Matt Briney » Maps

Google warns that rate limits, overage fees are coming to Maps API

Matt Briney — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:35:05 +0000

Google offered some details about its plan to rate-limit the Google Maps API in a statement posted yesterday on the company’s Geo Developers blog. Developers who exceed the rate limits will have to either pay overage fees or buy a Maps API Premier subscription.

According to the blog post, Google will wait until next year before it actually starts enforcing the new rate limits. The delay is to give developers some time to adjust to the change and make appropriate preparations. The new rate limits will pose an unfortunate barrier to ubiquitous map mashups on the Internet, but the pricing model will help make the service more financially sustainable, ensuring that Google doesn’t have to shut down free access entirely.

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Step inside the map with Google MapsGL

Matt Briney — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:10:06 +0000

(Cross-posted on the Lat Long Blog)

You’re now one step closer to experiencing and interacting with a 3D mirror of the real world within your browser with Google MapsGL. Google MapsGL takes Google Maps and harnesses the power of Web Graphics Library (WebGL) to create far richer visuals and animations.

WebGL is a new technology that brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the browser without additional installed software. With WebGL your maps experience is much better with 3D buildings, smoother transitions between imagery and the ability to instantly “swoop” into Street View without a plugin.

Starting today, if you’re using supported browsers (such as Chrome 14+ or Firefox Beta) with compatible video cards, you can opt in to the early beta release. Visit maps.google.com and click “Try it now,” or visit maps.google.com/gl to learn more.

We’ve been using WebGL to create experiences like our Chrome experiments “3 Dreams of Black” and “All is Not Lost,” which happen right in the browser. Previously, such sophisticated 3D graphics have only been possible on traditional desktop applications and have required manual installation. WebGL ushers in a whole new generation of graphics on the web, and with that, we can begin to redefine the expectations of an online map.

Check out Chrome Experiments WebGL for more WebGL-powered applications, and opt in to Google MapsGL to begin using the next generation of mapping today.

Posted by Brian McClendon, VP of Google Maps and Earth

Original Source

Party On, Google Maps WIN

Matt Briney — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:50:05 +0000

Submitted by: Unknown

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Oh Look, There’s a Dead Cruise Ship In Google Maps [Video]

Matt Briney — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 17:30:07 +0000

Sunday April 30, 2000 was not a good day for the World Discoverer, a cruise ship originally built in Germany, in 1974. At 4pm local time, she hit a rock that wasn’t in the Solomon Islands charts. More »

Original Source

Planning Your Trip on Google Maps

Matt Briney — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:43:49 +0000

Let’s say you are visiting a city for a long weekend and you want to be able to see as many sights as possible and experience the city. Often with travel books or guides we get in the habit of building separate lists of the places we want to see and then look them up on the map later.

Google Maps recently opened up their My Maps program which allows you to plot your own points of interests and way points along the way. What’s really great about this feature is that you have the power of Google Local and just by searching you can locate restaurants, attractions, parks and then add them to your custom map. Points of interest can be personalized with one of the built-in icons or you can upload your own.

My Maps is especially great when you are traveling with others because of the sharing options enable you to invite others to help edit your map together.

This weekend my fiance and I are traveling to Phoenix. She’s the foodie, I’m the sightseer. She was able to plot all of the places to eat and I mapped what we would be doing. Here’s our results:

Building the map is easy. Just visit maps.google.com and click on the My Maps feature. You need to set our map as public to enable the sharing features. Google has created a great video to demonstrate the step-by-step process of using the mapping tools.

What really sets this above the rest though are the mobile capabilities. With every map created Google automatically generates a KML file enabling you to embed the map into your website or load the points into Google Earth. But KML files can also be loaded into the iPhone. To load your map open the Google Maps application on your iPhone and in the search box, enter the URL to your KML file.

For testing purposes you can view our Phoenix map by entering “http://tinyurl.com/iphonemaptest” (without quotes) into your search box. I shortened the URL using TinyURL to make it easier to type. Google Maps brings up all of your points of interest and you can click on each pin and get directions to each of the locations from your current. And with the GPS you can see what’s around you to be sure you don’t miss a single thing.