Google Maps, Local Expand To UK

Koushiro writes "From Google's official blog comes word that Google Maps UK and Google Local UK have been launched, confirming speculations that the search engine giant would continue to expand its regional services to an international audience. The seemingly logical next step, of course, would be to expand coverage to Western Europe, but given the input Google's UK office had into this project, can we expect Google Maps India next?"

Comments

UKIP Victory!

[philbowman]

Mr Kilroy-Silk will be pleased. Just go look at Britain, and zoom right out ([-] button). Look - no Europe! Just us Brits and our American fiends.

Re:UKIP Victory!

[gowen]

Kilroy Silk isn't in UKIP anymore. He's formed his own party "Veritas".

The name comes from the latin : "Verity" meaning "True" and "Ass", meaning "Robert Kilroy Silk".

Re:UKIP Victory!

[iainl]

Actually, he says that he named it Veritas to signify that they're plain speaking.

Because nothing says 'plain speaking' like a bit of Latin.

Not only the UK

[Anonymous Coward]

But Ireland as well.

Re:Not only the UK

[Finuvir]

Ireland is the name of the island, which includes Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland (a seperate nation). The Republic of Ireland is officially called Ireland (in English) or Eire (in Irish). The name "Republic of Ireland" is its official description for use in contexts where the distinction between the nation and the island (both named Ireland) is necessary to avoid ambiguity.

So yes, part of Ireland (the island) is in the UK. None of Ireland (the country) is in the UK.

Canada

[mincognito]

"expand its regional services to an international audience" Canada isn't the U.S. you know.

SMS

[Big Mark]

We've also got Google SMS now, which is actually useful.

Re:SMS

[meringuoid]

Bugger me. Well, that's the end of the great British pub quiz, then... I think we have to just accept it now. Google is on course to evolve into an Overmind and rule the world. Suddenly I've got an information source in my pocket that makes the Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy look feeble...

Pah!

[veeoh]

No "houses of ill repute", or "ladies of negotiable affection" near me - useless damn site!

Nice but not up to date

[trash eighty]

very nice though several newish roads (2-3 years old by now) near me arn't on the maps.

Hmm, good and bad things

[iainl]

On the one hand, it knows about the mighty Hings, the Food of the Gods. On the other, I'm more than a little disturbed by the Google ad that 'helpfully' suggests I could find cheaper Fish & Chips on eBay. Doesn't really bear thinking about, that one.

Unusual Projections

[andrewbirkett]

In the UK, most maps use the British Grid projection. Google, in their international wisdom, appear to have used a different projection which causes the map to "appear wrong" to a UK person. Actually, the map is perfectly correct, it's just that Google are presenting it in a way which is not customary for the UK.

For example, try a search for postcode "EH1" on http://maps.google.co.uk, and the same on www.multimap.co.uk. Notice that the shape of the quarter-circle road system (Princes St, Melville Drive, the Bridges) is different on each.

Re:Unusual Projections

[jabuzz]

No, but most european countries have suitable projections optimized for the country. So Great Britain should use OSGB36 and Ireland should use the Irish National Grid, and so on and so forth. Instead they look to have imposed some WGS84 based projection on us.

Re:OK, I'm impressed.

[timthorn]

The colour is for the road status - in the UK we have motorways (eg M1, M25), other trunk roads (A class and B class, eg A41 or B4096), and other roads. Motorways are usually blue, A roads usually red or green, and B roads usually orange. Motorways are almost all 70mph, A roads vary from 40 to 70, and B roads from 30 to 60.

The road numbering started out as loosely based on which direction from London the road heads. The M1 goes north from London, as does the A1. The A11 is a bit further around, the A110 further still. I'm sure there's a website somewhere that explains the numbering better.

Google Maps India a distant dream

[cOdEgUru]

Not due to the lack of attempt, just that mostly directions meant (when I was growing up) was : "Go Straight for two kilometres, turn right at the Junction with the Statue and then one mile ahead take a left by the Cricket Stadium". Not something you want to pull up on Google!

In the Rural areas of the country and even in the suburbs of some major metropolitan areas, the above method will apply.

Rarely are there Street names. But it doesnt really matter as men arent embarassed to ask for directions :)

Looks like UK satellite views soon too...

[Aphrika]

If you go to the maps.google.com, zoom right out and switch to satellite view, you can scroll over to the right where the UK is and hey presto satellite views!

It's not complete yet and only zooms halfway in before you're notified it's incomplete, but it should definitely be something to look forward to.

Re:If you scroll over....

[meringuoid]

How long before asking for directions between locations in different countries, such as your house in the UK and a hotel in the US, and google gives you details of flights between the nearest appropriate airports?

I played with this a bit. Plan a route from, say, Bristol to Belfast, and Google will include the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. So, my guess: not very long at all.

Re:OK, I'm impressed.

[m50d]

They're numbered in a spiral out from London. The A1 goes north to edinburgh along the east coast, A2 into kent, A3 south to portsmouth, A4 to wales and A5 to Birmingham, with the A6 going north to Edinburgh (historically) by the west coast. Then the A7 goes south from Edinburgh to meet the A6, the A8 goes west to Glasgow, and the A9 north to Inverness. Then coming back to London we have the A10 up to Cambridge, the A11 out towards Norwich, A12 to Ipswich, A13 out to Chelmsford, A14 confusingly elsewhere, but then A15 going more southerly and so on until we get to A69, all of these starting gradually further from the dome of St Paul's which is taken as the centre of London. After this the A70-A99 are numbered in a spiral from Edinburgh, A100-699 from London and so on. The green ones are primary routes, in rare cases B roads can also be green roads, and link up a set of "primary destinations". Generally these are straighter and faster roads than the red ones, with more service stations, etc. B roads (which are normally yellow rather than orange) are numbered similarly, but motorways are different, instead taking the number of the nearby A road. Thus there are plenty of gaps in the motorway numbering, for example there is an M20 but no M19, and the M5 starts nowhere near London, it's just long and vaguely near the A5. Also, when an A road is upgraded to a motorway it keeps its name, just with a (M) afterwards, so we have the A1(M) for large sections of the A1 route.