Tips & Tricks: Make the most of walking directions

As a city-dweller who loves getting around on on two feet, I was really excited when walking directions became available on Google Maps. In the year since then, having pounded the pavement in six different cities, I've used walking directions to map everything, from  mad dashes to make appointments on time, to laid-back Sunday afternoon strolls. Haven't tried it out yet? Follow the instructions here. Then, check out these tips to walk smarter:

Turn on the Terrain layer.
If you've ever found yourself in a city with more hills than most, you'll know that a steep incline can turn a pleasant walk into an athletic event. Click 'Terrain' in the top right corner of the map to assess the elevation of the area you're looking at. It can help you decide what routes to avoid, and tip you off to some of your city's highest spots -- and best views

Take the scenic route with Street View. 
Street View can help you hone your walking directions by allowing you to get a pedestrian's eye view of your route ahead of time. Simply drag the "Pegman" icon (it will be orange where Street View is available) to a point on the map, and you'll see street-level imagery of that place. Navigate using the arrow keys on your keyboard, or pick a different spot by dragging Pegman again in the overview map in the bottom right corner of the image. It's a great way to get an up-close look at the route you'll be treading.

Customize your directions.
Make walking directions your own by adjusting them just the way you want. Maybe you're looking to avoid a hill, or take a detour along a particularly pretty street you saw in Street View. Either way, customizing your route is easy. Simply click any point along the purple directions line and drag it to any location on the map. Google Maps immediately recreates the directions in both the map, and the written description in the left panel.

Posted by Sarah Gordon, Tips Guru

Mapping the swine flu outbreak

By now most of you have probably heard the news about the recent influenza outbreak in Mexico that is spreading rapidly around the world. Several people and organizations have used My Maps or the Google Maps API to put together their own maps illustrating the latest locations of outbreaks:

• HealthMap.org, which tracks outbreaks of infectious diseases globally, uses the Google Maps API on their site to tie together data from several sources.

• Ushahidi.com, a website that 'crowdsources crisis information', is also using the Google Maps API to display the reports that have been submitted to them.

• Dr. Henry Niman, who studies the evolution of viruses, has created a My Map tracking suspected and confirmed cases of this flu. He has been updating it regularly based on media reports and emails he's received:

View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

• Another popular My Map tracking the outbreak was started by a computer scientist in the UK, who has also been accepting user contributions to the map:

View 2009 Swine Flu (H1N1) Outbreak Map in a larger map

You can view the latest updates to the My Maps while on-the-go using the My Maps Editor if you have an Android-powered phone.

Because these maps use data from different sources, such as news reports and collaborative contributions, their content may differ. You can find more, updated information about swine flu from the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Posted by Brian Cornell and Elaine Filadelfo, Google Maps team

Right whales, right there

Right whales, once abundant, are now on the endangered species list.  Working with non-profit organizations and the general public, NOAA works to monitor the whereabouts of these whales through their Sighting Advisory System.  This kind of information is used to help ships avoid collisions with the whales, which is a good thing for both the whales and the boat owners.  Kurt Schwehr at the University of New Hampshire and Tim Cole at NOAA worked together to pull this data into Google Earth so you can see where the whales have been spotted so far in 2009.  You can take a look for yourself in Google Earth.



Kurt's blog explores many other neat uses of Google Earth and other technologies for understanding the ocean.  Another recent example: you can follow the Healy, a US Coast Guard Ice Breaker, as it makes its way through the Arctic, with a new image every hour from the ship.

Posted by Steve Miller, Product Manager, Ocean in Google Earth

Word on the street...

Since launching Street View in new cities and countries around the world we've heard a bunch of stories from friends, colleagues and the media about how it's been put to use - from the practical to the downright surprising.

We've been told about virtual trips down memory lane from people who've since moved across the other side of the world or students reminiscing about their old haunts and even heard that Street View helped severe agoraphobia. And these are from the few we know about. We figure there must be many more interesting stories about how Street View is being used in daily life. If you have an interesting story you'd like to share then we'd love to hear it. You can let us know here. We may even "Tweet" your story on our brand new Twitter account!

