Tag archive: google maps

Google has been ordered to pay a fine and damages to French mapping company Bottin Cartographes because it makes Google Maps available for free, undercutting companies that offer similar services for a fee. Bottin Cartographes had filed an unfair competition complaint against Google, claiming the search giant was abusing its dominant position in the Internet search market to achieve a leading position in the digital mapping market. The Paris… Read More

Finding out information about emergencies in your area just got easier. Google announced today its new Public Alerts feature, which incorporates real-time emergency information with Google Maps. The service allows users to search their area, and discover any potential impending doom. “If a major weather event is headed for your area, you might go online to search for the information you need: What’s happening? Where and when will it… Read More

Announced on the Official Google Blog earlier today, Google will be simplifying how the privacy policy is structured across more than 60 different Google products on March 1, 2012. Users will definitely benefit from the simplicity of a single document regarding privacy instead of sixty policies, but may not like the company direction stated within the blog post. As outlined in the revised privacy policy and terms of service, any user action on… Read More

Google’s “your world” theme is carried into the gaming realm with the announcement of an original title powered by WebGL. The title will be coming to Google+ Games exclusively in February 2012. The game was announced quietly in a demo video yesterday. It is Google Maps-based and was developed by the Maps team for Google's gaming platform. The demo video features a cube with a map overlay. Players will have to navigate a blue ball through… Read More

Wandering through Gambrill State Park northwest of Frederick, Maryland, Christopher Tkacik, a 43-year-old lawyer, and his dog Boo got lost in the woods while on a hike through the park as reported by My Fox DC. After walking in circles for hours, Tkacik eventually resigned himself to the fact that they were lost and used his iPhone to call emergency services. While the Google Maps application was continuing to give him the incorrect location on… Read More

Businesses the size of Google tend to attract all manner of litigation, and Google has felt the sting of legal battle. The company is already facing its share of high-profile cases, including an major infringement suit with Oracle — and a looming mano-a-mano with Apple — over its Android operating system. Now, the Internet giant faces another patent infringement battle, and this one is from across the pond. British Telecommunications has filed… Read More

For those that have spent more time that they would care to admit on Google Maps’ street view, this is for you. So say you are exploring your neighborhood on Google Maps, just wandering around being suitably impressed with the technology that lets you see a good chunk of the real world thanks to more actual photos than anyone sane could count. You turn a corner and smile with appreciation as you recognize a familiar block. Then you take out an… Read More

Google Maps has been helping us navigate unfamiliar terrain for ages now. It’s been integrated into various applications we use daily, and for many of us it is our de facto smartphone GPS system. And now it’s taking us inside. Or at least it will for Android users. Google Maps 6.0 for Android launched today with functionality to help you tour the indoors. “Detailed floor plans automatically appear when you’re viewing the map and zoomed in on a… Read More

Google has announced it is now enabling Wi-Fi hotspot operators to opt out of Google's broad location service. The mechanism is simple and yet also inelegant: to opt out, hotspot operators must change the names of their base stations to end in _nomap. So, a network named CafeWireless that didn't want to be used in Google's location services would have to change its name to CafeWireless_nomap. As Google drives around taking… Read More

If you think of the idea of a GPS shoe, its most obvious application would be to keep track of children. California-based GTX is taking another, perhaps more lucrative, approach. The company has designed Geo-tracking footwear for Alzheimer's patients, reports TG Daily. Its first pair of shoes will soon be available through Aetrex Worldwide, a shoe company that specializes in pedorthic footwear (shoes that don't hurt your feet).… Read More

San Francisco start-up Hipster wants to give you a new way to share what you're doing and who you're with. They've done so with today's launch of the Hipster.com website and Hipster iPhone app, which allows users to “send” digital “postcards” with a bit of cross-processed flair. Hipster isn't just an app or a website – the two work together to deliver a kind of social network that centers around photo and a… Read More

AOL is reportedly interested in getting into the social networking game and resurrecting its struggling MapQuest platform to do so. MapQuest, once the direction site of choice in its hay day, has since been bested by Google Maps and is seeing increasing competition from Bing Maps—largely in thanks to their mobile presence. But now, AOL is rumored to plan a social network around the directions site, pairing geo-social and local together. But will… Read More

Earlier this week, Google added a new button to the Google Maps Web interface that allows the user to view a 3D birdseye view of the route. To utilize the new feature, simply plug in a start point and a end point to the directions section of Google Maps. After calculating the route, look for a “3D” button next to the text “Driving directions”. After pressing the new “3D” button, the map shifts into Google… Read More

Working at Google as a software engineer, Ari Gilder is no stranger to the Google Maps mobile app. In a recent post on the official Google blog, Gilder described in detail how he used technology from Google to ask his long-time girlfriend, Faigy, to marry him. Gilder constructed a map of seven places in New York City that had special significance to the couple such as the first date and memorable surprises. He then convince Faigy's… Read More

Fans do the coolest things sometimes. A dedicated group of Grand Theft Auto 4 lovers at GTA4.net spent two months putting together an interactive map for Rockstar Games' latest iteration of Liberty City, as seen in GTA4. If you're familiar with Google Maps and Google Street View, then you should feel right at home navigating the interactive map, as that's the model it uses. It's not quite as streamlined — for… Read More