Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360 interactive panoramic views of streets (Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and route planning for traveling by foot, car, bike, air (in beta) and public transportation. As of 2020[update], Google Maps was being used by over 1 billion people every month around the world.[1]
Google Maps ! !
Google Maps began as a C++ desktop program developed by brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen at Where 2 Technologies. In October 2004, the company was acquired by Google, which converted it into a web application. After additional acquisitions of a geospatial data visualization company and a real-time traffic analyzer, Google Maps was launched in February 2005.[2] The service's front end utilizes JavaScript, XML, and Ajax. Google Maps offers an API that allows maps to be embedded on third-party websites,[3] and offers a locator for businesses and other organizations in numerous countries around the world. Google Map Maker allowed users to collaboratively expand and update the service's mapping worldwide but was discontinued from March 2017. However, crowdsourced contributions to Google Maps were not discontinued as the company announced those features would be transferred to the Google Local Guides program.[4]
As of 2007, Google Maps is equipped with a miniature view with a draggable rectangle that denotes the area shown in the main viewport, and "Info windows" for previewing details about locations on maps.[16]
On September 23, 2020, Google announced a COVID-19 Layer update for Google maps, which is designed to offer a seven-day average data of the total COVID-19-positive cases per 100,000 people in the area selected on the map. It also features a label indicating the rise and fall in the number of cases.[51]
In 2007, Google began offering traffic data as a colored overlay on top of roads and motorways to represent the speed of vehicles on particular roads. Crowdsourcing is used to obtain the GPS-determined locations of a large number of cellphone users, from which live traffic maps are produced.[61][62][63]
In March 2011, indoor maps were added to Google Maps, giving users the ability to navigate themselves within buildings such as airports, museums, shopping malls, big-box stores, universities, transit stations, and other public spaces (including underground facilities). Google encourages owners of public facilities to submit floor plans of their buildings in order to add them to the service.[89] Map users can view different floors of a building or subway station by clicking on a level selector that is displayed near any structures which are mapped on multiple levels.
My Maps is a feature in Google Maps launched in April 2007 that enables users to create custom maps for personal use or sharing. Users can add points, lines, shapes, notes and images on top of Google Maps using a WYSIWYG editor.[90] An Android app for My Maps, initially released in March 2013 under the name Google Maps Engine Lite, was available until its removal from the Play Store in October 2021.[91][92][93]
The version of Google Street View for classic Google Maps required Adobe Flash.[103] In October 2011, Google announced MapsGL, a WebGL version of Maps with better renderings and smoother transitions.[104] Indoor maps use JPG, .PNG, .PDF, .BMP, or .GIF, for floor plans.[105]
The Google Maps terms and conditions[106] state that usage of material from Google Maps is regulated by Google Terms of Service[107] and some additional restrictions. Google has either purchased local map data from established companies, or has entered into lease agreements to use copyrighted map data.[108] The owner of the copyright is listed at the bottom of zoomed maps. For example, street maps in Japan are leased from Zenrin. Street maps in China are leased from AutoNavi.[109] Russian street maps are leased from Geocentre Consulting and Tele Atlas. Data for North Korea is sourced from the companion project Google Map Maker.
After the success of reverse-engineered mashups such as chicagocrime.org and housingmaps.com, Google launched the Google Maps API in June 2005[114] to allow developers to integrate Google Maps into their websites. It was a free service that didn't require an API key until June 2018 (changes went into effect on July 16), when it was announced that an API key linked to a Google Cloud account with billing enabled would be required to access the API.[115] The API currently[update] does not contain ads, but Google states in their terms of use that they reserve the right to display ads in the future.[116]
Within China, the State Council mandates that all maps of China use the GCJ-02 coordinate system, which is offset from the WGS-84 system used in most of the world. google.cn/maps (formerly Google Ditu) uses the GCJ-02 system for both its street maps[125] and satellite imagery.[126] google.com/maps also uses GCJ-02 data for the street map, but uses WGS-84 coordinates for satellite imagery,[127] causing the so-called China GPS shift problem.
