Google Maps Coordinate Grants announced at Geo for Good User Summit

On the Google Earth Outreach team, we’re very lucky to work with organizations around the world who are practicing “Geo for Good:” using maps to help make the world a better place. We’ve worked with organizations that save elephants in Africa, clear landmines around the world and protect our coastlines. As part of our ongoing support for non-profits that use Google mapping tools to help change the world, we hosted the Geo for Good User Summit this...

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Imagery Update: Virtually visit more places in high-resolution

Our quest to create the most comprehensive and accurate map of the world is ongoing, but we’re happy to take a pause and share some impressive progress that our Google Maps and Earth imagery teams have recently made. We’ve refreshed the high resolution aerial and satellite imagery for many places around the world, and released some new 45 degree imagery as well.New 45° imagery available for 51 cities:In addition, 45° imagery is now available in Google...

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Introducing Imagery of Chile and Croatia on Google Maps

In the spirit of making Google Maps more comprehensive and accessible to people around the world, today we’re introducing Google Street View imagery of Chile and Croatia. We hope that these images are useful to both locals who want to scope out their own neighborhoods as well as tourists who are planning trips to either of these scenic countries.You can now can explore the streets of three Chilean cities: Concepción, Santiago and Valparaíso. In Santiago, you can discover the Mercado Central in Santiago and see why this tourist spot was named one...

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Dive into the Great Barrier Reef with the first underwater imagery in Google Maps

Today we’re adding the very first underwater panoramic images to Google Maps, the next step in our quest to provide people with the most comprehensive, accurate and usable map of the world. With these vibrant and stunning photos you don’t have to be a scuba diver—or even know how to swim—to explore and experience six of the ocean’s most incredible living coral reefs. Now, anyone can become the next virtual Jacques Cousteau and dive with sea turtles, fish and manta rays in Australia, the Philippines and Hawaii. Get up close and personal with sea...

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Explore the great indoors with Google Maps for Android in France

(Cross posted on Google France Blog) Every day, millions of people use Google Maps to get where they need to go, including airports, shopping malls and museums. As of last year, people could continue using Google Maps once inside these popular locations, as we began our effort to provide indoor floor plans and directions via Google Maps for Android. Today, we’re expanding the coverage of this indoor maps feature to include popular French venues,...

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Live Road Traffic Launches in 3 New Countries

Today, Google Maps is expanding its offering of live road traffic in three new cities: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Kuwait City, Kuwait and Guayaquil, Ecuador. Now, the maps of these locations are much more useful, as drivers can quickly determine the clearest route to their destinations and reduce the amount of time spent in the car. In addition to being able to see current traffic conditions, estimated travel times are also available to ease anxiety and...

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All your Google Maps searches in one place

When you’re on the go, it can be difficult to recall all of the places you’ve searched on your desktop browser at home. To make Google Maps more useful and comprehensive, we added a few improvements to better sync your maps experience across all of your devices. Today, with the latest release of Google Maps for Android, we’re making it faster and easier for you to get the information you’ve searched for on your browser, right on your Android phone.Just...

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An easier way to find panoramic interior imagery in Google Maps

Together with thousands of participating businesses owners around the world, we’ve been working hard to improve the comprehensiveness of interior, panoramic imagery available on Google and Google Maps.Now, if you’re searching or browsing Google Maps and want to check out what a business looks like on the inside, we’ve improved your ability to find and view these 360-degree panoramics. Simply drag and drop the orange Pegman on the left hand side of...

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Google Maps shows how we spent summer 2012

In the blink of an eye, summer is coming to an end. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was planning out all my summer activities as I eagerly awaited the start of long, sunny days and warm nights.Before we approach the official end of summer on September 21, our Google Maps team thought it’d be fun to see how those of us in the Northern Hemisphere have spent the dog days. To do this, we reviewed the summer search activity on maps.google.com...

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Elephants in Peril

Editor’s note: Today’s guest authors are Rob Heittman from Solertium, Inc., a technical development company and Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants, based in Kenya. Save the Elephants was the recipient of a Google Earth Outreach Developer Grant, funded through the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund at the Tides Foundation. We’re hoping that mapping data patterns over time will shed much-needed light on the recent dramatic increase...

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Explore the Forefront of Japanese Space Science with Google Maps

September 12th is “Space Day” in Japan, and we are celebrating by releasing new, comprehensive Street View imagery for two of Japan’s top scientific institutions: the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan). With panoramic imagery in and around these locations now available via the Street View feature of Google Maps, space enthusiasts around the world have a more complete and accurate sense of what it’d be like to virtually swap places with an astronaut.The JAXA imagery allows...

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Imagery Update: Explore more of the world in high-resolution

Improving the availability of more high quality imagery is one of the many ways we’re continuing to bring you the most comprehensive and accurate maps of the world. In this month’s update, you’ll find another extensive refresh to our high resolution aerial and satellite imagery (viewable in both Google Maps and Google Earth), as well as new 45 degree imagery in Google Maps spanning 30 new cities.New high resolution aerial and satellite imagery: Google...

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Making exploration easier for people around the world with Google Maps

Maps keep our spirit of adventure alive by making it easier for us to explore the world around us. That’s why today, we’re making Google Maps even better with new turn-by-turn navigation with traffic conditions, biking directions, Map Maker and new Street View imagery in more locations globally. These improvements are part of our ongoing effort to build the best map we can -- one that’s comprehensive, accurate and easy for you to use. First, we’re...

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