Jul 20, 2009 at 11:25am ET by Barry Schwartz

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11th mission where man landed on the moon. To celebrate the anniversary, Google announced the launch of Moon in Google Earth. You can now use Google Earth to explore, fly around and search the moon. Here is the video blog post explaining this announcement: The Google LatLong Blog has details on many of the features of Google Moon. There are some complaints that Google does not have a special logo up for the day, like Bing, YouTube and my blog. To see those logos, go to the Search Engine Roundtable. Postscript: At 3:30pm EST today, [...]

Why You Can’t See The Great Pacific Garbage Patch On Google Earth

Jun 20, 2009 at 5:35pm ET by Danny Sullivan

After hearing about the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" earlier this year -- an area the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean filled with trash -- I went looking for it on Google Earth. And never found it. It's not that the patch doesn't exist. It's just that despite being large, it's not that visible from above. I was disappointed in Google at first, for not having images of the patch. After all, the company made a big splash with Google Ocean earlier this year, a way to see more about the majority of our planet that's covered with water. But while Google Earth is good for seeing under t [...]

Google Earth Publication Of Japanese Historical Maps Causes Outcry

May 4, 2009 at 12:26pm ET by Greg Sterling

Google's inclusion of historical Japanese Maps in Google Earth has caused an outcry in Japan. According to the AP these maps were already on public view and online. But Google is taking heat from rights organizations as well as the Justice Ministry in Japan. Why? What's the controversy? Apparently the historical maps originally showed locations (which have now reportedly been removed) where a feudal caste called the Burakumin lived. According to the Wikipedia entry: The burakumin are descendants of outcast communities of the feudal era, which mainly comprised those with occupations cons [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Critics | Google: Earth | Top News

California Lawmaker Jumps On ‘Google Maps Helps Terrorists’ Bandwagon

Mar 9, 2009 at 12:44pm ET by Matt McGee

A California lawmaker has introduced a bill that would limit what Google Maps and other online mapping sites are allowed to show, on the basis that these online tools help terrorists plan attacks. We've been here before: Late last year, the Indian government suggested that Google Earth should be censored after terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks reportedly admitted to using Google Earth when planning their missions. According to The Industry Standard, the new California bill would prevent Google and others from showing "aerial or satellite images of schools, places of worship, go [...]

California State Legislator Wants To Limit Info On Maps To Block Terrorists

Mar 9, 2009 at 9:15am ET by Greg Sterling

Citing the Mumbai terrorists' statement that they used Google Maps as a planning tool, a California legislator (from El Cajon) has introduced a bill which would "not allow online mapping tools from companies like Google Inc. to provide aerial or satellite images of schools, places of worship, government buildings and medical facilities unless they have been blurred." Presumably this doesn't apply only to Google and extends to Microsoft, Yahoo!, MapQuest, Ask and others that offer satellite maps and related imagery. According to a news article the Assemblyman, Joel Anderson, said: "What m [...]

Has Google Ocean Uncovered Atlantis?

Feb 23, 2009 at 2:11pm ET by Matt McGee

Is that the lost city of Atlantis? Whatever it is, this grid-like pattern of lines on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean is getting a lot of buzz these days -- and it's all made possible by the recently launched Google Ocean. According to the Telegraph, a 38-year-old aeronautical engineer recently spotted the pattern off the coast of northwest Africa near the Canary Islands. The newspaper quotes archaeology experts who say it's "one of the most prominent places for the proposed location of Atlantis." We've already covered Cool Sights In Google Street View, so if anyone is planning [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Earth

ComScore To Report Google Maps Now Number 1

Feb 14, 2009 at 11:12am ET by Greg Sterling

Forthcoming January traffic data will reportedly show that Google Maps has taken the lead from MapQuest as the top mapping site in the US. According to the numbers that I received (I've asked comScore to verify), MapQuest's January monthly unique visitors were 41.5 million and Google's were 42.2 million. This is the first time that Google Maps has overtaken MapQuest. However my source said that time on site/engagement, as reported by comScore, is still greater for MapQuest than for Google Maps. In some respects we have been anticipating this event for a long time, ever since Google remo [...]

