Making sense of a fast paced and changing world is difficult under the best of circumstances, but when you’re on the go, it’s even harder. With the new Google Maps for mobile 4.1, we’re introducing a few features that make sorting through search results or quickly seeing Maps info a bit easier.
Updated search results page
With the newly reimagined Google Maps for mobile search results page, we’ve done away with the tabs to give you all the info you want on one page. Tap the new buttons to see the place on the map, get directions, call it, or see it with Street View. The extra space let us bring details and reviews right up front.
Swipe for more results
Take a look at the new page, and you can quickly see that Milk Pail Market specializes in cheese, has mostly 4 and 5 star ratings, and also sells fresh vegetables. You can select any section to see more reviews, buzz, etc. If you want to get to more search results without going back to the list, simply grab the page with your finger and swipe it away to the left or right to see the next or last result.
Latitude widget and Maps live wallpaper
Once you’ve updated to Maps 4.1, you’ll also have a couple different ways to put Maps up close and personal on your phone. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could quickly find your nearest friends or glance at the traffic conditions around you without opening Maps? Add the Latitude widget to a home screen panel to see your nearest Latitude friends by pressing the “Menu” button from the home screen and selecting Add > Widgets > Latitude. On Android 2.1+ phones, you can also turn your home screen into one big, updating map using the Maps live wallpaper. Press the “Menu” button from your home screen and select Wallpaper > Live wallpapers > Maps. Now you can see nearby friends or a map each time you open your home screen.
Switch Google Accounts
We’ve been adding more and more features that sync with your Google Account whether you’re on your phone or your computer. If you’re managing multiple identities, Maps now lets you switch the Google Account it uses between the accounts you’ve synced to your Android-powered phone. From the Maps menu, select More > Switch Account to sign out of your current account and sign in to a different one. Features like Google Buzz, Latitude, Starred items, My Maps, and more can then begin using whichever account you’ve chosen.
Get these new features at your fingertips by searching for “Google Maps” in Android Market from Android 1.6+ phones. Update Maps to version 4.1, available in all the countries and languages where Maps is currently available. Visit our Help Center to learn more, ask questions in our Help Forum, or give us suggestions and vote on other people’s on the Mobile Product Ideas page.
Posted by Chiu-Ki Chan and Andrew Oplinger, Software Engineers, Google Mobile
Written by Chris Nguyen on March 17th, 2010 with no comments.
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Q: How much does it cost you to put that tiny searchbox on your iPhone web browser? See photo inside the red square. A: $100 million a year! According to a source of businessinsider, Google pays that money annually to Apple to be on the iPhone. Also interesting is the deal of Google Maps on the iPhone. Because Google and Apple are more and more competitors because of Google’s move to the Nexus One smartphone. Quoting the words of that the article and the source: 
“when Apple first introduced the iPhone, it hammered out its deal for Google Maps in two weeks. When Apple prepared to launch the iPhone 3G with GPS a year later, it was a six-month process “full of acrimony” to get the maps deal finished. Google wanted access to all sorts of data from the maps, but Apple didn’t want to give it up, according to this person.”
How it works out with the next generation iPhone 4G and the new iPad is a big guess. Maybe we are “BINGing” in stead of “GOOGling”…
via businessinsider
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Written by Muratos on February 13th, 2010 with no comments.
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If you often use both a computer and a mobile phone in your daily routine, it can seem like a hassle when they don’t stay in sync. You might spend time on your computer looking for a great used bookstore, only to forget the name of the place when you are ready to get directions from your phone. Sure, you could print directions in advance, but we believe smartphones are “smart” because they save you time. That’s why today we’re making your phone a bit smarter with the introduction of personalized suggestions and synchronized starring in Google Maps for mobile on Android.
Personalized suggestions make it easy to find places you’ve previously searched for. For example, imagine you’re on your computer and you come across the Place Page for
Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store Cafe. After reading reviews, you decide to stop in for lunch. When you’re ready to go and want to get directions, just open Google Maps on your phone, start typing “mar,” and you’ll quickly see a suggestion - saving you from re-typing a long query and making it easier and faster to be on your way.
