Driving directions, biking directions … and now, carving directions!

We just couldn’t resist combining two of our favorite pastimes: pumpkin carving and geeking out about Maps. Behold: Pumpkin carving sheets to show off your Maps, Earth and SketchUp pride. Just click this link, hit print, and follow the how-to instructions. Think you got skills? Let’s see ’em! We want to build a photo gallery of your finest work. Just send a photo of your Maps pumpkin our way on Google+ or Twitter using the hashtag #gmapspumpkin....

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Imagery Update: Week of October 24th

What do Elvis’ Graceland and Iran’s Marmar Palace have in common? Both estates have been updated with new imagery in Google Earth and Google Maps!Over the last few weeks, the imagery team has updated hundreds of images. To give you a taste of this new data, today we’ll look at several interesting features that have been updated with new imagery from across the globe.First, I’d like to look at a fantastic and majestic terrestrial landform known as...

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Add local knowledge to the map with Google Map Maker for Canada

Today we’re opening the map of Canada in Google Map Maker for users to add their expert local knowledge directly to Google Maps. Users know their neighborhood or hometown best, and with Google Map Maker they can ensure the places they care about are richly represented on the map.Users can help make the map complete in many ways such as marking hiking paths and trails, fixing the name of a local business, or adding the buildings of a college campus...

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New 45° imagery available for 16 cities

This month’s update to 45° imagery in Google Maps includes U.S. and international imagery.Let’s just begin with Graz. It’s the second largest city of Austria (behind Vienna), located in Steiermark. It is a typical Austrian town with a vivid university life, a charming historic center mostly of the Gothic period and is significantly influenced by mediterranean climate which manifests being among the sunniest places in Austria due to its location at the southeastern rim of the Alps. Arnold Schwarzenegger - bodybuilding world champion, movie star...

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Explore the history of Mexico with Google Earth

Nothing compares to the sensation of visiting a place where history was made. Exploring castles, pyramids and other historical landmarks in a country provokes a deeper understanding and respect for unique cultures and creates a sense of belonging. Today, technology enables us to expand our horizons in a matter of clicks, bringing foreign cultures and history to us from around the world.Mexico is a country full of natural beauty and cultural heritage....

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Street View hits the stunning Swiss Alps railways

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)From the Amazon to the ancient ruins of Pompeii, Street View technology has put imagery of some of the world’s most interesting and significant sites online for everyone to enjoy. Now, for the first time in Google Maps, we’re hitting the train tracks to capture the majesty of the famous railway lines of the Swiss Alps and the surrounding scenery.In cooperation with Rhaetian Railway, our Street View team has collected images from one of the world’s most scenic railway routes—the Albula-Bernina line in Switzerland—that...

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Follow Your World, now in 43 more languages

Ever since we launched the English version of Follow Your World earlier this year, users around the globe have been able to receive email notifications whenever imagery of locations they care about are updated in Google Maps and Google Earth.Today we’re happy to announce the expansion of this tool. We’ve localized the software into 43 additional languages so that the application can easily be accessed by millions more people around the world.Simply...

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Google Geo Teachers Institutes bring innovative educators together

Educators have created many exciting lessons with Google’s tools. These tools help students learn about the world in fun ways. Recently they had the opportunity to share this work with peers from all over the US at two Google Geo Teachers Institute events, first in Washington DC at National Geographic Headquarters and then at the University of Southern Maine Lewiston-Auburn College in Lewiston, Maine. The Institute was an intensive, two-day event where participants got hands-on experience using Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google SketchUp. Participants...

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Faster updates to local business listings

(Cross-posted on the Small Business Blog.)Our goal to create a digital representation of the real world doesn’t just mean a birds’ eye view through Google Earth, or a street-level view through Google Maps. It means providing a local view as well, and tools like Google Places help people across the globe learn about and connect with the places and businesses in their immediate areas.We use a variety of authoritative sources to give users relevant...

