Time Travel with Google Maps
Street View has amassed a huge collection of street imagery over the years. Last year, Google introduced a way for users to view Street View as it changed over time. A virtual time machine of sorts. In fact, the company dubbed this feature Time Travel. You can access this four-dimensional cartographic experience when in Street View by clicking on the little stopwatch icon in the top-left corner (not available in all locations), which will prompt a sliding scale that will allow you to jump through street views over time.
Create Your Own Private Google Map
You have the power to build your own custom Google Map (aka "My Maps") and fill it with information that is important to you.
Just click here or, if you are signed in to Google, go to My Places via the little gear at the bottom of Google Maps, and then click "create map." Once in the My Maps feature, you can add pinpoints with info cards, highlight whole sections, or create customized walking or driving directions. For a good primer on all the tools available, click the gear at the top right and choose "Take a tour" from the pull-down menu.
To share your new map or invite others to edit, click on the "Share" button in the top right corner (it's the same interface as sharing a document in Google Drive). For example, here's a map I made that shows the U.S.A. as I understand it to be.
View (and Change) Your Google Maps History
Google's business model is built around digital services. And they're all for free! Sorta. Google supports these services by renting out your eyeballs to advertisers. The company maintains this model by keeping a very detailed record of your digital activities, including everything you search for on Google Maps.
You can look at this detailed online diary by going to google.com/history (or clicking the little gear icon in the bottom right and choosing "History"). Once you are on your Google history page, click on "Maps" in the left-hand column. Here you can see your past search queries within Maps. You even have the ability to delete some or all searches from your digital record. You can also view and delete recent searches by clicking "My Places" via the little gear icon in the bottom right.
Search Lazily
If you search "café," Maps will highlight all nearby cafes that can fit on your current screen. However, the search function is sophisticated enough to find types of businesses "near" places—even if it's not on your current screen.
So you can search McDonald's near 28 east 28th street NYC, book stores near The White House, or shoe stores near work (granted you have let Google know your home and work locations, which you can do via the My Places link under the little gear in the corner).
We Are All Unpaid Cartographers
Maps is a collaborative effort. In fact, it depends on locals to fill in the details. It's like a cartographic Wikipedia.
In the bottom right-hand corner, you'll find a "Report a problem" link that will allow you to add or correct info. However, if you want to be part of the collaborative effort for your local area on an ongoing basis, navigate to Google Map Maker. This interactive forum allows you to add, subtract, or correct information on the public Google Map (for example, adding or deleting businesses as they close or open). As part of the community, you will also have the ability to review contributions made by others and be notified as changes to your local neighborhood Map are made.
Here you will find a lot of the similar tools to the custom map tool mentioned earlier—so you can add routes, photos, points of interest, etc. Any additions you make will be evaluated by the Map Maker community and OK'd by Google.
A Heads-Up on Footnotes
At the bottom of the page you will see a footnote window where you'll find the copyright info (when viewing a location in the U.S., the copyright should say "Map data © 2015 Google"—the copyright will change as you move around the globe) as well as boring legal links like "Terms" and "Privacy."
You will also find the aforementioned "Report a problem" to help keep Maps up to date. At the far right you will see the map scale. If you click on it, you will be able to switch between Metric and U.S. customary units.
If you see a link that says "Lite mode" that means you don't have access to 3D imagery (aka Google Earth). This may mean that your hardware isn't good enough or you don't have the most up-to-date version of your browser (necessary system requirements can be found here). If everything is as it should be and you're still in lite mode, try clearing some of the gabbida gook by using this link (for some reason, Maps was stuck on lite in my browser, but this link fixed it).
God View Through Google Maps
The line between Maps and its cousin Google Earth has blurred over time. You can easily jump over by clicking the "Earth" inset in the bottom left-hand corner. The Earth view offers a comprehensive and surreally seamless mash-up of Street View and satellite imagery.
One cool option is to click on the "Tilt the View" icon on the right-hand side (looks like the Windows logo on its side). This allows you to virtually fly through just about anywhere in the world. Hold the Ctrl button (on a PC) to pivot around any axis using your mouse. Zoom in far enough and you'll find familiar features are melted into Van Gogh-ish landscapes. Tap on any building or feature to identify it and prompt an information card.
