Wavety.com

‘Google Maps’ Category

• Google Adds Cyling Information To Google Maps

  Date: 2010.03.10 | Category: Google Maps | Response: Comments

  Google has added cycling details to its popular Google maps online services to help those that use their bikes to move around.

  A new “bicycling” layer has been added to Google Maps but it seems that the http://maps.google.com/maps?hq=http://maps.google.com/help/maps/directions/biking/mapplet.kml&ie=UTF8&ll=37.687624,-122.319717&spn=0.346132,0.727158&z=11&lci=bike&dirflg=b&f=d&utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=van&utm_source=en-van-na-us-gns-bd service is limited to the US for the time being with no dates set its availability outside the US.

  This comes on top of existing direction services that show routes for walking, public transit and traveling by car as well as a (useful) one that calculates the safest route by avoiding all traffic.

  Shannon Guymon, the product manager for Google Maps explained that Google “wanted to include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling to encourage folks to hop on their bikes. So that’s exactly what we’ve done.”

  Only 150 American cities – and around 12,000 miles of bicycle trail data – have been included in the first version of the service with more to come and it is likely that the service will be available on mobile platforms – including Android and others – later this year.

  There’s also a “biking directions” gadget that allows users to put the useful tools on their own websites to allow visitors to cycle to a particular location or find cycling routes in the area plus Google has also started a contest called “Share your ride” where users will be encouraged to Tweet and win a new bike using the hastag #bikewithgoogle.

  Originally published on ITProPortal.com

• Google Patents Location-based Advertising

  Date: 2010.03.04 | Category: Google Maps | Response: Comments

  US-based tech website Venturebeat has reported that search engine giant Google has secured an important patent related to location based mobile advertisement technology, which was applied back in 2004, in an attempt to enforce its domination over the online advertisement market.

  According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office document, the patent awarded to Google will help the company in ‘Determining and/or using location information in an ad system.’

  With the number of users accessing the web from their handheld devices is expected to rise this year, technology observers have predicted that the mobile online advertisement market will rise exponentially over the next few years.

  However, the news of Google acquiring this patent will be a major concern for competitors who look to over throw Google with online mobile advertising platforms of their own including Cupertino based Apple, which recently acquired mobile ad network Quattro Wireless in an attempt to carve a niche for itself in the lucrative market.

  Interestingly, the patent acquired by Google has some far-ranging implications which will make it impossible for competitors to enter the market, including location based ad targeting and modifying ads as per the users’ location.

  Originally published on ITProPortal.com

• iTunes Users License Songs, Not Buy Them, Court Rules http://dlvr.it/4vq0K about 3 minutes ago from dlvr.it
• Microsoft's Xbox 360 Special Edition Kinect UK Bundle Cheapest Yet http://dlvr.it/4vnGj about 19 minutes ago from dlvr.it
• No Anti-Terror Data On Police USB Stick http://dlvr.it/4vnGm about 19 minutes ago from dlvr.it
• IBM Unveils New Global Water-Management Projects http://dlvr.it/4vjn8 about 51 minutes ago from dlvr.it
• eBay Launches Eco Friendly Packaging http://dlvr.it/4vds0 about 1 hour ago from dlvr.it