Are Google Maps good or evil?

Are Google Maps good or evil?

Thought provoking, albeit a bit sensationalistic. All new technology can have its evil uses, though generally speaking the pros outweigh the cons in the end.

Walk This Way

The holy grail of mapping is about to get holier:

Google Maps takes steps toward walking directions

iPhone Navigator?

Possible surprises up Steve's sleeve on June 9?

Love the quote from the GPS president:

iPhone Nano, GPS Are More Important to Apple Than 3G: Analysis

I recently sat down with the president of a GPS navigation system manufacturer to ask him how he felt about the prospect of a GPS-enabled iPhone. "Scared [expletive]-less," he said.

Yet the iPhone has the potential to leverage true GPS functionality better than any other device. It already has a large, 3.5-in touchscreen interface, external speakers and an elegant Google Maps interface. All you'd need to add to a GPS-enabled iPhone is a suction-cup windshield bracket (sold separately, of course), and you'd have a fully-functional, pocket-portable car navigation device. People already pay hundreds of dollars in droves for this increasingly popular segment of devices, and the iPhone could essentially challenge an entire product category with one add-on feature.

Adventures in Public Transportation

We went to see Mason Jennings play in Santa Monica last night. (Actually at Barnum Hall on the Santa Monica High School campus...odd venue.) Since my wife works in Westwood and we live on the east side, it made more sense for me to take the bus to her office than to go crosstown in two cars.

I know that public transportation in LA (especially the bus) has a bad reputation, but I was pleasantly surprised. Got on at Vermont & Sunset and arrived in front of UCLA 55 minutes later. The bus has a tv screen showing news, trivia, games, and ads. There's also a map (powered by MSN) with GPS that always shows you where you are and announces the next stops. It was on time and relatively clean, though the comfort of the seats left a little to be desired. Riders were mostly students, though that probably had more to do with the route and the time of day (I rode at 4:30pm).

The trip planner on the website was also relatively impressive. Granted it could have a little better error correction and navigation, but not having to enter a city and using a / between intersections is pretty brilliant. I'm surprised the mapping engines haven't picked this up as the standard instead of fumbling around with thethe mishmash of &/and/+ that they always have. Also surprised we didn't pick this up for the surfboard, as for me it's much more fast and natural to type a / without looking than & or +.

Single Click Directions

Never thought I'd be giving Microsoft kudos for a mapping feature (I've been a little resentful since they killed Line-Drive directions when they bought MapBlast), but here's something so obvious it's brilliant:

One-Click Directions to a business from common starting freeways and/or cardinal directions.


The ending text of "This is the last intersection, and this next one is too far" is also a nice touch.

(It still has that impersonal Microsoft feel to it though. I mean, have you ever heard anyone call it the Rosa Parks freeway in real life?)

How long until Google and Yahoo copy this? I say before May 1 for Google. Yahoo is a tough call; they keep saying they don't need Microsoft in these merger talks, making it a slippery slope to steal the feature.

Right of Way

Minor fender bender last night. Thought I'd draw out the scene with Skitch and see what the Towform jury thinks. (Cars anonymized to eliminate bias.)

Three-way stop at a slightly goofy intersection. Just after 6pm, mostly dark and slightly rainy. Cars are represented by the numbered dots (ignore the satellite image cars).

Car 1 and Car 2 reach the intersection and stop at the same time. (Car 1 may have been slightly first, but it's negligible and a virtual tie.) Both are signaling left turns.

Car 3 is approaching the intersection but has not yet arrived. They are signaling for a right turn. (I don't recall if the signal was on or not, but will assume yes for this exercise.)

Cars 1 & 2 are at a standstill for about 3 seconds. Car 1 slowly edges into intersection. Car 2 remains at the stop sign. Car 3 arrives at about this time.

Car 1 completes their left turn, and has a small accident with Car 3. Point of impact is approximately the black dot in the image.

Corner of the rear passenger-side bumper of Car 1 is scratched, while the front driver-side corner of Car 3 is dented.

Drivers exit to exchange pleasantries. Car 1 says "Three way stop, I was there first, my right of way." Car 3 says "Doesn't matter. I was taking a right, you were taking a left. Right trumps left."


Who would be the at-fault party?

Holy Grail In Action

We've talked about the Google drag-to-reroute feature before, but it blew me away to see how well it worked in practice.

My wife was on the 5 South headed to a baby shower in Costa Mesa. She texts me and says "Something's on fire. Billowing black smoke, traffic on the 5."

I hit SigAlert.com:


Uh oh, lanes closed. Plus...


Big accident, and that's the fire. Google Maps w/traffic:


And after one simple drag and drop:


"10E to 710S to 5S will get you around it."

Done in literally 90 seconds. What a difference 4 years makes.

PS: The authors of Towform do not condone texting while driving. Use a bluetooth headset.

Me too!

