Posted by Wei Luo, Senior GIS SpecialistI am excited to see that David Rumsey's maps have come to life in Second Life, the extremely popular online, 3-D world. It's such a cool idea: historical maps in a virtual world. I've spent hours playing with the Rumsey maps that appear in Google Earth, sliding back and forth between today's borders and the maps of yesteryear. I find the constellation maps in Sky to be particularly awe-inspiring; I am always amazed at how accurately our ancestors were able to portray the night sky without the aid of powerful...
Friday, 29 February 2008
Posted by Bryce Stout, Product ManagerDo you have style? Are you a SketchUp Pro enthusiast? Then you'll want to check out our 2008 SketchUp Sketchy-Edge Style Building Competition. This is a great chance to test out the new Style Builder and try your hand at a modern take on old-fashioned sketching -- and maybe win some fun prizes. Read more about it, then get to work. We can't wait to see what you crea...
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Posted by Tanya Keen, Google Earth OutreachRecently we announced collaborative mapmaking in Google Maps. What does this mean for those of you working at nonprofits? Simply put, it's easier to make maps with your coworkers, partners, donors, and beneficiaries.Here are just a couple of ideas: Get your program leads to post photos and videos of what they're doing in the field. Recent photos and videos go a long way toward demonstrating your impact on the communities you serve, which matters to donors and potential partners. Have your donors, partners,...
Posted by Constantinos Michael, Software Engineer Ever since I moved to the New York City Google office I've had an agenda: exploring the best the city has to offer like so many other New Yorkers do. Sometimes this can be an overwhelming experience, since the city has more than 18,000 food vendors according to nycvisit.com! Fortunately, finding the best places just became a lot easier with the addition of user ratings and neighborhood refinements...
Monday, 25 February 2008
Posted by Phil Verney, Google Earth Community DevelopmentWe always enjoy seeing people use our products to shed light on global issues. One great example is the layer created by the UNEP/GEF South China Sea Project. This large Global Environment Facility project, implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme, is working to develop regionally co-ordinated programmes of action designed to reverse environmental degradation, such as the loss...
Posted by Giri Rao, Software EngineerA couple months ago, my wife and I decided to go on a vacation. I suggested we go to Greece, but she insisted on Thailand. I thought I could win her over by showing her some of the historical areas of Greece, so I promptly brought her to Google Maps. Unfortunately, I couldn't read a thing since all the labels were in Greek. When she tried to check out Thailand, we had the same problem.I realized that our maps were much less useful for people who don't recognize non-Latin characters. I decided to tackle this...
Friday, 22 February 2008
Posted by Michael Weiss-Malik, Software Engineer(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog.)Google Moon and Google Mars are great examples of products that required much more than pure software engineering to produce. There was quite a bit of science, and even a little bit of artistry, that went into their creation. They both expose large volumes of imagery and information in simple and accessible designs, and it turns out that I'm not the only one who thinks that they qualify as art in this regard.New York's Museum of Modern Art has honored both...
Posted by Adelia Barber, Doctoral Student at UC Santa CruzPencils down! It's time to see how you did on our ecology pop quiz.1. Use your Internet research skills to learn a little bit about Ngorongora Crater in Tanzania, then find the site in Google Earth. Can you find the safari vehicles? Large animals? What kinds of plants do you think are growing along the shores of the lake? What kinds of plants would you find along the crater rim?Yes, you can...
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Posted by Jeffrey Martin, Product Marketing Manager...just take the case of our new Static Maps API. Unlike our other APIs, which embed an interactive map in your web pages, the Static Maps API embeds a static snapshot. The snapshot map loads fast, making it ideal for content-heavy and multimedia-rich pages.And because they are not rendered using JavaScript, maps generated by the Static Maps API can be added to emails as attachments. On webpages and in gadget ads, it is possible to combine the Static Maps API with the JavaScript API to make the...
Posted by Adelia Barber, Doctoral Student at UC Santa CruzOne of the most dreaded things for a field ecologist (myself included) is spending all day at the computer. Instead, we'd rather be, you guessed it, in the field. For this reason, I’m one of Google Earth’s biggest fans -- even when I have to be indoors, I can explore the world. I’m a doctoral student at UC Santa Cruz in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, doing research on the ancient bristlecone pines, the oldest living trees on earth. I've been using Google Earth on a daily...
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS SpecialistGreat detective work, everyone! Here are the answers, just in case there were a few questions that stumped you.1) This city is getting a belated Australia Day present from the Google Earth Team.-- Sydney2) Until now, this famous Frank Gehry building was shown as under construction.-- Ray and Maria Stata Center, MIT (Boston)3) This city is host to a young basketball team that's very exciting to watch, despite...
Posted by Dave Barth, Product ManagerMost of us think primarily in terms of either miles or kilometers, and converting from one to the other takes a bit of mental power that, personally, I think could be put to better use. We've heard the same from our users, so this week we've added the ability to view your driving directions in either miles or kilometers, no matter which part of the world you're in. Just click the km or miles link below the directions...
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS SpecialistHappy February, Earth fans!It took a full two months for us to get ready for it, but we've finally pushed out the first imagery update of 2008 -- and I hope you'll find that it was worth the wait! Most of the updates in this push are centered around the U.S., though there are a quite a few very high quality updates all around the world.1) This city is getting a belated Australia Day present from the Google...
