"Explore This Area" with Google Maps

Google Maps Australia are slowly rolling out a feature that let's you "Explore This Area", essentially a 'universal search' implementation for Google Maps.

When you search from the Australian implementation of Google Maps (http://maps.google.com.au/) the message in the screen shot below appears in the search results panel to the left of the map and displays pictures, videos, and community maps based on the current map location.

Clicking 'explore this area' overlays tiny geocoded image thumbnails onto the map as well as displaying arrays of photos, videos, and community maps that are found within the currently visible map boundary.



While this additional information is currently available only using the Australian map search, you can do a search anywhere in the world and see the same extended results.

A nice touch is that as you pan and zoom your map everything updates dynamically, adding, removing, and reordering the videos, pictures, and maps available based on the new map location. Very slick.

There's also a new 'drop down' array to the right of the search box which displays your 'saved locations' for easy access.

Google Maps Terrain

What do you do if you're Google and you've got excellent terrain data for most of the world?


You make it available on Google Maps of course!

Google Maps now features 'Terrain' in place of 'Hybrid', with the hybrid selection becoming a 'Show Labels' option under Satellite view.

Terrain data varies depending on the terrain resolution they have available, but it covers the whole world, just like Google Earth.

It reminds me of the old style relief atlases I used to browse through at the library, and a old hardcover book my parents had for the Grand Canyon. Love it.

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Using Google Apps with the Google Mashup Editor

The thing I like most about Google's ever expanding lineup of online applications is the corresponding set of programming services. RSS, ATOM, JSON, and Gdata feeds ensure there's plenty of ways to access your data from stored in a Google app. At Hit For Six (source code), three of the tabs are populated with information from a Google data source - Spreadsheets, Calender, and Reader. Here's how to use these feeds as data sources within Google Mashup Editor (GME) to create interactive web applications.

One of the most common mashup tasks is geocoding a location to place a marker on a Google map

One of the coolest new features in the GME is the dynamic geocoder. When your creating a maps mashup it's inevitable that you'll be geocoding a location to put a corresponding marker on a map. The gm:map tag in GME lets you specify 'lat' and 'long' fields in your atom / RSS feed.

gm:map id="liveMap" data="${liveList}" latref="geo:lat" lngref="geo:long"

But what if you only have a named location? Previously you had to handle this manually, either pre-geocoding the location (as I did using Yahoo Pipes), or using JavaScript to handle it client side. The latest release of GME automates this step by supporting a geolocationref parameter that takes a field from your feed and places a marker on your map based on the result from the Google Geocoder.

gm:map id="calendarMap" data="${calendarList}" geolocationref="gd:where/@valueString"

This is perfect for a Google Calendar source where you have a location but not the literal lat/long coordinates; like the 'upcoming fixtures' tab at Hit For Six. The dynamic geocoder is not the same as the Google Maps search bar, and you can't limit its scope. To get the best results you need to include as much location context as possible when passing values (city, state, countryS). Some countries (like India) return locations for certain named locations (like sporting venues) in Maps, but won't work when using the geocoder.

A calendar is useful as a database but the Calendar UI has been designed specifically with appointments in mind

A calendar is a perfect database for time based information. I use Google Calendar to track upcoming book releases, store sporting fixtures, and record timesheets. But the UI is designed with appointments in mind and none of these use cases are appointments. Instead we can use the GME to produce a custom GUI that's right for our data, and the best way to leverage the data stored in a Google Calendar in the GME is using the ATOM feed. You can pass query parameters in to your calendar feed to filter and sort the returned entries.

http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/radioactiveyak.com_7qt1thddqotp3eic9lud1jelq8@group.calendar.google.com/public/full?futureevents=true&orderby=starttime&sortorder=ascending&max-results=100

Start with a feed that returns only the items we're interested in. Limit by date (show future events only) and cap the maximum results (no more than 100). Then sort (by start time) on the server side. Next create your UI using the GME tags, custom JavaScript, and HTML. In Hit For Six I want to see these events listed and plotted on a map. Using the map tag and the runtime geocoder we can display the calendar entries on a map with a single line of code.

gm:map id="calendarMap" data="${calendarList}" geolocationref="gd:where/@valueString"

It's worth noting that the calendar service is relatively slow, so it's worth the effort to limit the number of returned events to prevent any timeouts. If you're interested in writing data to the calendar as well as reading it, Google's recently released Javascript client might be what you're after.

