Google: still redefining the world of maps
Posted 1 June 2007 at 9:33AM by Simon Dickson in Website development
Google's mapping product rewrote the rulebook when it was launched in February 2005. Previous mapping websites relied on a clunky click-by-click process to move one step north, south, east or west. Zooming in and out was usually just as painful. Google's click-and-drag functionality was a revelation, and it's no surprise that it should have become the de facto standard for doing these things.
Just as importantly, if not more so, Google offered an API ('application programming interface') for the system, allowing the world's geeks to innovate around it. Google provided the maps, and made the functionality remarkably simple. All you had to do was bring your data, with a longitude and latitude, and Google did the rest. This led to some quite remarkable 'mashups', such as ChicagoCrime.org, which lets you visualise the Chicago police department's log of reported crimes; or closer to home, the excellent OnOneMap property search engine.
So when Google makes an announcement about new features in its mapping service, such as the new 'Street View', it tends to make a big splash - even when, in this case, Amazon had done basically the same thing almost two years earlier. Having said that, it's a pretty neat addition: Google's supplier has been driving a van round the streets of San Francisco (and a few other US cities), taking photos as it goes. You can pick any point covered by the service, and see a street-level view of the area in question. And as you'd expect, Google adds its magic to the user experience, by making it a breeze to manipulate - spinning round, zooming in and out, navigating within the photo, and so on. Just look for the 'Street view' button at the top of the screen, and choose a street outlined in blue.
In terms of quality and coverage, Google isn't necessarily the best service for the UK audience. Microsoft's rival service generally has better quality UK imagery, including the fantastic 'birds eye' view - down and at an angle. And UK-based database specialist 192.com launched its own mapping service late last year, claiming to have '28 per cent more labelled streets and more aerial photography than any other provider'. Their Flash-based approach has its pros and cons, but it certainly has the most detailed and up-to-date pictures of my own back garden.
But still the UK's favourite mapping site, and by some distance according to analysts Hitwise, is multimap.com, with a market share in excess of 25%. It's had a dramatic overhaul recently, and is now right up there; and they've very kindly left the old version active, so you can appreciate just how far we've come lately.
Tags: 192.com, google, hitwise, live.com, maps, microsoft, multimap
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