google. maps - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jun

Google Adds Over 1,000 New Destinations To Street View, Apparently Missed Some The Last Time

Posted by Bertel King, Jr. in News

Google announced today the addition of over 1,000 new Street View locations to Google Maps, which are sure to make the upcoming revamp an even more immersive experience. The new locations include the usual tourists attractions such as historical landmarks and sports stadiums. Americans who are still a little queasy at the thought of hopping on a plane can tour the Singapore Zoo from their living room sofa. Other Singaporean attractions include the Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade and the Fullerton Heritage Promenade.

Not interested in Asia? You're now free to take a virtual tour of the most visited Marian shrine in the world, Brazil's Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady Aparecida.

Jun

How Google Maps Is Made: In-Depth Video Of Google Atlas, Google's Internal Maps Tool

Posted by Ron Amadeo in News, Videos

When you set out to map the entire Earth, if you do it right, you're going to end up with a lot of data. Google Maps has a constant stream of information coming in from a ton of sources - its own Street View cars, satellite imagery, governments, and users all over the world. Once you have all of that information, how do you deal with it? What happens when the government map doesn't perfectly match the satellite image? How do you make sure that a "No Left Turn" sign is reflected in the turn-by-turn directions?

As outsiders, we've always just assumed the answer to this is "magic," but it turns out, it's all handled by a program called "Google Atlas" - an internal-only tool used to manage Google Maps data.

May

Google Enables Biking Navigation In Google Maps For Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in News

Bicycling enthusiasts in Europe (of which there are many) are getting a present from Google today with the addition of biking directions in Google Maps for six new countries. Cyclists in Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein can now pull down routes that take into account the available biking trails, paths, and lanes. This applies to mobile and desktop apps.

When biking directions are selected in Google Maps, it chooses routes that avoid busy streets, and sends riders down dedicated bike paths where available. Google worked with other organizations in a few countries to catalog all the bike paths, but several hundred kilometers of trails were added by users.

May

Here's How To Enable The New Google Maps Web Interface (Even Without An Invite) [Update]

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Google, News

If you're eager to test out Google's shiny new Maps interface on the web, but aren't so eager to wait for Google to invite you into their tender fullscreen embrace, then Android Police reader William Pickering has a trick to show you. All you need is Chrome (or another browser with the ability to manually set cookies), a free extension, and about a minute of time.

Step one: install a web cookie editor extension (like this one) from the Chrome Web Store.

Step two: head to maps.google.com. Ignore the "get the new Google Maps" message, and click the button for your new extension instead.

May

Redesigned Google Maps Sign-Up Page Goes Live, Then Dead - Expect New Features At Google I/O

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Applications, News

Google Maps has been performing solid, mostly thankless service for more than eight years now, and last week its most significant update yet was leaked. It's that time of year, so we naturally assumed that we'd be hearing more about it at today's Google I/O keynote, but someone in Mountain View must have been a little quick on the trigger. Droid Life spotted a signup page for the revamped web interface and managed to grab a few screenshots before it was hastily shoved back in the digital closet.

Between this and a string of small maintenance updates to Google Maps for Android (not to mention a name change - the Play Store entry is just "Maps" now) we think there's a pretty good chance that the Google Maps app will also get a major overhaul in the very near future.

May

Google Maps Navigation Goes Live In Greece

Posted by Kyle Wiggers in Applications, News

Directionally-challenged Greeks, Google has answered your prayers. The search giant continued its international rollout of Maps Navigation today, enabling turn-by-turn directions for Greece. That, coupled with Google's recent significant expansion of Navigation to 9 countries last month, brings the total number of supported territories to 53. Not too shabby.

We've heard from a couple of Google+ users that turn-by-turn seems to be working well so far. Of course, Navigation is still technically in beta (and has been, as is typical for Google, for more than two years), but it's good to hear that initial service is stable.

If you're in Greece and have Google Maps installed, you should have access to Navigation now.

Apr

Google I/O 2013: Google's To-Do List This Year

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Android OS, News

Last Updated: May 3rd, 2013

Google I/O is coming! We'll know about all of Google's new projects in just 2 ~~short~~ agonizingly long weeks. While we desperately count the days until May 15th, we thought it would be a great idea to take stock all of the things we've caught wind of lately.

Calling this an "I/O Preview," sounds a little too certain. I'm not predicting everything here will come out at I/O, this is just a list of everything we know Google is working on - their "To-Do" list. Just like any to-do list, Google could cross something off and release it, or endlessly procrastinate, or completely cancel something.

Feb

[APK Teardown] Google Maps 6.14.3 - Next Stop: Lane Guidance

Posted by Ron Amadeo in APK Teardown, News

Ok, here's a short and sweet edition of APK Teardown coming your way. Prepare yourself.

What's the one remaining thing a standalone GPS unit can do that Google Maps can't? (Besides work offline) Lane guidance.

Right now, Google Maps would best be described as "Turn guidance." It will tell you when to make a right turn, but that's about it. Lane guidance is a step further: Your next exit is coming up on the right, and a TomTom (pictured) will better prepare you to make the exit by directing you to the right hand lane in advance. This saves you the surprise "turn right" command which suddenly means you need to cut across 40 lanes of traffic.

Feb

Stock Android Isn't Perfect: Jelly Bean 4.2 Edition

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Jelly Bean 4.2, Stock Android Isn't Perfect

Last Updated: February 7th, 2013

A few months ago I wrote "Stock Android Isn't Perfect," an article where I turned my usual harsh UX critique on stock Android, instead of just picking on TouchWiz and Sense all the time in my reviews. The article went over pretty well, and even got a few responses from Googlers! I didn't cover everything that was wrong with Android, though, and there have been a bunch of updates since the original article, so it's about time I wrote a sequel.

So we're officially making this a series now, and it'll serve two purposes: One, there's a new version of Android out, and more things to complain about; and two, to give credit where it's due, because, since I wrote that article, a lot of things have been fixed.

Nov

[APK Teardown] Google Maps Is Getting Real-Time Traffic Rerouting, And Google Voice Search Learns How To Hold A Conversation

Posted by Ron Amadeo in APK Teardown, News

After having successfully survived a thunder-snowicane and completed a black-ops mission into a post-apocalyptic New York City to pick up a Nexus 4, APK Teardown HQ is back up and running. We've accumulated a bit of a backlog, so today's entry is a 2 for 1 deal: Google Maps 6.14 and Google Search 2.1.

Google Maps

Maps is getting real-time traffic rerouting!

Now, you might be saying "But Maps already takes traffic into account, look at this blog post!" but let's take a look at what that blog post really says:

You don’t have to do anything to be routed around traffic; just start Navigation like you normally would, either from the Navigation app or from within Google Maps.