Google Maps for BlackBerry Gets Biking Directions, Sharing, and New Search Results

Labels: biking directions, BlackBerry, google maps for mobile, sharing

Grab your BlackBerry, hop on your bike, and have your friends join you with Google Maps for mobile! After adding biking directions and sharing for Android folks a few weeks ago, we're happy to announce that Google Maps 4.2 for BlackBerry can also let you get biking directions, quickly see helpful info when searching, and share places with friends.

Biking directions

If you’ve been using Google Maps on your computer to get biking directions, trails, and lanes, you can now head out for a ride using just your BlackBerry. When getting directions in Google Maps, just choose to travel by bicycle to get an optimal bicycling route in the U.S. If you’re in the mood for a more scenic ride, you’ll also see the Bicycling layer on the map which shows dedicated bike-only trails (dark green), roads with bike lanes (light green), or roads that are good for biking but lack a dedicated lane (dashed green). You can always turn on this layer from the Layers menu to devise your own route.

 

Search and Share

The next time you're searching for a late night bite of pizza, you'll see a redesigned list view of results with pictures and ratings. Select one to see a simplified search results page with easy-access buttons for directions, calling, etc. and all the info you'll need right below. Select a section, such as “Reviews,” to see more. A new “share this place” option lets you send anyone place info, such as its address or phone number, by email or text message. In addition to specific places like a restaurant, you can also share any location you select on the map -- including a snapshot of where you are at the moment -- to help folks meet you outside or right where you’re standing!

 

To get started, go to m.google.com/maps in your BlackBerry's browser and install version 4.2. In case you’ve had previous installation hiccups, we've also fixed some issues with permissions and BlackBerry Enterprise Server installation on some 5.0 devices.

Learn more in the Help Center, ask questions in our Help Forum, or give us suggestions and vote on other people’s on the Mobile Product Ideas page.

Posted by Michael Siliski, Product Manager, Google Mobile Team

Salut! Willkommen! Benvenuto! ¡Bienvenido! Google Search by Voice in French, German, Italian and Spanish

Labels: google mobile app, google search by voice, quick search box

Here’s a test for the German speakers out there: which is faster...sayingGeschwindigkeitsbeschränkung (German for speed limit), or typing the same query character-by-character?

Voice has always been the most natural way to interact with a phone -- speaking is typically faster and easier than typing. We first developed Search by voice for English, and then for Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. Today we’re excited to welcome speakers of French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Images of Google Search by Voice in Italian (Android), German (iPhone), Spanish (BlackBerry)

Our goal is to bring Google Search by voice to speakers of all languages. We follow a rigorous process to add each new language or dialect. Working directly with native speakers in each country, we spend weeks collecting spoken utterances to create the specific models which power the service. Our helpers are asked to read popular queries in their native tongue, in a variety of acoustic conditions such as in restaurants, out on busy streets, and inside cars. We also construct, for each language, a vocabulary of over one million recognizable words. It’s no small feat, but we love doing it.

Note that our new language models are designed for accents from Spain, France, Italy, and Germany. If you speak one of the new languages with another accent (for example, German in Austria, French in Switzerland, or Spanish in Mexico), Search by voice may not work so well for you.

How you get started with Google Search by voice depends on what kind of phone you have. If your phone runs Android 2.1 or later, and you have the Quick Search Box installed, all you have to do is tap the microphone icon to start a voice-powered search. iPhone and BlackBerry users who already have Google Mobile App installed can enable voice search by selecting the new languages from the settings panel within the app.

If you have Android 1.6 or 2.1 (Donut or Eclair), and you have already installed the Search by voice application, starting later today voice search will return recognition results for French, German, Italian or Spanish if your phone has one of those languages chosen in ‘Language and keyboard’ settings. If you do not have the Search by voice application, you can install it from Android Market on your phone - search for ‘voice search‘. This application is only available in the Android Markets for France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

To get Google Mobile App for iPhone, search for ‘Google Mobile App’ in the App Store or follow this link. BlackBerry and Nokia S60 users should visit m.google.com using their phone’s browser.

Learn more at http://mobile.google.com and select your country in the footer.

