Hasta La Gadget!

For the past few months, Mexico has been sitting in limbo as far as Google’s mapping services were concerned: you could see Mayan ruins in Street View, but you couldn’t get directions to them from your phone. Google has redressed that balance now that Google Maps Navigation is reaching the country. Anyone with an updated version of Google Maps on Android can get turn-by-turn directions, traffic and nearby points of interest as they cruise towards Veracruz. Mass transit navigation appears to be the lone (if glaring) omission for Mexican use. While we’d like all mapping options to be available, it’s good to know that drivers can more smoothly cross the vast expanses of Mexico City.

[Thanks, Luis]

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Mobile, Google

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Via: CNN Expansión (translated)

Source: Google Mexico (Twitter)

Was it submerged after the satellite made its sweep? Did those volcanic-black pixels crumble and drown under their own weight? Have military censors deliberately obscured the truth? Australian explorers who sailed the South Pacific for 25 days in search of the landmass known as Sandy Island, after spotting it on Google Earth, have returned none-the-wiser. And it’s not just Google that is apparently inaccurate — a Coral Sea island in the same position also appears on Yahoo, Bing and even iOS maps, as well as on the Times Atlas of the World under the eerily appropriate name of Sable Island, which could be interpreted as “Very Dark Black Island.”

The depth of the ocean is around 1,400 meters at these coordinates (-19.225583, 159.938759), which is precisely why the the University of Sydney’s maritime researchers went looking — it would be an extremely unusual outcrop if it actually existed. One down-to-earth explanation is that the entity is the cartographic equivalent of a watermark, allowing the mapmaker to tell if his work has been pirated, but no doubt there are other possibilities. Dr Maria Seton, fresh from a fruitless month on the waves, insists she plans to “follow up and find out.”

Filed under: Misc, Alt

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Source: PhysOrg / AFP

Google has expanded its high-res Maps and Earth offerings to cover a whopping 164 cities and 108 countries / regions, while its brand new 45-degree imagery is now available for 60 cities (40 in the US and 20 abroad) — the list is long, so check out the source to discover all the locations. The photos are pretty stunning; highlights include a live look at the Space Needle’s orange paint job for its 50th anniversary, an overhead look at Austrian bridges and an angled view of the Thun Castle in Switzerland. Now, excuse us as we stare longingly at these gorgeous vistas — it is Friday, right?

Filed under: GPS, Software

Google updates Maps and Earth with more high-res and 45-degree images, encourages wanderlust originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), Google announced on Wednesday that it has added AMBER Alerts to its Search and Maps services for desktop and mobile devices. AMBER Alert notifications will be displayed for your local area or locations based off of web search content. Alerts will be updated as information becomes available, but may include case details such as a description of the abducted child and the make and model of their alleged abductor’s vehicle. While this service is only available in the US, Google is working with Missing Children Europe and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection in hopes of bringing similar services to more countries.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Google

Google adds AMBER Alerts for missing children to Search and Maps originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Everyone knows that Google prides itself on mapping accuracy. If you hadn’t checked beyond the base maps in the past few years, though, you’d have thought the terrain was charted in the “here be dragons” era — it’s been as flat as a board. Take a second look today. Google has overhauled Google Maps worldwide to show hills, deserts and lush zones by default, as well as label the geographical features that hadn’t previously been identifiable in a sea of white. The map overhaul isn’t so nuanced enough as to remind us how steep the hills can be in San Francisco, but it will remind us that Gobi refers to more than just a chipset.

Filed under: GPS, Internet, Google

Google Maps adds natural terrain by default outside of satellite views, reminds us the world isn’t flat originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 17:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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