Google: ‘Don’t Blame Us For Terrorism’

Feb 13, 2009 at 8:26am ET by Matt McGee

Comparing it to blaming car makers for deadly car bombs, Google Earth chief John Hanke recently said Google shouldn't be blamed for terrorist use of Google Earth. Hanke defended his online mapping tools in a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. "You have cars; you have car bombs," Hanke said. "You have GPS transceivers that help you navigate; those GPS transceivers could be used for lots of nefarious purposes. Cell phones have all kinds of benefits; cell phones can be used to detonate a remote explosive device." His comments are in response to ongoing concerns over [...]

It’s Google’s Ocean, We Just Swim In It

Feb 2, 2009 at 8:28pm ET by Greg Sterling

Earlier today Danny blogged the Google Ocean launch event live. It was the "most produced" and Apple-like of the numerous high profile Google announcements I've attended -- featuring former Vice President Al Gore, singer Jimmy Buffett and several scientific and oceanographic luminaries such as Dr. Sylvia Earle. The crowd was star struck by Gore and Jimmy Buffett in particular. Buffett even closed the event with a Googlized version of his song Son of a Son of a Sailor. With humor and gravity each speaker made impassioned statements about how the new Google Ocean would advance the causes of c [...]

Live Blogging The Google Earth 5.0 / Google Ocean Event

Feb 2, 2009 at 1:00pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Google is having a special event today featuring former US vice president Al Gore to announce its new Google Earth 5.0 software that features new underwater views of the world's oceans (Google Ocean) and 3D views, as well as "historic imagery" that allows people to see the earth back in time through archived satellite views and aerial imagery, along with a new Google Mars 3D feature, which has additional hi-resolution photography and images of the planet. Google also blogs about it here and here. Greg Sterling and I are at the event. I'll be live blogging as the announcements unfold, an [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Earth | Google: Maps & Local | Top News

Google: All Your NYC Tourists Are Belong To Us

Jan 21, 2009 at 3:16pm ET by Matt McGee

(Sorry, couldn't resist the headline.) Overlooking the fact that Google advertises the wrong directions to get from Grand Central Station to Madison Square Garden, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg today announced a partnership with Google to use Google Maps on a new tourism web site and information center. The web site, nycgo.com, uses Google Maps to help tourists get information about the usual tourist interests -- hotels, restaurants, things to do, plus promotions and special offers. And the tourist information can be sent to your phone via Google Maps for mobile. (No word if it got the Gra [...]

Google Maps Integrates YouTube Videos

Dec 16, 2008 at 8:26pm ET by Greg Sterling

No surprise here: Google Blogoscoped has spotted YouTube videos showing up on Google Maps when you click the "more" button (upper right) and select video. The geotagged videos then appear and can be played within an info-window: Google added YouTube videos to Google Earth in October, 2007. Maps and Earth are on the same platform so it was only a matter of time before the same thing was done with Maps. (Indeed, video was previously available on Maps in the mapplets/add-ons directory; now it has become much more prominent.) We should also see more and more video showing up unde [...]

Indian Government Wants Google Earth Censored

Dec 11, 2008 at 5:04pm ET by Matt McGee

On the heels of the tragic terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month, legal advocates in India are asking the country's High Court to demand that Google blur sensitive locations on Google Earth. The Times reports that the Indian petition says Google Earth "aids terrorists in plotting attacks" and offers "absolutely no control to prevent misuse or limit access" of the service, particularly access to photos of sensitive locations such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. In the wake of the attacks, there were many reports that the terrorists used high-tech tools -- including GPS -- to plan, [...]

