Google Maps
From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, by MultiMedia
Google Maps is the conventional name of a free, web
map server application and technology provided by Google at http://maps.google.com
and as part of Google Local. It offers draggable street map and
satellite images for the whole world, as well as a route planner and
business locator for the U.S., Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, China, the UK
and Ireland (city centres only). Since October 6, 2005, Google Maps is
part of Google Local, though the core technology is still called Google
Maps.
It is similar to but not the same as Google
Earth, a standalone Windows program that offers enhanced
globe-viewing features but is not easy to link to or integrate in web
pages.
Screenshot of Google Maps showing a route from Toronto to Ottawa |
Penang island and Province Wellesley on the mainland as seen on
Google Maps [1] |
Development
Google Maps was first announced on the Google Blog on February 8, 2005.
It originally only supported users of Internet Explorer and Mozilla web
browsers, but support for Opera and Safari was added on February 25, 2005.
It was in beta for 6 months before becoming part of Google Local on October
6, 2005.
Like other Google web applications, a large amount of JavaScript was used to
create Google Maps. As the user drags the map, the grid squares are
downloaded from the server and displayed to the user. When a user searches
for a business, the location is pin-pointed with a red pin, which is
actually a transparent PNG placed over the map. The technique of providing
greater user-interactivity by performing asynchronous network requests with
Javascript and XML has recently become known as AJAX.
Features
Google Maps features a draggable map that can be zoomed in to show
detailed street information. The user can control the map with the mouse or
the arrow keys to move to the desired location. To allow for quick movement,
the "+" and "-" keys can be used to control the zoom level. Users may enter
an address, intersection or general area to quickly find it on the map.
Search results can be restricted to a certain area, thanks to Google Local.
For example, someone can enter a query such as "Waffles in Ottawa" to find
restaurants serving waffles near the city. This can be used to find a wide
variety of businesses, such as theatres, restaurants or hotels.
Like many other map
services,
Google Maps allows for the creation of driving directions. It gives the user
a step by step list of how to get to their destination, along with an
estimate of the time required to reach it and the distance between the two
locations.
The "link to this page" link on each Google Maps map puts a long URL on the
clipboard which contains the latitude and longitude. The latitude and
longitude can be used as input to NASA World Wind or TerraServer-USA, which
in some cases has higher resolution imagery.
In late April 2005, Google added a Ride
Finder feature to its maps, in which a person could locate a cab or
shuttle in a major city in real-time. The person would have to hit the
Update Position bar to find the vehicle's new location.
As of June 2005, Google Maps features road maps for the United States,
Puerto Rico, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
In mid July 2005, Google began Google Maps and Google Local services for
Japan, including road maps.
In July 2005, in honor of the thirty-sixth anniversary of the Apollo Moon
landing, Google Moon was launched, which featured a draggable map and
satellite imagery of the Moon's surface, created with data from NASA
satellite imagery. A full zoom-in will humourously make the Moon's surface
resemble cheese.
Satellite images
In early April 2005, an alternate view was activated to show satellite
imagery of the area displayed. Google is also one of the first satellite
imagery services that can overlay directions above the satellite image .
By June 2005, high-resolution (full-zoom) images were available for most
urban areas in Canada and the United States -- including Hawaii and Alaska).
Google has high-resolution pictures of parts of: France, Iceland, Italy,
Iraq, Japan, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Kuwait, Mexico, the Netherlands, the
United Kingdom, and many other countries. Some areas are obscured for
security reasons, like the United States Capitol, White House and other
government facilities in Washington, D.C.. However, other well-known
government installations are visible, such as Area 51 in the Nevada desert.
Since June 17, 2005 Google Maps is making more and more areas available in
high resolution satellite imagery, including many areas and major cities of
Europe.
Lower-resolution satellite imagery is available for the entire planet,
except for the North and South Poles.
Not all the images are from satellites -- some urban images are aerial
photographs taken from high-altitude aircraft.
