Posts Tagged ‘google maps’

MOW your lawns, prune your gardens – and don’t park your car where it shouldn’t be seen – for the summer of 2010 anyway.

Google, the online resource which through its Google Maps and Street View functions has attracted a swarm of real estate voyeurs globally – will re-drive the streets of metropolitan Melbourne this summer.

Spokeswoman Annie Baxter told The Age it plans to take higher resolution street view images, which will replace current images, most of which were taken in the six to 12 months preceding August 2008.

Google’s satellite imagery is updated every 12 to 18 months, but its “roading information” – which allows users to inspect a block’s boundary (ie, subdivisions), are obtained in conjunction with data providers and updated every few months.

In July Google announced the ability to search for real estate listings directly from Google Maps.

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When it comes to maps, Google has had nearly everything: great satellite imagery, huge coverage, and even some basic navigation features, but not what everyone that’s ever used a GPS device really wants: turn-by-turn navigation.

This changes today, as Google just released a beta version of Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0. Here’s a quick overview of the features:

Google Maps Navigation does two very important things for Google: it makes it a competitor to established GPS firms like TomTom and Garmin, which should make this space a lot more interesting, and it suddenly makes Android – the only platform this app is currently available on – a lot more desirable. And – you guessed it – the first Android 2.0 phone to support this app is the upcoming Motorola Droid.

Since the application is free, we can expect Google to add advertisements to it at some point. But currently, since you have to pay for every other mobile turn-by-turn navigation app out there (we’re not talking pocket change here, either), the sheer fact that this thing is free will certainly make it a huge hit.

Take a look at this Google Map, isolating the Hollywood Hills home of Orlando Bloom (see yellow thumbtack). The Map was on a computer used by suspected burglar Nick Prugo. Bloom’s home was burglarized on July 15 and hundreds of thousands of dollars in watches were stolen. Law enforcement sources said they believe the Burglar Bunch hit Bloom’s home, in addition to a string of other celebs in the Hollywood Hills. The Map could be a smoking gun.

Nick Prugo and the other suspects used the computer to store photos and videos, showing off jewelry and possibly plotting various burglaries. The computer in question had been stolen from a Los Angeles businessman … cops believe it was stolen by the Burglar Bunch. The LAPD seized the computer — but it appeared to have been completely scrubbed so it was returned to the owner.

The owner, however, hired a computer expert who was able to recover a treasure trove of possible evidence linking the Burglar Bunch to various star victims.

Prugo, along with three other women, have been arrested in connection with the burglaries of Lindsay Lohan and Audrina Patridge, both of whom had jewelry stolen from their homes.

It seems every week we post something new about Google’s maps or Google Earth. However, we just cannot help it simple because they are adding new exciting features. The latest addition Google Earth technology leverages the wisdom of the users for a unique purpose: the Building Maker tool helps users make accurate 3D models of buildings for representation in Google Earth.

Using Google-provided aerial photographs, you essentially overlay appropriate 3D shapes on top of several different views of a building to construct an accurate model of it. When finished, submit your building to Google for review. If approved, the model will be added to the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth.

For now, you can only construct buildings in the U.S, but the company will be adding more countries over time. You don’t have to be familiar with a building to generate a decent model of it, though — and for geography and travel buffs it’s a fun way to engage with different cities around the world.

Just like with the Monopoly City Streets “virtual” building initiative, you can use the free Google Sketch Up to edit or modify your creations, and the finished products will live in the Google 3D Warehouse, an online database of 3D models.

Check out a video demo of Building Maker let us know if you’ve what you think of the new tool.

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Ok, so we all know by now that Google  has added a Real Estate purchasing/selling function and 360 degree street views to their site. Now the team behind Google Maps has made some more interesting improvements to the service. First of all, they’ve created a new base map dataset, which includes several publicly accessible geospatial government-created datasets, with information pertaining to toll roads, bridges, road networks and the like.

In practice, this simply means more data and more details in Google Maps. For example, maps of college campuses and cycling trails have been vastly improved; cyclists should soon even be able to check out biking directions directly on Google Maps, a feature which I’ve personally been anxiously waiting for.

The most important new feature, however, has to do with you: the user. On the bottom right of Google Maps you’ll find a new link: “Report a Problem”; you can also find it by right clicking anywhere on the map and selecting it from the drop down menu. It’s not related to technical issues with Google Maps, but rather to mistakes in the actual geospatial data. For example, if you see outdated or just plain wrong data – a street name, direction, or a missing road – you can now report it through this link. You’ll soon be able to see what difference you’ve made, as Google plans to resolve reported issues within a month. Read the rest of this entry »