Expanding Google Business Photos in Europe and Asia

Today we’re announcing the expansion of the Google Maps Business Photos program to seven new countries including: Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Russia, Singapore and Switzerland.

The Business Photos program enables merchants to create 360-degree, interactive tours of their establishments. This imagery is published on Google so potential customers can look inside and explore businesses before they go.

Bohema restaurant in Szczecin, Poland

Are you a business owner?
If you are a business owner in any of these locations, joining the program is easy. Simply hire a Trusted Photographer or Agency in your area to take pictures of your business. Using Street View technology, the photographer will then create panoramic images from the photo shoot and upload them into Google. These images will be available automatically to anyone who searches for your business on Google.com, Google Maps, Google Maps for Mobile and on your Google+ page or Places for Business listing. If a local photographer isn’t yet available in your neighborhood, let us know and we’ll do our best to find a photographer for you.

Fat Cow Restaurant in Singapore

Photographers can also sign up...
And whether you’re a professional photographer or photography agency we’d love to have you on board! We are actively recruiting more Trusted Photographers and Agencies to help us bring imagery of local businesses online for millions across the globe to see. Please visit our website for Trusted Photographers and Trusted Agencies to learn more and sign up.

Posted by Deborah Schenker, Program Manager, Google Business Photos

Historic Images of New York on Google Maps

Today, Google is publishing new Street View imagery of three parts of New York that embody the spirit and strength of the city and its people: the 9/11 Memorial, Central Park and the neighborhoods struck by Hurricane Sandy. We’ve also collaborated with the nonprofit Historypin to create a shared collection of images and stories highlighting the impact of the Hurricane and the progression of recovery.

As a Staten Islander born and raised, this collection is especially meaningful to me. Imagery on a map can make it possible for people everywhere to explore and discover new places around the world. Images can also serve as an important record of the places we know best -- capturing our communities as they were, as they are and showing how they change over time.

Imagery of Hurricane Sandy
To create a space where the New York community can share memories from before, during, and after the storm, we partnered with Historypin on a community photo and video album called Hurricane Sandy: Record, Remember, Rebuild. In the album, you can discover and contribute old and new images of the places that mean the most to you.

For example, I found this photo of a house on Staten Island’s New Dorp Beach. “You can take our home but you can’t take our heart” is scrawled across its boarded up windows. That’s Staten Island for you -- we persevere and help each other up when we fall.

I hope you’ll be just as moved by Historypin’s growing collection of imagery. Take a look, and we hope you will take part in building this important archive that gives us all an opportunity to reflect, remember, and look to the future.

Sayer's Wharf, Newport RI, flooded after Hurricane Sandy. Shared by Newport Historical Society on Historypin

Tour the 9/11 Memorial
The 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site is a moving tribute to those who lost their lives in the attacks on New York City, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, PA. Panoramic images of the North and South pools allow you to see victims’ names engraved along the edges of the pools. If you aren’t able to visit lower Manhattan to pay your respects in person, let Street View be your guide to this important and moving memorial.

The 9/11 Memorial in Street View

Explore Central Park
It’s hard to find a more beloved piece of the city than Central Park. In partnership with the Central Park Conservancy, our Street View crew went all around park collecting 360-degree imagery of its trails, paths, and plazas, to bring views of both famous and little-known areas of the park to your browser or mobile phone.

As a lifelong New Yorker, I’ve seen the city change a lot over the years. This collection showcases some of what has changed -- but also what hasn’t: in spite of the challenges, New York City continues to be a symbol of the American dream, an inspiration to people around the globe and an ongoing source of pride for New Yorkers like me.

Posted by Susan Molinari, VP of Public Policy

Explore more with Mapping with Google

From your own backyard all the way to Mount Everest, Google Maps and Google Earth are here to help you explore the world. You can learn to harness the world’s most comprehensive and accurate mapping tools by registering for Mapping with Google.

Mapping with Google is a self-paced, online course developed to help you better navigate the world around you by improving your use of the new Google Maps, Maps Engine Lite, and Google Earth. All registrants will receive an invitation to preview the new Google Maps.