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Congratulations to the 2011 Google Earth Outreach Developer Grant awardees

The nonprofit mapping community is alive with amazing game-changing ideas. In May, Google Earth Outreach asked nonprofit organizations to think big: what kind of map would they want to create if they had the funding or developer resources to do so? We were thrilled by the number of applications we received, full of concrete ideas for tremendously impactful maps.While it was difficult to select projects with the highest potential impact from the long list of great applications we received, we are excited to announce the Google Earth Outreach Developer...

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Step inside the map with Google MapsGL

You’re now one step closer to experiencing and interacting with a 3D mirror of the real world within your browser with Google MapsGL. Google MapsGL takes Google Maps and harnesses the power of Web Graphics Library (WebGL) to create far richer visuals and animations. WebGL is a new technology that brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the browser without additional installed software. With WebGL your maps experience is much better with 3D buildings, smoother transitions between imagery and the ability to instantly “swoop” into Street View without...

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Take the green route in Google Maps

(Cross posted from the Google Green Blog)We’ve learned that most people who use Google Maps just want to get from Point A to Point B -- as quickly and painlessly as possible. Whether it’s planning a weekend bike route, finding the quickest roads during rush hour, or identifying bus paths with the fewest transfers, people are making the most out of Maps features to travel faster and greener. Here’s how you can use Google Maps to minimize your impact...

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Single-language labels in Google Maps

If you use Google Maps in English, you might notice we’ve expanded our coverage of translated labels. Previously, map labels would display both transliterated and local names for many places. Using a single language can help users by making the map easier to read. For example, the label for Moscow on our English maps used to display as “Moskva (Москва)”. This was great for learning how places are named in other languages but also resulted in...

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The results are in: Zagat’s 2012 New York City Restaurants Survey

Editor’s Note: Recently, we welcomed Zagat to the Geo product family (and we've never eaten better!). You can read more about the acquisition on the Official Google Blog. Some exciting news for all you foodies out there, via Zagat Buzz:Epic news alert! The results of our 2012 New York City Restaurants Survey are here. This year we compiled ratings and reviews for 2,111 Big Apple restaurants, based on the votes of 41,604 local diners (a new record)!...

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Map Maker Graduation Part V: from Afghanistan to Antarctica

(Cross posted to the Official Google Blog)Google Map Maker enables local experts to create maps and share their local knowledge with the world. These citizen cartographers help keep maps of their areas accurate and up to date. They add missing roads and new businesses—and even map areas that have little to no data yet on Google Maps.Today, our latest crop of countries, territories and an entire continent are graduating from Map Maker—meaning the...

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Afghans Empowering Afghanistan through maps using Google Map Maker

Striking for its charm, bustle and impressive historic architectural treasures, the silk road city of Herat, Afghanistan has until today, been nearly ‘invisible’ online in digital maps. Luckily, Herat is home to Herat University, which is filled with talented, entrepreneurial students some of whom have worked together to literally put their town “on the (digital) map.”In response to their city’s absence on Google Maps and Google Earth, a team of...

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Google Earth Outreach and Canadian non-profits connect over mapping tools

Last week Google Earth Outreach launched our program in Canada, offering support to non-profits and aboriginal communities that wish to leverage Google’s mapping tools to improve understanding of critical issues facing Canada today. Our team spent the week in Vancouver inspiring and empowering these groups to spread their message through geographic visualizations. Google Earth Outreach team member Tanya Birch works with a participant on Fusion Tables.We...

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Google Earth downloaded more than one billion times

How large is one billion? One billion hours ago modern humans were living in the Stone Age. One billion minutes ago, the Roman Empire was flourishing. If you traveled from Earth to the Moon three times, your journey would measure one billion meters.Today, we’ve reached our own one billion mark: Google Earth has been downloaded more than one billion times since it was first introduced in 2005. That’s more than one billion downloads of the Google Earth...

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Getting from ‘Here to there’ with My Location in Google Maps

When getting directions on Google Maps, we suggest an origin or destination after you type the first few characters. But, we want to save you even more time by eliminating the need to type your current address each time. Today you can start using ‘My Location’ as a starting or ending point for your directions using the familiar ‘blue dot’ found in Google Maps for mobile.Directions with ‘My Location’ enabledNow when you get directions on Google Maps,...

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