Tuesday, May 29th, 2007
Google Maps: Street View and Mapplets
Category: Showcase
, Mapping, Google
When I first saw the new Street View functionality that has appeared in the Google Maps preview I was obviously impressed.
We have seen other companies taking photos of the content, but being able to walk around the Map was very cool. If I am visiting a new building, or area, I find myself checking out the area before I drive there, as it is a lot easier to find the end point if you have seen it, and walked around the outside.
There was also a release of Mapplets, which are embeddable Google Maps mashups. You are able to overlay multiple mashups onto the one map, which means that you can combine the old favourites: HousingMaps.com and ChicagoCrime.org to make sure you get your new home in a decent area!
What is exciting about these new features is that we have more tools to play with (writting Mapplets), and a nice showcase of using Flash within an Ajax application (Maps).
that’s much more than impressive
That is quite incredible. However, I’d like to see some street views in Scotland ;)
very very impressive.
This really kicks some serious a…
Have you noticed how some images have 4 levels of zoom ? Impressive, at the very least …
There is already a list of interesting find using Street View:
http:\\www.laudontech.com\StreetView\streetview.html
No wonder the next Grand Theft Auto looks so realistic…
Hum, didn’t Microsoft do that months ago?
http://preview.local.live.com/
Scratch that. The rotation transitions are quite a bit nicer on the Google version. :)
What really does it for me is that the roads are drawn onto the photos, very cool.
20 votes and all 5? no way! Google is the new MS in the skin of a sheep. It reads you emails ( gmail) tracks what you surf (search + analytics + double click) tracks where you go (google maps) and now takes your picture passing by streets!
keep clapping until is too late…
Technologically amazing, but the interface sucks. navigating backwards and forwards, even with the keyboard, is a real chore. Top marks for wow factor though.
Pretty cool, although they need to do Chicago.
Check out this hottie coming out of the disney store:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&q=&near=10+market+st,+san+francisco&sll=37.796255,-122.408552&sspn=0.020279,0.032659&ie=UTF8&om=1&layer=c&cbll=37.78829,-122.4084&cbp=1,306.3104149919614,0.552154483252459,3&ll=37.792151,-122.408359&spn=0.01014,0.016329&z=16
Bob, do like I do and install Adblock in Firefox and block everything from google-analytics.com and google-syndication.com.
* If you use the google toolbar, the URI of the page that you’re visiting is sent to google for page rank info, which means they know that your IP went to that page at a certain time.
* If you’re logged into your gmail account, it know knows *who* is searching and visiting pages. If you’re using the toolbar, it always knows.
* Go to a page with adsense and it knows that *you* are visiting that page, even if you didn’t find it through google.
The level of data aggregation that Google has amassed is incredible, yet slightly frightening. I’d say that in the next year or two others will begin to discover just how much Google knows about you and Google will begin to see a backlash.
matt wins the radikewl wicked comment award.
I added all the best “Google Street View” here : http://www.geo-trotter.com/cat-street-view.php.
This is really amazing…but I don’t think that respect the privacy of the people in the photos.
A question, do you know if google have done an API to let us put directly our photos on the map?
Here is another site that has a large selection of finds:
Here is another site that has a large selection of finds:
http://www.mapmole.com
I added here the most amazing Street View.
Top 100 best street view images
I added here some amazing Street View from the last update (08/2007).
What about streetview in Canada? Believe it or not there is alot goin’ on there, too.