Be Your Own Traffic Reporter
On the desktop version of Maps, you can watch real-time traffic data by clicking on the "Traffic" link on the bottom of the "Getting around" card (perhaps using data integrated from Waze). If you click "Typical traffic" this will allow you to choose any day of the week or time to get an idea of what traffic tends to be like at that time.
Know Your Street View Key Commands
While you can maneuver around the Street View world with your mouse, you can also get around with just your keyboard. Here are some good ones to know:
+ / - zoom in / out
left / right arrow keys turn left / right
up / down arrow keys move forward / backward
A / D turn left / right
W / S move forward / backward
Change Directions Around by Drag and Drop
When finding directions on the desktop version of Maps, you are able to maneuver your route to go through or away from specific locations via drag and drop. Just click and drag any part of your direction route to move around (this only works with directions for walking, driving, or biking—it won't work with any mass transit options).
Find Directions With a Single Click
It's easy to find directions on the Web version of Maps just by typing where you want to go, but it's even easier than that. Just use a right-click anywhere on the map and it will prompt a pull-down list, which you can use to find directions to or from that location.
Measure Any Distance
Using the aforementioned right-click tool, you will have the ability to calculate the distance of any two points on Earth. Just choose "Measure distance." This will drop a point (signified by a white dot with a bold black line), then click anywhere else on the map and the distance between the points will be calculated. (You can switch between Metric and U.S. measurements by clicking on the scale in the footnote). You can also add more points and move the points around later). The total trip distance will be calculated in the main card.
Find Nation-Specific Info
Maps is a global product, so there are versions of Maps tailored for different nations and languages. You can view these nation-specific sites by switching the domain in the URL (in the U.S., the default is google.com/maps). So if you wanted information in Japanese, you would change it to google.co.jp/maps; for Russian google.ru/maps; or for Icelandic google.is/maps .
Google defaults the domain based on your location. So, if you're traveling abroad and want to view the U.S. version of Maps, simply change the domain to good ol' .com.
Regardless of what domain you are in, you can search for cities under numerous languages (i.e. searching "Munich" or "Munchen" will take you to the same city, as will "New York" or "Nueva York")
Explore Maps Galleries
Many organizations use the Pro version of Maps to create datalicious visuals (the U.S. Census Bureau in particular has used the tech to create a number of cool maps). You can explore some of these examples at maps.google.com/gallery.
Indoor Directions
Remember when indoor mapping was gonna be the next big thing? While the indoor mapping revolution hasn't arrived quite yet, it has been incorporated into the greater Maps ecosystem. Previously you could only find these details on the mobile version (where they are indeed more useful), however these "indoor street views" have made their way to the Web version as well.
You can find a full list of indoor maps here. In any of the select locations, just zoom all the way in and you'll see the inside details. You will even find an embedded window in the bottom right that will allow you to toggle between various floors.
That Little Person in the Corner Has a Purpose
See that little yellow person in the bottom right-hand corner? That's "Peg Man" (or alternatively "the pegman"). You can pick little peggy up and drop him anywhere on maps and be thrown into that location's street view. Once in Street View mode, he will be oriented with the current view in the embedded map window in the bottom left-hand corner.
Go Off-Road
Street View has traditionally been limited to… streets. While users can upload panoramas and other photos to places off the literal trail, it wasn't a true explorable, immersive experience. Recently, Google has begun experimenting with capturing off-road Street Views through various novel approaches in a project known as "Treks." The project already includes immersive off-the-road walkthroughs in such notable locales as the Pyramids of Giza, Angkor Wat, and the canals of Venice to name just a few. You can find a list of Treks here.
If you want to help the project and add hard-to-get imagery, you can sign up as a volunteer here.
Easter Eggs
Of course, there are Easter Eggs.
• Ask for directions from "Fort Augustus" to "Urquhart Castle" via mass transit > click on "Route options" and choose "fewer transfers" > one of the options below will be "Loch Ness Monster" (FYI, the trip is scheduled to take 28 mins).
• Ask for directions between "Snowdon" and "Brecon Beacons" via mass Transit and one of the options will be via Dragon, which will take about 21 minutes apparently.
• The peg man turns into a spaceship when dropped over Area 51 in Nevada.
• You can find Dr. Who's TARDIS on a London street and venture inside from the street to view a much larger interior.
• It's difficult to see, but when using the Time Travel function in Street View, the peg man turns into Doc Brown from Back to the Future.
source:pcmag
Comments
Post a Comment