Introducing Google.org Geo Challenge Grants

(Cross-posted from the Google.org blog)At Google.org, we have met and worked with many amazing organizations over the past few years, and we keep hearing how eager people are to use online mapping tools such as Google Earth and Google Maps to tell their stories. There are tons of great mapping ideas out there, and we think that with a little support, many of them can come to life. So today, we’re excited to launch Google.org Geo Challenge Grants,...

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How the US has voted since 1980

In the final days of this captivating presidential election season, are you interested in knowing how US has voted in the past? Together with the Digital Scholarship Lab at University of Richmond, the Google Earth team has mapped historical election results in Google Earth and Google Maps. These maps show how the population has voted in past presidential elections from 1980 through 2004, and include election results at both the state and county...

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La Dolce Vista - Street View comes to Italy

Right on the heels of Tuesday's rollout in Spain, you can now enjoy the beautiful Italian cities of Rome, Florence and Milan (where I previously lived!) with Street View. This new imagery for Italy also captures some of the stunning views along the shores of Lake Como. View Larger MapView Larger MapRome was the heart of the Roman Empire and the beautiful ancient architecture that remains attracts millions of tourists every year.  Now enthusiasts of history and architecture, or even those looking to plan a romantic holiday, can enjoy...

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Getting around Montréal, past and present

Montréal has always been a great city for public transportation. In a way, it's responsible for my love of public transit. One of my earliest memories is of riding the bus around Montréal with my grandparents. They didn't have a car; in Montréal, they didn't need one. I still remember how excited I was waiting to ring the bell for our stop. I was so short that I had to stand on the seat to reach for it. Montréal's extensive network of buses and trains taught me that public transit can make our cities more interesting, human, and convenient places...

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Un paseo por España

Street View continues its European tour, this time heading to the Iberian Peninsula with the launch of four cities in Spain: Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Valencia. Spain becomes the second European country to welcome Street View imagery, coming on the heels of our first European launch in France just two weeks ago.I invite you to visit Spain a country known for its architecture, culture and romance. Walk the boulevards of Barcelona and see renowned architecture of Gaudi:View Larger MapThe Sagrada FamiliaView Larger MapLa Pedrera (Casa Milà)Or...

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Google Earth now available for iPhone

(cross-posted from the Official Google Mobile Blog)The world just got a little bit smaller. Google Earth is now available for the iPhone and iPod touch, allowing you to fly to the far reaches of the world from the palm of your hand. Since we launched Google Earth for the desktop in 2005, we've had over 400 million unique downloads, and people from around the world have used it to view their house, research travel destinations, learn how to make...

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A note on election information

Given our recent launch of 2008 US Voter Info, we thought we'd share a behind-the-scenes look at where this data comes from.  Google is collecting official election information from many sources - our earlier blog post noted that we've worked with state and local election officials and partners in the Voting Information Project, including the Pew Charitable Trusts and League of Women Voters.  Each has helped us get access to data necessary for answering your questions about where to vote.The best source...

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Tip of the week: Frightfully fun My Maps

When I was younger, every Halloween I would pull out the paper map that came in our community directory and figure out the optimal route for trick-or-treating. I would trace routes with a pencil until I found one that allowed me to hit the most streets with the least backtracking. I'd even put little stars on the map at all the houses that had the best decorations... or handed out king-size candy bars the previous year. This year, I'll be staying home so I can be the one handing out candy, but I've got a tip for anyone who is planning on heading...

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Bioneers, Day Three

On Monday, the Google Earth Outreach team hosted a workshop for Bioneers participants who wanted to get their hands dirty with the tools they saw at Sunday's Google Earth Outreach plenary and afternoon sessions. We guided about 70 attendees through the processes of creating a custom My Map, building a Google Earth layer, and using the Spreadsheet Mapper tool. In the afternoon, we split the group up...

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Greater access to voting information

[cross posted with the Official Google Blog]At Google, we pride ourselves on helping people find things on the Internet. And every four years in America, Google Trends shows that people are searching to find voting information, like how to register and where to vote.It's hard to believe that in 2008, information so important to U.S. citizens and the democratic process isn't well organized on the web. To solve this problem, we've released...

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Bioneers, Day Two

Sunday’s plenary sessions at Bioneers brought more people from all over the globe into one room to collectively vocalize the issues they’re most passionate about. Lucas Benitez from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers left Mexico at age 14 to work in the fields in the US, and has used hunger strikes and labor camps to bring large fast-food restaurant chains to the negotiating table to end modern-day slavery. Christine Loh, from Hong Kong’s environmental...

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Google Earth Outreach connects with Bioneers

Hello from Bioneers! For the past two days, Google Earth Outreach has been at the 2008 Bioneers conference in San Rafael, CA. The annual conference brings together non-profit and public benefit groups from all over the country for three days packed with talks, booths, music, films, food, and other fun-filled activities.Google Earth Outreach is manning a computer lab at the conference, where attendees can stop by to get an introduction to Google...

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Dreaming New Mexico

Once again, I have the incredible privilege of working with Google EarthOutreach partners on a 20% project. This weekend, our latest efforts debut at the Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, CA. I've worked on the Dreaming New Mexico initiative, which seeks to encourage the future adoption of clean power generation and to move New Mexico away from the terrible legacy of dirty, polluting power plants. Using the Google Earth plugin, Javascript and KML, I've co-created a presentation that describes the choices available to New Mexicans as they decide...

