Today we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Landsat satellite program — now the longest-running continuous acquisition of satellite images of the Earth’s surface. Over the years, Landsat has collected petabytes of images offering an historic perspe…
While some children spend their youth fascinated by model cars and legos, I was always more interested in aerial photography. For years I amassed a collection of books capturing this unique perspective of the world, and it was obvious from looking thro…
In 2011, the Google Earth Outreach team awarded a first round of Developer Grants to organizations with outstanding mapping ideas. These grants support the technical development of maps and enable nonprofits to implement cutting-edge mapping technology…
[Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog]Whether you’re travelling abroad or exploring your own city, the maps you carry with you should be comprehensive, accurate and easy to use. We’re constantly making improvements to Google Maps to help y…
(Cross posted to the Official Google Blog) In the winter of 1913, a British newspaper ran an advertisement to promote the latest imperial expedition to Antarctica, apparently placed by polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. It read, “Men wanted for haz…
Back in 2009 we released My Tracks, an Android app that uses your phone’s GPS capabilities to visualize your location over time for sharing in Google Maps and Google Earth. We’ve used My Tracks to follow team HTC-Columbia during the Tour de France …
[Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog]One hot summer day in Yosemite National Park in Northern California, I sat under a tree along a lazy river in awe of the natural beauty around me. I looked out at the majestic granite mountains, the chirping …
(Cross Posted from Google Africa Blog) In 2010, we announced the availability of driving directions on Google Maps in many African countries. This is a feature that allows users to get driving direction information from one location to another (e.g fro…
Back in 2010 we added biking directions for users of Google Maps in the US and Canada. Helping cyclists navigate the bike trails throughout those countries proved hugely popular, so we’re wheelie excited to announce that starting today, we’ve also ad…
(Cross posted to Official Google Blog) In the past, navigating through museums could be an art form in and of itself. But Google Maps for Android has got wayfinding inside your favorite museums down to a science. With indoor maps and walking direc…
Less than a year ago, we launched the Map Makerpedia to bring together the collective knowledge and expertise of the Map Maker community into a Wiki-style guide. We recently rolled out an update to the site, which includes a more intuitive layout and r…
Given the current British weather, we seem to be spending a lot more of the summer than we’d hoped indoors. The thing about being indoors is that people often get lost – I’m not talking about in your own home, of course, but when you’re out and a…
It’s time for another update of our 45° imagery coverage in Google Maps – this one including 26 cities in the U.S. and 5 international locations.Albany – the capital of New York state – started as a Dutch trading post almost 400 years ago, whi…
To help provide relevant information related to the wildfires spreading through Colorado and Utah, the Google Crisis Response team has assembled a new crisis map for the 2012 U.S. wildfire season. The map features fire perimeters from the U.S. Geologic…
This week we announced new 3D imagery on Google Earth for Android for a select number of initial cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Rome. Along with the availability of more comprehensive and realistic 3D imagery, we’ve also included a …