Google Maps Graduates

Anonymous writes "It appears that Google's dynamic, interactive map program, Google Maps, has finally made it out of the labs. Now it has merged with Google Local and has been updated on the homepage. Another great stride in Google's quest to conquer the internet." Graduation covered by PC Magazine. From the article: "Now, when you query Google Local (local.google.com), a map pops up, displaying the many businesses and services that match you query. If you search on "Pizza in San Francisco," for instance, it displays a map of San Francisco sprinkled with red tabs pointing to various pizza parlors. It also lists each restaurant down the right side of your browser."

Comments

No API changes though...

[mustafap]

Still no changes to the use of Google Maps API, thankfully. Maps embedded in your own webpages do not (yet) show any advertising material.

Long may that continue...

Maps API is till in beta though

[hsmith]

http://www.google.com/apis/maps/, hopefully it will be out in release sometime soon, along with a free geocoder from google.

Watching Google Maps Snowball

[Ted Holmes]

Hi Everyone;

I've been following the evolution of Google Maps for a while now. You can tell it's a killer app when people begin developing more applications around it and using it in ways the original developer never guessed.

Here are some of my favorite Google Map apps :

My recent favorite: Live streaming New York traffic cams integrated with Google Maps.

Track your GPS enabled vehicle live.

Use Craigslist home listings with Google Maps Cheap, plentiful phone cams with GPS flooding the market have spawned Geobloggers. Thousands of shots from GPS enabled Phone cams, posted to Flickr accompanied with the longitude/lattitude co-ordinates.

UFO's have been spotted. Still no certainty about what they are, but fun anyway.

Just emerging are: Google Maps merged with recently released prisoner data, Wireless hotspots, nearest grassroots recommended restaurants, cash machines...

Wireless access, Google maps, and tagging will create sticky location-based fountains of useful knowledge.

This is one to watch. There's no telling what will spin off next.

Re:Now to fill its spot in the labs

[darthmundt]

Zoom waaaay in... it turns out the moon is made of swiss cheese!

Re:one word for you

[Matt Perry]

It's from the movie The Graduate. At the beginning of the movie the main character had just graduated from college and was attending a small party for him at his parents house. A neighbor came up to him and had the following to say:

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

Re:CONQUERING?

[Scrameustache]

by "conquering" the web, does he mean "filling it with useful applications and tools for public use"?

Probably, that's what the Romans did when they conquered.
People still use their roads and aqueducts two thousand years later! I'd call that usefull.

Google Earth for Linux - almost exists

[Anonymous Coward]

NASA's Worldwind software is similar and is a .NET app,
so there's a Linux version for Mono underway that I'm told
mostly works already (it's mostly a reimplementation using the
same data).

More info and pretty screenshot in Miguel de Icaza's blog:
http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2005/Sep-30-1.html

Re:Not a planet

[Dan-DAFC]

Pluto's diameter is 2,274 km whereas the Moon's diameter is 3,476 km.