Google Maps is a web mapping service developed by Google. It offers satellite imagery, street maps, 360° panoramic views of streets (Street View), real-time traffic conditions (Google Traffic), and route planning for traveling by foot, car, bicycle and air (in beta), or public transportation.
Google Maps began as a C++ desktop program at Where 2 Technologies. In October 2004, the company was acquired by Google, which converted it into a web application. After additional acquisitions of a geospatial data visualization company and a realtime traffic analyzer, Google Maps was launched in February 2005.[1] The service’s front end utilizes JavaScript, XML, and Ajax. Google Maps offers an API that allows maps to be embedded on third-party websites,[2] and offers a locator for urban businesses and other organizations in numerous countries around the world. Google Map Maker allowed users to collaboratively expand and update the service’s mapping worldwide but was discontinued from March 2017. However, crowdsourced contributions to Google Maps were not discontinued as the company announced those features will be transferred to the Google Local Guides program.[3]
Google Maps began as a C++ desktop program at Where 2 Technologies. In October 2004, the company was acquired by Google, which converted it into a web application. After additional acquisitions of a geospatial data visualization company and a realtime traffic analyzer, Google Maps was launched in February 2005.[1] The service’s front end utilizes JavaScript, XML, and Ajax. Google Maps offers an API that allows maps to be embedded on third-party websites,[2] and offers a locator for urban businesses and other organizations in numerous countries around the world. Google Map Maker allowed users to collaboratively expand and update the service’s mapping worldwide but was discontinued from March 2017. However, crowdsourced contributions to Google Maps were not discontinued as the company announced those features will be transferred to the Google Local Guides program.[3]
Google Maps’ satellite view is a “top-down” or “birds eye” view; most of the high-resolution imagery of cities is aerial photography taken from aircraft flying at 800 to 1,500 feet (240 to 460 m), while most other imagery is from satellites.[4] Much of the available satellite imagery is no more than three years old and is updated on a regular basis.[5] Google Maps used a variant of the Mercator projection, and therefore cannot accurately show areas around the poles.[6] However, in August 2018, the desktop version of Google Maps was updated to show a 3D globe.
The current redesigned version of the desktop application was made available in 2013, alongside the “classic” (pre-2013) version. Google Maps for Android and iOS devices was released in September 2008 and features GPS turn-by-turn navigation along with dedicated parking assistance features. In August 2013, it was determined to be the world’s most popular app for smartphones, with over 54% of global smartphone owners using it at least once.[7]
In 2012, Google reported having over 7,100 employees and contractors directly working in mapping.
Google Maps provides a route planner,[9] allowing users to find available directions through driving, public transportation, walking, or biking.[10] Google has partnered globally with over 800 public transportation providers to adopt General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), making the data available to 3rd parties.[11][12] Google Traffic offers traffic data in real-time, using a colored map overlay to display the speed of vehicles on particular roads.[13] Crowdsourcing is used to obtain the GPS-determined locations of a large number of cellphone users, from which live traffic maps are produced
are downloaded from the server and inserted into the page. When a user searches for a business, the results are downloaded in the background for insertion into the side panel and map; the page is not reloaded. Locations are drawn dynamically by positioning a red pin (composed of several partially transparent PNGs) on top of the map images. A hidden IFrame with form submission is used because it preserves browser history. Like many other Google web applications, Google Maps uses JavaScript extensively.[15] The site also uses JSON for data transfer rather than XML, for performance reasons. These techniques both fall under the broad Ajax umbrella. The result is termed a slippy map and is implemented elsewhere in projects such as OpenLayers.[citation needed]
Google Maps provides a route planner,[9] allowing users to find available directions through driving, public transportation, walking, or biking.[10] Google has partnered globally with over 800 public transportation providers to adopt General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), making the data available to 3rd parties.[11][12] Google Traffic offers traffic data in real-time, using a colored map overlay to display the speed of vehicles on particular roads.[13] Crowdsourcing is used to obtain the GPS-determined locations of a large number of cellphone users, from which live traffic maps are produced
are downloaded from the server and inserted into the page. When a user searches for a business, the results are downloaded in the background for insertion into the side panel and map; the page is not reloaded. Locations are drawn dynamically by positioning a red pin (composed of several partially transparent PNGs) on top of the map images. A hidden IFrame with form submission is used because it preserves browser history. Like many other Google web applications, Google Maps uses JavaScript extensively.[15] The site also uses JSON for data transfer rather than XML, for performance reasons. These techniques both fall under the broad Ajax umbrella. The result is termed a slippy map and is implemented elsewhere in projects such as OpenLayers.[citation needed]
Users who are logged into a Google Account can save locations indefinitely so that they are overlaid on the map with various colored “pins” whenever they browse the application. These “Saved places” can be organised into user named lists and shared with other users. One default list “Starred places” also automatically creates a record in another google product, Google Bookmarks. The related Google “My Maps” service allows users to save maps with a specific set of location overlays containing personalized notes, images and travel pathways. These “My Maps” overlays can be selectively chosen to display or not within the standard Google Maps system both on desktop and mobile devices.
source news 18 report
source news 18 report
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