More
So Gmail Instant would actually be useful, but seriously what’s next, Google Calendar Instant? Google Image Search Instant? Okay, maybe those would be helpful too. In fact it’s really difficult to think of a Google service that wouldn’t benefit at least slightly from Instantization.
Inspired by Google Instant and the story of engineer Feross Aboukhadijeh, who got a YouTube job offer via his YouTube Instant experiment, Alabama-based developer Michael Hart used jQuery and the Google Maps API to build Google Maps Instant, a pretty nifty Google Maps updating search for anywhere in the world. And, like Feross, Hart is also looking for a job. → Read More
Attention those who still remember their parents’ stacks of old Thomas Guides, Google Maps for Mobile has hit a user base milestone. More than 100 million people a month use the service across various mobile devices according to an interestingly-timed post on the Google Blog.
With GPS killing Android-only features like Google Maps Navigation, as well the increasing Google Maps reliance of app developers who want to power location-based services through the iPhone, it’s no surprise that the extremely useful service has grown exponentially since its launch in 2005. → Read More
Google Maps Navigation for Android now works outside the US or UK as the free turn-by-turn navigation system has been switched on for users in Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium (update: and Portugal).
In addition, Google Search by voice is now available for French, German, Italian, and Spanish speakers. English, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese were already supported. → Read More
Oh, a car story written by Nicholas. This is sure to be riddled with errors! (Kidding&mdas;or am I?) Ford Sync, which Matt has talked about for some time, now works with Google Maps. That is, from Google Maps on your computer or mobile or whatever, you select a destination then send it straight to your car. That way, when you hop in the saddle—cars have saddles, right?—your destination is all marked out for you. Pretty neat. → Read More
Yahoo is backing a cycling team. I don’t know why — but they’re doing it. And today their passion got a little boost: from Google.
Google is announcing tomorrow at the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC that Google Maps will now include biking directions in the U.S. Apparently, this was the most-requested feature for the service, as some 57 million Americans ride bikes. → Read More
With the SXSW conference approaching in Austin, we are seeing a lot of geo-location launching this year. A lot of startups are taking advantage of Foursquare’s APIs in particular to get their geo apps quickly out of the gate.
Take FourWhere. It is a pretty basic mashup of Foursquare comments and venues overlayed on Google Maps. You can search by city and neighborhood, and see all the recent tips from people who have checked into various nearby restaurants, bars, stores, and offices. The site forces you to right-click to see comments or venues instead of just having a menu in the side, but it does the job. → Read More
Local search is heating up, especially on advanced mobile phones, where augmented reality apps and immersive photo-realistic apps show great promise. EveryScape, a startup in Waltham Massachusetts which has built out immersive 3D photoscapes for 20 cities, raised a $6 million Series C funding. The investment was led led by SK Telecom Americas, a subsidiary of the Korean telecom giant, which will help EveryScape expand into Asia.
Existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Dace Ventures also participated. EveryScape’s previously raised a $7 million Series B in March, 2008. EveryScape’s previously raised a $7 million Series B in March, 2008 and a $4.5 million Series A in 2005. → Read More
Over-sharing the minutiae of your life is already difficult, so why complicate things with Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare when you only need one service to rule them all? That’s where Google Buzz comes in and makes annoying your friends with news about your snacking habits that much easier. → Read More