Publishing your spreadsheets with ATOM lets you create a custom database with an XML feed that updates in real time

I love the idea of using Spreadsheets as an online database. Publishing your Google Spreadsheets lets you specify an arbitrary data source that updates in real time based on spreadsheet changes. Using the ATOM output makes using spreadsheet data in GME pretty painless.

Set up and populate your spreadsheet, select publish and grab the ATOM feed address, make sure you choose 'list feed'.


The default action for entry labels is gsx:columnname, but it's worth pasting your feed into the GME feed browser to confirm. You can set up 'structured queries' to filter your datasource, and it's good practice to do these sorts of filters 'server side'.

A nice trick with spreadsheets is using a 'table of contents' worksheet that provides the feed location of other worksheets that you will use as data sources. In the Hit For Six 'Venues' tab I provide a list of countries which, when selected, populates a country specific ground list based on the corresponding worksheet.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/o01765357489133287312.3601895615788609870/od7/public/values

I can then add new countries and only have to update the spreadsheet, the website will reflect this change automatically.

It's not all beer and skittles

There are a couple of things you need to keep in mind when using Google data feeds rather than 'regular' RSS feeds.

• You can't spoof the feed requests to force frequent updates. Google services require specific feed request parameters (you can't add 'fake' parameters like &random=12354 or &datetime=20071022 to force the GME feed cache to update the data deterministically). That said, the GME team have negotiated a deal with the team that handles the feed caching to provide more frequent updates (in the order of 10mins rather than 6hrs). If that's still not fast enough, you can funnel your feeds through Yahoo Pipes.


• GME expects RSS feeds rather than XML data feeds. RSS feeds tend to add new items rather than modifying or removing existing ones. If you have data that changes often you may want to pipe it through Pipes first. That will let you change the calling string (by adding a random or time based parameter to the feed address) and force GME to refresh it completely.


• It's all open. Note that if you're using Google services as backends you're making that backend public. Once you set it up for your GME application to use, everyone has access to the underlying data. If that's not open enough, your GME code is an open source project by default (and requirement), so nothing's secret.

Google Updates Its Mobile Offerings

While we're yet to see a real-life GPhone, Google's mobile development team has just released a flurry of updates.

Monday saw GMail for Mobiles get bumped up to version 1.5. The shiny new version is 30 to 80% faster, lets you save drafts, and supports GMail keyboard shortcuts. The most impressive feature in the new version is a 'Contact Manager'. It displays your contacts' GMail pictures and their (click-to-callable) phone numbers -- as well as email addresses of course. Download on your phone from http://gmail.com/app.

Saturday saw Google Maps for Mobile get tricked out with version 1.6, with the bonus of native app support for the S60 OS toting crowd (Nokia, SE, etal). This is particularly cool as it provides GPS support for S60 phones (like the Nokia N95). Other updates include a touch-screen friendly zoom in / zoom out and menu options.

Today we get to view our Google Docs on our phones as Google release a mobile friendly view of Google Docs. Google Blogoscoped has the scoop, but in a nutshell mobile Docs supports a read-only view of both documents and spreadsheets (no presentation view yet).

We've now got Maps, GMail, Docs, Picasaweb, Reader, iGoogle, News, and Calendar all available on our mobiles. GPhone or not, Google is serious about moving to the mobile.

Google Mashup Editor Goes Social

Isn't it great when you get exactly what you ask for?

The latest release of the Google Mashup Editor lets your mashups share data between users, letting you create real social apps within the GME. So My Travel Maps now includes 'Their Travel Maps', a tab where you can see your friends' Travel Maps.

Sign in and add your friends' GMail addresses to the 'Their Travel Maps' tab, then select a friend to see their trips (and their Picasaweb albums). Add me as a friend -- my GMail is Reto.Meier at gmail.com -- to see the result.

Along with social application support this release has a bunch of new features, including the ability to add labels and rating to external feeds, support for editing HTML and CSS project files within the editor, plus better styling and CSS support along with general performance improvements and bug fixes.

It's an impressive new release that's moving the GME further along the path to full-blown online GoogleOS development IDE.