So if you speak French, Italian, German, Spanish, grab your phone and bid Google Search by voice a hearty Salut! Willkommen! Benvenuto! ¡Bienvenido!

Posted by Amir Mané, Product Manager, Google Speech Technologies

Fun on the Autobahn: Google Maps Navigation in 11 more Countries

Labels: google maps for mobile, google maps navigation

There’s nothing quite like driving through Europe in the summer. In the past week, I’ve seen the beautiful Val d’Aosta, the Swiss Alps, the Cathedral in Chartres, and travelled through the Channel Tunnel as I road-tripped from Milan to Geneva, Zürich to Stuttgart, and on through Paris to London. Why the burst of mileage? Well, I’ve been testing Google Maps Navigationversion 4.2. Yes, road-testing it around Europe was a grueling process, but somebody had to do it :)

Today we’re launching Google Maps Navigation version 4.2 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerlandfor Android devices 1.6 and higher. Google Maps Navigation is an Internet-connected GPS navigation or ‘satnav’ system that provides turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps.

On my test trip, I found a number of Navigation features useful:

• While driving through the Loire Valley, I put my French language skills to the test by finding my destination with Search by voice (now launched in French, German, Italian, and Spanish for Android 2.0 and higher);
• I previewed a typical British roundabout with Street View to see exactly where I’d need to exit before getting there in person;
• I satisfied my craving for moules frites by searching for it along my route;
• I kept the gas stations layer on to ensure I’d always know where the nearest petrol station was, just in case;
• And, of course, the turn-by-turn voice guidance kept me on-track to my destination -- despite my sometimes spotty connection in mountain tunnels -- thanks to the way Maps Navigation saves the route on your device when you start.

Google Maps Navigation (beta) with Search by voice is available in version 4.2 of Google Maps, on Android devices 1.6 and higher. To download Google Maps version 4.2, search for Google Maps in Android Market.

Try Google Maps Navigation in your local country and language today -- and have a great time touring around the Continent this summer if you get the chance!

Posted by Michael Siliski, Product Manager, Google Maps for mobile

Settle trivia debates anytime, anywhere

Labels: android, google search for mobile, iphone, palm webos

Last month we launched a way to provide short answers to search queries, and it's now available on your iPhone, Palm WebOS or Android-powered device in English. If you’re like us, you may sometimes engage in trivia matches with friends on topics as far ranging as,what continent is Turkey in?, Star Wars release date?, or Augustus’ successor? Now you can settle that debate there and then by searching Google from your mobile; you can speak your question into Google Search on Android or Google Mobile App for iPhone, or you can visit google.com from your mobile browser to type your search.

If your friends challenge the answer provided in Google Search results, you can corroborate the information with a list of websites by clicking on the “Show sources” link. The source list includes the relevant text from each page so you can quickly verify whether Google interpreted the context of the answer correctly. You can also click through to the original website to get all the details.

We continue to work on providing short answers to more questions. Here are some additional examples to try:

• Who’s taller? [height of kobe bryant] or [height of paul pierce]
• Geography trivia? [capital of massachusetts], [language in netherlands]
• Literature trivia? [author of les miserables], [george eliot’s gender]
• Movie trivia? [release date of shrek], [director of harry potter 3]
• Music trivia? [composer of four seasons], [birthday of lady gaga]

Posted by Nick Fey, User Experience Designer and Mike Buchanan, Software Engineer, Google Mobile Team

BusTrack Windows Phone 7 App - Bing Maps

BusTrack Windows Phone 7 App - Bing Maps

Below is a preview of the Windows Phone 7 app used for real-time tracking of Chicago buses.

"This app will make sure you never miss a bus, and perhaps more importantly, will make sure you know the best time to leave your house or office so you don’t end up standing and waiting at the bus stop for a ridiculous amount of time.

Windows Phone 7 app used for real-time tracking of Chicago buse

• It takes full advantage of the Bing Maps Silverlight control to plot out exact GPS locations of buses and stops, making sure you always know the optimal time to leave.

• BusTrack can even group your most frequent stops together by a “location” so you don’t have to bounce in and out of different routes that you might want take to your destination.