In addition, starring is a great way to save places to access them later. So whether you’re standing at
Amoeba Music with your phone or making plans to go there on your computer, you can star it so it appears on the map next time you’re on either device. When viewing place details, just press the star icon next to the place name; these starred places are automatically synchronized between desktop and mobile, and can be accessed from both the “More” menu on your phone and from the My Maps tab on your computer.
Starring and personalized suggestions both require you to be signed in with your Google account, and your
Web History must be enabled in order to use personalized suggestions.With synchronized starring and personalized suggestions, we hope to make your life easier when taking places and searches between your computer and phone. Both features are available in Google Maps 3.4. On Nexus One phones, you’ll get this version of Maps after you accept the
over-the-air update that started today. For other Android devices, starring and personalized suggestions will soon be available by downloading Google Maps 3.4 from Android Market. Lastly, be sure to check out the newly added “night mode” in Navigation, which will automatically turn on for easier Navigation viewing at night.
Posted by Michael Siliski and Taj Campbell, Google Maps
Written by Heaven on February 2nd, 2010 with no comments.
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Since we launched printable coupons on Google Maps a few years ago, people are increasingly using their mobile phones to find local information when they’re away from a computer. With more of you going mobile to search for this information, it makes sense for coupons to go mobile too.
So just in time for the holidays, we’ve made it easier to find discounts when you’re on the go. If a business adds a mobile coupon to its Google Local Business Center listing, you’ll be able to access it from your mobile device. Just go to google.com on your phone and search for a local business. When you land on its Place Page, you’ll see any coupons or discounts that might be available. Then simply show the participating business the coupon, right from your phone, to redeem the offer.
We hope you find these mobile coupons useful and that they help you save money, trees (fewer printed coupons), and your hands (from paper cuts) when you’re on the go. Mobile coupons are currently only available in the US. For more information check out the Lat Long Blog.
Posted by Alex Gawley, Product Manager
Written by Lawrence Chang on November 23rd, 2009 with no comments.
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Since the launch of Google Latitude earlier this year, we’ve been getting a lot of feature requests. One of the most popular ideas was for Latitude to keep track of location history, allowing you (but not your friends) to see where you’ve been at any point in time. Another popular idea was to notify you when you’re near your Latitude friends so you can easily meet up or grab lunch. Today, we’re happy to introduce both Google Location History and Google Location Alerts (beta) to let you do even more with Latitude.
Google Location History
Whether you’re taking a road trip across the country, backpacking across Europe, or just going out for a night on the town, it’s fascinating to look back at where you went, and for how long you stayed. Enable Google Location History to store, view, and manage your past Latitude locations. You can visualize your history on Google Maps and Earth or play back a recent trip in order. Of course, you can always delete selected history or your entire location history at any time. While working on Location History, I found myself going back in time to discover things that would have otherwise been impossible. For example, I stopped at an awesome BBQ place on my way back from Lake Tahoe this summer, but I couldn’t remember the name when my friend was asking about it a few months later. I pulled up my location history for that weekend, found where I was stationary on the drive home, and the restaurant name showed up in Google Maps: Drooling Dog Bar BQ. Check it out below:
Google Location Alerts (beta)
People also want to know when their friends were nearby, but it’s not always convenient to keep checking Latitude to see if a friend has recently shown up near you. After working on this for a while, we realized it wasn’t as straightforward as sending a notification every time Latitude friends were near each other. Imagine that you’re Latitude friends with your roommate or co-workers. It would get pretty annoying to get a text message every single time you walked in the door at home or pulled into work. To avoid this, we decided to make Location Alerts smarter by requiring that you also enable Location History. Using your past location history, Location Alerts can recognize your regular, routine locations and not create alerts when you’re at places like home or work. Alerts will only be sent to you and any nearby friends when you’re either at an unusual place or at a routine place at an unusual time. Keep in mind that it may take up to a week to learn your “unusual” locations and start sending alerts.
To enable these features, go to google.com/latitude/apps. You must first be an existing Google Latitude user; if you’re not already, sign up here. You must explicitly enable each feature, and of course, you can disable it at any time. Learn more in the Help Center about Location Alerts and Location History, suggest and vote on ideas in the Mobile Product Ideas page, or report problems in the Mobile Help Forum.
Posted by Chris Lambert, Software Engineer, Google Mobile
Written by Heaven on November 10th, 2009 with no comments.
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