The folks at Google Maps have revealed a completely naturalized iteration of their global land environment this week with new terrain, color gradations to depict vegetation, and labels for lovely natural land formations of all kinds. This update makes that 3D globe you've got in your closet look all the more useless as you're now able to see the mountains, coast over the plains, and see where the densest forests in the world are. Google has shown this Maps update in a collection of great examples including Brazil and Columbia (with the African Basin) and Southern Asia - now covered with luscious vegetation.
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‘Google Maps’ Stories
Google Maps gets Natural Geography update with colorful terrain
Nokia: Hey, we do fancy maps too, not just Google!
Nokia has joined in the maps attention-seeking, highlighting its own camera-toting efforts to 3D visualize locations, just as Google Maps has done with Street View. NAVTEQ True, as Nokia calls its system, combines 360-degree LIDAR with the awesome power of lasers to map out 1.3m 3D data points each second, panoramic cameras, and military-grade positioning systems.
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Google Street View maps the Grand Canyon with camera-backpacks
Google has taken to the Grand Canyon with unwieldy backpacks to gather Street View photography, continuing its expansion of Google Maps and cocking a further snook at Apple's upstart iOS rival app. The Street View team is sporting Trekker backpacks, Google writes, complete with bulbous 360-degree cameras that can gather imagery from all angles simultaneously.
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Google Maps fleshes out 25m building footprints with aerial magic
Google has updated Google Maps to include more detailed building footprints, with 25m new graphics added to mapping across the US thanks to clever use of aerial imagery. The new footprints were not manually created, but instead use computer vision tech to figure out the shape of buildings based on photos normally used in the "satellite" view mode.
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SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 17, 2012
It's time to begin counting down to the weekend once again, because we've hit Wednesday evening. Today we heard that the iPad Mini could launch on November 2, which makes sense considering that date is just over a week after Apple's October 23 press event. Later in the day, more sources were mentioning a November 2 release date for the iPad Mini, as well as spilling a few more details about the long-rumored device. The Isis NFC mobile payment system will apparently be launching on October 22, and Microsoft said that Internet Explorer 10 will be coming to Windows 7 in mid-November.
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Google Maps allows 3rd party apps free reign with developer APIs
A new set of two API releases for developers will soon have 3rd party apps working with Google Maps features that will allow them to be location aware - with location information not just relegated to GPS. The first of two releases is the Google Maps Tracks API, this allowing developers to integrate the display and analyzation of GPS data on a map, with this API being built on top of Google's own cloud infrastructure for reliability that's unmatched. The second of two releases today works with Google Maps Geolocation API, this enabling developers the ability to integrate location data found by looking up said information on nearby wifi access points and cell towers.
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Google Maps native app for iOS 6 screenshots leak
We know a native app for Google Maps is coming to iOS at some point, we just don't know when. The latest rumor is that we'll see it by the end of the year, and hopefully that's true, but we're sort of just taking things with a grain of salt until we get some solid evidence. In the meantime, a couple of screenshots from the upcoming Google Maps app have leaked.
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Google Maps gets 250k mile Street View update
Google Maps has been updated with what's described as the "biggest ever" increase in Street View photography, with more than 250,000 miles of road around the world gaining street-level imagery. Street View coverage has been boosted in eleven countries, while new "special collections" of photography - giving more insight into particular landmarks - have been added to over six new locations.
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Google Maps for iOS browser adds Street View
Google has updated Google Maps on the web with Street View functionality, allowing iPhone 5 and other iOS 6 users to again access the street-level photography missing from Apple’s own Maps app. The new feature, which Google confirmed was incoming late last month, works on the iPhone and iPad, adding a Street View icon to the toolbar at the bottom of the page.
Apple now makes it super easy to use alternative maps
Earlier today, Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a public apology to users of the company's new Maps app. A good portion of the letter addressed the different alternatives that users could take advantage of while Apple was busy improving their own maps. The company is now making it even more convenient to download and install a maps app that isn't Apple's own.
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Tim Cook’s Maps apology a massive display of power
Apple had a bad situation on their hands when it became apparent over the past week that their new non-Google “Maps” app appeared to fall short of expectations, but Tim Cook took this situation today and flipped it on its head entirely. It’s not that Cook apologized for the situation – the situation being that Apple Maps (without Google) isn’t as perfect as they wanted it to be – it’s that inside this apology, he encouraged users to use other products while they remain patient for Apple Maps to improve. Tim Cook took a situation where Apple could easily have said “just chill out” to the public and said instead, in so many words, “we’re confident enough in our own product that we’ll literally tell you to use other solutions while we prove to you that you’ll want to return to us when the time is right” – this is rare in the tech industry.
SlashGear Morning Wrap-up: September 27, 2012
This morning it's time to jump on in to games and the innards of devices, and don't forget the fabulous newness of HiddenRadio, a device we've just added a review of up in the last 24 hours and that's not quite for sale yet - soon! You'll be interested to hear why Apple ditched Google Maps - it has to do with navigation - surprise! It's time to break on through to the undead side with Black Ops II Zombie mode now in a brand new first ever gameplay-included preview video.
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