More information:

http://matthidinger.com/archive/2010/06/18/bustrack-windows-phone-7-app.aspx

The Unpublished Static Street View API

My Google Maps related highlight of last week was Jamie Thompson's examination of Google's unpublished static Street View API. I was particularly impressed with Jamie's demo Street View Tile Viewer.

I was also taken by something Jamie mentioned at the beginning of his post. He referred to Google's use of Street View thumbnail images in the information windows in Google Maps when you search for a location.

It struck me that it would be very easy to replicate that in a Google Maps mashup. The static thumbnails of Street Views are given unique URL's in the form:

http://cbk0.google.com/cbk?output=thumbnail&w=[WIDTH]&h=[HEIGHT]&ll=[LAT,LNG]

So in order to place a thumbnail of an available Street View in an information window on your own Google Map you just need to append the latitude and longitude of a map marker to the end of the static Street View image URL.

Here is the idea in action in this Street View tour of Church Square, Pretoria. 

If you click on any of the map markers on the map you can view a static preview image of the Street View for that location.

Watch the World Cup Mobile Layer

Watch the World Cup

Google have created a World Cup layer for Google Maps for mobile that can help you find a bar or restaurant that is showing World Cup games.

 

You can view the "Watch the World Cup" layer by:

1. Opening Google Maps on your phone.
2. Opening the Maps menu and go to Layers > More Layers > "Watch the World Cup."

Once you have opened the layer you can find bars, pubs and other venues that are showing World Cup games near you.

Let Pegman guide you to user photos

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 at 9:05 AM

You may be familiar with the photos layer on Google Maps - it’s a great way to explore user generated photos from countries all over the world right within Google Maps. Over the last couple of years since launching this layer we’ve made various improvements so people can explore them more easily. Like being able to slide from a gorgeous view along the bank of the Seine at dawn to another at sunset, simply by clicking the dots. Today we have another great way you can take that round the world trip you always wanted.

Remember Pegman, the little orange man that you can drag and drop on to the map to jump into Street View images? As of today, he has a new trick up his sleeve. He’s becoming our official photo tour guide, helping you not only navigate our Street View imagery where it’s available, but also helping to highlight the amazing geo-located photos the Panoramio photo community has contributed, as well as public images from Picasa and Flickr. There are images from pretty much every corner of the globe, so there is almost no end of sights and scenes to keep you busy.

When you drag Pegman, you will now see small blue dots to show where user-contributed photos are available (they look a bit like the squares you see on our Wikipedia layer on maps).

If you drag Pegman over one of the blue dots, you get to see a preview of a photo taken at that location.

Then if you drop Pegman onto one of the blue dots, you will be able to view that image in ourphoto browser, which will let you navigate further into neighbouring pictures.

The photos you can explore this way are the same as those that you can find in the Mapsphoto layer, giving you a full interactive tour. It’s also a great way to explore images taken from places in out-of-the-way locations - say, the top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.

Dragging Pegman onto a photo is another handy way to see all the types of images available in Google Maps. So go ahead and let Pegman be your tourguide to parks, forests, lakes and more.

Posted by Dennis Tell, Software Engineer, Google Zurich

Properties, now on Google Maps in the UK

Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 1:00 AM

Good news today if you’re house-hunting in Camden Town or Kew Gardens - property search has come to maps.google.co.uk. From today, visitors to maps.google.co.uk will be able to click “Properties...” on the More menu in Maps to see a little red dot on the map showing every house or flat for sale or rent.

The search can be refined by choosing features like sale or rent, bedrooms, bathrooms, and price. The map will update to show the properties matching those criteria - and also dynamically update as you scroll and zoom around the map until you’ve found your dream spot.

Other maps layers and features like Photos, Videos, Satellite, and Earth view can be turned on as well, helping you to explore the property results geographically and get an even better sense for your new neighbourhood.

In a survey conducted just before Google Street View launched across the entire UK, a fifth of those surveyed said they had used the service for househunting [source: YouGov Plc February 2010]. We hope they’ll find this new feature really useful for exploring what’s available in neighbourhoods right across the UK.