Posted by Elaine Filadelfo, Lat Long Blog Team

Google Maps now on Twitter!

Want to know what's on our minds or what we're up to at any given moment? Google Maps is now talking on Twitter under the name GoogleMaps. @GoogleMaps will share information on cool uses and product tips for Google Maps, behind-the-scenes musings from Googlers and general goings-on in the mapping world. We're also going to use Twitter to listen to the things that you want to suggest and say to us.

Here are some of our most recent tweets:


"Twitter?," some may ask. It's the 140-character "microblogging" site that's gained a huge fan base from both individuals and organizations – and we're glad to be joining the ranks. We think it will be a great community and home for the Google Maps team, and we hope that you'll follow us there. Here's how: if you're already using Twitter, simply click here and choose "follow". If you're not using Twitter yet, sign up here – it's easy, and free – and then "follow" GoogleMaps.

This blog won't change at all based on our use of Twitter - except in one way: in the right sidebar, you will now see a live feed of recent tweets and a new link that will bring you to our Twitter account. See you there!

Posted by Julie Zhou, Chief Maps Twitterer

Save and share directions with My Maps

You've probably been there: a friend asks you for directions to your house for a party, or to that nice picnic spot you recommended, so you try to scribble some lines on the back of a napkin or you try to explain out loud that they should take the second (or is it the third?) left. It's particularly a pain when you want to tell a bunch of people - like your entire housewarming guest list - directions. 

To make this easier -- for you, and for the people you're trying to direct! -- we've added features that let you save, annotate, and share directions using My Maps, the personal map editor built into Google Maps.

Saving driving directions to a My Map is easy: just click the "Save to My Maps" link below the directions in the left pane. 

This opens a dialogue box where you can choose to save to an existing map, or create a new one.
Once your directions are saved, you'll be taken into the My Maps editor, where you can edit the saved placemarks and route, as well as add new places and details to your map, like landmarks along the way.

We've also added a new tool that lets you draw lines along a road to get from point to point. This is accessed via a drop-down menu in the line tool by clicking and holding briefly anywhere on the button.

The tool calculates the best driving route between your line's vertices and automatically snaps your line to the appropriate road. 

With your directions saved in My Maps, it's easy to add notes, share with friends, embed in web sites, and invite collaborators to contribute to your map. 

So when it comes time to plan your next road trip, consider using My Maps as your planning tool -- at the very least, if you hit a bump and spill coffee on your map halfway through the trip, you'll still have a backup.

Posted by Taj Campbell, Associate Product Manager

Happy Earth Day from Google Earth

It probably comes as no surprise that the Google Earth team gets very excited about Earth Day. Today we're celebrating Earth Day by featuring a special collection of KMLs in our Gallery to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment -- it's a present to the Earth and also to you!

Our blue planet is an exceptionally complex ecosystem with a sophisticated tapestry of millions of sub-ecosystems and living creatures. Sometimes it becomes easy to overlook the impact of our action to this intricate yet fragile ecosystem. Why not mark Earth Day by using Google Earth to explore featured KMLs in our Gallery, which provide rich geospatial presentation illustrating interesting changes in our environment? For example, discover changes in glaciers over the years, rising sea levels and climatic change and rising temperature from the featured KMLs in our Gallery. 

With annotated data on top of Google Earth, these KMLs provides insight into the way humans are interacting with ecosystems around the world. Do you know that how much overfishing has occurred in the past? How does the equivalent of 1.5 million elephants of fisheries catches in the water of Alaska sound to you? You can learn more from this KML. Our collection also features information about the worst oil spill disaster in the history and air pollution in UK -- some good food for thought as you reflect on Earth Day.

However, progress has been made and several organizations have always stayed at forefront to help conserve the environement: NDBC, NOAA, WWF, EarthWatch, and a lot of other organizations are the real unsung heroes behind the global effort to reverse the vicious trends. Groups like these inspire us to do better to conserve the the planet everyday. Google is committed to environmental initiatives of our own, and we salute all of those who are doing inspiring things to help make the Earth a better place not just once a year, but every day.

Posted by Krating Poonpol, Product Marketing Manager