Googlified

The Associated Press reports that Google is going to announce a partnership with Gilbarco Veeder-Root, a leading producer of gas pumps, to bring Google Maps to “thousands of gasoline pumps across the United States beginning early next month.”

There will be about 3,500 gas pumps at the initial offer but will “expand based on retailer demand.” These pumps have small screens displaying Google Maps, which enable motorists to “scroll through several categories [of locations] selected by the gas station’s owner.” Google won’t include any ads along the maps, but they will split money with participating retailers by offering coupons from other merchants.

Gas station “emits a strong foul odor“.

UPDATE: Officially announced on the Google LatLong Blog. I can’t believe that they use the image from Engadget in their blog post instead of using their own!

Google Transit now supports trip planning for Canada. Well, just Vancouver for now. The data of the public transportation for Vancouver is provided by TransLink.

According to this poster, Google will officially launch the service on November 1st, but you Vancouverites can start using the service to plan trips around the area now.

I was supposed to have a driving lesson this afternoon, but the guy didn’t show up. Now I have to wait till next week to take the driving test. Darn it. :(

Google replaced the yellow person icon with a witch icon on Google Maps Street View today, and probably for the next couple days, to celebrate my birthoween (or Halloween). :)

Can’t wait for the doodle. :)

[via Google Blogoscoped]

Google Maps added street view imageries in six more cities: Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland and Tucson.

Some cities that may be part of Street View soon:

• St. Paul
• Ankeny, Iowa
• Evansville, Indiana
• Washington DC
• Salt Lake
• Quebec City
  
• Montreal
• London

And of course - Columbus, Ohio! :D

Google’s LatLong Blog announced that Google Transit just graduated from Google Labs, and has been fully integrated with Google Maps.

The “Public Transit” option will show up when you search for directions in cities that have transit information available, like in San Francisco, Honolulu, Seattle, and all transportation networks in Japan. You can select what time to depart/arrive and choose alternative routes. Also, you can “compare the cost of taking public transit with the cost of driving” in some areas.

Good to see that it came out of Google Labs, but they need to add support for more cities. Not like I need it, but others do.

I was like, “Wow.” Seriously.

On a related note, Google Earth updated their imagery for several countries.

Google is organizing an “International Cleanup Weekend” during the weekend of October 13th and 14th this year. Their goal is to gather people around the world to head out to “clean up local parks, beaches, trails and other hot spots.”

Is there a prize or other incentive for planning a cleanup?
No prizes, but just think of all the good karma and moral fiber you’ll be acquiring!

I am always amused by all these random “holidays”, like Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day and Ask a Stupid Question Day.

[thanks Tom]

Google is now* inserting a little (sneaky) “Save trees. Go green! Download Google Maps for mobile” image on the page which you print the maps out. I called it sneaky because Google uses print style-sheet to “hide” the image from normal web page view so you won’t see it until you have printed it out (or go to “Print Preview”). If you don’t want to see that message up there, you can block the image or type something (e.g. space) in the “Notes” box.

Now they are just wasting whole bunch of inks, which in turn causes some other environment problems. (not that I am saying the message of going green is bad)

*maybe it’s been around for a while, correct me if I am wrong

UPDATE: Markus says in the comment that “It’s been there at least for the last 3 weeks or so.” Yeah, I think that’s about the time when I ran out of ink (and I am too broke to buy any now). Thanks Markus. :)

[via Drew Bell on Flickr]

Nashville resident Anthony Trumbo spotted a Google Street View car while walking his dog around his apartment.

In any case, from reading blogs about Google products I was aware that there was a fleet of blue Cobalts making their way around the country taking photos for use in Google’s Streetview feature of Google Maps. The Cobalt doesn’t appear to have moved over the past few days so I guess it is on vacation for Labor day. Currently Streetview is only available in about 7 cities, but perhaps Nashville will be soon be on the list. And if I’m not careful, I may be captured out walking Ella.

I think I saw one here in Columbus the other day as well, not sure though, since I didn’t have my glasses on at the time (I normally don’t wear my glasses, blink blink). 8-)

[photo by Anthony Trumbo, used under a CC-license]

This reminds me “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Trapped in the Drive-Thru“. By the way, I heard she said “I’ll go and Google it.”

Also, Mercedes-Benz now supports Google Maps with their “Search & Send” service.

[via SeekXL]

As reported on the Sydney Morning Herald last week, Google now allows users to embed customized Google Maps on their web pages without using the Google Maps API. The users can embed a normal map or their maps in My Maps by clicking on the “Link to this page” link and copy & paste the code to their sites (or simply add “&output=embed” at the end of the URL if you know what you are doing).

It’s a bit disappointing that Google didn’t offer the option that allows scroll wheel zoom. I know Google’s going to be like, “Hey, it’s not all that user friendly,” but at least have the option for the user to choose, some may appreciate it. (the Maps API has this feature)

Also, Google Maps updated their interface a little bit. Give it a try to see if you can find what’s been updated. :)

[via Google Maps Mania]

Outside of the Kodak Threater

The Google LatLong Blog announced that Street View is now available in 4 more cities, San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston and Orlando, in additional to San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Miami and Denver that was there when Street View initially launched.

Holy cow, is that Lord Vader!!?