The feature is showing hundreds of thousands of listings, from PropertyLive, Zoopla, Ezylet,SmartNewHomes, Vebra, Property Pal, Spicer Haart, Countrywide, and Zoomf. If you’re an estate agent, take a look at maps.google.co.uk/propertytools for information on how to have your property listings show up on Google Maps.

So have a go today - it’s as easy as typing in “property for sale camden town” and then scrolling around the map to see what meets your criteria. You can find contact details for the estate agent on the ‘Place Page’ that pops up for each listing - you can even add any scheduled open homes to your Google calendar with one click of the mouse. Just don’t try making an offer on London’s most famous home ... we don’t think that one’s for sale.

Posted by Andrew Foster, Product Manager

Helping to unveil the power of statistical data

En Français

We know that statistics and geography are closely linked because mapping is a fundamental requirement for the implementation of any census or survey. But what would be the role ofGoogle Map Maker in the world of statistics? Can it make a difference? Google’s Map Maker team has been keen to answer these questions.

Since our contribution to StatCom Africa II in January 2010, our team has embarked on a journey to actively engage with the statistics and mapping community in Africa with the objectives of fostering geospatial innovations adoption and of learning how Map Maker can best support users and serve as a platform to map economic, social, and environmental points of interest.

Thus, under the leadership and vision of Dozie Ezigbalike from UNECA, the Map Maker team initiated a Train the Trainers programme in Africa that aims to strengthen the capacity of national organizations in making statistics more accessible, useful, and interesting to the wider public. We do so by tying together technologies -- Google Map Maker, mobile applications, Google Earth and Maps, Google fusion tables, and Public Data Explorer -- that support data collection, sharing, visualization, and publishing. Jointly with UNECA we have organized Train the Trainers events in Nigeria and Morocco, and trained people at National Statistics Organizations (NSO) from Burundi, Cameroon, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Egypt, Lesotho, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Swaziland, Uganda, and Zambia.

Google Public Data Explorer

The Morocco Train the Trainer event took place last week in Rabat and brought together forty statistics and mapping professionals from locations around Africa for intensive training on Google geospatial technologies. UNECA and Google put together the event in order to help organizations make mapping and statistical data widely accessible to everyone. The event was capped off with a Mapping Party for students at Ecole Hassania Travaux Publics (EHTP), who will be creating detailed maps for the public.

Take a peek at the photos from the Train the Trainers event that took place last week in Rabat.

We're only in the first steps of our journey of learning together with these communities, but we are already seeing the impact of our work at the UN (UNOSAT work), with universities (Makerere University), and among enthusiastic mappers. Google Map Maker data for Africa and other countries around the world (see complete list here) is publicly available for download for non-commercial use and attribution. Data can be used to do things such as create offline maps, combine data sets, and run analysis. Join the map your world communityfor the latest developments, Map Maker features, discussion with other mappers and sneak previews!

Posted by Evans Arabu, Geo Africa

====

Prendre conscience du pouvoir des statistiques

Nous savons tous que les statistiques et la géographie sont étroitement liées, la cartographie étant un élément fondamental de mise en œuvre d’un recensement ou d’une enquête. Mais quel est le rôle de Google Map Maker dans l'univers des statistiques ? Quel peut être l’apport de cet outil ? L’équipe Google de Map Maker a bien voulu répondre à trois questions.

Depuis notre contribution à StatCom Africa II en janvier 2010, notre équipe a décidé de s’engager activement auprès de la communauté des statisticiens et des cartographes en Afrique, dans l’objectif de stimuler l’adoption d’innovations géo-spatiales et d’apprendre comment Map Maker peut mieux aider les utilisateurs et servir de plate-forme pour agréger les informations économiques, sociales et environnementales.

C’est ainsi que, sous la direction et la vision de Dozie Ezigbalike de l’UNECA, l’équipe Map Maker a lancé un programme de Formation de formateurs en Afrique, dans le but de renforcer la capacité des organismes nationaux à rendre les statistiques plus accessibles, plus utiles et plus intéressantes pour un public plus vaste. Pour ce faire, nous relions entre elles les technologies -- Google Map Maker, applications mobiles, Google Earth et Maps, Google fusion tables et Public Data Explorer – qui prennent en charge la collecte, le partage, la visualisation et l’édition de données. Conjointement avec l’UNECA, nous avons organisé des Formations de formateurs au Nigéria et au Maroc, et formé du personnel des organismes de statistiques nationaux (NSO) au Burundi, au Cameroun, en RD du Congo, en Éthiopie, en Égypte, au Lesotho, au Maroc, au Nigéria, au Sénégal, au Swaziland, en Ouganda et en Zambie.

