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Google Launches Mapping Service
Alex Reynolds writes "The beta version of Google Maps is now online, offering an alternative to Mapquest with what some might describe as a very much improved user interface, offering a cleaner layout, drop shadows, clickable waypoints and keyboard controls that allow you to move and zoom the map. For IE and Firefox/Mozilla at this point (no Safari or Opera support, as yet)."
I gave it a run.....Definitely better than mapquest....Map moves smoothly, instead of having to click and wait for a reload. Nicer interface....
But how does it work?
-thewldisntenuff
My MythTV HowTo
You can actually drag the map with your mouse to move the part that's being displayed. Way cool!
It already does. Goto maps and choose a country.
The belief in a biblical god is an ignorant one
Those of us outside the US can sometimes get good map stuff from http://www.multimap.com
Better than this US-only shit, even if it doesn't cover everywhere at least its slightly more ambitious in its scope...
Game dev and music blog
just 1 (small) errora ps.goog le.com/
;)
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http://m
and it has a doctype
Your browser is not supported by Google Maps just yet. We currently support the following browsers:
IE 5.5+ (download: Windows)
Firefox 0.8+ (download: Windows Mac Linux)
Netscape 7.1+ (download: Windows Mac Linux)
Mozilla 1.4+ (download: Windows Mac Linux)
We are working on supporting Safari. Regardless of your browser type, you must have JavaScript enabled to use Google Maps.
We recommend you download one of the browsers above, or you can try to load Google Maps in your current browser.
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
Or, for that matter, map24. Think they've got the most impressive interface i've seen yet.
maps.google.com
Here's the kicker;
* They used DHTML and Javascript
* They did _not_ use Flash
Go take a look and consider that...
* No need to use the on-screen arrows to move around
* Left click and hold can be used to drag the map
* The arrow keys and other keys on your keyboard also work (PgUp, PgDn, +, -, ...)
While the useful part of the map is limited to the 50 US States, Puerto Rico, and the populated areas of Canada, it does not have local boarders (drag from Alaska or Hawaii to Florida or the Canadian wilderness if you want). Zoom all the way in before you think they left something out. It looks to be complete.
* The vector-generated maps are very readable when printed
* It uses Google's Local search; if you haven't tried that, give it a whirl (example: Choose a location on the main page, click Local when the location appears, and punch in "pizza" or "atms". Not perfect; "beer" and "pub" don't work so well, though oddly "brew" returns some good results. :( )'
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
Mappy, an originally French service, has very good maps with public transportation and driving directions support. Maps are in flash, so they look smoother than usual.
.fr, .co.uk, .it, .es and .nl flavors.
Their database of local resources is pretty much empty, though, at least for Italy.
It's available in
Hey, it's a beta. Have some decaf.
If you read the help, it says that the ability to save location "is an important feature" and that they are working on it. So what you want may be coming too.
Of course you could always use the "send feedback" link and request the option to do what you want.
He took a duck to the face at 250 knots.
yes you can. after you do a query the "Link to this page" link from the top-right automagically points to the location.
Stop Computers/Cars Analogies on S
Thats nothing. Try this on for size:
I don't know how long it will be before someone at MSN notices that a whole lot of people are interested in this trip; this has appeared on many newsgroups already.
1. http://mappoint.msn.com/DirectionsFind.aspx
2. Plan a trip from Haugesund, Norway to Trondheim, Norway
3. Laugh
Shamelessly quoted from an ASR posting.
If you want the quick link for this, Click here
Michael
There is no cryptographic solution to the problem where the intended receiver and the attacker are the same entity.
Because Navteq has invested millions and millions of dollars into GIS street data. Why reinvent the wheel when you can just license it? There are only two big, big sources of street data out there - Navteq and TeleAtlas. Virtually every online mapping service under the sun uses one or both of those sources. So does onboard GPS software. Increasingly, so do printed maps. Rand McNally's new line of local and regional maps (the ones with pastel covers) are based on Navteq data. They even boast about it. Look closely at other brands of printed maps and atlases and you'll notice often they don't even make the maps at all - you're likely to see MapQuest copyrights all over the place if you look closely. And MapQuest of course in turn uses Navteq and/or TeleAtlas data.
However, Navteq doesn't necessarily "do" everyone's maps. They provide the data and then the company comes up with a specification for linework, fills, etc. and adds or subtracts Points of Interest, boundaries, etc. A lot more goes into making a map than just the raw data. Let someone else do that.
