Google Maps

Main article: Geo-information system

History

2023: Google Maps pave the way for a bridge that collapsed 9 years ago. A whole family died

Phillip Paxton, a 47-year-old man, was driving home on September 30, 2022, when his pickup truck fell into the water from the edge of a broken bridge that collapsed back in 2013. Cards sent him along this route. Google He had only recently moved and therefore did not know the area. That evening, Philip was returning alone from a party dedicated to his nine-year-old daughter.

He drove cautiously in the darkness and in the rain and, unsuspecting, followed an outdated route over the bridge, which residents have been calling "Bridge to Nowhere" for 10 years, fell into the water and drowned, Paxton's attorney Bob Zimmerman wrote.

Broken back in 2013 bridge from which Phillip Paxton fell and drowned

Paxton's friend John Hopson noted that there were no signs near the bridge indicating a structure breakdown. Barriers that normally block the road have been removed due to vandalism.

Within nine of the bridge breaking down, several residents were contacting Google asking for an update on the map. The company accepted one of the statements and stated that it was considering this case and promised to share information about the measures taken. However, further actions did not work.

Our girls ask how their dad died, and I have no words that they would understand, because even I, as an adult, cannot understand how those who are responsible for GPS coordinates, for the bridge, could act with such disregard for human lives - said the wife of the deceased Alisha.

In addition to Google, the family has also filed lawsuits against Alphabet, Google's parent company, as well as two local companies responsible for maintaining land around and the bridge, putting up barriers and warning signs. The lawsuit accuses those companies of negligence and disparaging behavior.^[1]

2022: Launching a bird's eye view of cities

On May 11, 2022, it became known about the appearance in Google Maps of a feature called Immersive View, which will allow users to see some of the most famous cities in the world from the height of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said during his speech at Google I/O 2022 that Immersive View relies on "billions of photos" and processes them using artificial intelligence to model buildings, trees and other landmarks in 3D. The new view mode is designed to help people better understand the topography of the city, turn the perspective so that they can look between buildings, as well as check the road situation and weather conditions at different times of the day.

Google Maps has a bird's eye view of cities

If you decide to go look at Big Ben, you can check if there's traffic jams there, how busy it is, and even see the weather forecast, "Pichai said.

What's surprising is that it's not a flying drone - we use neural rendering to create images-only experiences, "Pichai said. And the immersive Google Cloud stream allows you to run this experience on any smartphone.

Google said in a blog post that the new Immersive View will debut with support for a limited number of cities, including Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo, other cities will be added soon.

People expect a better experience from the software they use, including maps. After all, we live in a three-dimensional world, and maps have been a compromise for too long, "said Holger Mueller of Constellation Research. Google is now changing the paradigm with Immersive View, creating more realistic, three-dimensional perspectives of the cities we live in. You can even say that these are the first beginnings of the metaverse.

On Google I/O, the company also announced some other Google Maps updates. In particular, the eco-friendly routing feature, which has already been launched in the US and Canada and helps drivers find the most economical route to their destination, will soon be launched in Europe.

Google estimates the feature has saved more than half a million cubic tons of carbon dioxide emissions. According to Google, this is equivalent to removing 100,000 cars from the roads. By expanding its operations in Europe, Google hopes to double that figure.

The developers were also in for a big gift, the launch of Google's new ARCore Geospatial geospatial programming interface, which allows Google's Map Live View feature to be used in third-party applications^[2]

2020

City Congestion Feature Announcement

Soon Google , Map users will be available information about the congestion in the city. It will be updated in real time so that you can make the safest route possible, bypassing crowds. This became known on October 16, 2020.

The ability to see information about the workload of some places began to be implemented back in 2016. During a pandemic, this information has become an important tool to help people quickly understand how safe it will be where they plan to go. Now Google plans to expand coverage by at least five times, adding millions of places around the world.

Google Maps users will be able to see congestion in beaches, parks, squares and even places such as large grocery stores, gas stations and pharmacies. Information about the number of people will be displayed directly on the map during the construction of the route.

Google also promised that it would display information on security measures that are used in viewed establishments and the organization. The user will be able to find out whether customers are required to wear masks, whether a pre-reservation is needed, whether there is plexiglass to protect employees and whether the staff is checked for temperature. This information should come directly from companies.

An update with these changes will appear soon on, and iOS Android desktop around the computers world.^[3]

Start of demonstration of coronavirus outbreaks

At the end of September 2020, Google announced a new feature available in Google Maps. Now on the maps it will be possible to see the number of cases of coronavirus infection COVID-19 in a particular region.

This means that before any trip, users will be able to find out how many infected in this region and what is the dynamics of the development of the disease over the past week. The incidence will be displayed as an additional layer with color encoding. The zones where the probability of contracting coronavirus is greatest will be marked in red. This function can be especially useful in autumn and winter, when an increase in the incidence is expected.

