Google today announced that it has been taking its Street View Trekker – the compact backpack version of its Street View cars – and its underwater Street View cameras to the Galapagos Islands and that it plans to make these images available on Google Maps later this year. The company worked together with the Charles Darwin Foundation, the Galapagos National Parks Directorate and, for the… → Read More
Google impressed a lot of people when it debuted its Grand Canyon Street View imagery in October. The Trekker backpack used to capture that imagery, which is essentially a backpack-mounted version of the same all-seeing eye that sits atop the Google Street View car. → Read More
Google’s underwater Street View launched last September, but Google’s Ocean program actually started six years ago when one of the founders of Keyhole (which, after being acquired by Google, later became Google Earth), was inspired to also look into mapping the ocean. For several years now Google has been mapping the oceans, but bringing Street View underwater is still very challenging. → Read More
A couple of new Apple patent applications published today show how the company might be thinking about competing with recent innovations from other big tech companies with similar, but different designs. The first is a filing that describes a convertible MacBook design, with a touch-sensitive screen that separates from the base. The second is a method for navigating a Street View-style view of… → Read More
We know that Google’s Street View team has been making its technology smaller and more mobile, especially when it comes to people snapping images for Google Maps. Today, the team has shared some imagery from Canada’s Arctic territory of Nunavut. The difference is that, unlike with the Grand Canyon, the person carrying the Trekker on their back wasn’t a Google employee. It was a… → Read More
Google has been doing a lot to make Google Maps more about exploring the world, including places few will ever be able to see with their own eyes. Today, the company announced that it has added more locations to Maps, including Street View-style access to some of the highest peaks in the world. → Read More
“Teleportation is the transfer of matter from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them, similar to the concept apport, an earlier word used in the context of spiritualism.” The concept of moving throughout the world freely without actually having to “physically” travel is the Holy Grail for many. Being able to explore a physical space that is… → Read More
The football season may be over, but with 202 days to go before the next NFL game kicks off again, Google today announced that it has brought its Street View cameras into the Indianapolis Colts’ Lucas Oil Stadium. The new 360 degree imagery, Google Maps product manager Evan Rapoport writes, is “another example of how we’re working hard (and having fun!) building the most comprehensive, accurate… → Read More
Nintendo just announced that Google Maps with Street View is now available for Wii U systems in North America. So you now have the ability to wander around Martha’s Vineyard if you don’t have access to your tablet, computer, or phone — or pretty much any other Internet-connected device. → Read More
When Google announced a new project it called Trekker last October, it sounded like a far-reaching and futuristic 20% type undertaking. Today, that project has come through with some of the most detailed and amazing interactive imagery of the Grand Canyon, as promised, showing off Google’s vision for how the world can be catalogued and detailed for everyone’s daily tasks and travels. → Read More
When I spoke with one of the leads on Google search a while back, he told me that one of the biggest features to come along for the company was “instant search” and autocomplete. Basically, you didn’t have to type out a whole search string before performing said search, which required more thought and brain power.
Now when you go to Google, you can type a few letters and it will try and predict… → Read More
While the online (and social) travel space has been contracting a bit after last year’s barrage of new entrants, one of the few young companies that has been able to maintain not only a strong foothold but continuing growth has been social trip planner, Gogobot. Jumping from one million registered users in May to its current 2.5 million+ (and seeing 800 percent growth in its user base in 2012)… → Read More
Google just announced that it is taking the Trekker, its backpack-sized Street View camera system into the Grand Canyon to map the National Park’s hiking trails. Instead of having to huff and puff your way up Bright Angel Trail in person, you will soon be able take a virtual stroll down to the Colorado River. According to Google, this is the Trekker’s first “official outing.” → Read More
Google is continuing to gain points on the mapping front, today launching yet more features for the product at a time when Apple’s offering continues to appear weak by comparison. Today it announced that it has given Street View, which lets users see photographic images of particular locations, its biggest update yet, covering 250,000 miles of roads across more than 17 countries.
