You plot a route (“Get Directions”) between two points and click a button and the animation takes over. Here are some shots from a San Francisco to Los Angeles driving trip I laid out:

After you’ve picked two points, you initiate the “helicopter tour” by clicking a “3D” button adjacent to the routing information.

This also works in Europe: Barcelona to Paris and Paris to Prague were two additional routes I also plotted.

A recent survey of 50 convicted burglars by UK security firm Friedland Response and reported by the UK’s Sky News argues that Google and social media tools are being used extensively to target people.

Nearly 80 percent of the 50 ex-burglars surveyed strongly believed that Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare were being used by current criminals, and nearly 75 percent stated that they thought Google Street View was also involved in theft planning.

Just over 50 percent said that including your whereabouts in social media status updates was “a mistake” and helpful to burglars.

Other findings:

• Home burglaries yield £500 ($782) of stolen goods or valuables on average
• The average burglary related insurance claim is £1200 ($1,877)
• Nearly 80 percent of the burglars said a simple home alarm system would deter them from targeting the home

There are some caveats that must be mentioned:

• The survey sample was very small: 50 former burglars
• The ex-burglars stated their beliefs and perceptions of what’s going on now; they weren’t discussing how they committed their own crimes

The advice given in response to the findings is: be aware that others may be using your tweets and check-ins to decide whether to “burgle” your home. However there are a range of common-sense methods to deter burglaries, such as: don’t hide keys near doorways, don’t leave doors and windows unlocked or open and don’t put valuable items in places where they can be seen clearly from outside the home.

Proprietary enterprise data is rendered and published on Google Maps/Google Earth. Customers or employees can then view that data in either from any device that can render those applications. Users will also have access to all the Google data within Maps/Earth as well as their own.

Here’s Google’s pitch about the benefits:

• Anytime, Anywhere Access: view your maps from any computer or Internet-enabled device
• Speed & Scale: process your complex geospatial data quickly and efficiently; effortlessly scale to manage traffic spikes (for example, in cases of emergency)
• Lower Cost: significantly reduce IT costs and eliminate time spent buying, maintaining and patching software and servers
• Constant Innovation: just refresh the browser for the latest features
• Secure Storage & Recovery: no longer worry about storage limits and backups; data is backed up to multiple data centers for near-instant recovery

The product will become available in Q3 of this year but Google wants to line up partners now. The company did not discuss pricing but said it would be “competitive.”

Mayer again mentions development of “contextual discovery” as one of her goals in this new role: “How can we use a user’s location and context to help people find what they’re looking for?” And one of the elements of this is “personalized recommendations” — right now embodied in Google’s HotPot effort.

Mayer is asked during the interview about Google’s failed bid to acquire Groupon. She doesn’t speak directly about the deal itself or why it didn’t come together. However she does suggest that Google will be trying to duplicate some aspects of the service with internal assets:

[We have] coupons and offer extension ads that allow merchants to make offers to our users. We’re looking at how can we take that technology and put it to use.

Mayer dismisses the idea that startups are now wary of being acquired by Google, saying that the scale that Google can offer is attractive and useful to these companies. She adds that the relatively new policy of letting acquired entities operate as “autonomous units” will allow them to continue on as though they were still independent. Mayer cites YouTube as a historical example and Slide a more recent example of this.

The video above is part one of three. Parts two and three of the interview are being posted today and tomorrow.

Related posts:

• Google’s Mayer On “Contextual Discovery” Search
• Google Hotpot: Local Recommendations From Your Friends
• Amazing: Groupon Rejects Google Mega-Offer
• Google Would Be Crazy To Spend $5B For Groupon

Here’s the current array of buttons on Google Maps:

Here are some images of the new icons/menu:

There’s no new content here to my knowledge, its availability is just more prominent with the new icons and legend. Accordingly, Google Earth views on Google Maps may increase with the new display. This may coincide in part with the release of the upgraded Google Earth 6.