Through a combination of video and text lessons, activities, and projects, you’ll learn to do much more than look up directions or find your house from outer space. Tell a story of your favorite locations with rich 3D imagery, or plot sights to see on your upcoming trip and share with your travel buddies. During the course, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from Google experts and collaborate with a worldwide community of participants, via Google+ Hangouts and a course forum.

Mapping with Google will be offered from June 10 - June 24, and you can choose whether to explore the features of Google Maps, Google Earth, or both. In addition, you’ll have the option to complete a project, applying the skills you’ve learned to earn a certificate. Visit g.co/mappingcourse to learn more and register today.  

The world is a big place, we like to think that you can make it a bit more manageable and adventurous with Google’s mapping tools.

Posted by Tina Ornduff, Program Manager

Capturing the beauty and wonder of the Galapagos on Google Maps

The Galapagos Islands are some of the most biologically unique ecosystems in the world. Explorers and scientists alike have long studied and marveled at these islands—made famous by Charles Darwin. The Ecuadorean Government, local conservation groups and scientists are working to protect the Galapagos from threats posed by invasive species, climate change and other human impacts.

It’s critical that we share images with the world of this place in order to continue to study and preserve the islands’ unique biodiversity. Today we’re honored to announce, in partnership with Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) and the Galapagos National Parks Directorate (GNPD), that we’ve collected panoramic imagery of the islands with the Street View Trekker. These stunning images will be available on Google Maps later this year so people around the world can experience this remote archipelago.

Daniel Orellana of Charles Darwin Foundation crossing a field of ferns to reach Minas de Azufre (naturally-occurring sulfur mines) on the top of Sierra Negra, an active volcano on Isabela Island. The Google Maps team traveled for more than 3 hours, hiking and on horseback, to reach this remote location.

Images, like the one you see above, are also an important visual record that the CDF and GNPD will use to study and protect the islands by showing the world how these delicate environments have changed over time.

Daniel Orellana of the Charles Darwin Foundation climbs out of a lava tunnel where he was collecting imagery. The dramatic lava landscapes found on Isabela island tell the story of the formation of the Galapagos Islands.

Our 10-day adventure in the Galapagos was full of hiking, boating and diving around the islands (in hot and humid conditions) to capture 360-degree images of the unique wildlife and geological features of the islands with the Trekker. We captured imagery from 10 locations that were hand-selected by CDF and GNPD. We walked past giant tortoises and blue-footed boobies, navigated through steep trails and lava fields, and picked our way down the crater of an active volcano called Sierra Negra.

A Galapagos giant tortoise crawls along the path near Googler Karin Tuxen-Bettman while she collects imagery with the Street View Trekker in Galapaguera, a tortoise breeding center, which is managed by the Galapagos National Park Service.

Life underwater in the Galapagos is just as diverse as life on land. We knew our map of the islands wouldn’t be comprehensive without exploring the ocean that surrounds them. So for the second time we teamed up with the folks at the Catlin Seaview Survey to collect underwater panoramic imagery of areas being studied by CDF and GNPD. This imagery will be used by Catlin Seaview Survey to create a visual and scientific baseline record of the marine environment surrounding the islands, allowing for any future changes to be measured and evaluated by scientists around the world.

Christophe Bailhache navigates the SVII camera through a large group of Sea Lions at Champion Island in Galapagos. Image courtesy of the Catlin Seaview Survey.

We truly believe that in order to protect these Galapagos Islands, we must understand them. As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” We hope this Street View imagery not only advances the important scientific research, but also inspires you to learn more about this special place. Stay tuned for updates on this collection—the first time we’ve captured imagery from both land and sea! We can’t wait to share this amazing imagery with you later this year.

Raleigh Seamster, Project Lead, Google Maps

Meet the new Google Maps: A map for every person and place

What if we told you that during your lifetime, Google could create millions of custom maps...each one just for you? 

