Welcome to Googleholic, your bi-weekly fix for everything Google!
In this edition:
- Google Finance gets more real-time quotes
- Google Map Maker
- Google Doc creation shortcuts
- Customize Google forms
- Personalized YouTube homepage
Posts with tag googlemaps
Googleholic for June 24, 2008
Googleholic for June 7, 2008
Welcome to Googleholic, your bi-weekly fix of everything Google!
In this, day late, dollar short edition:
- Inside the Google favicon redesign
- Get transit schedules from Google Maps for mobile
- Explore the Magic Kingdom in 3D
- Location-aware Applications now available to 3rd party developers
- Round-up of other Google stories we covered this week
Googleholic for May 13, 2008
Welcome to Googleholic, your bi-weekly fix of everything Google!
In this edition:
In this edition:
- Search for real estate on Google Maps
- Faces getting blurred in Street View
- Gmail gets slight loading speed boost
- Wikipedia comes to Google Maps
Googleholic for April 15, 2008
Welcome to Googleholic - your bi-weekly fix of everything Google! In this edition:
- Geotagged YouTube videos on Google Maps
- Google Earth 4.3 to be released later today, includes Street View
- Market leader in China within 5 years - Goodbye Baidu?
Googleholic for March 18, 2008
Welcome to Googleholic - your bi-weekly fix of everything Google!
This edition covers:
This edition covers:
- Google Maps allows user edits
- Google launches Google for Non-Profits
- See semi-hidden Google Reader interaction statistics
- DoubleClick employees to apply to Google to keep their job
Googleholic for March 4, 2008
Welcome to Googleholic - your bi-weekly fix of everything Google!
This edition covers:
This edition covers:
- Find parking spaces with Google Maps
- Google's attempt to improve Ads and how it's not working
- Google backs human genome project
Googleholic for February 22, 2008
Welcome to Googleholic - your bi-weekly fix of everything Google!
This edition covers:
- Inline language translations
- Create a static Google Map
- Hacker group releases tool to find site exploits via Google
Mezzoman: Meet in the middle
OK, here's the situation, my parents went away on a week's vacation...oops, scratch that. Here's the real situation: you and your friend want to meet up for lunch, coffee, etc...but the only restaurants you know are right near you, and the only restaurants they know are right near them. The solution to this quandary? Mezzoman.With Mezzoman, you enter in your address, your friend's address, select the search critera (e.g. Pizzeria, American food, coffee shop, Chinese food), hit Go, and you will be given a list of results near the midpoint of the two locations.
What new devilry is this?
No devilry, just Google. The site uses Google Maps along with local business directories to find the two locations, calculate the midpoint, and provide you with a few dining options in that area.
One obvious disadvantage: Mezzoman plots the midpoint geographically, or "as the crow flies." In other words, it doesn't take into account traffic, construction, or any related difficulties one party might have getting to the suggested location. But at the very least, Mezzoman gives you a good starting point for your hangout hunt.
[via AppScout]
5 great map add-ons for Firefox - getting lost is now optional
We checked out these add-ons for helping your find yourself, (no, not that way) and they do a good job of helping you get where you want to go. Well, at least they get you the directions and well, the rest is really up to you.
Get Directions from Google Maps - save yourself opening a new window. Just highlight any address on a webpage you're viewing and right click. Select from the pop-up menu "Locate on Google Map" which then launches Google Maps in a separate tab with the address selected.
Map This - does the same as "Get Directions from Google Maps," plus you can set your home location in the preferences and get driving directions from your "home."
GD Directions - finds directions on Yahoo and Google maps based on your selected text and your home address. You can manage various home addresses and get directions from one of your home addresses to the selected address by right clicking on the selected address.
Loki - uses Wi-Fi positioning system to pinpoint your location and turns your Wi-Fi enabled laptop into a virtual GPS device. Also, integrates that location into your Internet search, browsing and communications. You can even pinpoint your exact location on a map and share that location with others via Email or SMS Requires Windows XP and Wi-Fi. Note: Not for Mac OS X. (Sigh).
Mini-Map Sidebar - One word: Wow. We saved the best for last. Great sidebar where you can drag and drop addresses or locations you find on web pages and they will be automatically located, and added to your saved address list. The sidebar is launched from the toolbar icon, a status bar icon and the view sidebar menu. The extension also comes with a main browser Map Tab for viewing a larger map and this is accessed from the status bar or by highlighting an address, and selecting 'Map Tab: Locate Address...' in the right click context menu. Below are a few of the extension features available:
- Map an Address: Drag and drop addresses or links to show on map, which is added to the address list (hold shift when you drag to just display a temporary marker). Manually add an address. Build up a list of locally stored addresses.
