Friday Fun with Google Maps

Cleared for Takeoff

At Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City the Google Maps satellite has managed to capture a time-lapse sequence of a plane taking off. In a happy coincidence the Google Maps satellite or plane flew over the airport just as a plane was taking off.

The outcome is that the Google Maps satellite view of the airport now has a sequence of seven shots of the same plane.

In the first image the plane has just managed to take off. As you scroll down in the satellite view on Google Maps the plane gains altitude and begins to bank a little to its left.

Google Maps FAIL
I find this very hard to believe - apparently Google Maps occasionally makes mistakes. Google Maps FAIL is dedicated to exposing the errors in Google Maps.

Unfortunately the blog hasn't been updated for a while and seems to have missed some of Google Map's recent errors.

One Google Maps mistake in particular has been dominating Google Maps news this week. Apparently the long driveway to the home of Laurie Gneiding and Michael Brady has been displayed on Google Maps as the entrance to Round Valley State Park in northern New Jersey.

This has resulted in a steady stream of cars mistakenly driving up the quarter-mile private driveway. The couple has now posted a sign at the entrance to the driveway that says "Google Maps is Wrong".

BushView from Google Maps Australia


Google Maps Australia is soon to introduce BushView, a tree-top version of Google Maps Street View. The imagery for BushView will be captured by cameras attached to tree kangaroos.

I would love this story to be true but as the video above was uploaded to YouTube on March 31st I suspect that this is just a little fun from Google Australia.

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Shhh. ...Street View Arrives in Belgium

There seems to be a little error in Google Maps that shows two Street View images in one street in Belgium.

This means that a few houses in Strijphout Straat in Genk are lucky enough to have their homes featured on Google Maps. The rest of Belgium will just have to wait for the official release of Street View in their country. The fact that Google already seems to have gathered the imagery means that they probably won't have to wait too long.

Back in July of last year Google made a similar error in the Street View imagery for the town of Rijssen in the Netherlands. Instead of showing the Dutch town some of the imagery actually showed the German town of Marl. That error also displayed some Street View in a country before the official release.


Hat-tip: Google Earth Blog

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Google Map Your Instagrams

InstaEarth

InstaEarth lets you discover and view beautiful Instagram photography taken around the world on a Google Map.

If you log into InstaEarth with your Instagram account you can also view your own feed and your friends' feeds on the Google Map. You can also view Instagram photos taken close to your current location and view Instagram photos that you have 'liked' directly on the map.

Mapstagram

Mapstagram is a super-fast real-time Google Map of photos taken with the Instagram iPhone app.

When the Mapstagram map first loads it displays the most recent photos from a number of U.S. cities. After the initial photos have loaded Mapstagram goes into real-time mode. As photos are uploaded by users in these cities, they are immediately displayed on the map in real time.

Gramfeed

Gramfeed uses the Instagram API to present the best photos from Instagram on Google Maps. It also allows users to view their own photos, a time-line of those they follow, read comments on photos and Tweet about photos and much, much more.

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Dying in Wisconsin

This Google Map lets you view the average life expectancy for Wisconsin men and women.

You can click on any Wisconsin county to view the life expectancy statistics for that county. Each county is shaded on the map so that you can also get a quick overview of which counties in the state have the highest and lowest life expectancy.

The map includes data from 1987, 1997 and 2007 and you can view how life expectancy has grown in each county over those twenty years.

Madison.com: Life Expectancy in Wisconsin

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All of Seville on Google Maps

If you live in the Spanish town of Seville then this Google Map contains just about all the local information that you will ever need.

The map shows the location of parks, cycle paths, transit lines and routes and the locations of public buildings (police, health, schools, libraries etc). As well displaying local points of interest the map contains videos, photographs and 360 degree panoramas.

Mapa de Sevilla

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Boris' Cabs on Google Maps

This certainly qualifies as the strangest map I've seen for a while. The map creates the scenario of the user wanting to catch a taxi from a famous London landmark to the ICC London Excel conference centre.

The map displays a number of videos of London mayor Boris Johnson moonlighting as a London taxi driver. Each of the videos contains a brief description, by Boris Johnson, of a famous London landmark. When you click on one of the landmarks you can watch the appropriate video and, at the same time, a route is displayed on the map from the landmark to the ICC London Excel conference centre.

There seems to be a little bug in the map that stops the video displaying properly in FireFox but it worked fine for me in Chrome and Internet Explorer.

Take me there Boris!

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Live Traffic for 13 European Countries

Google Maps has added live traffic information for 13 new European countries.

The live traffic layer on Google Maps shows traffic conditions from the last 5-10 minutes. It is also possible to view the predicted traffic conditions for any day and time, based on past traffic conditions.

The new countries with traffic information coverage are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.

Via: Google LatLong

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Local Bay News on Google Maps

The California Newspapers Partnership has released an iPad app that uses Google Maps to present local news for the Bay Area in California. The app presents coupons, events, restaurant and other business listings, and feature stories, photos and video on a Google Map of the Bay Area.

The application includes three main modes. 'On tap' presents the day's local news and local deals. 'Explore' uses Google Maps to present local events. The third mode, 'Find,' allows users to search the application for news, deals and other features.

The app is currently free but there are plans to charge a monthly subscription fee in the future.

TapIn (iTunes link)

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Drainage Utility Charges on Google Maps

The City of Houston has unveiled a Google Maps based application to provide transparency to Houston residents over drainage utility charges.

Using the application residents and property owners can locate their property on a Google Map and view an itemized detail of their drainage charge. It is possible to apply a variety of map overlays for comparison with city records and your own measurements.

The application includes overlays depicting impervious surface area, parcel boundaries, city boundaries, water meter locations and custom aerial imagery provided by the city.

It is also possible to request charge corrections when city records differ from your own calculations.

City of Houston: Drainage Utility Charge Viewer

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Running & Cycling Apps with Google Maps

Afstand Meten

Dutch website Afstand Meten allows joggers and cyclists to create and save routes using Google Maps. The app is available on the desktop and for the Android market and iPhones.

Using Afstand Meten users can create new tracks or search for tracks created by other users. When searching for saved tracks you can refine the search by the 'most viewed', the 'shortest distances' or 'the longest distances'.

Cycle Routes UK

Cycle Routes UK is a cycle routes planner for UK cyclists. Using Cycle Routes UK users can search for cycling routes, add their own routes and comment and rate cycling routes.

Each route is displayed on a Google Map. Alongside the map of the route Cycling Routes UK displays the length, difficulty, the estimated duration and an estimation of calories burned.

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