Google Maps Mashups 2.0

Posted by Thai Tran, Product Manager

When we were building the original Google Maps site, we envisioned that it would eventually become a platform for navigating all kinds of location-based information, such as home listings and travel information. Within weeks of the launch of Google Maps, we were pleasantly surprised that an independent developer named Paul Rademacher released HousingMaps.com, a site that displayed housing listings from Craigslist on top of our interactive maps -- what is now known as a "mashup" -- without needing help from anyone at Google. Hoping to encourage even more of this type of innovation, we released the official Google Maps API in June 2005, and since then, developers have created over 50,000 Google Maps mashups.

However, we noticed many of these mashups simply displayed a static set of places on a map, such as the best bars in San Francisco, yet the authors had to set up a website and write Javascript code to generate the map, which is not something that we could expect the average person to do. We also noticed that much of this great content was not getting discovered, even though millions of users were coming to Google Maps every day and searching for [bars] and [homes for sale].

To address these issues, we started two major projects:

In April, we released the first version of "My Maps," which empowers anyone to create a personal map simply by dropping placemarks onto the map. These maps are hosted on Google Maps and can be shared with friends and family. When marked as "public," these maps are automatically included into the Google Maps search index so that other users can find them. Since the launch of the "My Maps" tab, over 4 million maps have been created.

While this drag-and-drop editor is a great tool, we still needed a solution to help with mashups that have dynamic content such as real-time weather conditions. Thus, we created the Google Mapplets platform, which enables any developer to create mini applications that overlay their content and services onto Google Maps. We announced a preview version of Mapplets in May, and over 100 developers submitted Mapplets within the first month.

Today, we've brought these two features together under the "My Maps" tab on Google Maps. You can now layer information from multiple sources on the same map as well as save content that's relevant to you into a personal map. For example, if you're looking for a home in Chicago, you can add Mapplets that display real estate listings and Chicago Transit Authority train lines so that you can find out which homes are near public transit. To get an even richer sense of the surroundings, you could also layer in photos of the neighborhood and local events (from Zvents). When you find a home that you're interested in, simply click on "Save to My Maps" in the home's info bubble and save a copy of it to your personal map.

To get started, check out this demo video and then head over to the "My Maps" tab to find great maps and tools you can add from the Google Maps Directory.

Build Your Campus in 3D Competition - the results are in!

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, Education Program Development

Congratulations to the winners of Google’s Build Your Campus in 3D Competition!

An estimated 4,000 campus buildings were modeled and submitted from all over North America. In August, the winning students and advisors (41 people from 7 teams) will be flying to our headquarters in Mountain View for a 3-day visit and workshop.

Our panel of industry experts, which included Bobby Brooks of Walt Disney Imagineering, Ken Harsha of Electronic Arts, Janet Martin of Communication Arts Inc., Paul Seletsky of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and Gary Smith of Green Mountain Geographics, LTD selected the following winners:

University of Minnesota - Department of Architecture
Purdue University - Departments of Computer Graphics Technology and Education
Concordia University, Loyola Campus - Department of Civil Engineering
Stanford University - Department of Architectural Design
Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) - Departments of Engineering and Computer Science
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering - Department of Engineering
Dartmouth College - Departments of Computer Science and Digital Art

Some thoughts from the judges…"Last week, we had the opportunity to watch college campus environments come alive with SketchUp and Google Earth. We couldn't help but be impressed with the effort put forth by the many teams and individuals who participated. The selection of finalists was the result of a lively discussion and a careful model review…You've set a very high standard and hopefully inspired those that will follow you."


Visit the official competition website to see the winning campus models.

Real time traffic, now on your iGoogle page

Mark Tsui, Software Engineer

As most of you probably know, we offer real-time traffic information on Google Maps and Google Maps for mobile -- great for when you're looking directions and want to see what's really going on out there, or for when you're in your car already and want to avoid the traffic jam up ahead. We've found, however, that one of the best ways to use this information is to do a quick check before your regular commute, and we wanted to make doing that as easy as possible. To help with this, this week we enabled real-time traffic on the iGoogle maps gadget, so you can take a quick peek at what's happening on the roads any time you look at your iGoogle page. If you don't already have the maps gadget for iGoogle, you can install it here. In addition to real-time traffic information, it gives you quick access to a map and local search results, so it's useful to have around for quick access to a map any time.

