European Football Championship 2008 - Google Fan Map!

Posted by Caroline Stanghon, Google EuropeThe European Championship kicks-off on 7th June 2008 in Switzerland and to celebrate Google is introducing some new features for football fanatics (that's soccer for Americans).Fans will be able to keep track of the events of the tournament using the new Google European Football Championship 2008 Fan Map. Learn about the stadiums - the tournament kicks off at Basle's St Jakob Park and the final will take...

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Google Earth, meet the browser

Posted by Paul Rademacher, Technical Lead, Google Earth Browser Plug-inWhen Google Maps was launched in 2005, few could have guessed the way map mashups would permeate the online world. Online maps had been just something you used to get directions or to find the ten nearest grocery stores. Google Maps and the Google Maps API proved that an online map was actually a rich canvas on which entire new applications could be built. Likewise, when Google...

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Map of Santa Cruz Mountains wildfire

Posted by Elaine Filadelfo, LatLong Blog TeamThe San Jose Mercury News has created a My Map to help those near the wildfire that's currently underway in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The map features live video and reader-submitted photos of the fire, along with information about the affected area and nearby evacuation centers.View Larger ...

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In their own words

Posted by Cathy Tang, Product Marketing ManagerWe're always amazed by the innovative ways businesses use Google Maps to improve their product offering, whether it's creating heat maps to help users visualize home price trends or enabling them to search for that all-important coffee shop near their hotel. News sites are no exception; for example, KPBS and the Los Angeles Times used Google Maps back in October to report real-time on the spread of the San Diego wildfires.I'm happy to announce that we've launched a video site to spotlight these organizations...

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Getting scientific with Google Earth

Posted by Ryan Falor, Systems EngineerAs part of Google's ongoing mission to make information more readily available we recently collaborated with the University of Colorado, Boulder to hold an event for scientists and researchers in the area. The event focused on finding ways to use KML and Google Earth to display and communicate scientific research with policy makers, students, and the public.The event was hosted by the Laboratory for Atmospheric...

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Extra! Extra! Discover the world's news in Google Earth

Posted by Brandon Badger, Product ManagerThe launch of Google News on Google Earth is a milestone in the evolution of the geobrowser. By spatially locating the Google News' constantly updating index of stories from more than 4,500 news sources, Google Earth now shows an ever-changing world of human activity as chronicled by reporters worldwide. Zoom into areas of personal interest and peruse headlines of national, regional and, when fully zoomed...

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Panoramio gathering in London

Posted by Liz Ericson, Product Marketing MangerSince Panoramio became a part of the Google family last year, I continue to be impressed by the quality and coverage of the photos that Panoramio's users are constantly generating. But my favourite part about these images is that users can share their photos with the world, making it a richer place.Last week, a party was held in Barcelona to celebrate the 5,000,000th photo shared on Panoramio. Contributors...

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Climate change in our world

Posted by Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist and Phil Verney, Google Earth Community DevelopmentOf the challenges surrounding global climate change, communicating its potential impact and increasing public awareness of the scientific research undertaken to monitor and model its effect on society are quite pressing. Today we are pleased that the British Government is launching with Google Earth Outreach, and in collaboration with the Met Office...

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Imagery for Sichuan, China Earthquake

Posted by Wei Luo, Technical Lead Manager, Google EarthAn earthquake of a magnitude of 7.9 hit Sichuan, China on May 12, with its epicenter about 50 miles northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. According to the latest news reports, authorities fear that as many as 50,000 people could have lost their lives. We now have post-earthquake imagery from our satellite providers; as of this morning, we have processed the first set of satellite imagery...

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Myanmar maps update

Posted by Sanjay Jain, Product Manager and Lalitesh Katragadda, Software EngineerAfter Cyclone Nargis hit the Ayeyarwaddy (Irrawaddy) delta last week, we heard from a lot of people about the lack of detailed, comprehensive maps for the region. The latest maps are now available through a Mapplet. These maps are provided as overlays, and some features of Google Maps are not available - most notably, these maps are not searchable or routable....

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News flash: Maps now open to Flash developers

Posted by Mickey Kataria, Product ManagerRarely does a week go by that I don't hear from someone who wants to add Google Maps to their Flash application. Well, we've been listening and working to provide the solution. Say hello to the new Google Maps API for Flash. Here is an example from AFComponents that demonstrates some of the Flash functionality you can build into your applications now that Google Maps can be developed in ActionScript 3. Click...

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Explore places with photos, videos, and more

Posted by Henry Mitchell, Software EngineerDo you ever visit Google Maps and sometimes get caught up browsing for interesting places? Maybe daydream about getting away, or reflecting back on that awesome vacation you took?I'm pleased to announce the launch of a new feature that makes it more interesting for users to browse and explore different places on Google Maps. With this feature, you can explore an area by viewing photos, videos, user-created...

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More ways to find more than ever

Posted by Christoph Oehler, Product ManagerYou may have noticed a bit of a theme with some of our recent announcements, such as mapped web pages and geotagged YouTube videos -- we want you to be able to view any information in its geographic context. But we realized that an important step is making that information easier to find, so we've now added a new button to Google Maps:The "More" button will allow you to easily turn on layers of Panoramio...

