Oct 29, 2012 at 10:33am ET by Barry Schwartz

For those of you in the path of Hurricane Sandy, like me, knowing certain information about the storm can be vital to those stuck at home and preparing for the storm. Google announced a new crisis map for Hurricane Sandy at google.org/crisismap/2012-sandy and they have an additional more detailed map for New York City at google.org/crisismap/2012-sandy-nyc. What do these maps give you? Location tracking, including the hurricane’s current and forecasted paths, courtesy of the NOAA-National Hurricane Center Public alerts, including evacuation notices, storm warnings, and more, via [...]

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

Google Mapping The Interior Of The Grand Canyon With Street View Cameras

Oct 24, 2012 at 11:16am ET by Greg Sterling

Having driven literally hundreds of thousands of miles of surface streets and roads throughout the world, Google is increasingly going off road in its quest to make Street View comprehensive. Most recently the company took its on-foot Street View backpack cameras to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Google is hiking the various trails that descend into the Canyon and onto the floor of the great national park. According to the company's Lat-Long Blog: This week, photos are being gathered from portions of the South Rim at Grand Canyon National Park, including the ridge, the famous Bright Angel Tr [...]

Map Search On PCs “Eroding,” Shifting To Mobile — comScore

Oct 16, 2012 at 10:34am ET by Greg Sterling

It all makes sense. According to comScore, map-based search on the PC has now peaked and is starting to erode. By contrast mobile usage of mapping applications is growing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Apple Maps' problems notwithstanding, smartphone mapping apps offer a better overall experience than online maps. Because they're in your pocket they're available when they're most needed: on the go. And they offer location-aware/search nearby capabilities that online maps do not. Here's what comScore recently said about the decline of PC mapping and the rise of sma [...]

Google’s iOS Maps App Appears In Leaked Screenshots

Oct 15, 2012 at 10:20am ET by Greg Sterling

From Ben Guild we get to see some blurry native iOS Google Maps screenshots. We know the app is coming; the questions are: 1) precisely when and 2) will Apple do anything to block it? My guesses would be: 1) within the next month and 2) no. Guild says the mapping app is currently in an alpha stage. He offers some additional detail about its functionality: It’s vector-based It’s got two-finger rotation to any angle It’s super fast 4-inch height of the iPhone 5 is supported This suggests he's seen a demo or played with it himself. Here's one of the shots from Guild's blog p [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Apple: Maps | Channel: Mobile | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Mobile

Google Maps Adds 250,000 Miles Of Street Views In Their Largest Update In History

Oct 11, 2012 at 9:06am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google announced they have made their biggest ever street view imagery update by adding over 250,000 miles of roads around the world and doubling their "special collections" imagery. Google said they are increasing the street view imagery specifically in Macau, Singapore, Sweden, the U.S., Thailand, Taiwan, Italy, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway and Canada. They have also added the special collection imagery in South Africa, Japan, Spain, France, Brazil and Mexico. Here is one example of a new imagery shot of Catherine Palace in Google Maps: View Larger Map It feels as if Google h [...]

Google Starts To Downplay Zagat Scores; It Should Ditch Them Altogether

Oct 11, 2012 at 9:05am ET by Matt McGee

Google is changing the way it collects local business reviews and displays them in search results, making the Zagat score a less prominent piece of information. That's a good thing in my opinion, and many people -- myself included -- hope it's the first step toward the complete removal of the Zagat system in Google's local business ecosystem. In a Google+ post yesterday, Megan Stevenson explains that review authors no longer have to use the Zagat scoring system and can instead just choose words/phrases like "Very Good," "Excellent" or "Poor - Fair" to describe a business. Here's Google's [...]

Google’s Schmidt: “What Apple Has Learned Is That Maps Are Really Hard”

Oct 11, 2012 at 8:50am ET by Greg Sterling

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, during an interview at the 92nd Street Y in New York last night, made the case that Apple should have kept Google Maps on the iPhone. "Apple's done very well using our maps," he joked. When asked directly about a forthcoming iOS Google Maps app, Schmidt gave the familiar line that he didn't want to "pre-announce" products. He also repeated another line he's said before: "Apple would have to approve it." Multiple reports have effectively confirmed that Google is working on an iOS maps app. These reports also suggest that since the public announcemen [...]