Friday, 15 February 2008
Posted by Jeff Martin, Product Marketing ManagerI'm headed to the mountains for the weekend, so I just checked the weather conditions for my route using one of my favorite sites, weatherbug.com. If you look up your local weather (or the weather of wherever you may be going this holiday weekend), you have the option to "change tracking station." This brings you to a great use of our Maps API -- a Google Map where you can choose from thousands of weather monitoring sites around the world. These micro-stations feed real-time temperature, wind, and...
Thursday, 14 February 2008
Posted by Chikai Ohazama, Product Manager, Google EarthThere's plenty to love about Google Earth, like being able to explore the universe, track the weather, and watch YouTube videos in the place they were made. But it's our imagery that's at the, well, heart of the matter.As you can imagine, the Google Earth team is always on the lookout for good views from the air. That's why we are so pleased to find, just in time for Valentine's Day, that the...
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Posted by Christiaan Adams and Sean Askay, Google Earth OutreachOn the Google Earth Outreach team we're always looking for ways to help non-profits share their stories. One great way to spread your message is by creating a layer for Google Earth or Maps. You probably know by now that placemarks can be created using something called KML. Most people think this file format is really hard to use, but with the help of Google Spreadsheets and a little...
Posted by Jess Lee, Product Manager, Google MapsOur goal is to create the world's most comprehensive virtual atlas -- the best, most complete map of the earth. This is no easy task, and we know we can't accomplish it without the help of our users, because nobody knows a neighborhood better than the folks who live in it.In April of 2007, we launched a feature called My Maps that lets anybody create a map quickly and easily just by pointing and clicking. We wanted to enable all the world's local experts to map our their neighborhoods, their hobbies,...
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Posted by Rebecca Moore and Steve Miller, Google Earth Outreach As part of the Google Earth Outreach team, we're big fans of the three Rs of environmentalism: reduce, reuse, recycle. We also abide by another important set of Rs: release, revise, repeat. By trying out new ideas, listening to feedback, and making changes, we think we'll do a better job of helping out our partners.In that spirit, today we've updated our site to include some new content. Over the course of the week we'll show you around in detail, but for now, here's a quick tour:Getting...
Posted by Vaibhav Vaish, Software Engineer We're happy to bring you Street View in 12 more cities today. This effectively doubles our Street View coverage. And there are many new sights to explore, including our first glacier, the "drive-in" Mendenhall glacier in Juneau, Alaska:View Larger MapIf you find glaciers too icy, consider the slightly warmer Great Salt Lake:View Larger MapAnd where do you think we found this grand railway station?View Larger MapStreet View coverage has expanded to include: Albany and Schenectady, NY Boise, ID ...
Monday, 11 February 2008
Posted by Allyson McDuffie, Google SketchUp Education Program DevelopmentToday we announced the Google 2008 International Model Your Campus Competition, which invites students around the world to create 3D models of their campus. To get inspired - or to go on a virtual college tour - check out what last year's winners modeled. Then, visit the competition website to register. We can't wait to see what you come up wi...
Posted by Chikai Ohazama, Google Earth Product ManagerWhen I was an intern at Silicon Graphics in the '90s, some engineers and I would speculate about what it would take to accomplish impossibly large goals, like how much 3D graphics power we'd needed to perfectly recreate reality or how much disk space we'd need to store satellite imagery of the entire world at 1 meter resolution. They were fun exercises that you'd never expect to actually happen given where technology was at the time.But as I sit here today, browsing Google Earth, those hypotheticals...
Thursday, 7 February 2008
Posted by Jeff Martin, Product Marketing ManagerWho loves New York? Gucci does. And they're willing to bet lots of other people do too. The CEO and the creative director used our Maps API to highlight some of their favorite places on guccilovesny.com. And they're inviting people to take part. You can upload your favorite spot to the site for a chance to get featured on the map. Now if only Madonna would upload some photos from the fundraiser she threw in NYC last night...
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
Posted by Brittany Bohnet, Elections Program ManagerWe've done it before and we're doing it again, this time in a much bigger -- dare I say super -- kind of way.Today, we announced our Super Tuesday map, a one-stop shop for elections-related news and results. Included in the map are results by county, an embeddable map code for your website or blog, a Super Tuesday YouTube layer of geo-tagged user videos, Google News election headlines, as well as...
Saturday, 2 February 2008
Posted by Greg Donaker, Software Engineer, Google MapsSince my favorite team, the 49ers, didn't make it to the Super Bowl this year, I'll be rooting for the Patriots this Sunday. But no matter who wins, half the fun of watching the big game is the atmosphere. UrbanTailgate.com has put together a Super Bowl My Map with all the best places to watch the game in New York City. They list over 80 bars holding tailgate parties and point out who's offering...
Friday, 1 February 2008
Posted by Evan Parker, Software Engineer, Google MapsIt may be hard to imagine that people working at the BBC ever get downtime on the job, but during a quiet night shift, one employee decided to tinker around with Google Maps. The result? A mashup that shows the locations of BBC bureaus and reporters around the world. If you click on one of the map icons, you can read stories that are generated from that location. You can also find out which specific reporters are covering stories from a particular place and read their work. Being both a maps...
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