Santa Tracker 2008: Google & NORAD Team Up Again

Dec 2, 2008 at 12:47pm ET by Danny Sullivan

My favorite Christmas activity is tracking Santa's route around the world. Once again, NORAD and Google are making it easy. The NORAD Tracks Santa 2008 site is now up, and a countdown for your iGoogle home page can now be downloaded. Google just blogged the news today. Below, what to expect. NOTE: For the latest news on 2012 Santa tracking, see our post: Where’s Santa Claus? The 2012 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Google, From The Web To Apps NORAD -- you know, the missile tracking people -- might seem an unlikely group to track Santa. But they've been doing it for over 50 years, t [...]

Google Kills Lively

Nov 20, 2008 at 9:20am ET by Barry Schwartz

The Google Blog announced they will be discontinuing Lively, Google's Virtual World project. In short, they said that Lively is simply "not going to pay off" and that they will be closing it down by the end of December. It is interesting that this happened just days after I reported that Google will be changing how they develop products. Is this one of the first projects to be axed by Google's Stuart Smith? Possibly. But this is not the first product to fail from Google. In any event, Google made it sound like no one at Google will be losing their jobs over the Lively massacre. Go [...]

Google Earth For The iPhone Released

Oct 27, 2008 at 8:42am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google announced the release of Google Earth for the iPhone (iTunes link). It is a free app that brings many of the features of the desktop version of Google Earth, to your iPhone. I played around a bit with the app and I am very impressed. It takes advantage of many of the iPhone's capabilities. Clearly features such as the GPS are used, but it also uses the accelerometer that allows you to tilt the iPhone and it moves the maps around. Panoramio layers are available, so are geo-located Wikipedia articles. You can also search the maps for cities, businesses and so on, but it also integr [...]

Sneak Peek: Stunning New Google Satellite Imagery

Oct 9, 2008 at 2:11pm ET by Matt McGee

New satellite images that will eventually show up in Google Earth and Google Maps are now arriving from the Google-sponsored GeoEye-1 satellite that launched a month ago. GeoEye has just released the stunning image below as a preview of what's to come: GeoEye says this image of Kutztown University, Pennsylvania, is the first image taken by GeoEye-1. It was collected on October 7, 2008, from 423 miles in space as their satellite moved down the eastern seaboard of the United States. The Geo-Eye1 is described as the world's highest-resolution commercial satellite. GeoEye spokesperson Mark [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google | Google: Earth | Google: Maps & Local | Top News

Local Australian City Councils Abandon Use Of Google Earth To Monitor Building Permits, Unregistered Pets

Sep 29, 2008 at 9:01am ET by Greg Sterling

Home remodeling without building permits is a popular pastime and cat-and-mouse game in the US, with homeowners trying to avoid increased taxation and building permit fees. Apparently that's also true elsewhere in the world. In a a couple of towns on the Australian island of Tasmania, city officials were using Google Earth and Maps "to monitor rate-payer compliance in terms of illegal home renovations, unfenced swimming pools, unregistered pets and unauthorized demolition." However the towns have since decided to abandon using the tools because of privacy concerns: "Not trying to ca [...]

Google Consolidates “Places” On Earth, Will Fill In The Blanks On Maps

Aug 13, 2008 at 8:54am ET by Greg Sterling

Google is seeking to simplify and consolidate some of the multi-media content on Google Earth associated with particular places. Accordingly, it has created a "Places" layer that tries to bring together a variety of content on a single page about a place. A gray box, which Google likens to a "stack of photographs," indicates one of these pages. Clicking the box brings up a multi-media display that offers still images, videos and text about the particular location. Here's an example for Ellis Island (New York): Separately, Google said that it will start filling out countries in Google [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Earth | Google: Maps & Local

Google Enables Political Video Search With Speech Recognition, Showcases 3D Technology

Jul 15, 2008 at 10:55am ET by Greg Sterling

Google is introducing an Elections Search Gadget that allows users to search transcripts of political speeches and videos that appear on YouTube candidate channels. The speech recognition technology (also shared with Goog411) produces a transcript of the videos, which can then searched by users of the Gadget to find precise phrases or keywords in speeches or candidate statements on particular issues. Google is doing this to test out the speech-to-text capability, which it will probably expand more broadly to YouTube videos as a whole and to Google video once the technology is improved and h [...]

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