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Maps of the Los Angeles wildfires

Since earlier this week, wildfires driven by strong winds have been destroying land and livelihood across Southern California. Thousands of acres of land have been under threat as firefighters battle against tough conditions and try to bring about containment of the fires.Several groups have taken the initiative to create their own maps and KML files which show the latest information and provide useful information for affected citizens. The current suite of Earth and Maps visualizations includes:The Los Angeles Times has created...

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Where in the world is... (Answers)

As usual, great work! I'm always impressed that many blogs out there answer all the questions and manage to find many of the updates I didn't even reference.Here are the answers to the quiz, and below is a more complete listing of areas updated.1)  Often referred to as "The Crown of Polish Mountains," this is the highest point in the country.- The highest point in the country, Sněžka, at 1,602 m (5,262 ft)2)  A university named after an American revolutionary, patriot, and founding father -- and home to a surprise...

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Promenez-vous sur les Champs Elysees...

Having worked on Street View since the early days of the project, it gives me great pleasure to return to Paris this week for the launch of more Street View coverage in my home country.Earlier this year we launched our first Street View coverage in Europe with the release of the 21 stages of the Tour De France route.  This was very popular with our French Google Maps users and cycling enthusiasts all around the world, so I am now especially excited that we've added coverage for 6 major cities in France: Paris, Lyon, Lille, Toulouse, Marseille...

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Campaigning across Canada

There have been many great My Maps created for the upcoming US elections, which we're featuring in the Google Maps Elections Gallery. There have also been great maps put together for today's elections in Canada. The Globe and Mail, a national newspaper in Canada, has put together a series of My Maps that track the campaigns of candidates as they travel across the country. The latest map chronicles the candidates on election day. Posted by Elaine Filadelfo, Lat Long Blog T...

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Where in the world is ...

This month we've published a significant amount of new or updated high resolution satellite imagery for Google Earth. So if you think it is going to be easy to find the new imagery, stop and think again. You are going to have to work a little. We have put together a list of clues about where to find some of our new imagery. Here is one to get you off and running on your Google Earth tour: I would encourage all to go and explore the earth -- you never...

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Transliteration for Japan

I'll never forget the first time that I'd traveled to Japan, when I'd nearly missed a train because I couldn't make heads or tails of the route markers that displayed city names in kanji, the Chinese-based Japanese character set. Though I'd studied katakana (alphabet for foreign words) and hiragana (alphabet for native words), kanji was entirely different. For starters, they aren't phonetic like the other two but more conceptual (e.g. ideograms...

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Don't forget: Academic Developers Conference

A reminder to all of you interested in cutting edge applications for Google Earth and Google Maps: Google is co-sponsoring a conference with the University of Michigan on October 22nd and 23rd. Researchers, entrepreneurs, faculty, and students from all over the country will be attending to discuss new projects, learn about data visualization techniques, and get first-hand access to Google Earth engineers.Focus groups include:AstronomyPlanetary...

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Tip of the week: Viewing KMLs in Google Maps

We post a bunch of KML and KMZ files on this blog, and usually tell you to download the file then open it with Google Earth. But don't forget that you can also open KML or KMZ files in Google Maps, and without a download. To open, just paste a URL hosting the file into the Maps search box and click 'Search'. (You can find the the URL by right-clicking on one of our links to a KML/KMZ, instead of downloading it). You can find more detail about what KML content is viewable in Google Maps in the Help Center, but this trick should come in...

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Maps for Android

For anyone interested in details about what to expect from Google Maps on the Android-powered T-Mobile G1 phone, head over to the Google Mobile Blog. You can find out how the navigation works, how the maps application integrates with other applications, and even read more about the cool Compass mode. The post is a great preview of what's to come.Posted by Elaine Filadelfo, Lat Long Blog T...

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Getting around your neighborhood with Google Maps

When I moved to the Bay Area last year, everything was new to me. I didn't know Los Altos from Los Gatos, good eateries in my neighborhood, or how to get to where I wanted to go. Whether you're moving to a new area, traveling to a new place, or simply exploring a new part of town, this may sound familiar to a lot of people.There's a simple solution: turn to Google Maps to find local information. We've gathered a lot of useful info about local businesses so you can find everything you need in one place. You can find neighborhoods and see if...

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Adding another dimension to your city

Your downtown is so much more than an address listing of the businesses in it. What if there were a way for someone to discover their new favorite bookstore, within easy walking distance of the parking garage, with a coffee shop next door and a kids' play area a block away, all at once? What if you could plan a walking tour of all the historic buildings downtown, and in the process discover that there's an ice cream parlor and a pottery shop that...

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Let's map Africa

[cross-posted from the Google Africa Blog]We are excited to announce that users may now build and edit maps in Map Maker for 45 new African countries, bringing the total number of countries covered in Map Maker to 122 countries, covering a population of 3 billion people. The Map Maker team is very excited about this announcement as Africa symbolizes our dream - to bring rich, deep map and local data to places that had none. Having good maps and local...

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Opening the door to geospatial data

[This post recently appeared on the new Content Central blog; it's a great look where some of our geospatial data comes from and how organizations can share data with us. -Ed.]Have you ever wondered how your organization could add your geospatial data, such as aerial imagery or places of interest, to Google Maps and Google Earth? Maybe you're using the Google Maps API and want to enrich our basemap with your own data. Or perhaps you'd just like to...

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