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.

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Also 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.

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Moving south to Latvia, lets first visit the square of Riga Dom Cathedral, which is one of favourite places both for locals and city guests to relax in an outdoor cafe, listen to live music and experience a true atmosphere of medieval old town.

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Also, take a look at the bridge over river Gauja in Sigulda. Thanks to the picturesque valley, many newlyweds choose to cross the bridge, symbolizing their wedding as two shores coming together. If you ever happen to visit (at least on Street View), be sure that you will get only the warmest welcomes from wedding guests.

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There are a ton more sites to visit through Street View and we hope this can inspire you to visit these two countries in the near future! To learn more about Street View please visit www.google.com/streetview.

Posted by Karl Pae, Google Estonia and Didzis Vilcans, Google Latvia

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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 team from the north of Spain were victorious. Zorionak! (That’s “Congratulations!” in Basque.)

Want to see how they won? Take a look at Team Getaria’s collection in the 3D Warehouse, pop over to our winners’ page, and watch this video to see their astounding work:



The winning team is a dynamic duo: Josetxo Perez Fernandez, 36, is a professional who works in computer administration; and Pedro Domecq Aguirre, 45, is a programmer, 3D data specialist and network administrator. Those are their day jobs, anyway. It turns out that they’re actually world-class, polygon-wrangling, texture-mapping, megabyte-optimizing, geo-modeling superheroes. And now they’re bona fide local heroes, too. Thanks to them, millions of people across the globe can now get familiar with the beautiful little town of Getaria.

The beautiful coastline of Getaria
Not only that, but we’ll also be awarding US$25,000 to a local school and hosting a celebration with the town of Geteria in honor of Pedro's and Josetxo's accomplishment.

Getaria Lighthouse on Mount San Antón
Zorionak to the winning town, to the other five finalists, and to all the other entrants who collectively modeled almost 25,000 local landmarks that are now available for all to enjoy in Google Earth’s 3D Buildings layer. The virtual world is a richer place thanks to your efforts, and the real one is a lot better off, too.


Posted by Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp Team

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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 means a new city, a new neighborhood, and even a new apartment to call home. That was how I began my summer last year, moving from Boulder, Colorado to Tokyo, Japan. In a new country where blocks, not streets, are labeled and addresses use a different formatting system, finding home was a feat in and of itself. And that’s how the idea to save home and work locations in Google Maps was born.

By saving these locations that are common to you in My Places, you’ll be able to access these addresses by simply typing “home” or “work” when searching or getting directions in Google Maps. Using these keywords will create a drop-down suggestion with the address you’ve set so that you no longer have to type the full address into the search box.

By saving your home and work locations in My Places, you’ll also see special icons to easily identify these locations on the map.

To set your home and work locations, you’ll need to sign in with your Google Account. Once logged in, click the My Places tab in Google Maps and save your home and work locations. From the My Places panel, you can also edit or delete your saved locations by clicking the drop-down to the right of the home or work icons.

With home and work locations saved in Google Maps, we hope to help you navigate your way to these frequently visited places, regardless of where you may be.

Update (5/15): Sorry for the delay, but home and work locations in My Places will be available soon. We'll update this post again when the feature is live.

Update (5/25): Thanks for your patience, home and work locations in My Places is now available.

Posted by Erika Yamasaki, Associate Product Manager Intern

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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 for “San Diego Zoo” , drag Pegmen to a spot inside the zoo, and take a tour. You can also virtually explore the zoos in Honolulu, Denver, Detroit and more.

San Diego Zoo, View Larger Map

If you’re looking for some amusement without the animals, take a peek at some of the largest amusement parks across the country. Visit Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, and catch a glimpse of how movie magic is made. You can also preview with imagery from Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Universal Studios Hollywood, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Great America, Busch Gardens, and Wet ‘n’ Wild Hawaii.

Universal Studios Orlando, View Larger Map

If you’re into high-octane trips to the racetrack, you can take a virtual look at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca or Infineon Raceway. Or if peace and quiet is more your speed, you can take a leisurely stroll through Balboa Park, the Chicago Botanic Garden, or Diamond Head park and trail.

