Just a few days after Microsoft rolled out a new traffic prediction feature for Windows Live Maps, Google has followed suit with traffic predictions for Google Maps. Both services use historical traffic data to predict likely congestion points and travel time in the future. But there are two major differences:
Windows Live Maps will suggest the best driving directions for avoiding traffic, Google Maps will not
Google Maps lets you choose the day of the week and time of day to see projected traffic patterns, Windows Live Maps will not.
While both services are pretty useful, what we really want is a service that will combine both of these features. Mapquest, we're looking at you.
MapQuest has finally gotten around to adding a feature that Google Maps has had for over a year: real-time traffic info. When you search for a location or driving directions on MapQuest, all you have to do is click the traffic button in the upper left corner of the screen and all of the major roads will be highlighted with color codes showing the traffic conditions.
One thing that MapQuest has added that Google Maps lacks is construction and incident alerts. If you hover your mouse over the exclamation points or construction icons you can find about traffic accidents and other conditions that could affect your travel time. Clicking on the icons brings up more detailed information.
About a half a year after adding stars, constellations, and all sorts of astronomical data to Google Earth, Google has launched a web based version of Google Sky. The interface is similar to Google Maps. You can drag and drop the sky to see different items, and you can search for locations by typing in terms like "Mars," or "constellation."
There are also a series of galleries highlighting some of the coolest views gathered from Hubble and other telescopes. You can toggle between naked eye, infrared, microwave, ultraviolet, and x-ray views. Google has also integrated an Earth & Sky podcast directly into the site.
Ever wonder how long it takes to get from here to there? About 7 hours and 51 minutes according to Google Maps. It turns out both here and there are in France. If you're still confused, there are two cities in France with the convenient names of Héré and Théré. So if you type "here" and "there" into the directions fields of Google Maps, what you get are directions from one spot to the other.
This is not, by far, the oddest thing we've seen on Google Maps. For example, last year if you looked for directions from a US location to destination in Europe, Google would tell you to "Swim across the Atlantic." The company seems to have removed that suggestion, possibly after someone at Google pointed out that it would be faster to get use a hot air balloon.
There are plenty of ways to find the nearest bar, coffee shop or book store. Mapquest, Google Maps, and Windows Live Maps all let you find and plot local businesses on a map. But none of those services let you know if a shop is actually open.
That's where WhatsOpen comes in. Just type in what you're looking for and where you're looking. For example, restaurants in San Francisco or coffee shops near Mountain View. WhatsOpen will bring up a Google Maps mashup with store information, phone numbers, and hours of operation. While WhatsOpen doesn't seem to include holiday hours, the site could come in handy if you're looking for a place to buy groceries in the middle of the night or if you have a sudden urge for coffee at 2am.
WhatsOpen recently launched a public demo that covers California. But you can also sign up for a beta account covering the US, China, and Europe.
Yahoo! Maps has added the ability to add destinations or change routes simply by dragging and dropping the line from your starting point to your destination. This is a feature Google Maps has had for a few months now, but the Yahoo! Maps version actually has a few extra features that make it well worth the wait.
First up, after you change your route, a window will pop up to compare the distance and travel time of your new route with the original route. In other words, Yahoo! is not shy about telling you what a bad idea it is to veer from the directions it recommended in the first place. But you don't get the real-time street name and mileage updates that you get in Google Maps.
You can also easily remove a new destination just by clicking an "undo" button.
Google has just added a new feature "My Location" feature to Google Maps for mobile phones. Basically, it works like GPS, but instead of connecting to a satellite, it gathers information from nearby cell towers to determine your location. So your phone doesn't need to be GPS enabled, it just needs to have a data plan in order to plot your position on a map.
Google Maps for Mobile runs on most J2ME-enabled devices, including BlackBerry phones, Windows Mobile, Palm, and Symbian devices. Although you can run Google Maps on Windows Mobile PDAs that are not cellphones, you won't be able to use the My Location feature, since your device won't know how to connect to cellphone towers.
Oh, and while Google could theoretically use this information to stalk you, if you believe the promotional video above, the company claims that it doesn't keep tabs on your personal information and location.
Google has added a collaboration feature to the My Maps section of Google Maps. What does that mean? Essentially you can create a custom map, and then open it up for other people to edit.
Say, for example you're planning a trip to Chicago with friends. You want to use Google Maps to plot the places you should visit when you're there. You can find a few destinations and add them to the map and then add your friends as collaborators and they can each add more points to the map.
You can also create a map that anyone can edit by selecting "allow anyone to edit this map." This feature could come in handy for conspiracy nuts plotting UFO sightings or recreational runners looking for good running paths.
Google seems to have done away with hidden the Hybrid map view in Google Maps. The Hybrid view was always kind of a better idea on paper than in practice. Rather than choosing between satellite views and 2D map views, you could see a satellite image with lines and names for streets. But it was really always pretty hard to tell what you were looking at.
Now if you look over to the spot where the Hybrid button used to be, you'll notice a new Terrain option. As the name suggests, clicking this button will bring up a map showing geographical terrain. If you zoom in on a hilly or mountainous area, you'll see a 3D approximation of the terrain. If you zoom in on a major city like New York, you'll see 3D renderings of buildings.