Distances on Google Maps

As of today Google Maps will display the length of any line you draw on a map (you can add lines in the 'My Maps' tab). Just click on any completed line to get a total distance.

Finally I can see exactly how much longer the 'scenic route' to work is.

They didn't invent this, Yahoo! has done it for a while and I know of a couple of mashups that do the same thing, but still -- it's pretty handy!

At the moment all distances are shown in yards and miles -- maybe the next release can show us some metric love?

Easily Embed Google Maps with HTML

Google Maps has released a new feature that lets you embed any Google Map into a web page using straight HTML -- no JavaScript or API key required. It works for address, or business search results:

View Larger Map
As well as fully interactive My Maps maps (this map shows the cricket stadiums used in World Cup 2007):


View Larger Map
This is really useful, there's plenty of times when a map would be the perfect thing to illustrate a point online, but setting up a 'real' mashup is just overkill.

Announcing 'My Travel Map'

I've always wanted a great big map of the world with pieces of red string tracing my trips from city to city. I always figured it would look cool to see the combination of 'hubs' with lots of lines coming out, then seeing the little snail trails as I trekked across western Europe.

But let's face it red string on a poster map is so 1986. Presenting My Travel Map.


Sign in and start adding your trips on the 'My Travel' tab and watch with barely restrained glee as your global jaunts are plotted automagically. And because a trip worth noting probably has photos, your public, geotagged Picasaweb albums will automagically be added as map markers as soon as you sign in.

While you're there you can record the date of each trip, rate it, add a description, and remember a related link.


As you might have come to expect by now, My Travel Map was written entirely using the Google Mashup Editor.

Sign in to My Travel Map and create your own travel map.

Fuel Price Mapplet: Developing Mapplets vs Mashups

About a week ago Google opened Mapplets to everyone, and now, the WA Petrol Map Mashup is available as a Google Maps Mapplet! Find the cheapest petrol stations while you're getting directions and searching for businesses. Bookmark your commute for easy reference and use waypoints to take a detour to the nearest, cheapest petrol.

Mapplets are found in the 'My Maps' tab on Google Maps when you're signed in to Google. You can overlay multiple Mapplets giving you the power to create a customized Google Maps interface with useful information overlaid over your normal map search results, directions, and business listings.

In Part 1 I'll show you how to use the Petrol Price Mapplet to find the best place to refuel on your commute, developers might want to skip straight to Part 2 where I continue from last week's post on creating a mashup with GME and Pipes, and describe the simple process of creating a mapplet using Yahoo Pipes as a geocoded KML data source.

Part 1: Still in Perth? Still Want Cheap Petrol?

What's better than a mashup with the best petrol prices in your usual suburbs? A mapplet! See where the best petrol prices are on your commute -- and get directions to include the cheapest station on the way.

Login to Google Maps, then add the mapplet using the gallery (or 'add by url' with this url). When it's on your list of mapplets check the checkbox to enable it. You should see something like the image below.

Click 'Change Settings' and chose three suburbs where you normally fill up. When you save your changes, you should see the markers move to show you the cheapest 15 locations from those three suburbs. Clicking a marker will show you the price at that station plus the cheapest overall price.

Now click 'Search Results' and choose the 'directions' tab (under the search box). Enter your home address in one box and your work address in the other and search. You should now see you morning commute with the cheapest petrol stations overlaid on top.




Your commute probably isn't quite right (mine isn't). I have to click 'avoid highways' as I never travel the freeway in rush-hour, then I left-click drag my route from Harbourne over to Pearson -- Google Maps recalculates my journey in real time. I want to check this whenever I need to refuel, so I click 'link to this page' and copy the result from the popup box and paste it back into the address bar; then I bookmark it 'My Daily Commute'. Now whenever I need petrol I just open that link, enable the 'WA Petrol Mapplet' and I can see where to fill up.

Today I see that the station on my way is 14c/l more expensive than the cheapest. Knowing the cheapest isn't far out of my way, I right click the map next to the Karrinyup Caltex and choose 'Add to journey' and move it up the list on the left. Google revises the journey (it's less than 10mins out of my way) and I save 14c/l on filling up.

Part 2: How to Make a Mapplet in Under 2 Hours -- and Why?

