Wouldn’t it be great if there was one mapping service that offers everything you need to plan a trip to somewhere you’ve never been? Sure, map sites are generally pretty similar. You can see maps, find business listings, get driving directions, see images and stuff like that. But it’s actually more complicated than that. At least it was for me. My wife and I recently visited Maui, Hawaii for the first time. We spent a week on the island celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary and, after getting advice from all of our family and friends, we had enough must-sees and must-dos to fill a month there. After we decided how we wanted to spend our week, my job was to plan/map it out. It soon became a study in the differences between Google Maps and Bing Maps – the two sites I relied on most heavily. (A third mapping service was helpful once we were on the island.) Here’s a look at the strengths and weaknesses of two major mapping services — a summer vacation … [Read more...] about Google Maps Vs. Bing Maps: Summer Vacation Planning Showdown
Google maps screenshot
Google Maps The Great Indoors (Android Only)
Google is bringing the blue dot indoors. Google Maps for Android 6.0 is going to start showing interior maps of airports, select malls and retail stores in the US and Japan. In Japan transit stations are also mapped. The floor plan data has been obtained from all the participating entities, which Google’s Steve Lee says are “very excited” to be a part of the program. Those entities include numerous Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Home Depots and all US IKEA stores. (See the full US list at the bottom.) Below is a Google-provided screenshot of the Mall of America before interior maps and after: You’ll Say: “How Did I Live without This?” The column of numbers in the screen on the right represent floor levels. Google Maps will automatically detect which floor you’re on and show you the appropriate map in a multistory building or location. However you can view maps of different floor levels simply by selecting the desired floor. Touching the my … [Read more...] about Google Maps The Great Indoors (Android Only)
Google Maps Is Back On The iPhone: Native iOS App Released
It’s better than Google Maps for Android because it has been built or rebuilt “from the ground up” and didn’t grow by accretion. The bottom line: it delivers. Yet it’s also not 100 percent satisfying (at least in my initial test). I’m not sure what I was expecting. It’s not integrated with Siri. You can’t say “I need directions to San Francisco” and be taken to Google Maps, as you once could. Instead you’ll go to Apple Maps. You can however use Siri to launch Google Maps (“Open Google Maps”) and then conduct your local search or directions lookup. It’s also not integrated with Google’s iOS search app or Google search results on the mobile web. When you click a map image in either case you’re taken to the mobile-browser version of Google Maps. Here are some quick screenshots from the new app I took this evening: Google has also released an SDK for developers so that they can once again use … [Read more...] about Google Maps Is Back On The iPhone: Native iOS App Released
The Strange Explanation Of Why Windows Phone Users Lost Access To Google Maps
Windows Phone User? No Google Maps For You! To recap briefly, some Windows Phone users started reporting (as covered by The Verge) that they were unable to reach Google Maps using the Internet Explorer web browser on their phones. They got redirected instead to the Google home page. Google initially suggested (as covered by Gizmodo) that this was because Internet Explorer on Windows Phone wasn’t a WebKit-based browser and so Google Maps wouldn’t work for it. Google later added (as covered by The Next Web) that it was redirecting people on Windows Phone devices because of this incompatibility, but Google said this would soon change, since the latest version of Internet Explorer for Windows Phone was now apparently Google Maps-capable: Google sent us the same statement that The Next Web received, which says: We periodically test Google Maps compatibility with mobile browsers to make sure we deliver the best experience for those users. In our last test, IE mobile still did … [Read more...] about The Strange Explanation Of Why Windows Phone Users Lost Access To Google Maps
OpenStreetMap Already As Good Or Better Than Google Maps
Steve Coast founded OpenStreetMap (OSM) in the UK in 2004. It’s 10 years old this year. He was inspired by the Wikipedia model and compelled by a lack of available map and location data in the UK at that time. Coast now works for GPS navigation company Telenav, which owns location-based mobile ad network Thinknear. Not long ago Telenav also acquired Europe-based skobbler, which built a popular consumer-navigation app on top of OSM data. Telenav offers an equivalent, free consumer navigation/local search in Scout. The two apps are being merged later this year. Earlier this week Telenav held a press day intended to discuss mapping and navigation and showcase the company’s capabilities and products. The company also made several announcements, including that Scout navigation and routing in the US are now entirely built on top of OSM, indicating how much the latter has matured. Several sessions and speakers spent time contrasting Telenav’s mapping apps and capabilities … [Read more...] about OpenStreetMap Already As Good Or Better Than Google Maps