Google Blogoscoped

Forum

"Explore This Area" in Google Maps

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

Friday, April 4, 2008
16 years ago5,368 views

Google Maps have just rolled out another feature that let's you "Explore This Area". It automatically integrates geotagged photos, Youtube videos, and community maps based on the area you're searching. Neat!

http://blog.radioactiveyak.com/2008/04/explore-this-area-with-google-maps.html

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Here's what it looks like:
http://picasaweb.google.com/reto.meier/ForumLinks/photo#5185310194499306866

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I can't seem to see it yet, do you have an example search? (Or should it show right away?)

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Philipp, his screenshot looks like he was viewing Perth, Australia.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Perth,+WA,+Australia&ie=UTF8&ll=-31.944005,115.857697&spn=0.056664,0.097332&z=13

But that doesn't seem to generate anything new for me.

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

It doesn't work for me too.
But I have noticied a new button (an arrow) between the textarea and the button "search". You get a drop-down menu with saved addresses.

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Sneaky! It only seems to work when searching from the Australian version at the moment:

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Perth,+WA,+Australia&ie=UTF8&ll=-31.944005,115.857697&spn=0.056664,0.097332&z=13

That said, once you're at .com.au you can search anywhere in the world to see the 'explore' results:

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=London&ie=UTF8&ll=51.500001,-0.126418&spn=0.004775,0.009978&t=h&z=17&iwloc=addr

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I thought of that too when I was trying to get the feature here in the US. I changed my domain to Maps Australia and I still don't see it here. So maybe its IP based at the moment?

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]Colin: Unlikely. I'm in the UK and the company I work for relays my data to the US :)

Did you try following the last link I posted – does that not work?

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I'm trying Google Maps Australia in the UK and I'm not seeing it either...

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]Reto, Both links I tried look just like the normal Google Maps site. :(

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Wow. I never get things first :)

Must be rolling it out slowly. Tony – do you see the drop down box after the search text box?

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Reto, can you give us the IP of the data center you use?
(enter the command: "nslookup google.com.au"); Thanks in advance.

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

> Tony – do you see the drop down box after the search text box?

Yep. I'm logged in, so it shows my saved locations.

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]TOMHTML: Sorry, my workplace environment is... restrictive. So I can't do an nslookup from here. Know any other way to figure it out?

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I seems it's definitely data center based, but also restricted to the .com.au domain. I still see the new features after logging out, but only if I point to the Australian version.

TOMHTML [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Tell us if it works by replacing "google.com.au" by one of these URLs:
Address: 64.233.167.104
Address: 72.14.235.104
Address: 72.14.207.104

Reto Meier [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]TOM: Aha! Doing that makes it go away.

Aside: They're definitely still rolling this out, the number of 'photos' that are available for any given location seems to be growing exponentially. If I turn it on in London you'd be lucky to see a building under all the thumbnails :). Updates and thumbnail drawing is very, very fast too.

Also, all the photos seem to be coming from Panaramio as opposed to some kind of clever Picasaweb integration.

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Does everyone see this on Google maps:

Can't find what you're looking for?
Add a place to the map New!

I was surprised to see that the link is available when doing searches outside the US.

Keir [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

Some one e-mailed me screen-shots of a new button called 'more' next to the 'map and 'satellite' buttons that had two layers 'photos' & 'Wikipedia'.

I couldn't reproduce that either. It seems it only worked when the e-mailer was logged in with a Google account. That feature then disappeared for him as well.

Forum home

Advertisement

 
Blog  |  Forum     more >> Archive | Feed | Google's blogs | About
Advertisement

 

This site unofficially covers Google™ and more with some rights reserved. Join our forum!