The mapping industry has become one big consolidated relicensing operation. If good data already exists, it's foolish not to just use it. Believe me, there would be a hell of a lot more errors if everyone was creating their own data rather than using one or two reasonably good sources.
The thing about making a flat map of a spherical world is that there will always be distortion. Either the relative sizes of landmasses, the angles between them or BOTH will be distorted. The particular projection used to create the map will determine how much of what kind of distortion the map has. Whether if a map is "online" or not has nothing to do with it as long as it is still a two dimensional representation of a 3 dimensional object.
The most popular projection is called the Mercator Projection. This projection will heavily distort the relative sizes of landmasses, making whatever is in the corners of the map appear to be much larger than what is in the center. For example, depending on where the map is centered, Greenland could appear to be larger than the entire South American continent. The good side of the Mercator Projection is that it preserves the relative angles of locations. In other words, if 3 places all fall on the same straight line (around the world of course), then all three will also be in a straight line on a Mercator Projection map. For this reason, the Mercator Projection is by far the most useful for sailors and Navigators.
Other projections such as the Lambert Azimuthal Projection provide more exact relative sizes of countries and continents, while horribly distorting the shapes of places near the edge. There is also an Azimuthal Equidistant projection which neither maintains correct relative sizes, nor angles, but has the advantage that all distances measured from the center of the map will be correct.
As you can see, mapping online or off is all about trade offs. You can have correct shapes or angles or distances, but you any map will distort at least two of the three.
http://www.aquarius.geomar.de/omc/omc_project.htm
http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/worldout.htm
I'm a gnu world man.
Yes, you are right. I just found out that they use Navteq and TeleAtlas map data, and NavTeq has info on 40 countries. So probably I would say "its just a matter of time".
I have found a solution to Riemann's Hypothesis, but have run out of spac
Don't forget that US GIS data is generally freely copyable. If your country doesn't have similar services, blame your government for not making its GIS data available.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
None of these maps have a scale on them. It seems like a poor choice to omit that.
You can't get them turn by turn, but you can get the lat/long for the center of a map. Look at the URL for the "Link to this page" link. One parameter is ll, and it gives you lat/long in decimal.
From map24
Due to the new cooperation between Google, Inc, and Mapsolute GmbH, maker of the unique mapping portal Map24.com, it is now possible to search for city maps in all European Google search engines. If you enter a city name into Google.co.uk, the first result list entry is a special link to Map24.com that brings up the corresponding city map. On the result page, for sure, the full set of the rich Map24 options is available to the users.
so I guess no real competition for map24
probably they will be partners or something
Would be nice to hit in two addresses in a transit laden area and get the best train/bus/other to take. NJ Transit actually does this.. you can go on their site and punch in addresses and get the nearest train/bus stops and the itinerary. However, it uses a drop box to select City,State. If yours isn't listed, you have to do a bit of research on your own. Also, you need a street address.. you can't just say "Take me from New Brunswick to Parsippany". The NJ Transit site also includes NYC Subways and PATH in planning trips. I couldn't get it to use NYC Buses.
Doesn't really help you for your SF trip, though.
Not sure if its been mentioned, but it supports airport codes too. X to BOS for example.
Some cities have figured out a solution...
10Brett-T
Oh, bother.
I deal with map data a lot, and your understanding is at least mostly wrong. USPS data blows chunks for streets; If mail dosen't get delivered there (all highways) they have no reason to care. And they never have a reason to care exactly where the street is, the mail carrier just has to be able to drive along it. The Census has better data, called TIGER, which is half decent, but they only really worry about it being up to date every ten years. For really good, up-to-date data like these services will all need, you're going to be paying big $ to one of a few companies that produce it (by examining aerial photos and even driving around to check).
The part of your understanding that is right is that if you pay, you can get pretty good data for all the roads in the US in one big consistent format and quality pile. Some other countries have good data, but you probably need to work to connect it across borders. For size of market handled by one data set, the US is king, and any US based company in their right mind would start there. Note that all of this is constantly changing, and in particular the EU may soon pass the US on the market size vs. data hassle equation.
Please try http://maps.nycboe.net/ there is an option for subways. There is data for bus routes but it is disabled for now.
Abraham
Developer
NYC DEPT OF EDUCATION
Actually, maps@Yahoo is the only one that marks the destination correctly down to the which-side-of-the-street level of detail.
Perhaps people should lobby their local governments to collaborate with MTC. All it takes is a little leg work to coordinate your transit agencies -- they probably publish schedules and maps on the web already, and at the most it'll be some format changes and/or conversions. I'm sure MTC will share their webapp.
Unlimited growth == Cancer.