It's a click & drag situation

Posted by Ryan Sturgell and Barry Brumitt, Software Engineers, Google Maps

Can you imagine going back to clicking arrows and waiting for the screen to refresh just to move the map left/right/up/down? It'd be as big a bummer as going back to 8-track tapes. Today, we're taking another big step forward with driving directions in Google Maps: now you can click & drag to change destinations along your route.

Let's imagine you want to help your friend Terry, who's visiting Seattle this week, by giving her directions to your favorite beach volleyball spot on the waterfront in Kirkland, Washington.

Step 1. Terry is staying somewhere in downtown Seattle, so you zoom into that location and add this destination by right-clicking on somewhere in that general vicinity.

Step 2. To set the End Destination, you repeat the same process, zooming in and right-clicking on the park. But if you've selected the wrong park by mistake, you can now change this destination just by clicking & dragging the marker from the wrong park to the correct one. And while you're dragging, you can watch the route change in real time (including a running ticker of the current street name plus an updated distance and time of the route).



Voila! You're done. If you click "Link to this Page," you can email the link to Terry. But wait! She is planning to drive over on a weekday morning during rush hour, and you'd like to adjust the route so that she misses 520 bridge traffic. So...

Step 3. To ensure the directions take the I-90 Bridge across Lake Washington, you can click on the route itself from where it goes across the 520 bridge and drag it to the I-90 bridge, again watching the route update while you drag.



So there you have it. Once you've used click & drag for creating and modifying routes, we think you'll find that you simply can't fathom how you managed without it. I mean, where are your 8-tracks?

Google Earth Outreach

Posted by Rebecca Moore, Manager, Google Earth Outreach

You may have heard that we've launched an exciting new program for non-profit organizations called Google Earth Outreach.

We hope you'll read more about the genesis of the program, watch a video of yesterday's launch event, and have a look at the Google Earth Outreach website, where you'll find tutorials on how to create a great KML, case studies written by organizations who are already using Google Earth, and a showcase featuring dozens of public-benefit KMLs. And then we hope you'll get started on your own!

We've also posted some video on YouTube from our Google Earth Outreach event on Tuesday. Take a look:

Put your business on Google Maps

Posted by Hubert Pan, Product Manager

As part of our quest to build the best local search experience possible, Google's Local Business Center is where business owners can go to add or edit their business listing on Google Maps by providing their address, contact information, hours of operation, and even storefront or product photos.

This free process is now even faster and easier to use. Users in international locales can now receive verification via a phone call or SMS rather than waiting for a postcard in the mail. With our new verification options, it only takes 10 minutes to create or edit, and then verify your listing. We do the rest -- your business will appear on Google Maps within a few weeks.

The center also has a great new look, and it's easy come back multiple times to make changes to your listing:

So, while you are busy writing reviews about your favorite restaurant, barber shop, or any other business, be sure to share the opportunities on Google's Local Business Center with the business owners to help them reach more customers through Google Maps.

More than the sum of its parts

Posted by Steve Lee, Product Manager, Google Maps for mobile

Some experiences are more than the sum of their parts. Here at Google, we recognize that to develop the best user experiences, we can't work alone. We'd like to applaud the inclusion of RIM's Blackberry 8800 and Samsung's Blackjack in PC World's list of the 100 Best Products of 2007. These two devices raise the bar of what is possible in the mobile world, and enable the GPS capabilities needed to fully experience another of PC World's top 100, Google Maps for mobile .

The Maps for mobile team is honored to share this PC World recognition with innovative mobile device manufacturers. We are more excited than ever to continue developing tools to make the mobile device a useful and, some might say, "religious" experience when you're on the go.