Ted S Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Google has their mapping site in beta now and it is pretty impressive. Here's the link: http://maps.google.com/ It seems to work well with IE6 but I understand that it won't work with older versions of IE or with other flavors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Queue- Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 That is really sweet, especially the 'link to this page' link. Talk about detailed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted S Posted March 1, 2005 Author Share Posted March 1, 2005 Yep, its no wonder Google seems to be doing well. The Local Search page seems to be particularly handy if you are looking for hotels in your area for instance. I also like where you type the entire address into one field rather than tabbing to all of the different address fields with the other mapping services. Another nifty feature; you simply put the word "from" in front of your from address and "to" in front of the to address and it does the rest. The ability to drag the map around speaks for itself. Those Google guys did a really fine job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Queue- Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Check out the freeways in L.A., CA. Frightening! The local search works on the most recently selected area, too. Zoom in on Pennsylvania and then type in 'best buy'. Voila! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ender Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Works in Safari too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaRetta Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 And Firefox! This is wonderful, Ted. Thanks for pointing it out for us. LaRetta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuinTech Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 WOW. Wow. Visually beautiful... pans like a dream. Was anybody else as impressed as i was by the shadow behind the pop-up balloons in the local view? Search for your home address to see what i mean. That's not even getting into the functionality. Thanks, Ted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuinTech Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 I thought there was a country south of Mexico? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Queue- Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Puerto Rico is Southeast. Obviously, it has a ways to go, but ******* if it isn't off to a great start! Check out the interstate in Hawaii. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted S Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 I think the map behaves like it does because it is not a single image. It looks to me like it's a grid or matrix made up of multiple images butting up against each other so it looks like one image. This probably explains why the map covers more territory if you are running at higher resolutions and why it pans so quickly. One other thing I noticed is that if you click on "Link to this page", the URL contains some numbers that look to be latitude and longitude. Makes me think this will connect up nicely with GPS units. My last non-technical observation is that the map is very readable. Unlike Yahoo and Mapquest, the roads on google have some width to them. Enough space for the names. To me this makes a much cleaner presentation. I also like the fact that the more traveled roads are yellow whereas the side streets are white. It's nice to see that others appreciate what they have done. I sent the link to a bunch of my non-technical friends last week and all I got was yawns and "I still like Yahoo because I have it bookmarked" responses. I had a feeling that FileMaker folks would understand how revolutionary some of this is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanley Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Ted: It is indeed a matrix of images. I was wandering around the map when my DSL line hit a bump in the road, and a grid of "?" images appeared in the Google Map window. It is awfully impressive, I must say, although I managed to crash it by following some dashed lines (ferry routes?) eastward off the east coast of Newfoundland (or some such place up there in NE Canada). -Stanley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sxeptomaniac Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Interesting. Fresno doesn't get labeled until you get pretty close, even though a lot of smaller towns around it are showing up. I'm sure Queue would not be too surprised at this behavior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Queue- Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 I noticed that, too. Either we're not important enough, we're smaller land-wise, or it's a glitch. My guess is that they try to avoid Fresno for as long as possible, not that I can completely blame them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanley Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 I'm not sure, but it would seem the different levels of magnification are different image files altogether, and the appearance and disappearance of names seems nearly random. Looking at the small town in SE Pennsylvania where my girlfriend is from, the town name appears on pretty much every other level of zoom, once you're close enough in for it to count as a town. Then, when I'm close enough in to read the street names, there's no town name at all. It is a beta, after all. - Stanley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pezagency Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 OM*G! That's incredible. Blows MapQuest out of the water, totally Thanks very much for posting that link! johnny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pezagency Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 OM*G! That's incredible. Blows MapQuest out of the water, totally Thanks very much for posting that link! johnny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldfogey Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Using Netscape V7.2 and it can't find Beacon Hill, NSW!!! Couldn't get it to enlarge Poughkeepsie. NY. (Where, for my sins, I spent some time.) Can't wait until they find out about the world outside the USA. Looks really good so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldfogey Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Using Netscape V7.2 and it can't find Beacon Hill, NSW!!! Couldn't get it to enlarge Poughkeepsie. NY. (Where, for my sins, I spent some time.) Can't wait until they find out about the world outside the USA. Looks really good so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogermax Posted March 31, 2005 Share Posted March 31, 2005 Just be careful getting directions from them. Last trip was a bit off between Las Vegas and Phoenix... map took the long way, good thing I knew where I was going. It is pretty cool though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwood Blues Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 I hope they get around to including State Highways and not just US highways and Interstates. They're in there, but you have to zoom in pretty far before they show up. Definitely looks like it will eventually become the best internet mapping site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ender Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 New feature in Google Maps: Satellite images. You can find the satellite image the same way as their normal map. Very cool. In my city, the images are a little inconsistent. Where I live in Minneapolis, I can zoom in to actually see which house is mine, but a couple miles away, the resolution is very poor. I like where this technology is going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ender Posted April 10, 2005 Share Posted April 10, 2005 Here are satellite images of some interesting places, if you're lazy like me and want to see what they look like without actually going there. The Vegas Strip Cape Cod Sears Tower, Chicago Statue of Liberty Central Park, New York City Washington, D.C. Note the blurred out images of the Capital and White House Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Giants Stadium, San Francisco J.W. Marriott, Phoenix Host of FileMaker DevCon 2005 Grand Canyon Hoover Dam Apple Computer, Cupertino The Florida Keys Niagara Falls Pebble Beach Golf Links Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral University of Minnesota Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogermax Posted May 26, 2005 Share Posted May 26, 2005 Dang. Area 51 is missing off the satellite image. LOL. Sure works nice to link the maps to my databases. Clients love being able to click a button for a client map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuinTech Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Google Earth. Wow. Check out the Hoover Dam (36.0153, -114.738). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Queue- Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 So this is what they did with Keyhole. Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuinTech Posted July 8, 2005 Share Posted July 8, 2005 I used this to "drive home" yesterday. A lot harder to navigate than, say, Super Mario Kart, but still pretty cool. (Especially when I came to a tunnel -- I had to fly over the mountain, James-Bond-helicopter style!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezer Posted October 16, 2005 Share Posted October 16, 2005 (edited) I mentioned it to the folks at Filemaker during the DevCon, but they were not so enthusiastic about it. But I believe if Fielemaker can spend a little more time on developing applications that utilize/manupulate the use of latitudes and longitudes, that would be a breakthrough for Filemaker Mobile. Imagine Filemaker Mobile that can be used for mapping applications!!! or if they want to maintain the status quo of Mobile, how about another new line of Filemaker called Filemaker Mapping!!! Google has definitely hit the spot. Edited October 16, 2005 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepinggypsy Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 I thought there was a country south of Mexico? Let me try again. The country is Belize. Gorgeous! If only they had a good ISP..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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