Au Maroc, l’événement Formation de formateurs a eu lieu la semaine dernière à Rabat et a réuni quarante professionnels de la statistique et de la cartographie venus de toutes les régions d’Afrique pour une formation intensive sur les technologies géospatiales de Google. L’UNECA et Google ont co-piloté l’événement pour aider les organismes à rendre la cartographie et les statistiques accessibles au plus grand nombre L’événement s’est conclu par une Mapping Party pour les étudiants à l’Ecole Hassania Travaux Publics (EHTP), qui sera chargée de créer les cartes détaillées pour le grand public.

Jetez un coup d’œil aux photos de l’événement Formation de formateurs, prises à Rabat la semaine dernière.

Nous en sommes seulement aux premières étapes de notre parcours d’apprentissage en commun avec ces communautés, mais nous constatons d’ores et déjà l’impact de notre travail avec (l’UNOSAT work), avec les universités (Makerere University) et au sein des cartographes, enthousiastes ! Les données Google Map Maker pour l’Afrique et d’autres pays à travers le monde (voir la liste complète ici) sont publiquement disponibles au téléchargement pour un usage non commercial. Les données peuvent être exploitées pour, par exemple, créer des cartes hors ligne, combiner des ensembles de données et effectuer des analyses. Rejoignez votre communauté map your world pour connaître les derniers développements, les fonctions de Map Maker, discuter avec d’autres cartographes et profiter des prévisualisations !

Posté par Evans Arabu, Geo Africa

Stalking with Twitter & Google Maps

Spiggler

Spiggler is a Google Maps mashup that shows you Twitter messages posted from, or near, your location. The map auto-detects your current location and loads the latest Tweets that have been sent from that location.

If you want to view Tweets for a different part of the world you can simply pan the map or use the site's search option. When you move the map to a new location the map refreshes to show the latest Tweets from that area.

It also possible to view Tweets from a specific Twitter user. If a Twitter user has location sharing turned on you can view their Tweets on the Google Map. The map will display their geo-located Tweets so you can actually view a Twitter user's movements directly on the map. If a user doesn't have location sharing turned on you just see their latest Tweets in the map sidebar.

In the screenshot above you can see one Twitter user's location tracked from northern England, through Wales and down to London. You can view the messages sent from different locations on the journey to London and because the messages are time-stamped you can also see when they were at a specific location.

Google Maps is all over Facebook

There are a number of Facebook applications that leverage the Google Maps API to add a geographical element to their Facebook offerings. Here is a quick look at some of these applications:

Make New Friends on Facebook

AskOkulu

AskOkulu is a social network built on Google Maps. Anyone can join the network via many of the existing social networks. Clicking on the following links will add the AskOkulu application to the named social network, Facebook, Hi5, Ning,Orkut, Bebo and MySpace.

Once you add the application to your social network site your profile photograph will be added to a Google Map. It is then possible to search the map for popular females, popular males, members in particular countries or members who speak a particular language.

Online Members On Map

Online Members on Map allows members of Facebook, Myspace, Orkut, Bebo and Hi5 to meet and chat with other users on a Google Map. Users can select to view females or males on the map.

Save Locations

Favorite Places

Favorite Places lets users 'favorite' locations and share them with their friends. The application uses Google Street View to display panoramas of favorited places. You can also add information about your saved locations.

Play Games

King (or Queen) of the World

King (or Queen) of the World is a Facebook strategy game that uses Google Maps to demonstrate the current territories of game players.

The game is a territorial game of diplomacy, alliances and battles. To join the game a player chooses a location on a Google Map. Google Maps are also used to show the locations of game players and the defending and invading soldiers of player battles.

