Nautical Info from Google Maps
I just ran across a great Google Maps mashup for any sort of marine enthusiast. Someone has thrown together a site where you can view tide data, sunrise/sunsets, weather, and satellite imagery all on the same page for any location you ask for. You pass it a city, zip code, or latitude and longitude (DMS or decimal degrees) and it spits out a map with all the relevant tide data from local NOAA or USCG stations. Really neat for that fisherman inside all of us.
Buildings!
Google has updated the regular “Maps” view of Google Maps with 2.5D imagery of buildings and features in some cities. Yet another reason why Google Maps is the way to go. I can now view buildings I recognize without having to toggle to the Satellite or Hybrid views (the quality of which is sometimes too poor to make out features). Here’s a sample:
Google Launches My Maps
Yesterday Google announced what I think is the best feature of Google Maps to date. It’s called My Maps, and it allows you to place your own placemarks, draw your own lines and polygons, place videos, and embed text, all georeferenced and placed interactively on the map. It also generates a public URL for every map for easy sharing. You can even change the colors and annotate your drawings.
The first noticeable difference is the inclusion of a My Maps tab on your sidebar. And like most Google products, you can choose to share your creation or keep it private/unlisted.
Creating your own points, lines, and polygons is all done through a simple drag and drop interface. After you’ve added features, any of them can include a description in plain text, rich text (with a neat little GUI editor), or HTML. This of course will allow users to easily add Flickr photos, Youtube videos, Wikipedia entries… the possibilities are endless. You can also get directions to and from any placemark you put on the map. I’ve been waiting for that feature for a long time now.
A simple table of contents will also give you a breakdown of all your features, which is nice considering you could create a humongous mashup with these new features.
One of the nicest features to highlight, however, is the ability to export anything you draw into KML format. This of course allows you to add your data to Google Earth, or one of the many emerging or existing products that are providing KML support.
My Maps adds to the growing list of interesting features that Google has recently added to Google Maps. Other features like traffic, GeoRSS support, and the click to call feature for phone numbers have all added a good deal of functionality to an already great product. If they keep on their current trajectory, Google’s on pace to dominate the geospatial technology market, at least for the general consumer/prosumer.
New Google Earth Imagery
Last week Google released a slew of new imagery, much of it hi-res. They’ve also updated and corrected some imagery problems. Here are the details:
New hi resolution:
- Canada: Downtown Vancouver, BC
- England: Northamptonshire, Nottingshire, Berkeshire, Peakdistrict, Birmingham, Greater Manchester, Avon, Gloucestershire, Linconshire
- France: Rennes, Poitiers
- US: Omaha, NE; Missoula, MT; Amherst, MA; Keowee, SC; Catawba Wateree, NC/SC; Rolla, MO; Nashville (”Burbia”), TN; Gaston County, NC; Anne Arundel County, Metro Water District of Southern California; State of Arkansas
Updated imagery:
- Spain: Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, El Hierro, La Gomera, Tenerife, and Las Palmas (Canary Islands) Spain
- US: Austin, TX; San Bernardino, CA; State of Connecticut, Greater Los Angeles Area, CA
- Australia: Sydney harbor area
Fixes:
- Danish plane replicants removed (read more)
- Andes, Machu Picchu terrain repaired