Hasta La Gadget!

Google has updated Google Maps to include more detailed building footprints, with 25m new graphics added to mapping across the US thanks to clever use of aerial imagery. The new footprints were not manually created, but instead use computer vision tech to figure out the shape of buildings based on photos normally used in the “satellite” view mode.

Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, the San Francisco Bay Area, and other locations have all been updated with the new data, which Google says is part of its attempt to make its product “as comprehensive as possible.” The new mapping will help users to orient themselves, locate landmarks, and general navigate between locations, Google suggests.

Google’s identification system can not only figure out the footprint of buildings, but their height as well. The company is yet to say what it might be using that data for, though some sort of equivalent to Apple’s Flyover could be in the works, overlaying rendered and photographic graphics over the top of more accurately scaled buildings.

The search giant is also calling on users to help it tidy up the data, which it says may still have the odd flaw. Google Map Maker, the existing geo-tweaking tool, can be used to correct bad data, or indeed to draw out the accurate footprint of your home or business and tell Google Maps exactly what that location is.

Google Maps fleshes out 25m building footprints with aerial magic is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A new set of two API releases for developers will soon have 3rd party apps working with Google Maps features that will allow them to be location aware – with location information not just relegated to GPS. The first of two releases is the Google Maps Tracks API, this allowing developers to integrate the display and analyzation of GPS data on a map, with this API being built on top of Google’s own cloud infrastructure for reliability that’s unmatched. The second of two releases today works with Google Maps Geolocation API, this enabling developers the ability to integrate location data found by looking up said information on nearby wifi access points and cell towers.

With these two new API releases, 3rd party app developers will be able to take the massive beast of a dataset that Google has in their Google Maps archive and integrate it into their own apps at a whole new level. With this information, apps of all kinds will be able to map their own location – that being the device they’re being run on, of course – and help people find the locations they’re aiming at. Should a bakery have an app, for example, Google Maps integration would be able to lead the user of said app to the physical location of the bakery, even if they don’t have GPS switched on.

If you run a business – or work for a business as a developer – you can also pay for support from Google to make this system work for you. You’ll be able to work with Google’s own set of advanced features such as geo-fencing. With geo-fencing, a company can create a virtual space on a map that’ll be able to send notifications if a device enters or exist its bounds. This system could certainly be automated and do away with a central dispatcher – if that’s your kind of business, of course.

Have a peek at a timeline of recent Google Maps related stories and see how the system has been evolving of late. It’s Google that’s still in the limelight here in the GPS maps universe as the rest of the brands fight for glory against such a titan as the big G. Stay tuned for more on the iPhone Google Maps story specifically, where a re-release of Google Maps app data in app form constitutes a giant news release.

[via Google]

We know a native app for Google Maps is coming to iOS at some point, we just don’t know when. The latest rumor is that we’ll see it by the end of the year, and hopefully that’s true, but we’re sort of just taking things with a grain of salt until we get some solid evidence. In the meantime, a couple of screenshots from the upcoming Google Maps app have leaked.

First off, they’re mostly blurry and cropped quite a bit, so there’s not really a lot of details that we can gather just from the screenshots themselves. They mostly just show off the search bar at the top and a really blurry image of what looks to be a portion of either the turn-by-turn navigation or just directions.

However, San Francisco-based web developer Ben Guilds says that Google‘s new Maps app will be vector-based, and will have two-finger adjustment to any angle and zoom level. He also mentions that the app is “super fast” and will support the iPhone 5‘s larger 4-inch display. If the real app turns out to be anything like this, Apple is sure to have competition to its own maps offering.

Again, the leaked screenshots really don’t give us a lot of details on what to expect, but Cult of Mac actually put together a full-screen mockup of the native Google Maps app based on the leaked screenshots, which gives us a glimpse as to what the user interface might look like. In the meantime, you could try out the Google Maps iOS 6 hack if you have a jailbroken device.

Google Maps native app for iOS 6 screenshots leak is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Ever wonder how Google can make such grandiose claims for the sheer amount of Street View imagery it collects? Here’s how. Google’s Masrur Odinaev has posted a snapshot of a central mapping car parking lot that shows dozens of the camera-equipped Subaru Imprezas amassed ahead of future runs. While it already represents more Street View cars in one place than anyone outside of Google would normally ever see, what’s most impressive is remembering that this addresses just a portion of the entire vehicle mix — aside from the local cars you don’t see in the photo, there are extra units worldwide providing street-level coverage alongside tricycles and underwater expeditions. Odinaev’s look reminds us just how much effort is needed to make Street View a common feature — and that there are are legions of Google staffers whose low-profile work goes a long way towards making our navigation easier.

Filed under: GPS, Transportation, Internet, Google

Visualized: Google Street View car fleet gets ready to conquer (and map) the world originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 02:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Masrur Odinaev (Google+)  | Email this | Comments

It never ceases to irk me that I can check out parks and streets around the world from me, yet I can’t see my own neighborhood on Google Street View. The Google Street View car rolled past my neighborhood, but didn’t bother to come through. Personally, I’d like a chance to play a nice  Street View prank.

While my neighborhood still lacks Street View detail, Google has announced the largest update to Street View in the feature’s history, having added 250,000 miles of roads around the world. The service has specifically increased coverage in Macau, Singapore, Sweden, the U.S., Thailand, Taiwan, Italy, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway and Canada.

The covers also increased in specific tourist locations such as Catherine Palace in Russia and other locations in Taiwan, Vancouver, and other places around the world. That means you can explore parks and even castles in distant lands from the comfort of your desk chair – but still not my neighborhood in Texas.