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Tag: indoor maps

  • Googlers Talk Indoor Maps For 40 Minutes [Video]

    Google is doing a lot of interesting things with maps these days. Not only do they have a whole new Google Maps experience, but they continue to amaze us on a regular basis with some of their imagery.

    Google still has a long way to go, however, when it comes to maps, specifically indoor maps. The search giant already has quite a few indoor maps, but as it says, this is the next frontier.

    “Mapping streets and buildings is the hard part,” Google says. “But the even harder part is mapping indoors. Not only is Google acquiring floor plans for major buildings and venues, but we’re also working out ways to provide positioning data inside those buildings. When GPS doesn’t work, how do you find your place on the map?”

    Sarah Peterson and Waleed Kadous talk about just that in this Google I/O session, which Google has now made available to the general public:

  • Walk Through Tsunami-Ravaged Buildings In Japan On Google Maps

    Google announced that it has added indoor imagery from buildings hit by the 2011 tsunami in Japan to Google Maps, as well as its Memories for the Future site.

    Google worked with four city governments in the Tōhoku area to get the imagery, which was collected using the same technology the company uses for its indoor business photos. They were able to photograph over 30 buildings.

    “A year ago we released Street View imagery of areas in Northeastern Japan that were affected by the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami,” says Google Street View Group Product Manager Kei Kawai. “Our hope was that the 360-degree panoramas would provide a comprehensive, accurate and easy-to-use way for people around the world to view the damage to the region by enabling a virtual walk through of the disaster zones. The panoramas were only the start of our digital archiving project.”

    “The timing of the project was critical,” says Kawai “There has been a strong debate in these areas whether to keep the buildings up as a permanent reminder of the tragedy or to tear them down to allow emotional wounds to heal. After long consultations with their citizens, many local governments have decided to move forward with demolishing the buildings. Knowing this, we quickly moved to photograph the buildings before they started to be dismantled.”

    Kamaishi Municipal Toni Elementary School

    Elementary School

    Rikuzentakata City Public Housing

    Public Housing

    Ukedo Elementary School

    Elementary School

    Google says it will continue to photograph more buildings in two Iwate Prefecture cities, Ōfunato and Kamaishi, over the coming weeks.

  • Google’s Indoor Maps Head To The Desktop

    Google’s Indoor Maps Head To The Desktop

    Google announced in a tweet today that its indoor maps offering is now available from the desktop version of Google Maps. The feature was available on Android devices, but as Google notes, it’s on the desktop in time for the holidays.

    With the feature, users can view floor plans for some airports, department stores, malls, etc. The desktop version only lets you view the main level of buildings, though additional levels are available on Android.

    “Depending on the data available, the map will show notable places in the building you’re currently viewing, including stores, restrooms, food, and more,” Google says. “Click any indoor location to learn more.”

    Google has an entire list of locations where the feature is available here.

  • Google Maps Goes Indoors In France

    Google announced that it is expanding its indoor maps feature to France. Google has included over 50 French venues in the offering.

    “Now, even if you’re visiting one of these large, well-trafficked places for the first time, you can navigate your way around like a pro,” says Google Maps Product Manager Cedric Dupont in a blog post. “And with the accurate My Location feature that works indoors, you can easily figure out if you’re close to the shop you’re looking for, the escalator that will get you to the right gate, or even the nearest ATM or restroom.”

    Locations with indoor maps include shopping malls, retailers, airports and museums. The maps can be accessed via Google Maps for Android.

    “We even partnered with super markets such as Carrefour so that you can look for items like the ‘dairy’ aisle and figure out the fastest way to the milk products to save time when shopping,” notes Dupont.

    You can see a full list of locations here.

  • Now You Can Walk Through Museums Just By Using Google Maps

    Google announced that it has added indoor maps and walking directions for 20 museums in the U.S. to Google Maps for Android on phones and tablets.

    “In the past, navigating through museums could be an art form in and of itself. But Google Maps for Android has got wayfinding inside your favorite museums down to a science,” says Google’s Cedric Dupont. “With indoor maps and walking directions for U.S. museums now available on your Android phone or tablet, you can plan your route from exhibit to exhibit, identifying points of interest along the way, including between floors.”

    Museum maps

    The new inclusions are:

    • American Museum of Natural History
    • Anacostia Community Museum
    • Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
    • Cincinnati Museum Center
    • Freer Gallery of Art
    • Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
    • Indianapolis Museum of Art
    • National Air and Space Museum, National Mall Building
    • National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
    • National Museum of African Art
    • National Museum of American History
    • National Museum of the American Indian
    • National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center
    • National Museum of Natural History
    • National Portrait Gallery
    • National Postal Museum
    • National Zoological Park
    • Renwick Gallery
    • S. Dillon Ripley Center
    • Smithsonian American Art Museum
    • Smithsonian Institution Building (“The Castle”)
    • The deYoung Museum

    Users can access the maps by opening Google Maps on your device, and zooming in on the museum.