Mapplets can be even simpler than mashups, but let's start with why you should bother with a mapplet at all, Mapplets:

• give people access to all the Google Maps functionality (traffic view, street view, directions, drag-and-drop re-routing, etc.) out of the box.
• work as part of Google Maps, so people don't have to login to different websites.
• can be 'layered' so your mapplet can be used in conjunction with other people's (traffic congestion + petrol prices + ?)

That's not to say you should abandon your stand-alone mashup. Leverage the mapplet to drive traffic to it:

• The Mapplet interface is limited. The best use case is to 'enable' the mapplet, then switch back to the search results view. Side-effect: Any and all useful information you have, has to be shown in the marker info-windows (or with the marker itself, try and use customised markers if possible). Use the window to say there's more to see at your full site (and provide a handy link!)
• Your ability to save user data in Mapplets is limited. Stand-alone mashups are much better if you're storing more than simple user preferences.
• Keep it simple. Mapplets work best as useful markers that sit on top of a normal map, like a layer in Google Earth. Keep complex interactions and data presentation to standalone mashups. Remember: A mapplet is a side-order to the map, a mashup is a main course.

With keeping it simple in mind, my mapplet source code is about as basic as you could hope for. Mapplets are 90% Javascript (10% XML). There's no editor or built-in hosting (unlike GME -- maybe coming soon?), but there is a 'scratchpad' that you can should use to develop and test your code. When you're done, you can host it in a variety of Google Places -- Groups, Pages, or the GME itself.

Writing the Mapplet

There's three things I want to achieve in my mapplet, I want

• users to be able to enter a few suburbs to look at on the map (arbitrary number -- 3).
• to display the cheapest (arbitrary number -- 15) petrol stations as markers on the map.
• to indicate the overall cheapest petrol available in those selected suburbs.

User Prefs

Mapplets handle user preferences well. Add require feature="setprefs" within the moduleprefs, then add UserPref definitions, one for each preference:

userpref name="SuburbOne" display_name="Suburb 1" default_value="West Perth" datatype="string"

Then you can access these values like this:
var prefs = new _IG_Prefs(__MODULE_ID__);
var s1 = prefs.getString("SuburbOne");

Show the Petrol Stations

I hate doing XML manipulation in JavaScript. Luckily I don't have to. Mapplets let you pass in a GeoRSS or KML file in and it will automatically plot the placemarks on your map. Use the GeoRSS function like this:

var geoXml = new GGeoXml(kmlFileURLString);

map.addOverlay(geoXml);

Now all you need is a pre-manipulated KML link (here's one I prepared earlier). Once again our friend and saviour -- Yahoo Pipes (how is this not a Google product?!), where I do all my XML manipulation.

I create a new pipe, 'combined petrol prices', that takes three user inputs as input to our existing 'Petrol Price by Suburb' pipe, and uses a 'union module' to combine them. The I sort the result by fuel price and truncate it to 15 items. Then I add a 'Location Extractor'* module (which allows you to export your pipe as a KML file) and I'm done. Three inputs (my user prefs), sorted and truncated to 15 cheapest stations, outputted as KML.

Back in the mapplet I write a bit of JavaScript to construct the URL with the user prefs as parameters for the pipe url. Then I pass this URL into the constructor for a GeoRSS overlay and add the overlay to the map. Unfortunately Pipes doesn't give you the ability to hand tinker with the KML output, which means you can't specify a custom marker / placemark icon in the feed. Rather than forgo the simple / handy GeoRSS functionality I'm going to live with the plain blue markers -- mainly because I'm lazy.

*A note on the Location Extractor Pipe module. It's a little… finicky. The best way I've found to have it reliably parse geolocations is to ensure your feed has 'geo:lat' and 'geo:long' fields. You'll know it works when the output from the Location module includes a populated 'y:location' field.

You can test that the Pipes KML feed is working by running it within Pipes itself, you should see your stations on a Yahoo Map. To double check, just paste the Pipe's KML output address into your Google Maps search box and it will magically render it on the map for you.

Always Show the Cheapest Petrol

I still want to append the cheapest available petrol to each station marker's description.

I create another new Pipe and drop the 'combined' Pipe from above into it (hooking up appropriate user inputs so it takes the same parameters). Then I add a 'foreach annotate' module, and use a new instance of the combined pipe as the source. On the dropdown choose 'first only' -- this will add a new node to each item that contains the first item in the source feed (Ie. The cheapest station). Bring out the regex hammer to nail that info onto the bottom of the description field and I'm done. I Don't even have to touch the mapplet code.