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Where in the world is... (Answers)

Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS SpecialistHello again! Today I'm happy to announce that the Google Earth data team has pushed out another imagery update. As always, here are some hints pointing you toward the new imagery. Stay tuned for the answers and a more complete listing of imagery updates.1) This city is home to over 300 museums. Its flower is the bird of paradise and its tree is the coral tree. -- Los Angeles2) An historic landmark, this all...

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Where in the world is...

Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS SpecialistHello again! Today I'm happy to announce that the Google Earth data team has pushed out another imagery update. As always, here are some hints pointing you toward the new imagery. Stay tuned for the answers and a more complete listing of imagery updates.1) This city is home to over 300 museums. Its flower is the bird of paradise and its tree is the coral tree.2) An historic landmark, this all wood luxury hotel...

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Street View revisits Manhattan

Posted by Andrea Frome, Software Engineer In the last couple months, we've brought you 14 new Street View cities. Now we're touching up Manhattan, one of the first locations we launched. The new imagery is more recent; for example, we now have the appropriately-named New Museum in the Bowery in its near-complete state:View Larger MapWe also have sharper images -- check out Times Square:View Larger Mapor the arch in Washington Square Park: View...

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New Rumsey Historical Maps and new ways to view them

Posted by David Rumsey, Founder, David Rumsey Map CollectionWith the recent addition of over 100 new historical maps, there are now 120 maps in the Rumsey Historical Map layer in Gallery layer in Google Earth, and these maps can now be seen in a new layer in Google Maps. The original 16 historical maps, launched in November of 2006, have been augmented by adding many more maps of cities, regions, countries, continents, and even globes.The method...

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Master collection of Cyclone Nargis layers

Posted by Christiaan Adams, Google Earth OutreachSince the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar (Burma) last weekend, people all over the world have been mobilizing to provide relief to the massive numbers of victims who have lost their homes and livelihoods, and loved ones. The organizations that we work with at Google.org and Google Earth Outreach are working overtime to help the people affected, despite the difficulties of working in and even getting into Myanmar.We've heard from these organizations that Google Earth is a valuable planning...

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AC Transit schedules now available in Google Maps

Posted by Chris Harrelson, Software EngineerEven though the Earth Day challenge is over, we've still been working hard to bring more transit agencies' schedules to Google Maps. This week, I'm especially exited that our newest addition is my hometown agency, AC Transit, which services the East Bay part of the San Francisco Bay Area.How would I get from San Francisco to Berkeley after BART closes? We've got you covered:View Larger MapHow about getting to Stanford University from Fremont, straight across the bay? Got that one too: View Larger MapOr...

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Using Google Earth to inform cyclone response

Posted by Annie Maxwell, Chief Operating Officer, Direct Relief InternationalAt Direct Relief International, we rely on Google Earth in both our ongoing and emergency response efforts to help target medical assistance.As part of our response to Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma), we plotted all of the Myanmar Ministry of Health facilities (over 700 sites) using data from the WHO 2002 Global Health Atlas survey. We utilized Google Earth's Spreadsheet...

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Imagery for Myanmar (Burma)

Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS Specialist; Dylan Lorimer, Strategic Partner Manager; and Chikai Ohazama, Product ManagerIn the aftermath of the Cyclone Nargis, residents and aid workers are struggling to recover in Myanmar (Burma). Satellite imagery providers DigitalGlobe and GeoEye/CRISP-Singapore have made post-cyclone imagery available and NASA's MODIS satellite has provided pre- and post-cyclone imagery in order to help disaster relief responders...

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Tracking the path of Cyclone Nargis

Posted by Cris Castello, GIS Data EngineerUsing the data provided to us by the Naval Reseach Laboratory (NRL), we've put together a Google Earth animation of Cyclone Nargis making landfall in Myanmar. You can download the KML, then click the "play" button in the upper right of your screen (next to the time slider). The animation moves in three-hour increments for the days leading up to landfall, then moves in single-hour increments as the cyclone...

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Three cheers for teachers

Posted by Anna Bishop, Google Earth EducationEach year, on the first Tuesday in May, we celebrate National Teacher Day by highlighting the heroic contributions our nation's educators make on a daily basis. Today, the Google for Educators team is proud to announce the launch of the new Geo Education website at google.com/educators/geo. We hope that this site will serve as an easy-to-navigate, one-stop-shop for teachers looking to incorporate Google Earth, Maps, Sky, and Sketchup in their classrooms.Whether you're approaching these tools as a first-time...

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Google Earth layer of Myanmar cyclone data

Posted by Jessica Pfund and Christiaan Adams, Google Earth TeamCyclone Nargis hit Myanmar hard over the weekend, causing widespread flooding and taking the lives of thousands of people and leaving many more homeless or displaced. There are a number of people and organizations working to help the people of Myanmar, including the UN Institute for Training and Research Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). UNOSAT regularly publishes maps in disaster response situations. They have data on the path of the cyclone and the extent of the...

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Mapped web pages in Google Maps

Posted by Abe Murray, Product ManagerYou may have noticed Google's experimental views for search results introduced the ability to view web pages on a map. We've been having fun enabling this feature for Google Maps.We're excited about this because it helps us give you search results for more types of Maps searches. A search for Einstein highlights important locations from Einstein's life with links to web pages with more information. Mapping these locations can help you understand web searches from a new perspective. This is one of many steps...

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