Google Maps began showing outbreaks of COVID-19

Google will receive the necessary information from sources such as Johns Hopkins University, the New York Times and Wikipedia. Those, in turn, receive information from the World Health Organization (WHO), hospitals, local and intergovernmental organizations.

The feature is available for iPhones and Android phones after being updated in all 220 countries and regions where Google Maps operates, including Russia. Google did not specify whether a new layer of "COVID-19" will appear in the web version of the service.

Information related to COVID-19 can be viewed on a separate layer in Google Maps. To do this, open the Google Maps application on your mobile device, click on the Layers icon at the top of the screen and then select COVID-19 Information. This layer shows the average number of new cases per 100,000 population over the past seven days, and also indicates whether this number is increasing or decreasing. Also in Google Maps, you can find a list of nearby medical institutions that are testing for COVID-19 and even receive special notifications about the epidemic situation in the region of residence.^[4]

How artificial intelligence helps improve Google Maps

In early February 2020, Google updated Google Maps and talked about how artificial intelligence helped make the mapping service more useful and attractive.

Major advances in AI have changed our approach to creating the service, allowing you to quickly create high-quality maps and receive local information from other parts of the world, "said Jen Fitzpatrick, vice president of Google Maps, in a blog post.

Google updated Google Maps and talked about how artificial intelligence helped make mapping service more useful and attractive service

For example, using machine learning, Google only in 2019 was able to put the same number of buildings on maps as it registered in the entire previous decade. The Google Maps team worked with the data team to manually track the shared contours of buildings, Fitzpatrick said. And then they trained machine learning models to recognize the faces and shapes of buildings from these workpieces.

Machine learning also helped Google recognize areas where official street signs and house numbers were missing through handwritten lettering recognition. In Nigeria, for example, machine learning has helped Google add 20,000 street names, 50,000 addresses and 100,000 new businesses.

In 2019, Google Maps introduced the Live View augmented reality feature. Live View also relies on machine learning, smartphone sensors and real-world images provided by Google Maps Street View. The new feature helps the user navigate unfamiliar streets with ease.

By early 2020, Google Maps uses more than 1 billion people a month. Google has mapped more than 220 countries and provided information on 200 million locations and businesses. Google has also made the tool more attractive, encouraging users to self-post photos of locations, reviews and ratings. Now people add more than 20 million pieces of content to Google Maps every day.^[5]

2019: Companies swarm Google Maps with millions of fake addresses

In mid-June 2019, it became known that companies flooded Google Maps with fake addresses and phone numbers. Hundreds of thousands of fake outlets appear on the mapping service every month, and in general there are about 11 million mistakenly registered companies.

Journalists from The Wall Street Journal studied the addresses in Google Maps and reported that sometimes firms change phone numbers and competitor addresses to their own, sometimes place their offices in maps in order to appear more often in search results.

Google representatives conducted an independent study in 2017 and claim that only 0.5% of addresses are false, but journalists believe otherwise. After trying to find the plumbing using Google Maps, they found that 13 of the first 20 search results were false. Only two companies on the list were real and adhered to Google rules, according to which only retail outlets open to customers should be displayed on maps.

Most businesses leaving fake addresses and phones are in the repair industry. These are companies that people turn to in emergency situations and, as a rule, do not make preliminary inquiries about them. At the opposite end of the list are cafes and hotels - they almost always indicate real addresses, as their profits depend on it.

Google usually checks companies that register by sending a digital code by phone or email, but it is not difficult for scammers to bypass this restriction. These loopholes harm both real businesses and customers. In response to the study of journalists, Google representatives said that the company regularly cleans fake profiles and develops new methods to combat fraudsters. In its blog, Google also encourages people to report violations identified immediately.^[6]

2018: Google Maps took a tourist into the desert and forced her to survive there for 5 days

In November 2018, it became known that Amber VanHecke, a 24-year-old student from Texas, USA, went on a trip through the Grand Canyon in Arizona using Google Maps. The application showed a non-existent road, but, deciding that it could simply be washed out by water, the girl continued to follow the paved route. However, the car ran out of fuel en route and Amber had to spend five days in the desert alone.

The car was in the shadow of an abandoned water tank. In five days, only one truck drove past, but at speed the driver could not see the car. After that, the girl built a barricade on the road to stop the next vehicle, but there were no more cars. Next to the car of stones, the student posted the words "SOS" and "HELP," in the hope that they would be visible from flying planes, and at night she tried to shine a flashlight into the sky.

Amber VanHecke had five days to survive in desert due to Google Maps bug

Amber ate nuts, seeds and dried fruit, as well as pasta, which she cooked on the machine's dashboard during the hottest part of the day. Five days later, the girl went in search of a mobile signal. She left a note at the car so that rescuers could find her.

I'm tired of waiting to be rescued, "Amber wrote on her GoFundMe page, which she created to raise money for medical expenses after the incident.

After walking 11 miles (about 17km), Amber was able to call 911 before the signal went missing. A 30 minutes later, an ambulance found her car and found the girl, following her signs. The student was taken to Flagstaff Hospital, where she was treated for dehydration and burns.