One thing to note is that you can't zoom in as close with the Terrain view as you can with the regular map view. Overall, we're not sure Terrain is any more useful than Hybrid if you're not planning a bicycle trip. But it sure is pretty.
Update: As several readers point out in the comments, the Hybrid button is gone, but the Hybrid view is not. Just select Show Labels under the Satellite view.
You can get directions on your PC, your phone, or by talking to that friendly gas station attendant. But if you're the sort of person who never likes to admit you're lost, Google's got you covered. The company plans to add Google Maps features to 3500 U.S. gas station pumps starting next month.
Not only will you get access to on-screen directions thanks to a specially designed pump with internet access, but you'll be able to print out directions. At launch, there won't be a keyboard, meaning you can't type in specific directions. But gas station owners will be able to input nearby hotels, restaurants, and other hot spots.
The pumps won't be ad supported, since there's little chance that you're going to click on a button to buy a new pair of shoes while you're at the gas station. Instead, gas station owners can offer local businesses the opportunity to provide coupons, for a fee.
The other day Goog 411 graduated from Google Labs. So while Gmail is still in beta, the much younger service that lets you get phone numbers and directions on your phone is 100% officially launched. So what does Microsoft do? They announce Live Search 411.
Right now if you dial 1-800-CALL-411 you get a "coming soon" message. But if history teaches us anything, when Live Search 411 launches it will work almost exactly the same way as Goog 411.
Microsoft is also announcing/confirming a small boatload (perhaps a kayak or a canoe) of new features for the desktop versions of Live Search:
Improved driving directions with dynamic rerouting based on traffic, and landmark clues to let you know if you've gone too far
User generated content is incorporated into Live Search local results
Virtual Earth updates including multipoint trip routing, enhanced geocoding, and map control support for Safari 2.0
An updated version of Live Search for Windows Mobile 5.0/6 will be available today with support for voice input and GPS
Live Search for Blackberry beta
Honestly, at this point we have no idea whether we prefer Microsoft or Google's mapping service. Maybe we'll just start using Mapquest again. No, we probably won't.
Not much more to say about the Symbian support, but Gmail Mobile 1.5 does seem to have a few features absent from version 1.1:
Display contact information including photo, email address, phone number, and notes when you click on a contact
Call a Gmail contact by clicking on their phone number, if available
Save draft e-mails
Monitor your bandwidth usage
The new version of Gmail also appends a "Sent from Gmail for mobile" message to every e-mail you send. But unlike some other free e-mail services, you can turn that annoying message off by adjusting your settings. [via Google Operating System]
When you need a word for tissue, you probably say Kleenex. Xerox and copy machine are almost synonymous. And for many people, Mapquest means online maps. A huge number of people still use Mapquest as their primary online direction service, even though Google Maps and other services have long had features missing from Mapquest.
It looks like AOL (the company that owns both Mapquest and this blog) has no plans to let Mapquest rest on its laurels. The company pushed out a new version of Mapquest beta today, and an accompanying Mapquest beta blog. TechCrunch reports that today's beta is tomorrow's default interface. Mapquest plans to roll out the changes to its main site by the end of the year.
So what's new? First up, you get a map on the front page, not just text entry boxes. Second, you no longer have to enter a street, city, and state all in separate boxes. There's a unified Google Maps-like box at the top. The default view is the directions view. But you can also search for businesses and places, for example, "coffee shops" in "New York." You still have to remember to type the place name in one box and the location name in the other or you'll be less than satisfied with your results.
Here are a few other features we like:
Print a map showing whatever level of detail you'd like
Move icons out of the way if they're blocking a street name or other important features
Adjust your default settings, including map or aerial view, set home and work locations, etc
Get directions for trips with multiple stops
Minimize the text sidebar and maximize the map
We've put together a little video showing some of the features. You can check it out after the jump.
Google is starting to add user-generated information to Google Maps search results. For example, if you search for "bike paths in New York," several of the top results will include a note showing where the East River Bike Path narrows as well as listings for bike shops. The user-generated results show up with blue icons, and for this particular query are a lot more accurate than the standard results.
Google Maps users have been able to create personalized maps for a while now by adding notes to various locations and saving the maps to "my maps." In case you had any illusions that this was private data, this is the pool of information Google is using to beef up its search results.
If you'd rather not share your favorite coffee shop with the whole world, just make sure not to set your personalized map to public.
Google is making it just a bit easier to stalk your friends and find pictures of yourself online. The company has expanded its Google Maps Street View feature to cover 6 new cities: Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, and Tucson. No, we have no idea why they didn't just drop Tucson and Chicago and find two more cities starting with P, (Portland, Oregon, and Portland Maine anyone?)
The Tucson, Phoenix, and Chicago imagery is all in high resolution. Google has also enhanced the pan capabilities. You've always been able to look up, down, left and right in an image. But if you ever tried looking at the top of the Empire State Building, the image was cut off. Google has added the ability to pan up to the top of high buildings including the Sears Tower in Chicago. The top of the Empire State Building is still missing.
If you live in a major city that hasn't been added to Google's Street View yet, all we can say is keep an eye out for cars with cameras mounted to their roofs in the near future. And make sure you're not carrying anything embarrassing. And say cheese.
Google's mobile team seems to be keeping pretty busy these days. The company has released an updated version of Gmail Mobile, and Google Maps now works on phones running the Symbian operating system.
