Google Launches Mapping Service

Alex Reynolds writes "The beta version of Google Maps is now online, offering an alternative to Mapquest with what some might describe as a very much improved user interface, offering a cleaner layout, drop shadows, clickable waypoints and keyboard controls that allow you to move and zoom the map. For IE and Firefox/Mozilla at this point (no Safari or Opera support, as yet)."

Google will never stop...

[Anonymous Coward]

They seem to have the directions to take on Microsoft

New World Map

[olafc]

A preview of the world map after Bush his second term is over :)

Re:Forget IE/Firefox etc...

[Sandmann]

> What about the rest of the planet?

What, BOTH of them?

Re:US Only at the moment.

[sosume]

Dude, I was thinking, like, wow, that's one big ocean!!! I kept scrolling and scrolling in hope to find Europe, must be what Columbus felt like when sailing to America... ;) Are you sure Europe isn't somewhere on that map??

Re:Forget IE/Firefox etc...

[Anonymous Coward]

That's the first thing I thought. It showed a map of the USA, so I tried scrolling right, only to find that the USA really is the whole world. Imagine my surprise! I owe a lot of Americans apologies for daring to doubt them.

Dropshadows?!

[kuzb]

[..]offering a cleaner layout, drop shadows, clickable waypoints and keyboard controls that allow you to move and zoom the map.

Jesus! They have drop shadows! Sign me up#@!

Re:Google will never stop...

[jellomizer]

Yea but they will never catch them if you use Microsoft Directions they will bring you to i90 North!!!! Well it seems they may have fixed it, but I remember when Microsoft bought out map-blast (my old favorite) I remember getting quite loss with their directions with them telling me to to take an even Interstate North (All even interstate goes East and West) and on the side roads they told me to go East when I needed to go west. And they for the longest time decided not to give Exit Numbers! But I just checked it out it seems that it was corrected.

Re:Forget IE/Firefox etc...

[imr]

well, they will have to put some kind of extension for irak and the tiny island state in Europe, what's its name already?

Re:Google will never stop...

[Hogwash McFly]

Yes, Google will soon become a search engine legend, after topping the chart for a long time. They have the key to success, let's hope they can scale this service up so we can all feel that feeling of elevation, like the one I got from playing The Silent Cartographer in Halo for the first time. This is a true landmark in search engine technology. I feel so giddy with excitement that I'm losing my orientation! I need the contours of a hot woman to offer me some relief!

Re:Forget IE/Firefox etc...

[plsavaria]

For once, Québec is included in the USA. What a nice mapping service!

Re:They forgot Poland !

[Gallowsgod]

You mean you guys belived you would get maps just because you embraced capitalism?

The world according to Google

[hcdejong]

1. only one continent
2. Canada is empty (OK, not too far off)
3. The center of the world is Coffeyville, Kansas
4. Nice choice of map - see the distortion at the top. That's one thing you should be able to avoid online.

Good thing it's a beta, then...

Re:US Only at the moment.

[mst]

It does? I clicked "maps" and entered "Sweden" into the search box and was informed (by a set of red baloons) that I live somewhere between Tulsa and Kansas City, not in northern Europe as I've always believed.

Come to think of it, this could explain the unusually warm winters we've had in Sweden lately.

Woo hoo! Drop shadows!

[Junior J. Junior III]

Now I'll NEVER get lost again! It's too bad the inventor of the drop shadow never filed a patent...

Re:Google will never stop...

[luvirini]

well, microsoft gives nice driving instructions for Europeans atleast: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/24/msn_drivin g_instructions/ [theregister.co.uk]

Re:Google will never stop...

[Anonymous Coward]

Thats nothing. Try this on for size:

I don't know how long it will be before someone at MSN notices that a whole lot of people are interested in this trip; this has appeared on many newsgroups already.

1. http://mappoint.msn.com/DirectionsFind.aspx
2. Plan a trip from Haugesund, Norway to Trondheim, Norway
3. Laugh

Shamelessly quoted from an ASR posting.

Must be a bug

[I don't want to spen]

I did a search for Apple Computer Inc Cupertino CA and I got an Infinite Loop ...

Re:Forget IE/Firefox etc...

[jrumney]

There be dragons!!!!

Centre of the map

[PhilHibbs]

So, who lives closest to the intersection of 2200 Rd and 4300 Rd, Coffeyville, Kansas? Just keep clicking the "+" button, and that's where the exact centre of Google's map of the US is. Just north of Coffeyville Country Club.

[tt]:Forget IE/Firefox etc...

[Porn Whitelist]

thant develop the super product that costs way too much to manufacuture and no one would use ALL the features.

Well, you just flushed your job interview at Redmond.

How about my car keys?

[LemonFire]

With Googles ability to find just about anything I thought that I was in luck, however a search for my car keys at my residential address came up with nothing.
Bummer.

very impressive!