Infineon Raceway, View Larger Map

Wherever you choose to adventure, feel free to explore these popular U.S. locations from the comfort of your desktop or mobile device. Let Street View imagery help you decide where to go on your next summer getaway. To see more popular locations, check out our Street View Gallery.

Posted by Chris Fiock, Program Manager for Street View

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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 a tool that enables anyone to easily create a well-designed KML file to show off their data in Google Earth and Maps. Since Spreadsheet Mapper is a Google Docs template, you fill in your data using the familiar interface of a spreadsheet, and create a great KML without any coding. It gives you all the cloud-based benefits of Google Docs, including collaborative editing and the ability to publish directly to the web.

When we released Spreadsheet Mapper 2 a few years ago, it had a number of limitations, especially with regard to the number of placemarks it could create and the available balloon templates. In response to user feedback, and taking advantage of new features in Google spreadsheets and Google Apps Scripts, we have upgraded Spreadsheet Mapper with a variety of new and improved features:

• More placemarks: Support for 1,000 placemarks and ability to add more as needed
• Flexible balloon design: Take advantage of even more balloon design templates and simplified starter templates
• Simplified publication: Just click “Publish to the web” to share your map (no more fussing with URLs)
• New customization options: Advanced users can change the default view and network link details

Ready to try it? The Spreadsheet Mapper v3 tutorial will get you started.

We hope these new tools make mapping from spreadsheet data easier than ever!

Posted by Christiaan Adams, Developer Advocate with the Google Earth Outreach team

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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 great offers near you

Today, in the U.S. only, we’re launching a way to discover nearby Google Offers in Google Maps for Android. To see great deals near you, tap on “Maps” to open the dropdown menu and then tap on “Offers.” If you see something you like you can click on it to learn more. Some Google Offers can be purchased and saved for later while others are immediately available for free. With free Google Offers, press “Use now” to redeem instantly or “Save for later” for future use. You can also opt-in to receive notifications in the app when there are offers near you.

Explore the great indoors with walking directions and Business Photos.

Since we launched indoor maps in the U.S. and Japan in Google Maps for Android last November, business owners have been adding their floor plans to our maps with Google Maps Floor Plans. Today, we are launching indoor walking directions for participating venues in these countries. This will help you get directions not only to a building’s front door, but also through those doors to the places where you want to go inside.

Get Indoor walking directions in indoor maps (photo: Macy’s San Francisco)

With Google Business Photos you can explore panoramic photos of the inside of a business from the palm of your hand. Now you can get a feel for a restaurant or store inside as well as outside using Street View technologies. To access these 360-degree panoramic views, look for the “See Inside” section on the Place page of select businesses.

See the interior of participating businesses with Business Photos (photo: Toyjoy)

Download Google Maps 6.7 for Android from Google Play, and use it as your trusted guide to help you find and discover places to eat, shop and play! You can also learn more about other great features on the Google Maps YouTube channel.

Posted By Benjamin Grol, Product Manager for Google Maps for Android

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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 the Business Photos program, if you’re a business owner in any of these locations around the world, getting started is easy. Just hire a Trusted Photographer in your area to take pictures of your establishment at a time convenient for you. Panoramas are created using the photos, and customers can easily find the resulting panoramic images on Google.com, on Google Maps, and on your Google Places listing. This self-service model, introduced several months ago, not only supports talented photographers in your local community, but also gives people who are thinking about visiting your location a sense of what they can expect when they walk through your doors. And if a local photographer isn’t yet available in your neighborhood, let us know so we can figure out where else to expand the program.

And whether you’re a professional photographer or an enthusiastic amateur, we’d love to have you on board! We are actively recruiting more Trusted Photographers to bring imagery of more local businesses online for millions across the globe to see. Visit our website for photographers to learn more and sign up.

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Click and drag to view the inside of Casa Artelexia in San Diego, California

And if you’re simply curious and want to explore businesses — from top-rated restaurants to exotic pet stores — check out this gallery of interior business photos on the Street View website.

Posted by Gadi Royz, Product Manager, Google Maps

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