Band of Bridges: Celebrating the Golden Gate Anniversary

Editor’s Note: Today’s guest author is Greg Moore, President of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Google is excited to help support this celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge.On May 27th, the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge celebrated its 75th anniversary. Our organization, the non-profit Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, is working with the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District; the National Park Service; the Presidio...

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Explore historic sites with the World Wonders Project

(Cross posted from Official Google Blog) I’ve always been fascinated by famous historic and cultural sites from around the world. When I was a child, flipping through encyclopedias while researching for school projects, the thought of exploring these sites was a distant dream. With the new Google World Wonders Project, that dream is now a little closer for students and others around the globe. The World Wonders Project enables you to discover 132...

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Local—now with a dash of Zagat and a sprinkle of Google+

Finding the best places to go is an essential part of our lives, as are the people and resources that help us make those decisions. In fact, the opinions of friends, family or other trusted sources are often the first we seek when looking for the perfect restaurant for date night or the cafe that makes the best latte ever. Today, we’re rolling out Google+ Local, a simple way to discover and share local information featuring Zagat scores and recommendations...

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Explore the football stadiums of Poland and Ukraine as they prepare to host the European Championships

This summer, the eyes of soccer fans around the world will be trained on Poland and Ukraine as the royalty of European football descends on the country for the European Championships. This will be the first time either country has hosted the tournament as they welcome fans from 16 competing nations, including world champions Spain, Germany, England and the Netherlands.For those fans unable to attend but keen to sample what lies in store for the players and fans, we’ve captured the magic of the 8 stadiums with our Street View cars and trikes, to...

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New 45° imagery available for 26 cities

This week’s 45° imagery update for Google Maps contains coverage for 16 U.S. and 10 international locations. This update also includes our first 45° imagery for Poland and Ireland.Kraków, PolandLocated in the south at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, Kraków is the second largest city in Poland. Kraków features a rich heritage of medieval architecture from Renaissance, Baroque and Gothic times. The Gothic Wawel Royal Castle, shown below, is located on a hill above Vistula River served as the Polish residence when Kraków was the capital of the country.View...

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Street View drives the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Growing up in Indiana, my Dad and I shared a love of racing. Not just any kind of racing, but open-wheeled Indy Car racing. Every Memorial Day weekend, we'd get up early and drive from our home in Columbus to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to watch our favorite spectacle in racing: the Indianapolis 500.I went to college in Indiana as well, and we were able to keep up the tradition. But when I moved to California, we just weren't able to make it work, and we haven’t been able to attend a race together since. Luckily, now, I’m an Engineer on Google...

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Rahul Nagvekar wins 2012 National Geographic Bee

Congratulations to 8th grader Rahul Nagvekar, who was just named the 2012 National Geographic Bee champion! Rahul is 14 years old and from Missouri City, Texas. It’s a good thing he has a passion for traveling, as this year’s winner receives a trip to the Galapagos Islands, in addition to a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society and a $25,000 college scholarship. To get here today, Rahul has answered more than 300 geography-related...

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Google Maps Engine grants for nonprofits

Today, we are excited to announce a new addition to the Google Earth Outreach Grants program. Now, eligible nonprofit organizations in the U.S., U.K., Brazil and Canada can apply for grants of Google Maps Engine, a platform formerly known as Google Earth Builder, for hosting, storing, managing, and styling map data. Google Earth Builder has been available to businesses since August 2011. A new name is just the beginning. Several nonprofit organizations, including World Wildlife Fund and Eyes on the Forest (a coalition of Sumatran NGOs), as well...

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Carbon stocks and cultural mapping in the Amazon Rainforest

In 2008, the Google Earth Outreach team visited the Surui tribe in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest for the first time, upon request of Chief Almir Naramagoya Surui. Their goal was to learn how to share and preserve their culture using Google Maps, Google Earth, and other online tools including Picasa, YouTube, and Blogger. We were honored to play a role in empowering the indigenous people of a region that had been ravaged by illegal logging to tell...

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Imagery Update: Week of May 14th

The Google Earth and Maps Imagery team recently published another batch of aerial and satellite imagery. In this post, we’ll focus on U.S. cities and locales, as the largest amount of new high resolution aerial imagery covers regions in the United States.High on the list of things associated with the United States are over-sized automobile tail fins. Our first aerial image shown below is of Cadillac Ranch, located near Amarillo, Texas. The series...

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Visit the Baltic nations of Estonia and Latvia with Street View

You can now virtually visit the Baltic States of Estonia and Latvia using the Street View feature in Google Maps. Lets start in Estonia with a peek into the capital of Tallinn, a medieval city characterized by its cobbled streets and red roofs. Here’s a view the Town Hall Square. View Larger MapAlso in Tallinn you have the Toompea Castle, which is a historic site built on top of the Toompea Hill and now houses the Parliament of Estonia. View Larger MapMoving south to Latvia, lets first visit the square of Riga Dom Cathedral, which is one of favourite...

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And the 2012 Model Your Town Competition winner is…

Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Spain!Over the past several months, hundreds of teams from all over the world have submitted stunning geo-models for our Google Model Your Town Competition. These examples of pure 3D civic pride are breathtaking to behold. Difficult as it was, the SketchUp team managed to pick six finalists, after which we asked the general public to vote for their favorite collection of models. Tens of thousands of you weighed in, and the talented...

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Quickly access your home and work locations in Google Maps

With Google Maps, we’ve made it increasingly easy to save and re-find the places that matter to you. Last year, we introduced the My Places tab which organizes your saved Custom Maps, directions that you’ve previously looked up, and locations you’ve starred, checked-in and rated. Starting today, you’ll also be able to save your home and work locations in Google Maps when signed in with your Google account. Imagine moving to a foreign country -- this...

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Street View: Your Summer Vacation Preview

Summertime means summer travel. Whether you're planning the next family trip or group outing, Google Maps can help. Street View’s immersive views lets you preview your adventure by transporting you to famous landmarks and tourist destinations around the world. Over the years, our Partner Program has allowed us to showcase a growing number of notable amusement parks, zoos and other points of interest, with our 360-degree panoramic imagery. For example, if you’re on the West Coast of the US and want to visit the world famous San Diego Zoo, search...

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Spreadsheet Mapper 3: More placemarks, advanced customization, and more

Do you have a spreadsheet of locations that you’d like to see on a map? Here on the Google Earth Outreach team we talk to many nonprofits who use Google Earth and Maps to tell their stories and visualize their data. Often the data is in spreadsheets, or other tabular formats. Converting these rows and columns into a map brings the spreadsheet to life by providing geographic context and a new way to visualize the information.Spreadsheet Mapper is...

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Shop and travel smarter with Google Maps 6.7 for Android - now with Google Offers and indoor walking directions

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Mobile Blog)Wherever you are, Google Maps for Android helps you get around and discover new places. Today with the 6.7 release we will help you find offers from nearby businesses in the U.S. -- everything from restaurants, to salons, to city tours. Also, we’ve added indoor walking directions in the U.S. and Japan, plus 360-degree interior photos of businesses, to help you intrepidly make your way indoors and out.Discover...

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Bringing Business Photos to more users and business owners

Since April 2010, we’ve been testing and developing the Business Photos program, which gives users a virtual peek inside businesses through interactive 360-degree imagery. After hearing your positive feedback about how showing off panoramic views of your business interiors helps you attract potential customers, we’re excited to announce further expansion of this program. Starting today, in addition to the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and France, this service is now available in Canada, Ireland and the Netherlands.Through...

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