Google Maps Get Better

Dec, 12, 2008

Posted by George
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Google continually evolves everything and Google Maps is no exception to that rule. During the past month or so I’ve noted some really cool new features like updated zoom/pan/navigation controls, new My Maps features, and navigable street view is available in some areas.

Let’s take a quick look at new My Maps features, here’s a list:

  • Google Real Estate Search
  • Hot Spots Guide
  • Island Guide
  • Videos from YouTube
  • Photos from Picasa Web Albums
  • Gas Prices from GasBuddy.com
  • Distance Measurement Tool
  • Places of Interest
  • The Weather Channel
  • The Tap Mapplet

Recently I was grabbing a cup of coffee at Burger King with a friend and I was sending an invite through Google Calendar and I wanted to include a link to a map of the store’s location. The first place I went was the Burger King site and used their Store Locator and it didn’t list the restaurant I was looking for.

GOOGLE MAPS TO THE RESCUE

I went to Google maps and mapped a nearby location and went into My Maps, checked the “Places of Interest” checkbox then selected Fast Food in the new window. A bunch of local restaurants popped up as little purple dots on the map and I clicked the one I wanted, and got not only the address, but the phone number, too!

I added that info into my invite and fired it off, sure that my friend would be able to get directions if he needed them. Ironic that Google Maps could provide all of that info along with a street view of that particular Burger King, and the official Burger King website could not. UPDATE: While writing I checked again and it seems like Burger King or MapQuest caught up. Maybe one of them is just a day behind Google Maps!

INTERESTING GOOGLE MAPS NOTE

On another note It seems there are all kinds of cool Google map hacks out there, too, and some of them look really useful and the idea of hacking Google maps as a whole is promising and probably has many developers salivating over the possibilities.

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