That's It?

Upload your Mapplet XML somewhere, then click 'Add Content' and choose 'add by URL' (next to the search button). Paste in your address and you're done. Once you're happy that everything works, you can submit your Mapplet to the gallery for the world to enjoy.

Here's a few tips:

• Track your mapplet use with Google Analytics (here's how).
• Show your user prefs in you mapplet output panel. If you state what the current settings are, there's a better chance that people will change them to something more suitable.
• Like a mashup, make sure the 'default' result on installation shows something useful / interesting. Most people will add --> judge --> remove, well before they start playing with user preferences.
• Keep the overhead low. Don't add 10,000 markers at a time -- people will turn it off very quickly indeed. If you have a lot of data use the Marker Manager, the Panaramio mapplet is a good example of how and when to do this.
• Host it for free. If you don't have a server handy, you can host your mapplet on a number of Google properties.
• All the data fetching (XML/GeoRSS/HTML) routines within mapplets are cached every 30mins. If you need data fresher than that you'll need to increase that refresh rate. Don't if you don't have to, caching is a Good Thing.

Criticisms, Suggestions, and Conclusions

My Maps / Mapplets in Google Maps is seems based on the idea of layers and 'custom placemarks' in Google Earth, and in a lot of cases it makes a lot more sense to show this layered information in the context of your usual Google Maps use, rather than a collection of standalone mashups.

Things like weather, petrol, road congestion, speed camera locations, and panaramio pictures are excellent examples of data I'd like to see on my Google Map all the time, and together -- once we get full Google Maps as an in-car GPS, the world will truly be a brighter place.

That said, here's some things missing from Mapplets that would be nice to see in future releases:

• No hosting or built in web editor. Let us use the Google Mashup Editor to write, host, and test our mapplets.
• You can't assign custom markers to a KML / GeoRSS feed. Makes sense, as you should be able to put the marker definitions into the feed itself -- but what if you can't? Let us specify a default marker setting.
• Selected Mapplets don't persist. Each time I load Google Maps I need to activate the mapplet / my maps I want to overlay. Lets us persist them between sessions (or at least create a link with them included. I *always* want to have certain mapplets turned on, making people turn them on each time makes them less likely to be used.
• Adsense revenue. Please.
• User settings saving is patchy. Using the 'back' button on your browser almost guarantees the user settings are lost.
• …and one for Yahoo Pipes: Let us tinker with the KML output please!

Picasaweb Adds Maps, Goes Mobile

Some fantastic new features for Picasaweb today, the integration of Google Maps, and a Picasaweb for your mobile [Edit: Direct mobile link -- http://picasaweb.google.com/m/].

You can now use the Picasaweb interface to place each of your photos on a Google Map! One they're placed, clicking on an image will navigate the map to its location. You can also play an image slideshow that will cycle along each position on the map.

Also, simply entering a 'location' for each album will place a marker on a map on the Album List page, so you get a world map of all the locations you've got an album for. Same thing works for geolocated pictures in an album (bottom left) and for each photo your viewing (bottom right).

At the time of writing, the mobile Picasa page was not yet up, I'll update this post once I've had a chance to experiment.

(edit 10:06) The link from the Google Blog post doesn't work, but mobile Picasaweb is available via this (http://picasaweb.google.com/m/) link. It's clean, fast, and simple just as you'd expect. The main page lists your albums with a thumbnail, the album pages show up to 12 thumbnails and the image view shows a reduced size version of your picture. You also have access to your 'favourites'.

Now excuse me as I geolocate every photo I've ever taken.

(Note 10:06) Photos you geotag using desktop Picasa will be automatically geotagged in Picasaweb - but only if you upload them from now on. Any photos you previously uploaded to Picasaweb will not automatically display their location.

Real 3D Buildings in Google Maps

The hardworking Google Maps team have added proper 3D building outlines to Google Maps.



Two new zoom levels are now available in 'Map' view that extend the existing 'pseudo 3D' effect to full fledged to scale building outlines. So far 3D building support seems limited to US cities. I've been able to view the enhanced building outlines in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago.

