mapping

GopherNow is a simple mashup--mix maps with store hours to help people find eating establishments that are open or delivering late. The service is aimed mainly at teenagers and college students, but for many, the long days of summer can bring unexpected late eating.

Users can search by keyword and location, and a Google map will show up with various restaurants, listing their hours, delivery availability, and for a select few--complete menus. If a restaurant is missing, users can add it in, along with their personal review.

Yelp actually added a similar feature early last month that lets you filter … Read more

Google has been pretty busy in the past few days. There have been changes or tweaks to three of Google's product offerings, as well as the unexpected resurgence of one product that many thought would never return. We've broken the news down for you below.

1. Google Answers is back--in Russia. I guess Google figures Russia to be an inquisitive bunch, since it's re-launched its defunct (read: dead) Answers service there. According to a post from Google Russia's blog, it's the first country to get the service, despite the fact that the previous version was … Read more

Google is reading my mind.

On Wednesday morning during rush hour I was driving down to Santa Clara from San Francisco. Faithfully following the directions of several online maps, I found myself on Highway 101 but wishing I was on the more scenic, less congested and slightly out-of-the-way Interstate 280, farther west. As I inched my way along the road, I ruminated on the mapping problem and imagined how I could have avoided the situation by somehow adjusting the route on the online map to set a preference for Interstate 280, even though it isn't the most direct route … Read more

Google Street View is about the coolest online mapping service released in a while, but its imagery is of inconsistent quality. Street View images are full of lens flare, distortion, and poor stitching artifacts. They're good enough for entertainment or for getting a general idea of a local scene, but not for much else.

A new company, Earthmine, plans to launch soon an urban imagery system that features much more precise data and visuals. Using laser range-finding and still photography (instead of the video that Google's current system employs), the Earthmine system will offer not only sharp and … Read more

MindMeister is a "mind mapping" tool that launched last month. If you're unfamiliar with mind mapping, it's somewhere between brainstorming and an organizational chart. If you've ever had to help plan a party or put together an outline for a project, mind mapping is one of the ways to organize and order your thoughts. MindMeister replaces legal pads and crumpled up pieces of paper with an online workspace that can be revised and manipulated. Users can create ideas and connect them to one another, or build their own hierarchies--it's essentially a giant canvas.

Users of Google Docs and Spreadsheets will feel right at home, as the tool shares similar features for versioning, autosave, and collaboration. There's also built-in Skype integration, assuming your collaborators have provided their Skype username. While there's no built-in chat, users can fire up a text or voice chat on Skype by clicking on another collaborator's name.

For users who don't feel like logging in to add a quick idea to their mind map, MindMeister has a few tools that help out. Called "Geistesblitz" (meaning "mind flash"), these tools consist of a widget for OS X and Vista, and a browser extension that installs itself as a search engine in IE and Firefox's search box. When you come across something you feel like writing down, you can just enter it in, and it will be sent to whatever mind map you've chosen as the default.

MindMeister offers two tiers of service--one free, and a paid premium version that runs about $4 per month. The premium version gives users an unlimited amount of mind maps, as well as the option to embed them on blogs and Web sites. I've embedded a sample mind map after the jump. … Read more

Hat tip to my colleague Chris Smith for pointing out that Google has rolled out ads within Google Maps Japan.

It looks like the ads were just contextual based on the location, rather than being from a restaurant-specific search (although I don't read Japanese so I can't tell what the query was).

To me this looks very busy. And I'd imagine the ad density clutter will only get worse over time.

Perhaps Google feels that Japanese users of Google Maps will be more tolerant of the ads and the busier interface? Or perhaps this is the shape … Read more

Google cares what you think about local businesses and thinks other people do too. The company on Tuesday added a new feature to Google Maps that allows people to post user ratings and reviews of local businesses. The maps previously had professional reviews, but not reviews from users. More information is on the Google Blog.

I must say it was faster to do than writing a review on Yelp or CitySearch and a tad more intuitive than posting a review on Yahoo Maps.

Category: Mobile

Google Maps Mobile is a smaller version of Google's mapping service that?s been optimized for mobile phones. Users can get real-time traffic, satellite imagery, and driving directions, as well as search for local businesses right on their phone. Google Maps Mobile isn't just a destination for mobile Web browsers, it's actually a full-on application for users running Windows Mobile or the Palm OS on their handset.

Web site: www.Google.com/gmm

Webware coverage: Apple. Google. Yahoo. Strange bedfellows?

Winners in this category:

Category: Reference

Ask.com may not be the No. 1 search engine out there, but it's been doing some interesting things with new Web technologies, including its mapping services. Ask.com Maps and Directions allows users to search and get directions in any city really quickly. What separates it from some other directions services is its capability to give you directions for both driving and walking. It works mostly for short hauls (obviously) and gives you turn-by-turn directions for getting around city blocks on foot. If you've ever been following a road map in the city and come … Read more