Chitika: We Got Google’s Local Search Number Wrong

Oct 9, 2012 at 7:53pm ET by Greg Sterling

Last week I wrote an article with the headline: Study: 43 Percent Of Total Google Search Queries Are Local. This was based on Chitika network data. The article was widely cited and linked to. Unfortunately it was wrong. Earlier today Chitika contacted me with the correction. The original methodology used to determine the percentage of local searches and local-mobile searches on each of the major engines had the impact of inflating these figures for Google in particular. Chitika said the numbers for Yahoo and Bing were more accurate upon review. However the Google numbers have been revised [...]

Study: 43 Percent Of Total Google Search Queries Are Local

Oct 5, 2012 at 11:44am ET by Greg Sterling

Ad network Chitika has just released some new data -- you're seeing it here first -- that compares local search volumes on Google, Yahoo and Bing. The study examined both PC and mobile traffic to determine an overall number. (Chitika has now informed us that these numbers are incorrect; see postscript II below.) Chitika looked at "millions of online ad impressions seen between September 21st and 27th, 2012." To ensure it was measuring "local search," Chitika compared the queries it was seeing from the engines "against its extensive database of local keywords and phrases (e.g. "near me," "in [...]

Google Maps For Mobile: An iPhone User’s Guide

Oct 4, 2012 at 9:20am ET by Greg Sterling

As we wait for a new native Google Maps app for iOS 6, the company has introduced Street View imagery this morning to Google Maps for the mobile web. It's another attraction that may pull Apple Maps users over on the iPhone and iPad. Below, a look at some of the key features in Google Maps For Mobile, from Street View and beyond, for especially for the iPhone users trying them for the first time. Street View The full corpus of Street View imagery is supposed to be available. Accordingly it should work for any location in the world where Street View photography exists. In general it wo [...]

Google Maps Mobile Gets Street View, Aimed At Helping iOS Users

Oct 4, 2012 at 8:36am ET by Danny Sullivan

As expected, Google Maps Mobile has gained Street View photography. The move should further shore up Google as an alternative to the new Apple Maps on iOS 6, which are so inferior to the Google-powered ones on iOS 5 that Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized for them last week and suggested Google as an alternative, among other options. Google Maps, accessed through the browser, still won't be as nice as making use of an actual Google Maps app. Google lacks an app for iOS 6 users apparently because it hasn't "done anything" yet, as CEO Eric Schmidt said last week. Why hasn't it done anyth [...]

Apple Does The “Miracle On 34th Street” Thing, Promotes Third Party Maps In App Store

Sep 28, 2012 at 3:49pm ET by Greg Sterling

In the beloved holiday film Miracle on 34th Street, people at Macy's department store in New York begin sending shoppers to rival Gimbels and other stores when they haven't got what customers want. That's essentially what Apple did today -- first with its apology letter and now with its promotion of third party maps in the App Store: "Find maps for your iPhone." Apple is not equally calling attention to the many public transportation apps available for iOS, but they also can help compensate for the current deficiencies of Apple Maps. Danny writes that had Google been ready wi [...]

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

After Apple’s Apology, What’s Next For iOS 6 Maps?

Sep 28, 2012 at 1:24pm ET by Danny Sullivan

It's official. Apple's new Maps in iOS 6 have problems so serious that even Apple CEO Tim Cook has issued a public apology about them. What does Apple do next? Going back to Google-powered Maps is unlikely but not out-of-the-question. More likely, Apple will push through the pain. However, it could reconsider whether maps really should be a a home-built product. Ripping Out Google Previously, Maps in iOS were largely powered by Google's mapping data (and remain that way in iOS 5). Google has been building its mapping product for years, something that makes sense for a search engine. Many s [...]

Did Motorola Use A False Address To Slam Apple Maps?

