mapping

Google Maps engineer leaves for Microsoft -- report

A Google Maps engineer who reportedly worked on bringing accurate map data to the platform is on his way to Microsoft, according to a new report.

TechCrunch reported on Thursday that Raj Shah, a Google Maps engineer, has moved on to Microsoft, where he will presumably work with the company on Bing Maps. According to TechCrunch, Microsoft confirmed his hire to its reporter.

Shah's LinkedIn page still lists his title as engineering director at Google. He started with the search company in March 2006.

CNET has contacted Microsoft to confirm Shah's hire. We will update this story when … Read more

Google Maps rolls out bike routes in six European countries

Google announced Monday that it is rolling out extensive bike directions on Google Maps in several European countries, including Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein.

If only this had existed six years ago, I could have avoided my best friend wanting to ring my neck.

When we decided to ride our bikes on a 500-mile tour around the south of France in 2007, my one job was to map our route. I got a paper map, highlighted a loop adjoining several country roads, and off we went. Easy.

Actually, not so much.

While our ride started out pleasant, we … Read more

Google mapping Waze takeover, says report

Google may be driving forward with a plan to purchase Waze for $1 billion or more, according to a new report.

Bloomberg reported Thursday that Google is considering a bid for the mobile mapping and navigation company. The search giant perked up to the idea only after learning that Facebook was in talks to buy Waze, Bloomberg reported.

When reached for comment, Waze spokesperson Julie Mossler said that the startup does not comment on rumors or speculation.

Waze, founded in 2007, makes a mobile application for getting directions and routing around traffic with the help of other drivers. The app … Read more

Finding faces in Google Maps terrain

Something our human eyes seem to do, without any prompting, is to pick out shapes and structures that resemble other shapes and structures. Called pareidolia, it's a form of pattern recognition -- and a good example is the way we often see a human face where only a random collection of shapes or shadows exists. This, it is now known, is the reason for the infamous face on Mars.

Our own Earth, as folded and rippled as it is, is also prone to this phenomenon when viewed from above: the Badlands Guardian, discovered on Google Earth in 2006, for example. But we're sure there are many more human-esque faces lurking in strange corners of the Earth.

That is the premise behind Google Faces, a project by Berlin design studio Onformative: can pareidolia be imitated by a machine? Using OpenFrameworks, the studio has created an application that crawls Google Maps, using facial recognition algorithms to seek out areas that look like faces. … Read more

Nokia brings LiveSight to Here Maps on Windows Phone 8

LAS VEGAS -- You won't see a new phone from Nokia at CTIA, but the company did reveal it was expanding its already impressive Here Maps for Windows Phone 8 devices.

Available today is an update that will integrate the company's LiveSight augmented reality feature. Previously available only through the CityLens app, LiveSight pulls up nearby locations and displays relevant information like the type of business or attraction, the hours, the address and phone number, and customer ratings.

You access LiveSight mode through a dedicated control in the Here interface. Once activated, you'll see the points of … Read more

Google's top product of I/O 2013: You

As I sat through the last half hour of a nearly 4-hour keynote, sweat pouring through my shirt, my attention waned. Most people's did. Where were the gadgets? Last year, Google seemed like the hottest (or, most conversation-starting) hardware company around. This year, the only hardware mentioned was the 3-month-old Chromebook Pixel. I wanted new, weird products: watches, new evolutions of Glass, crazy convertible tablets. I wanted to see what Google's next products are.

Yet, you can see the message. In the people wearing Glass -- of which I was one, sheepish, awkward. In the customized, personalized Maps. … Read more

How Google, with your help, is overhauling its maps

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google's mapping service relies on mammoth data centers, vast quantities of satellite imagery, and a fleet of Street View cars. But it also relies on you.

At the Google I/O developer show here on Friday, Google engineers described how they've overhauled Google Maps, and two areas in which information from Google users is key to that.

First, using anonymous data collected from people using Google Maps on mobile phones, it picks the best navigation routes. Second, using photos people upload to its Panoramio and Picasa photo services, it generates immersive tours that swoop around … Read more

Google goes under the sea with Street View at Google I/O

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google and its partner The Catlin Seaview Survey need help from developers to document the world's coral reefs and save them from extinction.

During a session at the Google I/O developer conference, Richard Vevers of the Catlin Seaview Survey and Jenifer Austin Foulkes, a business product manager for Google Earth & Maps, talked up Google's efforts to bring underwater panoramic images to Google Maps.

Google first started virtually mapping the ocean floor four years ago, and in September the company launched its first 360 degree panoramic street views of the ocean. Google partnered with … Read more

How Google slurps in Street View data -- not just from streets

SAN FRANCISCO -- By now Street View is a routine part of online mapping. But people might not be so familiar with how Google actually gets the data for its 360-degree panoramic views of the world.

Street View imagery launched in 2007 with photos taken by cameras perched on cars. That's still the mainstay of the project, but there's much more to it now, and Google was showing off its methods at its Google I/O 2013 developer show here this week.

Exhibits included not just a car, but also a snowmobile, tricycle, backpack, trolley, and self-propelled underwater … Read more