Google's Rasmussen on Google Maps

jbp1337 writes "During a presentation at Sydney University last week, the lead engineer behind Google Maps, Lars Rasmussen offered an interesting insight into how it all came together. Rasmussen is working on a number of AJAX applications that provide a rich desktop-like interface to the end-user from within the Web browser. Other interesting things include a Linux port of Google Earth, the company is opening a new engineering center in Sydney, and Google's design philosophy is based on end-user loyalty - not money. On the rumor of a Web-based office suite from Google, Rasmussen said he is unaware of one 'but there are 3000 people that work for Google'."

Comments

Re:Is XUL part of AJAX?

[zallus]

XUL is a user-interface description language created by Mozilla. XAML is a user-interface description language created by Microsoft. AJAX is a method of using Javascript to asynchronously update parts of page content without refreshing the entire page.

Google Maps Release Worse Than Beta?

[doodaddy]

Does anyone else feel that the released Google Maps is worse than the beta? Interstate names are missing, printing via the print button doesn't work right, the list of streets to choose form is on the left which is awkward. The first page take 5 seconds to load often, which is not very Googlish. If you have half of your street info typed in and the page finally finishes loading, it erased your typing so far...

I also have trouble using is from Mozilla 1.7.x but it may be because of adblock or flashblock. But this has been going on in the beta too.

Suggestion: walk soft, carry big stick

[slittle]

Rasmussen is working on a number of AJAX applications that provide a rich desktop-like interface to the end-user from within the Web browser.

Netscape had the exact same idea a decade ago (sans trendy development tools of course). "We're going to make the operating system obsolete" they said. And we all know what Microsoft thought about that, and what happened to Netscape as a result.

Office Suite

[mordors9]

Obviously Mr. Rasmussen needs to spend more time on Slashdot and he would know that he has in fact preparing to release an office suite.....

Gmail as a web-based word processor

[Sundroid]

Gmail is another AJAX application, and it has immense possibilities. I wrote this comment using Gmail, checked my spelling with its spellchecker, saved it in Draft, and it is stored on Google's server, which is safer than my own hard drive.

Web-based applications are here to stay, and if they are from reputable companies like Google and Yahoo, you know your files stored on their servers will remain there for a long time, if not forever.

Marketing

[Anonymous Coward]

Google have the one thing almost no other advertiser have. User loyalty and brand identity. Who the hell *loves* ClearChannel? No one. I bet even most people that use their services would say they loved them. People never stop saying how much they love Google.

*Everything* Google do is a way to make people look at more adverts. Providing services for users just makes more users look at them. Perhaps this is why they are the largest advertising agency in the world?

pretty, but that's it; no real feature innovation

[SuperBanana]

Rasmussen is working on a number of AJAX applications that provide a rich desktop-like interface to the end-user from within the Web browser.

Too bad the only thing going for Google maps is that it is pretty (antialiased graphics, map can be as large as you want) and lets you pan. That's really the ONLY thing that is innovative about it- not even the "use google maps for displaying stuff from your site" is innovative; Yahoo and Mapquest have been doing this for years.

• You cannot save addresses (such as your home address).
• You cannot change the route or set preferences (ie avoid toll roads etc).
• You can't see traffic or construction information.
• You cannot do multi-point routes. Ie go from your house to Jane's house and then to the movie theater. Laughable, except that's something people want to do quite a bit.
• Interstate numbers and road names are not shown nearly enough. Except for major highways, Google uses uncommon, unmarked road names. For example- headed into Tufts University, you take Route 2 to Route 16, and that is how they are marked on the streets. But Google Maps refers to it as "route 2 to Concord Turnpike to Alewife Brook Parkway. 99% of people in Boston would have no idea where "Concord Turnpike" is; 95% of them don't call Route 16 anything but "16", and it's not MARKED anything but "16"!
• Local search is almost worthless. It only finds addresses which are on websites (was it too much effort to buy a yellow pages directory database?) and when you do a search and specify "in the map area below", it promptly COMPLETELY ignores you and shows you have a effing STATE.
• Printing prints a LOW RESOLUTION version of the big map. Great, so I can tell I'm going from somewhere in the middle of Massachusetts, to somewhere in the middle of Boston, via the mass turnpike. Wonderful.

Funny thing, but MS Streets has NONE of these problems- it's not perfect, but it is FAR superior to Google Maps in useability and features people need; it has a nice way of compressing the map into a page, it's high resolution, saves addresses, does a near PERFECT job of finding "what's within the radius circle I draw", and it uses both route numbers and the uncommon road names. Nothing sets Google Maps apart from its web-based cousins, either- except for the basic map display. It certainly hasn't revolutionized online maps.

AJAX Info

[AngryNick]

From a ComputerWorld article on AJAX (July 2005):

The AJAX acronym was born on Feb. 18, 2005, when it first appeared in a paper titled "Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications", which was written by Jesse James Garrett, a founder of Web consultancy Adaptive Path LLC. The term has generated a lot of buzz among developers and bloggers so far this year, but it's only the name that's new.