Changing your perspective, once again...

A few months ago we released a new type of aerial imagery to our users, first to the developer community through the Google Maps API, and then later as an experimental feature in Google Maps Labs. Today, we’re excited to announce the release of 45° imagery for of select cities in the U.S. and worldwide to all users of Google Maps. As you may have guessed from the name, 45° imagery is imagery depicting a location from a 45° angle rather than from the top. This type of imagery allows you to explore the sides of buildings and other locations -- you can even rotate around a particular point of interest using the compass ring to view it from four different perspectives. To see the new imagery, simply zoom into an area while in Satellite mode. Where we have 45° imagery available, the imagery will switch from an overhead to 45° angle as you zoom all the way in. You can then pan smoothly across the map to get a richer view of the area. Here are a few of my favorite spots:

SeaWorld, San Diego, California:

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Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California:

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Rialto Bridge, Venice, Italy:

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Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa:

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See below for a map of areas where 45° imagery is currently available.

View 45° Imagery on Google Maps in a larger map. 45° imagery is available for portions of the U.S., Europe and South Africa.

We think you will find this imagery particularly helpful when exploring a new area on the map before a visit. After checking out the landmarks from a new angle, it’s helpful to turn on existing map layers like Photos or Wikipedia to get more context on the area. Even when looking at familiar areas, seeing driving directions overlaid on 45° imagery will give you a whole new understanding of the neighborhood. As we expand our coverage over the coming months, I hope you enjoy this new perspective on the world.

Posted by Randy Wilson, Google Imagery Team

Street View driving update

(cross-posted from the Google European Public Policy Blog)

In May we announced that we had mistakenly included code in our software in Street View cars that collected WiFi payload data. As soon as we discovered our error, we not only stopped collecting WiFi data entirely, but also grounded our fleet of cars globally to give us time to remove the WiFi scanning equipment and discuss what had happened with local regulators.

The WiFi data collection equipment has been removed from our cars in

each country and the independent security experts Stroz Friedberg have

approved a protocol to ensure any WiFi-related software is also

removed from the cars before they start driving again. *

Having spoken to the relevant regulators we have decided to start

Street View driving in Ireland, Norway, South Africa and Sweden again

starting next week. We expect to add more countries in time. Our cars

will no longer collect any WiFi information at all, but will continue

to collect photos and 3D imagery as they did before:

• Photos: so that we can build Street View, our 360 degree street level maps. Photos like these are also being taken by TeleAtlas and NavTeq for Bing maps. In addition, we use this imagery to improve the quality of our maps, for example by using shop, street and traffic signs to refine our local business listings and travel directions; and

• 3-D building imagery: we collect 3D geometry data with low power lasers (similar to those used in retail scanners) which help us improve our maps. NavTeq also collects this information in partnership with Bing. As does TeleAtlas.

We recognize that serious mistakes were made in the collection of WiFi payload data, and we have worked to quickly rectify them. However we also believe that Street View is a great product for users, whether people want to find a hotel, check out a potential new home or find a restaurant. If you want more information about driving schedules, please look herehttp://maps.google.com/streetview.

*We've updated this paragraph to clarify that both the hardware and

software will have been removed from all Street View vehicles before they

resume driving.

Posted by Brian McClendon, VP of Engineering, Google Geo

Get Up & Go with Geckogo

Geckogo

Geckogo is a community based global travel site with nearly 200,000 user generated tips and reviews. Geckogo uses Google Maps throughout its website to show the location of the top attractions, hotels and restaurants.

Google Maps is used to show the locations of attractions in major cities, for example, the Top 10 Vancouver Attractions. Google Maps is also used to show the location of individual listings, for example the British Museum.

Registered users of Geckogo can favourite locations as they browse the site. By adding locations to their favourites users can build an itinerary of places that they wish to visit on a trip. Registered users can also use Geckgo to showcase locations that they have visited and contribute places to go.