The news… → Read More
Google has yet to publish a native Google Maps app for Apple’s iOS devices (although we hear it’s coming soon), but in the meantime it continues to beef up the experience on its iOS-focused web app, today adding its popular Street View functionality, which allows users to see actual images of a location or route. → Read More
Google announced a couple of updates to Google Maps today. The Google Maps Navigation app for Android, for example, will now offer turn-by-turn navigation for India. In addition, Google has also turned on live traffic data for six large Indian cities and their suburbs. These cities are Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad. Today’s update isn’t just about India, though. Google… → Read More
Earlier today Google released the full report of the FCC’s investigation into the collection of “payload data” from open Wi-Fi networks — aka passwords, email and search history from open networks — that its fleet of Street View cars obtained between 2008 and April 2010. An earlier and heavily redacted version of the report was released on April 15 but today’s version only redacted the names… → Read More
Have you started seeing images in online reCAPTCHAs that look suspiciously like house numbers pulled from Google Street View? Well, as it turns out, that’s exactly what they are. Google confirmed it’s currently running an experiment that involves using its reCAPTCHA spam-fighting system to improve data in Google Maps by having users identify things like street names and business addresses. → Read More
Back in August, Google announced that it was teaming up with nonprofit Foundation for a Sustainable Amazon to map a small section of the massive Rio Negro river (tributary of the Amazon) near Manaus. As expected, it took quite a while, but the results are now available for you to play with.
The area they covered is a sort of inlet west of Manaus and the coastline northwards from there. The idea… → Read More
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… → Read More
Man, another day, another “Google in privacy uproar” story. I guess my name is Phil Connors. The UK Information Commissioner has said that yes, in fact, Google did commit a “significant breach” of the Data Privacy Act when it collected people’s private information with its Street View vehicles. Great, so what happens now? → Read More
Google may have ended its feud with the Federal Trade Commission, but its standing in Europe isn’t as cut-and-dry. Street View, the mapping service that has caused much consternation, has just gone live in Germany, but in a modified form. So far, the only place where it’s gone live is Oberstaufen in Munich → Read More
After much hullabaloo, Google and the Federal Trade Commission have kissed and made up. This, only a few days after Google admitted to “accidentally” collecting people’s private data with its Street View cars. Google had promised, in so many words, that it would never do that (collect people’s private data) again, a promise that satisfied the FTC. And, scene. → Read More
If Google Street View and Chatroulette mated and gave birth to a lovechild, it’d look a lot like MapCrunch. For the record, this is not a TechCrunch network site, and would have probably been better off with a name like MapRoulette or StreetviewRoulette or something.
Either way, if you want to be taken to a random location on Google Street View (in North America, Europe, Asia or Australasia)… → Read More
Parts of Europe have been, for whatever reason, more wary of Google’s Street View service than others. The occasional lawsuit hasn’t prevented the march of progress, though Italy’s new regulations may cause more of a hassle than the occasional grumpy homeowner. The Privacy Authority President, Francesco Pizzetti, described the outrage:
“There has been strong alarm and also hostility in a lot of… → Read More
For the longest time Google had denied that its Street View cars had ever captured data—logins, passwords, and the like—from open Wi-Fi access points. Well, it’s now admitted to doing so, saying that such data was “mistakenly collected.” Google says it’s “mortified. → Read More
Google cannot contain its legal problems surrounding the inadvertent collection of personal data from WiFi networks by ots global fleet of Street View cars. Earlier today, police in South Korea raided Google’s offices there to confiscate computers storing data collected from Street View cars in that country. This action follows similar investigations in France, Germany, the UK (where Google was… → Read More
I’ve been known to give Facebook a hard time over its lax security and disregard for user privacy but, frankly, Google’s doing a pretty good job at keeping up.
Not to be outdone by the social networking site, the search giant has already got into hot water for the overzealous nature by which it collected WiFi data when driving around towns in 30 countries creating its Google Maps Street View.
The question now becomes, how much trouble will Google get in for its wanton stealing of private data? You’ll recall that Google was caught collecting data from people’s open Wi-Fi access points, something the company just sorta brushed off. Google shrugged its shoulders and said, “meh, whatever, we didn’t do anything wrong here.” If only the various governments of the world saw it that way. → Read More
[Germany] We Germans are very picky when it comes to online privacy. Not only is Google Analytics in danger of being banned for storing user data on ‘foreign servers’, Facebook apps are probably illegal because they pass too much private information to third parties. Also Google Street View is a constant bone of contention. Several mayors of cities and villages like Molfsee or Pfaffenhofen have… → Read More
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