I think I've said this before, but the best side effect of Google's innovations is that they light a fire under Yahoo to stop being so stagnant.

Yahoo Maps Gets Drag-and-Drop Rerouting

Props to Yahoo for the comparison of old route vs. new. I also liked the rubber band effect on the drag, but have to agree that Google showing you the name of the street you're dragging onto wins out.

Now, when will someone give me my web based LineDrive directions back?

DASH GPS device shows off Zillow API Mashup

I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the DASH GPS device and this little preview of it in action just made me want it all the more. I didn't realize they were making it open source.

Mobile GMaps & My Location

Great new pseudo-GPS feature in Google Maps For Mobile

Reminiscent of the old AT&T "Find Friends" technology we used to know and love.

New magical blue circle on your map

Plus, I'm starting to really love these new "demonstration" videos Google does when launching new features.

At least they tried...

New beta version of MapQuest:

beta.mapquest.com

Unfortunately they still don't get it...

I know I've been a MapQuest hater forever, but it's always been with good reason. They were first, and they're the most popular, but they still just don't know how to do directions in a useful manner.

People want to redo a route easily with drag and drop. They want to start on a highway without having to fake it. They want simplified line drive directions. They want to find a pseudo neighborhood even when they don't really know what they're looking for. They want to easily skip streets they don't like, and be advised as to "why" something is the best route rather than fastest/quickest via a mathematical stairstepping calculation. They want the simplicity of a Line Drive visualization instead of every intricacy of a turn by turn. They want notes, landmarks, and street level views for visualization.

They want something better than MapQuest.

Google Maps is the best (true that double true.)

Dial Directions

Dial Directions

Interesting new directions-by-phone service with a "why didn't I think of that" phone number.

Downsides are the fact that it's voice recognition and uses MapQuest for the actual directions, but reviews are positive and it uses some familiar tricks and tenants based on this WSJ review:

"It's smart enough to ask you if you know how to get to the highway, thus saving you from reading directions you already know."

"Symbols help to shorten the messages, like using "L @ Maryland Ave. SW" to tell a user to turn left at Maryland Avenue Southwest."

"While the mobile versions of these services are improving, the user interface of a cellphone isn't ideal for inputting addresses and extracting directions. Even smart phones with larger screens and full keyboards can be hampered by slow Internet speeds."

New GMaps Feature is the Holy Grail!

Neil sent me a text about this tonight, and I actually left a restaurant early to come home and play with it. (True that double true.)



Hmm, I'd rather take the 405...



Wait, what am I thinking. Surface streets make more sense...



Un-flipping believable!

Play with it here

Become Famous on Google Streets

So, by now you've already heard of Google Street View that was officially announced at the Where 2.0 conference:

Google Maps Street View and Mapplets

However, what I didn't think about was the potential for Google's cameras to find people and things in weird situations. Here's an article on 10 weird sitings:

10 Bizarre Sights in Google Street View

I like the Borat one.

Now, if I can just find out when the Google van is going to visit my neighborhood.

Google Maps Becomes Friendly to Local Businesses

I'm sure you guys will have seen this by the time you're reading.

Google is finally starting to do SiteSearch like things with Google Maps (photos, payment methods, websites, etc.)

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/photos-on-google-maps.html

And they've even added the ability for businesses to offer coupons directly in their business entries:

http://google.com/local/add/coupons?hl=en-US&gl=US

How The Maps Are Made

Interesting article on the behind the scenes world of online map database making and techniques. Too bad they chose the worst one for the title ;)

Map Quest

Some interesting tidbits:

-Williams stares at his email inbox: a solid wall of news alerts from Yahoo and Google. His search terms aren't the usual fare, like "Hilary Duff." They're more like "Tulsa city one-way" – queries that will help Williams track down announcements of road changes reported by local newspapers. Today has been slow, but suddenly he lights up. An email has arrived containing a newspaper report that a particular one-way road segment in northwest Indiana is changing from westbound to eastbound. Sweet!

-GDT acquired detailed aerial photography of major cities. "We could look at a street and see which way cars were parked, even tire rubber going into intersections, and deduce 85 percent of the turn restrictions and one-way attributes,"

-"We've had projects with pizza-delivery companies where we've printed out for them a big wall map of their 30-minute delivery area. The guys mark things that are wrong and send it back to us," says former GDT president Mike Gerling, who now heads Tele Atlas' North American division.

Mobile providers lock away GPS on phones

An interesting NPR story on the power of GPS in mobile phones and why many cell providers lock it away from the users. Still doesn't explain why AT&T use to have the find a friend mode but then got rid of it.

Power of GPS Phones Locked Away from Most Users

Google Mobile with Real-Time Traffic

For those of you with a cell phone that runs Java-based apps, check out this new version of Google mobile.

http://www.google.com/gmm (you can browse to this from your phone)

"Real-time traffic: New! See where the congestion is, and estimate delays in over 30 major US metropolitan areas."