    Google says more museums will get indoor maps soon, including: including the SFMOMA, The Phillips Collection, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

  • Google Maps 6.7 for Android Gets Google Offers, Indoor Maps Directions

    It’s only been a couple of weeks since Google released Google Maps for Android 6.6, which followed up the big redesign of 6.5. However, ever the archetype of constant progress, Google Maps have announced the release of Google Maps 6.7 today, which incorporates directions on indoor maps for the United States and Japan as well as Google Offers. More, 6.7 also includes the Business Photos inventory of 360-degree panoramic imagery of business interiors.

    Indoor maps for big public venues like malls, airports, and the like have been available since late last year but that only presented the map. Now, users will be able to actually get walking directions for the venues so you don’t unexpectedly encounter the lurking cerberus or a pit filled with laughing cobras.

    Instead of simply rehashing the inclusion of Google Offers into the mobile version of Google Maps, here’s a video Google provided that explains it.

    More information, although it was mostly already explained in the above video, can be found on the Google Commerce blog.

    Finally, with this update to Google Maps for Android, you’ll be able to access Google’s collection of in-store imagery from Business Photos, which is essentially Street View for stores. It’s a little puzzling as to why you would need to see the inside of a store if you’re actually, say, walking around in the store. Who knows, maybe you love spoilers so you want to see what the inside of the store is like moments before you enter the store for the first time.

    Google Maps for Android Business Photos

    While you’re out and about, walking around and cashing in your Google Offers, the latest release of Google Maps for Androids virtually ensures that you never, ever have to look up your phone once during your public adventure.

  • Bing Maps Adds Venue Maps, Neighborhood Maps, & More [UPDATED]

    The Bing Maps Blog has announced a series of new updates, most notably the great feature that now offers maps of almost 900 indoor venues. Covering all sorts of facilities from malls to museums, casinos to football stadiums, the maps offer up what you’d expect: a floor plan designed to let you see around corners and help you find your way inside one of the world’s mammoth edifices.

    To access one of the venue maps (if it is offered for your building of interest), you’ll be presented with an option to open up the venue map of the building once you’ve zoomed in far enough. Of course, if it’s an outdoor venue, you’ll just see the venue map as you get closer to it, as you can see below with the map of the Magic Kingdom near Orlando, Florida.

    In addition to what you may consider as some of the more tourist-heavy attractions in cities, Bing also announced that the maps will now suggest some of the more prominent local businesses as you zoom into neighborhoods. If you’re familiar to a city but not quite a local yet, this could be a great feature for discovering some new favorite haunts around a city.

    One feature I noticed that may be helpful for tourists and the like is kind of hidden in the section of Shopping Districts that are included in the venue maps. Essentially, there are store-by-store maps of neighborhoods that looks to lead ambitious shoppers around the area in order to find the boutique of their desire. Even if you’re not really a gold medal shop-till-you-drop consumer, you may find this may helpful if you’re looking for a place to grab a quick bite to eat.

    You’ll see a pretty good example of this below in the sample from the Fashion District in New York City.

    Finally, Bing Maps announced that its added transparent 3D imagery to many of the maps so users will get more of an angular view to the city, which should help you recognize and identify destinations a little bit easier. Below is an example of New York City’s downtown areas, as provided from the Bing Maps Blog post.

    As of right now, all of these updates are only available for limited markets. As of right now, all of these updates are only available for limited markets. Additionally, the venue maps are currently available on the Bing for Mobile iPhone App, Windows Phone Map App, and m.bing.com on HTML5-enabled smartphones, including iPhone, RIM, and Android devices.

    Bing’s been offering up maps of venues since 2010, which was ahead of Google’s launch of a similar service at the end of last year. With these two sites often competing for search traffic by offering up similar services, it’s something hard to really improve on the map; it’s not quite like making a rounder wheel, but geography generally stays undisturbed and doesn’t need to be updated all that often. Still, Bing has managed to find a way to either keep up or stay ahead of Google in certain aspects, the venue maps example being one of them.

    At any rate, the addition of the venue floor plans to Bing Maps is a necessary if not clever update. There are untold amounts of large venues (malls, airports, museums, arenas, etc.) in the world and Google Maps can’t possibly get to all of them first, so Bing’s right to pursue this feature.

    This article has been updated from the original version. Google was incorrectly credited with offering the venue maps services first when it was actually Bing that offered it first in 2010.