With any luck they'll extend this to every building available in Google Earth -- and then every building available via public Sketchup models. Then all we need is textures on the models.

The biggest zoom level is quite impressive -- here's the Chrysler building in New York

Google Maps isn't the first to offer the 3D view, Live Local has been offering it for a while, but it's a welcome addition to the increasingly impressive Google Maps service.

Google My Maps World Cup Venue Mashup

If you're watching the World Cup and you haven't yet used any of my resources to see where the action is being played out, I've decided to add one more way of seeing the venues.

Using Google Map's new 'My Maps' feature, I've published a Google 'My Maps' hosted mashup of World Cup 2007 venues.

For mashup developers, the process of porting the data from an existing mashup into a 'My Maps' mashup took about an hour. The main thing I missed was the ability to change the alignment of text within the description balloon -- otherwise the process was quick and straightforward.

Google Maps My Maps - Dynamic Google Mashups

Ever wanted to create a Google Maps mashup but lacked the Javascript skills?


Google have just released 'My Maps', a service that lets you create your own Google mashups on the fly within the Google Maps interface. The interface lets you add markers, lines, and draw polygons. Each marker can have a full HTML description including full text, images, and videos.

Once you've finished creating your mashup you can publish it for others to search and find, or share it privately with friends, family, or workmates. There's even an option to export to KML for use in Google Earth.

The interface provides the same 'get directions to / from here' options you get with Google Maps, so the resulting mashups are even more useful than before.

Here's an example I've started for Test Cricket Venues that will eventually replace my existing cricket stadium mashup.


This service is amazing.

• Use it at home with Picasaweb to share your holiday pictures with your family and friends. Draw lines across the world to demonstrate where you've been and where you're going.
• Office based Google users can map their clients and projects.
• Plan your next holiday. Put markers in possible destination along with details and links for each hotel / country / beach you plan on visiting.
• Integrate with Google Calendar to show exactly where events are taking place, with annotations describing venue features, possible parking locations and detailed directions.

My call: Best Google innovation of 2007 so far.

What's missing?

• Sub folders for markers / lines / polygons to add some structure.
• Ability to 'hide' lines / polygons so they're on the map but don't appear in the left hand list.
• Custom marker images. Need to be able to add markers using uploaded / linked images.
• Being able to measure distances.

Cricket World Cup 2007

World Cup 2007 is upon us; the squads have landed in the West Indies and a flurry of warm-up matches are already underway. The real action starts Tuesday March 13th, when host nation The West Indies take on Pakistan at Sabina Park.

As part of my preparations, I've scoured satellite footage for the exact location of each World Cup venue. Considering that construction hadn't started on some sites when the satellite imagery was taken, this was no trivial task! The good news is that Google Maps / Earth imagery for the West Indies is pretty freaking good. The better news is I'm sharing my results!

Tour the Venues in Google Earth

Fly to each of the 12 venues hosting matches in this years World Cup in Google Earth using the World Cup 2007 Venues KML file.

Live World Cricket Map

The Live World Cricket Map Google Homepage module is a Maps mashup that's updated constantly to show every cricket match for that day on a world map -- pitch perfect positioning shows you exactly where the games are being played. For the duration of the World Cup the World Cricket Map is centered directly on the West Indies. There's also a bigger version of the same mashup available at The Cricketing Yak for your viewing pleasure.

I'm embedding this widget into my blog for the duration of the World Cup - check out the top right!

World Cricket Calendar

Keep track of the action on the World Cricket Google Calendar that now includes updated map references for all the World Cup venues. I'll be updating the Super 16's and finals details once we know who's playing in them.

The Cricketing Yak's World Test Venues Map

This Google Maps mashup features all the official Test cricket venues for each test playing nation, and now also includes the precise location of all 12 World Cup 2007 venues. As well as the exact location of each venue, you'll see live weather forecasts, seating plans, live webcam links, and a picture of the stadium.

Just The Venues

If you want the venues without the fruit, here they are for your viewing pleasure:

Three Ws Oval, Arnos Vale Ground, Trelawny Stadium, Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium,Kensington Oval, Queens Park, Providence Stadium, Sabina Park, Warner Park, Beausejour Stadium, Queen's Park Oval.

Other Resources

For everything else CricInfo have created an outstanding dedicated World Cup 2007 microsite that's an unparalleled resource for all things cricket, so be sure to check that out.