Find Magnetic North with Google Maps

Magnetic Declination Calculator

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has created this Magnetic Declination Calculator so that users can find magnetic north for any location on Earth. Magnetic declination is the angle between magnetic north (the direction the north end of a compass needle points) and true north.

To use the calculator you need to enter the latitude and longitude of a location (if it is for a US location you can just enter a zipcode). The results of the calculation are then shown by superimposing a compass rose on top of Google Maps (see screenshot above).

Magnetic Declination fluctuates over time. Using the Magnetic Declination Calculator it is possible to calculate the declination for any date from 1750 to the present.

Mappr's World Cup Edition

Mappr

Mappr helps you find the best bars, restaurants and shops in your current location. Using Mappr you can view the most interesting places around you on a Google Map, based on Foursquare checkins.

The map shows you the points of interest around your current location prioritized in a way that reduces clutter and surfaces the best in any map view. You can filter the results shown on the map by category to find exactly what you are interested in.

If you click on any of the map markers you can view its name, address and number of Foursquare checkins. If you click on the 'tips' tab you can also view tips about the location as suggested by Foursquare users. At the moment you can also view which locations have the most World Cup team checkins and which teams are the best supported on Foursquare.

Mappr is also available as an iPhone app.

Watch this weekend's solar eclipse in Google Earth

A few weeks ago, on June 26, there was a partial lunar eclipse for part of the world to see. This weekend, it gets even better with a full solar eclipse in the South Pacific on Sunday.

Michael at HeyWhatsThat.com has built a very impressive eclipse simulator using the Google Earth Plug-in. You can choose the eclipse that you want to view (like the upcoming "2010 July 11 Total Solar Eclipse"), then choose a place on the globe and a time to see what your view will look like.

Here is Michael's his brief description of how it works:

I use two instances of the Google Earth plug-in, one showing the Earth and the other the sky. Set your location by clicking on the Earth, set the time by clicking on the green timeline, and start an animation by clicking on the timeline's arrow. Use the dropdown menu on the bottom right to view other eclipses. (Note that the timeline shows your computer's local time, not the time at the chosen viewer location.)

Here is a video of the simulator in action:

If you want to try it for yourself, just head over to his site and explore. It's a very impressive simulation, and is a great use of the Google Earth Plug-in.

Berlin and Stuttgart are now in 3D

Google released quite a few 3D buildings yesterday. Not only did they publish my house (and presumably hundreds of other user-generated models), but they released two more full cities in 3D -- Berlin and Stuttgart.

As with their other recent 3D cities, these are very impressive with many thousands of models in each city.

Here is a video overview of the new buildings:

For more about this release, you can check out the Google SketchUp Blog.

Netherlands Google Maps Round-Up

The following Dutch Google Maps mashups were all submitted to the Google Maps API 5th Year Anniversary Map. Have you added your map yet?

Groenekaartkrommerijn

This Dutch Google Maps mashup can help you find locations that are related to nature and the environment in the Netherlands.

The huge amount of information on this map is organised into a number of categories. Form the map sidebar it is possible to select from 'Sustainable Economy', 'Flora & Fauna', 'Culture', 'Information', Energy & Recycling', 'Infrastructure', 'Land & Water', 'Recreation', 'Mobility' and 'Pollution'. Each of these categories has itself a large number of selectable subcategories.

Each information window contains an embed option to show a small map of the current point of interest on your own website or blog. There is also the option to get more detailed information about the location and to get driving directions.

Super-zoeker.nl

This Google Map shows the location of all supermarkets in the Netherlands. Users can search the map to find their local supermarket. Each supermarket map marker includes a link to the store's website.

Opentot

This Google Map shows the opening hours of shops in the Netherlands. You can search the map by location and by type of shop.

The shops in the Opentot database include supermarkets, DIY, electronic, pharmacies, garden centres, warehouses and real-estate agents.

RouteXL

RouteNX is an amazing route planner for the Netherlands that solves the travelling saleman problem of finding the quickest route when you have multiple stops to make on a journey.

Add your addresses to the map and RouteXL will plan your route, taking in all your stops and in the optimum time.