Sep 27, 2012 at 8:30pm ET by Greg Sterling

Right as all the negative Apple Maps stories were coming out, Google's Motorola division created an ad and Twitter campaign to argue that, unlike Apple Maps, Google Maps won't get you lost. The campaign #iLost, also promoted on Google+, used a specific address as an example of one that Apple wouldn't get right: 315 E 15th Street in Manhattan. As the Siri screenshot indicates, Apple Maps can't find this address. However Apple Insider says the address is a park and not a real street address at all. The blog argues that Google created a false example to make Apple look bad: The problem, [...]

Google Street View Coming To Google Maps For Mobile, For Both iOS & Android

Sep 26, 2012 at 6:35pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Just in time for those on iOS 6 wanting missing Google Street View photography, Google is bringing its street-level pictures to the mobile web version of Google Maps in two weeks. That also means, as best I can tell, these will come to the web versions of Google Maps for Android and other smartphones, too. The news came as part of a scorching review of Apple's new Maps dysfunctionality by New York Times tech writer David Pogue, who writes in part: In short, Maps is an appalling first release. It may be the most embarrassing, least usable piece of software Apple has ever unleashed. Ouch. O [...]

Everybody With A Maps App Is Piling On Apple

Sep 26, 2012 at 3:43pm ET by Matt McGee

It's a marketing tactic that's about as old as time itself: When a competitor stumbles, you turn it into opportunity for self-promotion. That's certainly been the case since the Apple Maps app stumbled out of the gate a week ago on iOS 6. Bing is the latest competitor to call for attention. The company published a new blog post today touting its Bing App for iOS -- not because it has any new features, but because "you may be holding a brand new smartphone and wondering which apps have the essential search and mapping functionality you need." Bing wants everyone to know that its existi [...]

Reports: Google Incredibly Didn’t Anticipate Being Dropped From iOS 6 Maps, “Scrambling” To Create App

Sep 26, 2012 at 12:47pm ET by Danny Sullivan

The latest twist in the tale of Google Maps coming back to the iPhone and iOS 6 devices is that Google apparently didn't anticipate that it would be dropped by Apple as a mapping data provider. As a result, it's lost time needed to create its own app. If true, that's a pretty surprising lack of foresight on Google's part. Time On The Contract Clock We reported last year that Google had renewed its deal with Apple to be a search and map data provider for iOS devices. The term of that deal, as with all deals Google's done with Apple, weren't revealed. But it was pretty likely to be a multiyear [...]

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

The Good & Bad Scenarios About Why Google Hasn’t “Done Anything Yet” About Google Maps For iOS

Sep 25, 2012 at 3:08pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Today, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said his company hasn't done anything yet to bring Google Maps to iOS as a standalone app. That seems to contradict Google's statement last week about wanting this to happen, as well as the company's central mission. But negotiations and contract issues yet to be revealed might be a "good" reason for the delay. The bad reason would be if Google's doing this to promote Android. Let's look at them both. How We Got Here Last week, Google Maps disappeared from being the brains inside the Maps application on the latest version of Apple's mobile opera [...]

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

Google On iOS 6 Maps App: “We Haven’t Done Anything Yet”

Sep 25, 2012 at 8:31am ET by Greg Sterling

For the past week many people have been trying to determine whether Google had built (and submitted) a replacement app for Google Maps for the iPhone. There were even some reports, now largely debunked, that Google had in fact submitted an app and it was waiting for Apple's approval. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt seemed to definitively quash those rumors today in Tokyo. Schmidt is quoted by Bloomberg and Reuters saying, "We haven’t done anything yet with Google Maps." However he added that, if there were such an app, Cupertino would need to approve it, "It’s their choice." That [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Apple: Maps | Channel: Mobile | Google: Maps & Local

Local Search Cage Match: Google Vs. Apple Maps (And Siri)

Sep 23, 2012 at 7:32pm ET by Greg Sterling

Apple's iPhone 5 sales appear to be rolling along as the handset receives high praise in most reviews -- except for Maps. And as the drumbeat of criticism over Maps continues, some tech journalists wonder if this "fiasco" would have happened if Steve Jobs were still alive. The NY Times Joe Nocera calls Maps an "unmitigated disaster" and implies that Jobs would not have allowed the current Maps product to get out the door. However we'll never know the answer to that question. Jobs was a perfectionist but wasn't perfect. He made his share of miscalculations and mistakes. The iPhone 4's "anten [...]

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