Interestingly, Google is also introducing 3D trees to make Google Earth’s 3D environments more realistic. And finally, Google has added more historical imagery, which allows users to see earlier photography of the same location on a timeline (from 1945 to the present).

Each of these changes makes sense and enriches the Google Earth experience. Most intriguing to me, however, was the addition of 3D trees.

Google said that more than 50 species of trees are represented in a number of 3D-modeled parks and public places around the world: New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Athens and Toyko, with more cities to come. These are not just “generic” tree images, but attempt to reflect the actual tree species in their respective locations. All the trees have been generated automatically without hand rendering.

In Berlin’s Tiergarten Park, for example, the 3D trees include the following species:

• Small-leaved Linden (Tilia cordata)
• Norway Maple (Acer platanoides)
• Pin Oak (Quercus palustris)
• London Plane (Platanus acerifolia)
• European Beech (Fagus sylvatica)
• Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)
• True Service Tree (Sorbus domestica)

Here are a couple of screenshots of the new 3D trees in context (San Francisco, Athens):

Below are videos that go into more detail about each of the improvements.

Integrated Street View:

Click here to view the embedded video.

3D Trees:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Historical imagery:

Click here to view the embedded video.

My view has always been that Google Earth is “cool” and a great research tool but not very practical for everyday use. However I was surprised to learn that the iPhone version of Earth is used more than Google Earth for the Mac. I predict that the tablet version of the app may turn out to be even more widely adopted.

You can access this archival photography by using the clock icon in the horizontal toolbar at the top of the map. A slider appears that shows the points in time for which there are images. Here’s a tutorial on how to invoke historical imagery.

Google has been adding more and more historical imagery to Earth and it exists for cities in the US in many cases and numerous locations throughout Europe. I wasn’t able to find a comprehensive list of the places around the world where you could see archival maps and images. So you’ll just have to explore for yourself.

No satellite needed.

Frank is taking his photos with a camera attached to a low-flying kite. For real. Here’s a look at how Frank’s photos of Manihi island have been integrated into Google Maps:

The darker spots are where Frank’s photos can be seen; they’re much higher resolution than what satellites have captured to date.

Frank also writes the unofficial Google Earth Blog, and has shared some background there about how the photos came together. And on the web site dedicated to his journey, Frank explained way back in 2008 how the partnership with Google came to be.

Manpower for the win.

(via CNET)

With this update you can now scan the ocean using an Android of iOS device to learn more about the ocean on the go. Also, iPhone 4s support the Retina display and Google has taken advantage of this to show higher resolution images of map data and ocean layers.

Personally, I found using the ocean layer a bit confusing on the iPhone app. To bring up information on a specific ocean mark, I believe you need to search for the landmark. Maybe with the iPad version you don’t? For more information, see m.google.com/earth on your mobile device.

Here is an iPad picture:

National borders may not seem important to the average Google Maps user that’s looking for a hotel or a place to eat. But when you’re mapping the world’s boundaries — as Google and other map providers are — getting them right or wrong can have international implications.

With that in mind, Google has announced “significant improvements to our borders for over 60 countries and regions” in both Google Maps and Google Earth.

One of the improvements is in accuracy as reflected and determined by the earth’s surface. With higher resolution boundary data, Google can now better follow natural boundaries along mountains and lakes.

But there’s also a geo-political element involved in all this. Boundaries the world over are sometimes in dispute, and they change based on wars, treaties, and the like. (Earlier this year, the Cambodian government accused Google of being “radically misleading,” “professionally irresponsible,” and “devoid of truth and reality” in how Google Earth shows the boundary between it and Thailand.) Google’s announcement includes the before and after shots (above) of a disputed island near the borders of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina; it’s much more clearly marked now as being in dispute with dotted lines.

Google says the improvements are already live in Maps and will be available in Google Earth soon. Whether or not the nations of the world approve remains to be seen.