Google Earth is a “geo-browser” - a great tool for exploring places, businesses, and photos around the globe. However, sometimes when you want more information, you may want to click through to a link to see the full Google Places page for a business, or learn more about a photographer whose photo you really enjoy. In the past, this has required opening a link in an external browser to see the full page. For Google Earth 5.2, we’ve added an embedded browser that lets you browse the full web. Click on a link, and the browser pane slides across the screen. When you want to return to the Earth view, just click the “Back” button and you’re back exploring the world!
New improvements to Google Earth Pro
While Google Earth has been downloaded by over 700 million people all around the world, not everyone is aware that we also have a professional version, Google Earth Pro, which gives the powerful tools needed by engineers, real-estate professionals, governments, and others to process and visualize large geographic data sets. Google Earth Pro 5.2 brings new features to our professional users, including:
Parcel, demographic, and traffic data layers for the US
Improved GIS importing
Automatic generation of super-overlays for very large image files
Automatic regioning of large point and vector data sets
Support for MGRS grid system
We’ll be following up shortly with more details on these great new features in Google Earth 5.2. However, if you to get started right now, go to http://earth.google.com to download it. Happy trails!
Today we’re launching Google Maps Navigation version 4.2 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland for Android devices 1.6 and higher. Google Maps Navigation is an Internet-connected GPS navigation or ‘satnav’ system that provides turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps.
On my test trip, I found a number of Navigation features useful:
While driving through the Loire Valley, I put my French language skills to the test by finding my destination with Search by voice (now launched in French, German, Italian, and Spanish for Android 2.0 and higher);
I previewed a typical British roundabout with Street View to see exactly where I’d need to exit before getting there in person;
I satisfied my craving for moules frites by searching for it along my route;
I kept the gas stations layer on to ensure I’d always know where the nearest petrol station was, just in case;
And, of course, the turn-by-turn voice guidance kept me on-track to my destination -- despite my sometimes spotty connection in mountain tunnels -- thanks to the way Maps Navigation saves the route on your device when you start.
Google Maps Navigation (beta) with Search by voice is available in version 4.2 of Google Maps, on Android devices 1.6 and higher. To download Google Maps version 4.2, search for Google Maps in Android Market.
Try Google Maps Navigation in your local country and language today -- and have a great time touring around the Continent this summer if you get the chance!
Posted by Michael Siliski, Product Manager, Google Maps for mobile
Omer currently lives in Lahore while Jabran resides in London. They live thousands of kilometers apart but have a shared commitment to map their country and assist their people as they cope with this disaster situation.
“From the onset of the disaster, the international community seemed to be hardly aware of the situation. Worst...I was unable to locate on a map where Atta Abad was! As a mapper, my first appeal went out to the Google Map Maker team, and Google Maps Pakistan,” recalled Omer.
Together, Jabran and Omer created a website, http://www.local.com.pk/hunza/, that uses the Map Maker API -- for raising awareness about the importance of this emergency and making disaster data more accessible and useful. The publishing of post-disaster imagery, made available by Google, is also allowing Map Maker users to provide unique mapping contributions (i.e. shelters, health centers, flood prone areas, etc), all to be brought online in near-realtime. The website is now recognized as a primary source of information for the Hunza disaster, and as such is being listed on the UN-Spider knowledge portal.
Jabran describes their mapping process: “The gap in information available to the public was obvious. After getting the latest imagery, we started mapping the area. We used Map Maker as our baseline data and started adding other feature of interested such as locations of towns, the extent of the lake, submerged bridges & highway sections.”
When asked about his motivations for becoming so involved in this effort, Omer explains: “We hope that our effort to make reliable information more widely available will help disaster relief managers and decision makers save lives and prevent more damage to the fragile economy of this remote region. In contributing to Map Maker, my desire is to establish a basic framework around which we can document, understand and bring transparency to the events taking place around me. We, as a mapping community, need to better demonstrate the benefits of online collaboration and the utility of tools such as Map Maker for rapid dissemination of information.”
This is the journey of two mappers who have used the Map Maker community as a basis to connect the ideas & skills of dedicated individuals -- for the better good of their own community. To contribute to the Hunza Landslide Relief Support please visit this website.
We as well have added the third Hope Spot tour with Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue foundation to the Ocean Showcase, where you can visit 5 more special places in the ocean in need of protection from the Chilean Fjords off South America, to the deep sea angler fish in the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone, to the surfing hippos off the Gulf of Guinea off West Africa to the Outer Seychelles and Kermadec Trench north of New Zealand. You can now explore any of the Hope Spot posts in the Ocean layer in Google Earth by clicking on the yellow highlighted circle icons in the ocean.
See Hope Spot content highlighted with yellow circle icons in Google Earth. Click on the flame icon in the Gulf of Mexico to get more information on the Deep Horizon oil spill.
Celebrate the opportunities and challenges of our shared resource, the Ocean. See the cost of the Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion with new data, as that oil spill tragedy unfolds by clicking on the default on placemark southeast of New Orleans, USA.
What else can you do to make sure you’re ready for football fever? We’ve provided a quick checklist with stuff you can do:
Add additional information people looking for places to watch soccer will appreciate (ie: how many & what size screens you have). Read more here.
Let people know which games you are showing and let them know if you have any special football promotions by posting a live update to your Place Page. Read more here.
Got lots of satisfied customers post-game? Ask them to add valuable feedback or recommend you on Google Maps. Read more here.
Make sure you join before June 11 to be certain your local football-loving customers can find you in time for their big match. You can learn more on this site: http://www.google.com/showsoccer.
Have fun and may the best team win! I can't wait to find the best place in London to go cheer my team to victory.
Posted by Kenzo Fong Hing, Maps Product Marketing Manager, London
It’s also a great way to get the different generations hanging out together over the family album. The project aims to start millions of new conversations between old and young, motivating older people to share their history while younger people share their digital skills.
I also love this glimpse of 1970’s fashion in London and the crazy dodo in a pram (or stroller). It only just launched in Beta but the result so far is a fascinating snapshot of the changing face of local streets and well known landmarks, providing us all with a new perspective on historic moments.
But this is just the start! Historypin has ambitions to become the world’s largest user-generated communal archive of historic images and stories and anyone, anywhere can get involved. Pictures have been provided from individuals as well as various national archives, including such diverse contributors as Selfridges, Marks & Spencer, the Royal Albert Hall and Arsenal FC.
It looks like it’s time to grab a cup of tea, dust off the albums in the attic and take a trip down memory lane—then down Street View—with your grandma or grandpa.
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