C'mon Google, seriously?

Mapperz Blog, a must read recently btw, reports on Google new to estimate traffic in their driving directions time estimate. Read the article here. How many layers of estimated data can be piled upon each other before people just start completely ignoring results? Let's see, we have the original street network geometry (1), the individual cells classifications (2), the speeds assigned to the classifications (3), the routing optimization methods (4), and now traffic volume estimates (6). If you roll a dice six times and add the total what do you get? Could be anything from 6 to 36. The answer is 21 then right? It halfway between the two possible extremes. What if I knew the first of the six dice was 5? Then the "answer" is 22.5 and somehow people think my guess is really good? I don't get it. Drivetime data sucks. Get over it people. Two people leaving the same spot at the same time don't even take the same amount of time to travel. You think some software can tell you what travel time will be?

Alright I'm done. I'm going to the beach to relax, apparently I need it...

Gizmodo article on Google's Camera Car fleet

Article here. Presumably they're for the Streetview functionality they added to Google Maps recently, but with Google, who knows what they're up to.

Different Real Estate Web Site

Terabitz

It's very Web2.0. I like that it's a different approach to the same old task. There are things to consider here. Also, I like that it takes non-real estate info and will plot it along side it. And, btw, it's using Google's Maps API for the maps.

dragging on the map to change route

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/directions/ - watch the video. imagine jerrie and i doing one if you want some laughs.

Seriously, do I have to discover a new cool thing you can do with google maps EVERY DAY? Do they have like 400 people working on these projects? Sigh.

I mean, sure, it’s basically just a creative way of using multi-point routing to create custom routes, but they do so well. User doesn’t care how it’s done, they just want it to be easy to do what they want to do. Google gets the user friendly thing like nobody else. Bastards.

Picture legend and pictures at icon and within bubble.

http://picasaweb.google.com/picasateam/VegasWeekend/photo#map

Thanks Google. Thanks for doing something new that will now be required of the upcoming FastMap2. Great. Please, go ahead and add new functionality or ideas daily if you can. That would be great. Our team will stay right there with you. Maybe 2 things on Saturdays huh? How's that sound?

I'm going to the beach to scout hot dog stand locations...

Mapgroove and Zeemaps

Mapgroove and Zeemaps both came to my attention today and are both excellent examples of what can be done to make a user friendly interface for placing info on maps and creating multiple usable output types. Both use google maps for their map interface, though Zeemaps uses Mapquest for their pdf prints. I have a feeling we'll figure out the hard way why they made that choice.

KML closer to an OGC standard

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/44454-1.html

Slashgeo linked to the story above. Microsoft is said to be joining the OGC soon. It would be fun to see them using OGC standard KML. Can you imagine VE importing and exporting KML? :)

Google StreetView Privacy Backlash continued

This time from Wired of all places. It's one thing for the crackpot bloggers, or crazy paranoid catladys of the world to get worked up, but when someone at Wired goes ranting it might have some traction.

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/theluddite/2007/06/luddite_0607

Google + Navteq?

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/06/05/does-google-have-the-drive-to-buy-navteq/

I think Google should buy the rights to the DNA database that maps the human genome. Then maybe they can monetize things like breathing, eating, procreating, which all require some piece of DNA to happen right?

Hacking Google Streetview

http://brainoff.com/weblog/2007/06/03/1253

So, apparently in less than 2 hours after the announcement of Streetview someone had already figured out how to get to the images. This is pretty easy and will be done frequently with sites using REST.

Google Mapplets place in the world

I think we may be able to do some really cool things with this. They make for a way to create protected space to create a front-end for querying a whole db, they display results. Gotta play with it to find it's potential. The explanation for how it works was brilliant. Complex enough to do something hard, yet simple enough to make it easy enough to use. It's hard to make something so complex, so simple. That's pretty, very pretty.

Also, nice to see them pushing users to create and use KML and GeoRSS. I'm glad we've already started down that road. Now we'll need to find a good way to store or archive them.

Open Source versions of APIs from Google?

According to Pamela Fox, there will be some apis provided to an open source environment where users can add functionality. Gotta learn more about this, but it's a bit lower on my list. There are more pressing matters.

One open source addition mentioned was some guy creating a zoom box. Very nice. Another mention of a guy in Finland releasing graphing on the map support this summer.

Adwords with Maps API

Adwords can optionally be added to Maps API. When the user hits the dot it pops up the bubble, when the user clicks the link in the bubble, you make money. I like to call it the "Buy Gene a House in Expensive San Diego" program.

Traffic and Driving Directions in the API

just announced at a Google Developer Day 2007 session, and they make them both so easy to add. must figure out if that will be in the fusion enterprise version.

update: limit of 10,000 hits per day per key for the routing, no other terms of use issues discussed yet

Google Gears

Google Gears has been announced at Google Developer Day 2007. An open source project for developing and delivering data when offline. They want this to become an industry standard. In theory*, users could use apps without an internet connection. Developers could develop with google apis offline. A demo of this can be seen at Google Reader once you've downloaded Google Gears. I'm downloading now, and again, can't wait to get my hands into the code. Dammit Google, I was already busy and now I have so much new to learn!

Google Mapplets

Google Mapplets has been announced at Google Developer Day 2007. This really came up earlier at Where2.0. It's basically a shortcut for building FM2, or at least a design how-to. I can't wait to start getting my hands messy in this code.

Google Mashup Editor

Google Mashup Editor is a new product announced by Google at Google Developer Day 2007. It looks at first glance like an online Visual Studio. They just demo'd a basic mashup in 2 lines of code with Mashup Editor. I wonder how many lines of codes it would take me to find a hot dog stand to buy near me?

More on the Google Mapplets Mashups with Google Maps

They're practically writing FM2 for us...
http://maps.google.com/maps/mm?mapprev=1

More info on it -- documentation site

it's having some load probs this morning, but will be nice when the release rush is gone.

Lost in the mix, Microsoft adds 3d markets

Including New York City, Tampa, and some other cities. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/may07/05-28NYC3DMA.mspx

but i can barely pay attention, that new google streetview kicks butt.

Very interesting article looking at the data sources and future of GMY mapping

http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/05/trends_of_onlin.html

ok, and the article looks at Ask too, but I don't consider them as influencial as the big three...