Google has not commented on the case.^[7]

2017

Displaying the waiting time for a table in restaurants

In October 2017, Google announced the launch of a new tool that will allow users to avoid queuing at popular restaurants. The service shows the waiting time for a table in establishments.

Many cafes and other catering establishments provide data on the workload of establishments at one time or another. Thanks to the new feature from Google, users will be able not only to choose the optimal time to visit the restaurant, but also to know the time when the table will be empty. Thanks to this, you can schedule the time for dinner in advance.

Google has created a tool to eliminate queues in restaurants

The Google feature presented uses anonymous user location data that people voluntarily provide to the company to receive useful recommendations on Google services.

To access this innovation, the user needs to find the restaurant itself in the Google search engine or on Google Maps, after which you need to open the section with the specified most visited time.

A similar function long before Google was introduced into the Foursquare institution recommendation service. Unlike Google, in Foursquare and its subsidiary service Swarm, users clearly note their location, but aggregated data on "checks" and location with GPS is used to determine the workload.

In addition, the search service for business services Yelp implemented a similar opportunity as a result of the acquisition of the developer of the online booking system NoWait for $40 million in March 2017.

By the time this article was written (November 8, 2017), Google's announced restaurant waiting time feature had not been launched. The company promises its "imminent" launch "for your favorite restaurants." At the same time, Google did not specify whether the new service will work around the world.^[8]

Editing roads

Google added the ability to edit roads to the mapping service in the spring of 2017. The popular mapping service Google Maps has received an update. The corresponding data is transmitted by the developers of the search corporation.

According to their information, the innovation provides for the ability to make edits and edit information about the streets displayed in the service. To make changes, the user just needs to go to the "Leave Feedback" section and select "Add Road." You can also add up-to-date street information in this section.

The developers note that users, in particular, will be able to warn drivers about repairs or changes in the numbering of houses.

2016: Design update and launch of areas of interest

Google Maps has received a new design in the web version, as well as on Android and iOS platforms. In the updated version of "Maps," designers focused on roads and more significant objects of the area. Also, the Google team changed fonts and removed some of the elements, thereby improving the readability of the map.

In addition, so-called "areas of interest" ― shaded zones have appeared in Google Maps, which may be of interest to the user. In a similar way, hotels, restaurants, museums, theaters and other similar institutions are marked. The definition of "areas of interest" is handled by a special algorithm that individually calculates them for each user.

2012: Fine in a lawsuit filed by a competitor in France

The French company Bottin Cartographes has obtained compensation from Google in court for unfair competition and dumping in the mapping market, France-Presse reports.

Bottin Cartographes provides virtually the same services as Google Maps, but unlike Google, it's not free. The company managed to prove to the court that Google is abusing market dominance and undermining competitors' businesses by making its own services free. Google can afford to lose money until it forces competitors out of the market, Bottin Cartographes said.

The Paris Arbitration Court agreed with the plaintiffs' arguments and awarded them compensation in the amount of $660 thousand. In addition, Google has been fined $19,700.

Google plans to appeal the decision.

"The availability of a free high-quality mapping service is beneficial for both Internet users and website owners," the company says. "Competitors for us in this sector are present both in France and in other countries."

Google Maps has been sued more than once in connection with the problems of protecting the secrecy of personal life, but the company was condemned for free for the first time.

2011

Updating pictures in Russia

The company Google announced that it has updated satellite images in different places of the globe, including in. Russia Thus, images of almost the entire Black Sea coast of Russia were posted on the mapping service of the Internet giant. In addition, the western Moscow part and the nearest Moscow region from the north have been updated - Khimki Dolgoprudny, Mytishchi, Korolev and Shchelkovo. New images of Samara, Ufa, Tomsk also appeared, now the village of Chersky in the north-east of Yakutia and the nearby village of Zeleny Mys are visible from the satellite. In addition to Russia, satellite images of absolutely everything have been updated. Belarus

Launch of the beta version of Google MapsGL on WebGL technology

In October 2011, Google announced the launch of the beta version of the Google MapsGL service, an experimental version of Google Maps, improved by using WebGL technology. WebGL is a new Internet technology that allows you to display 3D graphics in a browser without having to install additional software. With its help, "Google Maps" have become more convenient. The use of WebGL gave developers the ability to make 3D buildings look more like their prototypes, implement smoother transitions between images, and speed up switching between map and street views. In this case, you do not need to install any plug-ins: one browser is enough.

If the user's browser and video card meet WebGL requirements, he can start participating in the beta testing of the updated "Maps." To do this, go to the maps.google.com/gl page and click "Try." WebGL opens the way for a new class of Internet applications, allowing them to use graphics of the quality that previously needed to be installed on a computer by an additional program, the Internet giant said in a statement.

See also

• Apple Maps
• Here HD Live Map
• Yandex.Maps
• Yandex.Navigator
• Maps.Me
• Navitel Navigator
• TomTom

Notes