Screenshot of Google Maps (satellite) showing Candlestick Park in San
Francisco, CA
Hybrid
On July 22, 2005, Google released a "hybrid" view of their Google Maps.
This hybrid view combines the map and satellite view - essentially,
overlaying the illustrated map and street names on the real-world satellite
views. This makes it much easier to find routes, as it combines the benefits
of both views. Together with this change, the satellite image data was
converted from plate carrée to Mercator projection, which makes for a less
distorted image in the temperate climes latitudes.
Popularity
With the introduction of an easily pannable and searchable mapping and
satellite imagery tool, Google's mapping engine prompted a surge of interest
in satellite imagery. Sites such as Google Sightseeing and Google
Globetrotting were established which feature satellite images of interesting
natural and man-made landmarks, including such novelties as "large type"
writing visible in the imagery, as well as famous stadiums and unique earth
formations.
Combined with photo sharing websites such as Flickr, a phenomenon called
"memory maps" emerged. Using copies of the Keyhole satellite photos of their
home towns or other favorite places, the users take advantage of image
annotation features to provide personal histories and information regarding
particular points of the area.
Extensibility and customization
The downloadable Google Earth allows
customized use of Google Maps, with e.g. map images with town and street
names overlaying satellite images.
As the Google Maps code is almost entirely JavaScript and XML, some
end-users have reverse-engineered the tool and produced client-side scripts
and server-side hooks which allow a user or website to introduce expanded or
customized features into the Google Maps interface.
Using the core engine and the map/satellite images hosted by Google, such
tools can
introduce custom location icons, location coordinates and metadata, and even
custom map image sources into the Google Maps interface. Some of the more
well-known of these "Google Maps Hacks"
include tools
such as the locations of Craigslist rental properties, Seattle 911 calls, or
Chicago crime data. The script-insertion tool Greasemonkey provides a large
number of client-side scripts to customize Google Maps data, and the
mygmaps.com website provides an interface for easily adding your own set of
locations and viewing them on Google Maps.
In late June 2005, Google released Google Maps API, exposing nearly the
entire interface to customization. With a Google Maps API key, the API is
free for use on any site that is free to the public. The introduction of the
API has accelerated the development of new Google Maps-based applications,
including a multi-player online game, Tripods.
Google's use of Google Maps
Google Local
Google integrates small-scale Google Maps views as part of its Local
Search feature, which can find businesses of a certain category in a
geographic area. Local Search is in turn available from Google Maps, based
on the currently viewed area.
RideFinder
Google launched an experimental Google Maps-based tool called RideFinder,
tapping into in-car GPS units for a selection of participating taxi and
limousine services.
The tool displays the current location of all supported vehicles of the
participating
services in major cities, including Chicago and San Francisco on a
Google Maps street map.
Google Moon
On July 20, 2005, in honor of the 36th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon
landing, Google took public domain imagery from NASA of the Moon, and
integrated it into the Google Maps interface. By default this tool, with a
reduced set of features, also displayed the points of landing of all Apollo
spacecraft to land on the moon. This tool also included an easter egg,
displaying a Swiss cheese design at the highest zoom level. Google Moon, as
it was called, was linked from a special commemorative version of the Google
logo displayed at the top of the main Google search page for the duration of
July 20 (UTC).
See also
Rival Services
- MapQuest
- Virtual Earth (Satellite imagery application that rivals Google
Maps, begain its testing phase on 24 Jul 2005)
- TerraServer-USA (Public domain satellite imagery via Microsoft
servers)
- MSN Maps & Directions (The mainstream mapping application from
Microsoft - no satellite imagery)
- Yahoo! Maps
- A9 Maps (This rival from Amazon.com offers detailed street level
pictures taken from a van-mounted camera - for 24 US-cities only)
- Multimap.com (United Kingdom)
- map.search.ch (Switzerland, the first AJAX map)
- Map24
- Routenplaner24 (german)
External links
Google Maps discussion websites
Examples of web
tools employing Google Maps
Websites collecting Google Maps aerial views
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