In the past, such a notion would have been unbelievable: a map was just a map, and you got the same one for New York City, whether you were searching for the Empire State Building or the coffee shop down the street. What if, instead, you had a map that’s unique to you, always adapting to the task you want to perform right this minute? 

This is what you will have with the introduction of the new Google Maps – a mapping experience that helps you find places you never would have thought to search for. 

The new Google Maps is full-screen and fully interactive 

Every click draws a new map highlighting the things that matter most 
Like a friend drawing you a map to her favorite restaurant, with only the roads and landmarks you need to get there, the new Google Maps instantly changes to highlight information that matters most.

And the more you interact with the map, the better it gets. When you set your Home and Work locations, star favorite places, write reviews and share with friends, Google Maps will build even more useful maps with recommendations for places you might enjoy. 

The map is tailored to you and gets better with use 

Easier to find the best local places
In addition to a customized map, we’ve also made it easier to uncover the best local gems. Search results are labeled directly on the map with brief place descriptions and icons that highlight business categories and other useful information – like restaurants that are recommended by your Google+ friends. Info cards provide helpful information such as business hours, and ratings and reviews so you can quickly decide where to eat, drink and play. 

Search results appear labeled right on the map 

Amazing imagery for exploring the world
Of course, no map would be complete without amazing images for exploring the world. The new carousel gathers all Google Maps imagery in one spot enabling you to fly through cities, walk canyon trails, climb mountains, and even swim the oceans. And on a WebGL-enabled browser, like Google Chrome, the carousel is also where you'll find the Earth view which directly integrates the beautiful 3D experience from Google Earth into the new maps. 

Earth view brings full 3D to the browser

There’s so much more to discover, including smarter directions and tours generated from user-submitted photos. It’s the biggest change we’ve made to Google Maps since we launched eight years ago. In case you didn’t catch all of that, here’s a quick tour

: 

The quest to build the perfect map will never be over, but we’re excited about the steps we’re taking towards building the next generation of maps. Please visit this page to request an invite and we hope you have fun with the new Google Maps.

Happy exploring,

Bernhard Seefeld, Google Maps Product Management Director & Yatin Chawathe, Google Maps Engineering Director

Bridging the gaps with Street View

Recently we sent our Street View cars driving through the historic seaport town of Kaliningrad (the modern name for Königsberg) in Russia as part of our quest to keep Google Maps comprehensive, accurate and useful. While there, we were reminded of a classic mathematical problem: the Seven Bridges of Königsberg.

The mathematical problem posed an interesting challenge: find a route through Kaliningrad—which was once separated by the Pregel River—by crossing each of the seven bridges in town. The catch? One could only cross each bridge exactly once.

This sketch shows the town’s original seven bridges in green (Source: Wikipedia)

In 1735, Leonhard Euler, one of the most prolific mathematicians of all time and our recent Doodle subject, concluded that there was no solution to the problem because it was impossible to find a route that would cross each bridge only once. This famous problem and Leonhard Euler’s non-resolution paved the way for important discoveries in the field of mathematics including graph theory and topology.

Fast forward 278 years to today where we still rely on Euler’s findings to calculate optimal driving routes for our Street View cars. We use sophisticated algorithms, based on graph theory, to determine the best route through a city or town—helping us capture all the images we need in the shortest amount of time. Though these algorithms are complex, in simple terms, it's equivalent to solving the problem of drawing a house without lifting your pen and never going over the same segment twice. Like this:

(Source: Vincent Furnon, Google Operations Research Team)

While the bridges of Königsberg may be one of Kaliningrad’s most famous landmarks, you can also explore other parts of this historic town with Street View—including the oldest building in the city, the Juditten Church, which was built before 1288, and King’s Gate, one of the city’s original six gates built during the 19th century.

Today, it’s traditional for newly married couples to hang engraved padlocks on one of the original seven bridges of Königsberg - View Larger Map 

In other words, leave the mathematics to the mathematicians and just enjoy the scenery with Street View!

Posted by Daniele Rizzetto, Operations Manager, Street View