Become a Pokémon Master with Google Maps

We value employees who are risk-taking and detail-oriented, have deep technical knowledge, and can navigate through tall grass to capture wild creatures. It turns out that these skills have a lot in common with another profession—that of the Pokémon Master. With that in mind, we’ve worked with Pokémon and Nintendo to develop a new training tool to help people hone their Pokémon-capturing abilities using Google Maps.

Dozens of wild Pokémon have taken up residence on streets, amidst forests and atop mountains throughout Google Maps. To find and catch ‘em all, you’ll need to tap into your inner Pokémon Master.

If you think you’re up to the challenge, grab your Poké Ball and the newest version of Google Maps for iPhone or Android. Then tap the search bar, “press start,” and begin your quest.

Leave no stone unturned or city unzoomed as you seek out wild Charizards and Pikachus to add to your Pokédex. Be vigilant—you never know if a wild Steelix will appear in Tokyo, Japan or New York City, USA. And follow Google Maps on Google+, Facebook and Twitter for hints and tips.

Time is of the essence—in the words of Professor Oak, “The early bird gets the worm, or in this case, the Pokémon.”

Update: We hope you've enjoyed wading through water and tall grass to catch Pokemon all over the world this April Fools' Day. Good Mews for trainers who want the fun to last—those who have caught 5 or more Pokemon can still continue their quest to catch 'em all for a little while longer with Google Maps for iPhone and Android.

©Google; Pokemon content © Pokemon/Nintendo/Creatures/GAME FREAK

Tatsuo Nomura, Advanced Pokémon Trainer

Helping our communities adapt to climate change

Today the White House announced the Climate Data Initiative, aimed at helping organizations and communities use public data to better understand and prepare for the effects of climate change. Up until now, it’s been difficult for the public to locate detailed, timely data relevant to climate-related risks such as extreme weather events. To help address this challenge, Google is donating cloud computing storage and access to other tools to support institutions that are driving climate change resilience.

First, we’re providing 50 million hours of high-performance computing on the Google Earth Engine geospatial analysis platform. Earth Engine brings together the world’s satellite imagery with tools to help detect changes and map trends on the Earth’s surface. Earth Engine has already been applied to unlock valuable information from the 40+ year treasure trove of Landsat satellite data (USGS/NASA), including an interactive timelapse of the planet from 1984-2012, the first high-resolution global maps of deforestation, and a near real-time deforestation alert system that allows anyone interested in forest monitoring to take part. We hope that with this new donation, researchers will focus on applying Earth Engine to address climate-related risks such as managing agricultural water supplies and modeling the impacts of sea-level rise and storm surge.

We’re also partnering with leading researchers, allowing them to scale their work with Earth Engine and quickly move from the laboratory into people’s hands. Together with academic partners in the western U.S., we’ll produce the first high-resolution, near real-time drought monitoring and mapping products for the entire continental United States—and make them freely available to the public.

Traditional static graphic showing record-breaking drought in California in Feb 2014. Red = Dry; Blue = Wet. Source: the Desert Research Institute, University of Idaho and University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Finally, we’re donating one petabyte (one billion megabytes) of cloud storage to house satellite observations, digital elevation data, and climate/weather model datasets. We encourage the global community to work with us on this project by contributing and curating data, and developing public-benefit applications. We’re already collaborating with researchers at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of Bristol U.K. and the government of Australia.

See how Google Maps Engine was used to highlight the vulnerabilities associated with rising sea levels, storm surges, and coastal inundations in the Republic of Vanuatu. The darker blue shows present-day inundation of the Efate lagoon during a high astronomical tide, and the lighter blue shows predicted inundation in 2090 due to sea level rise. Source: Australian Government and the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information.

To find out more, visit the Earth Engine website, view a sample map on the Google Maps Gallery, follow us on Google+ and Twitter, and tune in to White House live stream today at 5:15pm EDT.

Posted by Tyler Erickson, Developer Advocate, Google Earth Engine

Explore America’s most endangered river on Street View

This guest post is by Chris Williams, Senior Vice President of Conservation at American Rivers. We’ve partnered with American Rivers to share the adventure of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in Google Maps. -Ed.

For 6 million years, the Colorado River has flowed through the heart of the desert southwest, its waters slowly carving out a canyon so vast it can be seen from space—yet so remote it didn’t appear on early maps of the region. It wasn’t until 1869, when John Wesley Powell led a small exploration party on a rafting trip, that the natural wonders of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon came fully into view.

Now with Google Street View, you can ride the whitewater rapids, cruise the sleepy river bends, and discover the side canyons that make the Colorado River a treasured resource.

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, U.S.

Start at an iconic spot like Deer Creek Falls or North Canyon, or climb up to the Nankoweap Granaries. Geology fans will enjoy formations like Hermit Shale and Tapeats Sandstone. On your journey, look out for wildlife like big horn sheep and signs of a volcanic dam that naturally occurred centuries ago.

While you admire its grandeur, remember that the river is also at risk. One of the United States’ most important resources, the Colorado River provides drinking water for 36 million people from Denver to Los Angeles, supports a $26 billion recreation industry, and irrigates nearly 4 million acres of land that grow 15 percent of our nation’s crops. But it’s also one of the most endangered, dammed, diverted and plumbed rivers in the world, thanks to a century of management policies and practices that have promoted the use of Colorado River water at an unsustainable rate. By the time it reaches the Gulf of California in Mexico, the river is barely a trickle—a ghost of its once magnificent self. You can see evidence of the river’s decline In Street View, like the high water mark (showing 1950s driftwood on top of the rock), or sedimentation along the river’s edge down by Lake Mead.

Colorado River, U.S.

We’re proud to partner with Google and Street View to raise awareness of the need to protect and restore the river. It’s time to speak up and protect the wonder of the Grand Canyon and the riches of a healthy Colorado River. Join American Rivers and help us protect and restore this iconic river of the west—for today and for future generations.

Posted by Chris Williams, Senior Vice President of Conservation, American Rivers

Aloha from Google Street View

Longing for an island getaway? You’re not the only one. Over the last 30 days on Google.com, search interest in “Hawaii” has risen a staggering 78 percent.

Starting today, you can take a trip to the Aloha state and explore even more of Hawaii’s hiking trails, parks, historical sites, and beaches using Street View on Google Maps. Last summer we announced our Trekker Loan Program with our first partner, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB). Since then, HVCB has been collecting Street View imagery of many popular and special places across the islands of Hawaii (the Big Island) and Oahu.

Hawaii is famous for its spectacular sandy beaches, like Hapunua Beach, but this tropical island paradise has much more to offer to all the outdoor adventurers out there. Hike through a volcanic crater along the Kilauea Iki Trail, learn about Native Hawaiian culture at the Pu'u Loa Petroglyphs, and take in the diverse flora at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden.

 Hapuna Beach, Island of Hawaii

Kilauea Iki Trail, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Island of Hawaii

Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, Pāpa'ikou, Island of Hawaii

Whether you want to travel across the Pacific or around the block, we hope you’ll use Street View to explore all the incredible places in the world. And if we’ve inspired you to plan your next vacation to Hawaii, you can also explore these amazing Street View Treks on GoHawaii.com, the official website for HVCB.

To learn more about this program and apply to be the next Trekker, visit g.co/trekker.

Mahalo!

Posted by Evan Rapoport, Product Manager, Google Maps and Street View