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Google Offers Hybrid Satellite and Map View

Posted by Zonk on from the best-of-both-worlds dept.

That's Unpossible! writes "Google Maps now offers a hybrid view which combines their map view with their satellite view. The Google blog has a notice on the update. It appears to use 8-bit alpha transparent PNGs to make it work."

3 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. Scale! by OrangeGoo · · Score: 5, Informative

    They added a scale since the last time I checked the maps, too! Halleluah!

  2. PNG support in IE by gusnz · · Score: 5, Informative

    OK, so as sort of a meta-reply to all the posters asking about IE and PNG support, here's 2 interesting hacks you can use to get your PNG magic rolling in MSIE.

    MSIE (as of v6) doesn't support 32 bit transparent PNGs natively, but there is a cool hack where you can dither them down to 8 bits, retaining translucenct for browsers that support it, and using 1-bit transparency in MSIE, so it still looks OK.

    Alternatively, you can use the AlphaImageLoader() filter for near native IE PNG support -- that's a link to my own free CSS behavior that automatically adds IMG and background-image support for PNGs to MSIE 5.5+.

    Either way, PNGs rock, except for the lack of a cross-platform gamma standard -- if you need to match other colours on your site, just use JPEGs/GIFs.

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  3. Re:Scaled as well by mike.newton · · Score: 5, Informative

    Excuse me, there are maps for Ireland as well. (Not to mention Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.)