Frontier alignments also present some differences between google.cn/maps and google.com/maps. On the latter, sections of the Chinese border with India and Pakistan are shown with dotted lines, indicating areas or frontiers in dispute. However, google.cn shows the Chinese frontier strictly according to Chinese claims with no dotted lines indicating the border with India and Pakistan. For example, the South Tibet region claimed by China but administered by India as a large part of Arunachal Pradesh is shown inside the Chinese frontier by google.cn, with Indian highways ending abruptly at the Chinese claim line. Google.cn also shows Taiwan and the South China Sea Islands as part of China. Google Ditu's street map coverage of Taiwan no longer omits major state organs, such as the Presidential Palace, the five Yuans, and the Supreme Court.[128][additional citation(s) needed]
Google has said it created its maps from third-party data, public sources, satellites, and users, but many names used have not been connected to any official record.[129] Many neighborhood names, according to critics, are "just plain puzzling" or simply made up. Some names used by Google have been traced to non-professionally made maps with typographical errors that survived on Google Maps.[131]
Google Maps is available as a mobile app for the Android and iOS mobile operating systems. The Android app was first released in September 2008,[143][144] though the GPS-localization feature had been in testing on cellphones since 2007.[145][146][147] Up until iOS 6, the built-in maps application on the iOS operating system was powered by Google Maps. However, with the announcement of iOS 6 in June 2012, Apple announced that they had created their own Apple Maps mapping service,[148] which officially replaced Google Maps when iOS 6 was released on September 19, 2012.[149] However, at launch, Apple Maps received significant criticism from users due to inaccuracies, errors and bugs.[150][151] One day later, The Guardian reported that Google was preparing its own Google Maps app,[152] which was released on December 12, 2012.[153][154] Within only two days, the application had been downloaded over ten million times.[155]
The Google Maps apps for iOS and Android have many of the same features, including turn-by-turn navigation, street view, and public transit information.[156][157] Turn-by-turn navigation was originally announced by Google as a separate beta testing app exclusive to Android 2.0 devices in October 2009.[158][159] The original standalone iOS version did not support the iPad,[157] but tablet support was added with version 2.0 in July 2013.[160] An update in June 2012 for Android devices added support for offline access to downloaded maps of certain regions,[161][162] a feature that was eventually released for iOS devices, and made more robust on Android, in May 2014.[163][164]
USA Today welcomed the application back to iOS, saying: "The reemergence in the middle of the night of a Google Maps app for the iPhone is like the return of an old friend. Only your friend, who'd gone missing for three months, comes back looking better than ever."[179] Jason Parker of CNET, calling it "the king of maps", said, "With its iOS Maps app, Google sets the standard for what mobile navigation should be and more."[180] Bree Fowler of the Associated Press compared Google's and Apple's map applications, saying: "The one clear advantage that Apple has is style. Like Apple devices, the maps are clean and clear and have a fun, pretty element to them, especially in 3-D. But when it comes down to depth and information, Google still reigns superior and will no doubt be welcomed back by its fans."[181] Gizmodo gave it a ranking of 4.5 stars, stating: "Maps Done Right".[182] According to The New York Times, Google "admits that it's [iOS app is] even better than Google Maps for Android phones, which has accommodated its evolving feature set mainly by piling on menus".[183]
If you need more integrated uses of our products for commercial use, we have multiple APIs available through Google Maps Platform to help you build and embed custom maps for your website or mobile app. When using these APIs, certain restrictions may apply.
(e) No Use With Non-Google Maps. To avoid quality issues and/or brand confusion, Customer will not use the Google Maps Core Services with or near a non-Google Map in a Customer Application. For example, Customer will not (i) display or use Places content on a non-Google map, (ii) display Street View imagery and non-Google maps on the same screen, or (iii) link a Google Map to non-Google Maps content or a non-Google map.
Certain components of the Services (including open source software) are subject to third-party copyright and other Intellectual Property Rights, as specified in: (a) the Google Maps/Google Earth Legal Notices at _maps.html; and (b) separate, publicly-available third-party license terms, which Google will provide to Customer on request. 2ff7e9595c
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