Hasta La Gadget!

Google Maps has been updated with what’s described as the “biggest ever” increase in Street View photography, with more than 250,000 miles of road around the world gaining street-level imagery. Street View coverage has been boosted in eleven countries, while new “special collections” of photography – giving more insight into particular landmarks – have been added to over six new locations.

The new sidewalk-level images have been added to roads in the US, the UK, Macau, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Taiwan, Italy, Denmark, Norway and Canada. Meanwhile, there are special collections in South Africa, Japan, Spain, France, Brazil and Mexico, among other locations, for instance the Ferapontov monastery in Russia and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taiwan.

Google has also sent its cameras inside some landmarks, so you can now step into Kronborg castle in Denmark, for instance. The search giant uses a combination of Street View photography cars, bikes, and even individually-work camera backpacks to gather its footage.

Support for viewing Street View on mobile devices has been contentious in recent weeks, with Apple’s decision to oust Google Maps from iOS 6 and replace it with its own Apple Maps app meaning iPhone 5 and other iOS device users lost the ability to see street-level images. Google re-added access by updating its webapp, however, and has promised a native version of Google Maps for iOS by the end of the year.

Google Maps gets 250k mile Street View update is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Indian Railways has just made it a little easier for rail travelers with a new web app called RailRadar, which uses Google Maps to track trains on a real-time basis. This is certainly welcome on one of the largest rail networks in the world — it operates more than 10,000 trains everyday — though the service is only available on 6,500 trains for now. To find out where your train is, simply search for its name or number and RailRadar will spot it for you. You can also find trains by entering the name of the station. Blue highlights indicate trains that are on time while red means it’s behind schedule. If you click on a train, it’ll show its entire route from start to finish. The logical next step would be for this to be on smartphones like how it is in Japan, though we’re not sure if that’s in the cards just yet.

[Thanks, dil]

Filed under: Transportation, Internet

Indian Railways launches RailRadar, lets you track trains via Google Maps originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 02:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As promised, technology giant Google has just announced that they have just introduced the wonders of Street View in Google Maps for mobile browsers, as part of their effort to deliver an even more comprehensive, accurate and useful mobile solution for folks who are always on-the-go, especially in unfamiliar territory. Since you are now able to access Street View on your smartphone (be it Android or iOS platforms, that does not matter), you are able to enjoy panoramic, street-level imagery in order to explore and navigate the places around you. We believe that this would definitely be a boon for those who are using devices that run on iOS 6, as there is no need to rely on Apple’s own Maps app.

Using Street View on your mobile browser is a snap, just click the “pegman” icon at the bottom right of your screen and you are able to access Street View in a jiffy. Not only that, transit, driving, biking and walking directions will also be retained on your mobile browser so that you can always find your way around without missing a beat. Have you updated your Google Maps to the latest version yet on your smartphone?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Street View coming to Google Maps web app for iPhone and iPad , Google Maps go underwater, do we call it Google Seaview?,

Google has updated Google Maps on the web with Street View functionality, allowing iPhone 5 and other iOS 6 users to again access the street-level photography missing from Apple’s own Maps app. The new feature, which Google confirmed was incoming late last month, works on the iPhone and iPad, adding a Street View icon to the toolbar at the bottom of the page.

Clicking that button brings up a new tab in the iOS browser with Street View photography. Navigation is via the usual arrow buttons, with floating street names and other details overlaid; closing the tab returns you to the regular map.

Interestingly, loading up maps.google.com in Android does not bring up the same Street View icon. Instead, users of Android phones and tablets need to go to the dedicated Google Maps app to access the service. [Update: You can in fact access Street View in the Android browser version, but you need to drop a pin on the map first; the Street View icon does not show up by default as it does in the iOS browser] Google has said that it is working on a Google Maps for iOS app, though that isn’t expected to be released until later in the year.

As well as apologizing for the poor reception of Maps, Apple has also made it straightforward for iOS 6 users to use alternative mapping providers. There is now a featured section for recommended downloads from the App Store, including MotionX, Waze, Mapquest, and TeleNav, while Apple also suggested adding homescreen shortcuts to Google Maps or Nokia Maps as web-based alternatives.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Google Maps for iOS browser adds Street View is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google Maps isn’t really gone from iPhones in iOS 6. You can still get it through the vastly inferior mobile version of its browser-based web app. Tim Cook even suggested you try it if you’re dissatisfied with Apple Maps. In a recent video about Google Maps, Señor Walt Mossberg notes that the company will be adding Street View to this mobile version of the app starting tomorrow. This more or less confirms earlier reports that the feature was coming soon. Huzzah! [WSJ via 9To5Mac] More »