Golly Gee, look who's 3...

Posted by Mike Pegg, Product Marketing ManagerWe're pretty excited about all of these birthdays that have been happening lately.  The Google Outreach program just celebrated its first birthday, and Google Maps Street View is happy to also be going one year strong.   We're also pleased as punch to wish our pride and joy for geoweb developers everywhere, the Google Maps API, a happy third birthday.  It...

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Mapping the Northern California wildfires

Posted by Matt Manolides, GIS SpecialistThere have been many wildfires raging in Northern California in recent weeks, and with more dry weather and potential thunderstorms in the forecast, things are looking quite dangerous. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, there are currently 12,521 firefighters battling hundreds of fires which have scorched nearly 160,000 acres. To help citizens stay safe, the department has...

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Happy First Birthday to Google Earth Outreach

Posted by Tanya Keen, Google Earth OutreachToday marks the first birthday of the US launch of the Google Earth Outreach program. The program began as a 20% project by Googlers Rebecca Moore and Jenifer Austin Foulkes, who shared a vision of using technology like Google Earth to make the world a better place. In response to demand from non-profit organizations who wanted help using Google Earth and Maps to tell their story, their side project grew into a formal program. The Outreach website launched with teaching tutorials, a Google Earth Pro license...

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Notes from the classroom: Exploring literary spaces via Google Earth

Posted by Jerome Burg, Retired English Teacher and creator of GoogleLitTrips.comAs I head to the Googleplex this week to speak with this year’s group of tech-savvy educators at the Google Teacher Academy, I wanted to share a bit about how I’ve found Google Earth useful for teaching literature.Much of the world's greatest literature incorporates a literal journey as a metaphor representing universal experiences we share with the characters as we travel...

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Making your mark on the world

Posted by Lalitesh Katragadda, Software Engineer and Sanjay Jain, Product ManagerHave you ever wondered why some parts of the world don't have great maps and thought how nice it would be if they did? Building a map is an exceedingly complex process, and it is a challenge to reach all parts of the world. Today we unveiled Google Map Maker, a new product that allows users to contribute and edit Maps data for regions around the world.Google Map Maker...

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Map of Wisconsin road closures

Posted by Timothy Vik, WisDOT State Traffic Operations CenterDue to the rain and flooding in Wisconsin, we at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's State Traffic Operations Center and Emergency Operation Center have utilized Google Maps to create a My Map to display up-to-date road closures due to flooding. The map has been viewed over 1.4 million times. Visitors to the map have left more than 300 comments providing additional information about road closures and flooding, allowing the map to have the most comprehensive information possible.View...

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The Presidential Showcase

Posted by Brittany Bohnet, Google Maps Special ProjectsIf you've been following politics (or our blog) closely this year, you may have seen some Google Maps mashups from the Iowa Caucus, Super Tuesday, and the US state primaries--including an extra special primary map in Pennsylvania. We've recently discovered several other elections map mashups on the web that are just as interesting and we couldn't help but share.In order to better showcase these...

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Getting in the driver's seat

Posted by Mickey Kataria, Product ManagerIf you're eager to go on a summer road trip but gas prices have you a little hesitant, the 2D Driving Simulator is for you. Developed using the Google Maps API for Flash that we recently unveiled, it lets you test your (virtual) driving skills at the high speeds of the Autobahn or see how you fare on the other side of the road in London.You can also read what the simulator's creator, Katsuomi Kobayashi, has to say about it over on the Geo Developers blog. Drive safe...

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Street View turns 1, keeps on growing

Posted by Jiajun Zhu, Software EngineerTo celebrate Street View's one year birthday, I am very happy to announce we are bringing Street View to 37 (you heard me - 37!) new areas and we have expanded coverage in 15 of our existing areas. All in all, this effectively doubles our coverage. The new cities include: MA: Springfield NY: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse NJ: Newark VA: Virginia Beach NC: Charlotte, Winston-Salem SC: Columbia, Greenville GA: Atlanta...

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Bringing Richer Data to a Local Search Near You

Posted by Tammy Stern, Software EngineerWhen I search for a business, I often want more information than just the address and phone number: I want to know what people are saying about it and what it looks like. Many results in Google Maps have had this information for some time now, but it's always been a couple of clicks away. Now richer data automatically appears in the left panel.When I travel from the Google NYC office to visit the Mountain View...

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Cities in 3D Program spreads to Europe

Posted by Ed Parsons, Geospatial TechnologistBack in March we announced the Google Cities in 3D Program, which invites local governments to share their 3D data with the public by adding a model of their city to Google Earth. The good news is that we are now extending this program with localised websites to encourage governments in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands to share their data with us. The Cities in 3D Program provides...

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Follow your team around the European Championship

Posted by Raphael Leiteritz, Product Manager, Google ZurichTo help football fans celebrate the European Championships 2008, you can now use Google Transit and Google Earth to navigate around the tournament in Austria and Switzerland.Using Google Transit, fans will be able to use Google Maps to plan their tournament travels - from finding tramway stops and the nearest bus stop, to finding departure/arrival times. To find your way from one match to...

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Get bus and train directions on the go

Posted by Joe Hughes, Software Engineer(Cross posted from the Google Mobile Blog)Ever since Google Maps added public transportation directions for San Francisco, it's been a lot easier for me to figure out which buses and trains will get me where I'm going around town, and today's gas prices take less of a toll on my wallet. Even so, I've often found myself wishing that I had an easy way to get transit directions while I'm out and about.Enter the...

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A virtual visit to where dreams come true

Posted by Bruce Polderman, Product Manager (and aspiring Mouseketeer)If you've used Google Earth to explore possible family vacation destinations, then we have a treat for you: Disney has introduced a new layer for Google Earth that allows you to explore the company's popular Orlando attractions including Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. The new layer can be accessed in either the "Preview" or "Gallery" folders of Google...

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Ready for your summer vacation?

Ritee Rouf, Product Marketing ManagerWhen we received an invitation to attend a friend's wedding in Hawaii, my husband and I couldn't think of a better way to spend our summer vacation. I started my research and quickly realized what a hassle it can be to make travel plans. When you're traveling with kids, spontaneity is not really on the top of your list; you want to plan as much as possible ahead of time. So I started searching on Google Maps,...

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Have a "look around" with Panoramio

Henrik Stewenius, Software Engineer, Google ZurichHave you ever looked at a photo and wondered what was beyond its edges - just what was left of that castle or what the facade of Notre Dame looks like from close up? We certainly have, which is why I'm happy to tell you about a new feature we've just introduced for Panoramio, Google's site for sharing geo-tagged photos.Panoramio enables photographers to geo-locate, store and organize their photographs...

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Hot off the press: News from Australia in Google Earth

Posted by: Richard Suhr, Head Enterprise for Australia, New Zealand and South East AsiaFor those who have enjoyed the Google News layer and the New York Times layer in Google Earth there's now another way for you to stay on top of the world's news. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) today announced the launch of ABC Earth, which will feature live stories and archived content in a Google Earth layer. Read more about it on the Google Australia Blog.It's another great reason to fly over to Australia in Google Earth - if you haven't already,...

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