Google Maps Challenge

Google Maps Challenge is a Facebook game that involves trying to identify a succesion of satellite images from Google Maps of famous locations around the world. In the game you have 60 seconds to identify as many images as you can.

Where are Your Friends

Use a Map

Use a Map lets you share your location with your Facebook friends. You can drag a map pin on a Google Map to set your location and then share the map view with your friends.

Use a Map also lets you view the locations of all your Facebook friends on a Google Map.

Mapmotive for Facebook

Mapmotive for Facebook is an application that automatically displays your Facebook friends on a Google Map. The Mapmotive map not only shows the geography of your Facebook network but allows you to add markers.

You can use the application to show the location of an upcoming party or event, or use it to display the places you have visited or to share your favourite restaurants and bars.

SocialMine

This Facebook application also maps all of your Facebook friends and, in addition, extracts other interesting facts from your friends' profiles.

On installing this application to Facebook you are presented with a Google Map displaying your friends' locations indicated by their profile picture. Under the map there is a series of tables informing you about how many of your friends are male or female, how many are single or in a relationship and how many of your friends are conservative and how many are liberal etc.

Friends Density

Friends Density lets you view a heat map of your Facebook friends. The application also includes a geography game based on your friends' locations.

Marketing Campaigns

Click It Forward

Click It Forward is the first Facebook application that I have seen that uses the Google Earth Browser plug-in. Acurian is a company that recruits individuals for medical trials. They say that you can help support medical research by signing up your friends on Facebook to their 'Click it Forward' Facebook application.

Where I've Been on Google Maps

Trip Advisor - Cities I've Visited

This Facebook application from TripAdvisor lets you create a Google Map of locations around the world that you have visited and then share your map with your Facebook friends.

You can change the map markers on the map to show that a location is a favourite location, a location you can advise friends about or even just a place you are planning to visit. You can also create a Favourite Destination list from the places that you have visited.

Trip Advisor's application also lets you create a Travel Photo Guide by connecting your map with one of your photo albums saved on Facebook.

Imagery Update - Week of June 14th

The Google Earth and Maps team has just finished pushing out yet another imagery update. Though we didn't blog about it at the time, many of our sharp-eyed fans also noticed that we updated a number of cities back on May 26th. There's plenty to see in these last two updates, from hunting for UFOs in Roswell to soaking up the blues while sauntering down Beale Street in Memphis.

High Resolution Aerial Updates:

USA: Nashville, Memphis, Charlotte, Puget Sound Area, Los Angeles, Ft Myers, Roswell NM, Winona MN

The Netherlands: Hoorn, Wijdemermen, Leidschendam, Wassenaar, Olst, Overbetuwe, Sint Hubert, The Hague, Lopik, Houten, Hilversum, Purmerend, Elburg, Enkhizen, Assen, Groningen

South Africa: Soccer City in Johannesburg

New Zealand: Kapiti Coast

Countries receiving High Resolution Satellite Updates:

Algeria, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iceland, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, The Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Tanzania, Uganda, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam

For a complete picture of where we updated imagery, download this KML for viewing in Google Earth.

In addition to those updates, we've also added imagery of the flooding that occurred in Nashville to Google Earth's Historical Imagery database. You can access the new Nashville flood imagery by simply opening Google Earth and clicking on the clock icon in the top toolbar.

The historical imagery time slider will appear just beneath the toolbar. The tick marks on the slider represent images in our database that are available for your current view.

Drag the slider with your mouse to flip between images from different dates. In the examples below, you can see before/after images of the flooding in Nashville.

Posted by Matt Manolides, Senior GIS Strategist

Plan a Trip with Google Maps

WorldWaypoint

WorldWaypoint is a Google Maps service that allows you to map your favourite locations. 

Using WorldWaypoint you can save your favourite locations with a description and a picture of the location. Once you have saved a location on WorldWaypoint you are given a unique URL to your created point that you can then share with family and friends. 

Worldwaypoint also includes a trip planning application. After you have created a number of waypoints to your favourite destinations you can plan a trip that takes in your saved locations. Just specify a start date and end date for your trip and add the destinations you wish to visit.

When you have competed your itinerary you can print out a PDF file of your planned trip.