[Complicity]

I searched for prostitutes near my address, and it came back with the following:

• Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church In Canada
  
• St Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church
  
• Customers For Life Inc
  
• Brantford Public Library
  
• Children's Aid Society of Haldimand-Norfolk
  
• Oxford Self-Help Network

Google teaches us so many things!

Rubbish!

[eric.t.f.bat]

I went looking for some cities I know of in the US, and the coverage is spotty, to say the least. New York is there, of course, but I went south to New Jersey and Delaware, and both Gotham and Metropolis are missing. Duh! Iowa and Minnesota exist, but Central City and Keystone are missing. Boston and Seattle are there, but no sign of Hub City, Gateway City, Star City -- need I go on? Obviously Coast City isn't there, but there's no marker for where it WAS.

Pretty shakey all round. Not impressed.

Re:Forget IE/Firefox etc...

[Epistax]

Now now, you can clearly see Canada's road.

Re:Forget IE/Firefox etc...

[pjt33]

It's all right. I'm used to maps not working too well in Lynx.

What are google planning???!

[madaxe42]

We could not calculate driving directions between miami and anchorage. We currently only support road-based driving directions.

Coming soon - off road based driving directions!

Turn left out of drive.
Go through neighbours yard.
Swerve to avoid barn
Swerve to avoid cow
Attatch floats to car, cross pond
Drive across desert, hope for reliable engine
Drive through mountains, attatch boring attatchment(yawn)
Reach crevasse
Plummet
Go to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200

Re:Forget IE/Firefox etc...

[hachete]

> Finally, Google IS a US-based country.

It'll be getting it's own flag and army next.

Re:You can drag the map !

[Vintermann]

Either google maps is north america only, or the atlantic ocean is a lot bigger than I thought.

Re:You can drag the map !

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot reply template #24
How to reply to a story about a new tool:

"Yawn. You've obviously not seen [insert tool name here that no-one has ever heard of]."

Re:Rubbish!

[Cheeze]

Did you search for Vice City or San Andreas?

Those cities are gangland.

dragons

[Anonymous Coward]

While it's still in beta, the areas for which they don't have information online yet should have the text "Here be dragons."

Re:Forget IE/Firefox etc...

[generic-man]

Knowing Google, it will be in beta for years [realseo.com]. People will insist that it's the best, even though it's in beta and how dare you criticize a beta product.

How can you be so sure they'll "expand its scope in the future"? Google News has stayed the same for three years without any customizability or flexibility (I want info on MY sports teams, not the world's most popular teams).

Oh crap. I just criticized a Google service. Better bring on the lies about how beta is a legally-binding term, and that it's good for Google to never release anything as a final version.

Re:New World Map

[edudspg]

A preview of the world map after Bush his second term is over :)

You have that backwards. After Bush's term scrolling east will work. ;-)

Just wait for version 2.0

[jalefkowit]

Two words:

lens flares!

Nice, but where's the rest of the world gone ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well if I want to buy a pizza in Kansas it is all very well....but hello Google there is a world outside the US. Sort of

Re:You can drag the map !

[ArsonSmith]

Google just got rid of all irrelevant information.

<preemptive humor impaired apology/>
Just kidding Geesh lighten up people.

Re:You can drag the map !

[jthayden]

It's trying to warn you not to go to New Jersey.

Re:Google will never stop...

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's another good one Bennäs - Jakobstad [msn.com]. What makes it even funnier is that Bennäs is the closest train station to Jakobstad, that's one hell of a cab ride into town :)

Re:You can drag the map !

[Media Tracker]

map.search.ch [search.ch] also has a very sleek, highly usable interface, built using only JavaScript. You can drag the map, zooming is animated, and you get a mix of satellite imagery and vector graphics... Very cool.

Only covers Switzerland, unfortunately.

Re:Features I would like.

[igny]

Least number of turns (most direct route).

But do they have Left turns only?

Re:It's all coming together now.

[sconeu]

Yeah, but does it send you on a tour of Europe just to go north a few hundred kilometers?

If it doesn't, then I'm sticking with MSN Maps!

Re:You can drag the map !

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're under linux and the javavm binary can't be found by the java plugin then Java does present rather a problem.. you need to edit your binary search paths ($PATH) and make sure javavm can be hand then all should be well.. try running firefox from a console and you can get a little information as to why the browser dies..

2005 is definitely the year of Linux on the desktop!

Re:The world according to Google

[acb]

I wonder whether anyone has told the Coffeyville, KS chamber of commerce; they could start printing Center of the World postcards and T-shirts, and rename the local diner the Center of the World Diner, and hopefully rake in the tourist bucks.

Who is Peggy Marfori?

[Drakonian]

My pedantry requires that I mentioned that "wherefore art thou" Shakespeare-style actually means Why are you, not Where.

But assuming you actually meant where, what are you looking for? A long lost girlfriend, Timothy? Are you looking for a map to her new place? What about the restraining order?

Re:Features I would like.

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear NASCAR fan,

Our cars can turn *both* ways.

Sincerely,
The Google Team