- geoDiscovery: The extension will automatically discover geoURL's and in-line geotags and populate the geoDiscovery list as you browse. Alerts you to the discovery via a status bar image.
- Tagzania.com: View tagzania.com/near and post address list entry to tagzania.
- Google Earth: View an address list entry in Google Earth.
- Loc.alize.us: View loc.alize.us flickr photos based on an address list entry.
- Googlesightseeing.com: Drag and drop googlesightseeing links to view the image of interest.
Predatory Lending Association
Look out PayDay loan proprietors!The web has often been used to make a point (The Onion anyone?). But rarely has it been used as effectively as with the Predatory Lending Association.
This site has it all: Loan calculators, discussion boards, racial profiling tools, and a Google maps based "poor finder" that makes suggestions for where you should open up your next PayDay loan store. The site is extremely sarcastic and attempts to illustrate the cold, calculating, and corrupt business practices of predatory lenders, many of which exist simply to let people with lower incomes hock their next pay check and take the money to the Casino.
For those who aren't in the USA, PayDay loan stores offer short term loans with enormous fees based on your previous pay stub. They let you get your check early, but they'll charge you 10-30% to do it.
The site encourages people to sign up for their mailing list so they can notify you of future projects and whether or not PayDay lenders attempt to hack the site and take it down.
Track flights with a Google Maps Mashup
Have a friend that's coming in for a landing and want to see exactly where they are at the moment? Or if you just like watching planes, check out the GMaps Flight Tracker. This Google Maps mashup tracks the status of inbound flights scheduled to land in Atlanta, Boston, New York's JFK, LA, Miami and San Francisco. Pick your city, and a list of the arriving flights are displayed. Click or mouse over the airline flight number of plane icon and the altitude, speed and heading coordinates are displayed as well as flight trail waypoints so you can check out the travel path.
The inbound flight schedule refreshes every 40 seconds so flight statuses are ensured to be at their most accurate. Data is provided from fboweb.com and based on the position reports for each aircraft once per minute, and sometimes once every 20 seconds in high traffic areas. Want to check things out in 3d? Download the GE kml file and check out past flights and height profiles in Google Earth.
Google to add transit maps for New York
Google has been providing Google Maps-based public transit directions for a few years now. If you happen to live in Portland, San Diego, Pittsburgh, or a handful of other cities, that is.But Bloomberg is reporting that Google Transit is about to add directions for the largest public transportation system in the country: New York City.
Earlier this year, Google added subway stop information to New York City maps. But there was no way to get directions from one stop to another. According to Bloomberg, Google is working with New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New Jersey Transit to develop the trip planner.
No word on how long you'll have to wait to get your New York subway directions from Google. In the meantime, you might want to check out HopStop, which recently launched a mobile version of its trip planner. Unlike Google, which currently has routes for smaller cities, Hopstop covers New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.
Coming soon: embed a Google Map on your web page
Google plans to launch a new feature allowing you to embed Google Maps on any website just as easily as you can embed a YouTube video. Along with a permalink for the URL of a map, you'll have the option of copying and pasting an embeddable line of code.But wait, we hear you say isn't there already a way to embed maps on web sites? Isn't that why I see them everywhere I go? Well, yes. But it takes a bit of technical know how and a Google maps API key.
The new move will help bring Google Maps to the masses. Because, you know, they're so exclusive right now.
The embedded maps will be just like the real thing, with aerial, hybrid, and street views. But we predict most people will just use them to point out party directions and highlight the locations of the nearest places to pick up cheap booze on your way to said party.
[via Mashable]
Where not to speed in Toronto mashup
While we don't condone speeding here at DLS, this is a Google Map mashup that pinpoints locations that people might not want to go above the speed limits in the Toronto, Ontario area.This male targeted mashup pinpoints the locations more commonly home to hidden police cruisers with radar on their minds. By clicking on cars, users are presented with a description of where they are normally situated. Ok, so this map is great when you are sitting on your computer, but what about when you are out on the road, good luck remembering all these locations. No need to fret, there is a data download that can be imported into GPS devices.
Speedtrap, Beartraps and Copspy also track the locations of where our nation's finest police officers are doing their job.
TaxiWiz helps you carry exact change
Need to get to the airport, but you're not sure how much the cab will cost? TaxiWiz to the rescue. Just type your starting point and destination into the web site, and up pops a Google Map which calculates the distance and the estimated cab fare.Right now TaxiWiz covers 8 cities, New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, and San Diego.
The are also mobile versions for each city, which basically means you get the same web site, but without the map image.
Of course, the site only gives you accurate cab fares if your driver's not trying to rip you off. Since most of these cities have regulations in place to standardize cab fares, that means you should make sure to get in an official, license cab. That guy on the street corner who drives people around in the back of his station wagon can charge you whatever he feels like.
[via Uneasy Silence]