For expert commentary from a member of the CricInfo commentary team, check out Will Luke's personal cricketing blog, The Corridor.

And finally, there's a distinct possibility that Google will be providing some tools to cover the action, check out http://www.google.com/cricket on Tuesday!

US Traffic Conditions on Google Maps

Another update from the folks at Google Maps. They now show (optional) traffic conditions for over 30 US cities.


As the screen grab above for Chicago illustrates, the severity of current traffic conditions is shown using a green / yellow / red overlay in maps, satellite and hybrid views.

The same features have been available for select US cities on the Google Maps for Mobile application, so it's nice to see them port it to the desktop version for people planning their trips or checking the roads before heading home.

Let's hope we see this roll out to some of the other countries that now have street maps. Personally I vote for England and Australia ;)

Google Local Australia Live

Full Australian business listings and driving directions are now available at Google Maps Australia and Google Maps for Mobile.


Google has been steadily adding Australian support to Google maps over the last few months, including satellite imagery, local street maps, geocoding, and as recently as two weeks ago the the Australian domain of Google maps went live.

Google Maps Australia now joins Europe and the US in providing driving directions and local business listings (provided by Truelocal, a local listings provider from News Limited). Apparently this is part of the Google / News Limited deal from last year which saw Google Ads in MySpace.

It's a welcome addition to the Australian local search market that has for years been dominated by Sensis -- the online arm of the formerly government owned telephone monopoly Telstra. Sensis provides both White (personal) and Yellow (business) pages searches, as well as hosting Whereis, the incumbent Australian local mapping service.

Sensis' Whitepages and Yellowpages have always been pretty strong, but Whereis has been stuck somewhere in the Web 1.0 dark ages for a long time, so I expect the growth for Google will begin with maps and develop from there. The current user base for White/Yellow pages searches is still big and loyal enough that it will take some time for Google to start making an impact on local search. But Google's innovations in mobile local search and providing personalised local search should help it win over market share.

Google Announces Mapping Expedition

I think this is the first time Google have announced when and where they're going to be taking high-res photos for Google Maps / Earth Imagery. The 'This Australia Day Put Yourself on the Map' page encourages Sydney-siders to come down to Sydney harbour and make yourself seen by the low-flying Google branded plane. The site even lets you click a map of the harbour to see when the plane is expected in each area.

According to this article from the Sydney Morning Herald, a Google plane will be aloft over Sydney on Australia Day (26 January) to take photos at 4 to 5 times the resolution currently available for Australia – which should make it amongst the highest quality footage available on Google Earth.

Perhaps not coincidently, the Australian domain of Google Maps went live this weekend.

The theory is to take photos of cities during periods when they're at their most impressive – hence Australia Day celebrations in Australia. If it turns out well, expect to see more of the same in other international cities.

Google Maps India

The train keeps rolling on, Google Maps now features street level road maps for India.

Like every national release the details are slightly different, the India data also includes icons for locations of interest -- including schools, hospitals, 'talkies', and playgrounds.

It's another impressive addition, to an increasingly complete 'road map of the world'.

Also out in this push are maps for Singapore and Hong Kong. Go Asia!

This is in addition to an announcement earlier in the week that Google has aquired a Swiss based online mapping company to further expand their existing European operation.

Multiple Stop Directions on Google Maps

Google maps now lets you plan journey itineries by showing routes with multiple destinations for a single trip.


You can add as many intermediate stops as you like, and can drag and drop the order of each stop to have Google recalculate the suggested route. Very. Nice. As far as I know Google's the first online mapping destination to provide this kind of functionality, though similar things have been available for GPS units in the past.

There's also a newly added, tiny little gray arrow, that sites half way down the page between the map and the directions. Clicking it will hide the directions 'full screening' the map. This is a nice touch that I've been waiting a while for.

In any case I've now got my trip to Cornwall for Christmas plugged in -- including the stop at Stonehenge for good measure.

Google Maps Africa

Google maps now features street level maps for much of Africa. South Africa in particular seems to have excellent street level maps, but most African nations have at least major highways represented.



The circle is now complete, all continents bar Antarctica feature at least one country with street level maps (Check out Japan and Brazil for Asia and South America). Impressive work by the Google Maps team that continue to impress.