+FoxPro Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 http://maps.google.com/ Great graphical appearance, interactive on the screen (How'd they do that??) without the page redrawing. How about using these instead of MapQuest? FoxPro Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 As I recall, the last time this came up, Jeremy's response was 'maybe after they are out of beta'. Link to comment
Jeremy Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Correct. Once they are out of beta we'll add them. In the meantime, it's fun to drag the map to the east and there's the UK but.. wait a minute... where's Europe? It's good to know that even Google has trouble getting international maps too. With their resources even. Link to comment
+AuntieWeasel Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 It's good to know that even Google has trouble getting international maps too. With their resources even. I'll bet they paid a pretty penny for the UK. The Crown holds the copyright to the Ordnance Survey maps, as I understand it. Link to comment
Jeremy Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 I'll bet they paid a pretty penny for the UK. The Crown holds the copyright to the Ordnance Survey maps, as I understand it. That's correct. And it is really, really expensive. Even the postal codes are owned by the Queen herself. Link to comment
+as77 Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 I just found two new bookmarklets that let you display the location of a cache in Google Maps. See at: http://www.avantbard.com/blog/archives/200...g-bookmarklets/ Link to comment
+reveritt Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 I'll bet they paid a pretty penny for the UK. The Crown holds the copyright to the Ordnance Survey maps, as I understand it. That's correct. And it is really, really expensive. Even the postal codes are owned by the Queen herself. What makes you think that the Google UK maps are based on the Ordinance Survey maps? Have you ever checked out the mapping data you can get from the US Government? The Defense Mapping Agency, USGS, NOAA, and other agencies all sell digitized mapping data at very reasonable prices--some of it is international. The data is cheap because there is no practical application to go with it. By the way, with regard to Crown Copyright, and other property of the Crown, it is not "owned by the queen herself", but by the Crown, which is different. If she ever abdicates, her considerable personal property remains hers, but not Crown property. Link to comment
Jeremy Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 (edited) What makes you think that the Google UK maps are based on the Ordinance Survey maps? Have you ever checked out the mapping data you can get from the US Government? The Defense Mapping Agency, USGS, NOAA, and other agencies all sell digitized mapping data at very reasonable prices--some of it is international. The data is cheap because there is no practical application to go with it. It may be cheap, but highly inaccurate and needs to be massaged into the correct format for most mapping applications. We are implementing this data into the maps but it's like night and day compared to the ordinance maps. You'll see how badly it is when it comes online. By the way, with regard to Crown Copyright, and other property of the Crown, it is not "owned by the queen herself", but by the Crown, which is different. If she ever abdicates, her considerable personal property remains hers, but not Crown property. Um, yeah. It was said tongue in cheek. Chill out. I know the crown on her cartoon head owns the data. Geeze. Edited June 10, 2005 by Jeremy Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 I'll bet they paid a pretty penny for the UK. The Crown holds the copyright to the Ordnance Survey maps, as I understand it. That's correct. And it is really, really expensive. Even the postal codes are owned by the Queen herself. Plus Tide Data. The crown ownes some pretty interesting things. Link to comment
+The Leprechauns Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 Wow, I thought that Tide was owned by Proctor & Gamble. I must have missed a press release. But it does make perfect sense, considering that the Royal Family has plenty of dirty laundry. Link to comment
+bicknell Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 I'm playing with a proof of concept over in the benchmarking forum, see post Benchmarking topic 100531 which includes a link to my experimental map. I suggest you click on some of the marks. Notice also that someone has hacked in topo maps and photographs from terraserver as well. It's all easier than I expected from a code point of view. Obviously for geocaching.com use geocaching.com would need to properly license the code, which may be an issue. This is a huge help for route planning though, and a great tool. Link to comment
+Maingray Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 (edited) The Google/Keyhole mapping technology is VERY powerful, and can be tied into the Google Websearch and 3rd party databases too. It just needs some minor tweaking to make it better (e.g crosshairs, which has been done by some 3rd party developers) and I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing a LOT more of that site in geocaching and in general. Edited June 10, 2005 by maingray Link to comment
tossedsalad Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 Where do they get their maps? I have used USAPhotoMaps which I believe uses terraserver. This can provide topo maps to 4 meter resolution, or b/w photos to 1 m or in some urban areas color photos to 0.25 m resolution. The Google maps seem to be 1 meter resolution or color photo 8 meter resolution rural or in the large cities. So other than the 1 meter resolution vs. 4 meter on the maps (and the google maps are not topo and no trails) what is better about the Google maps compared to USAPhotoMaps? Not trying to knock Google, but I don't get it. Another nice thing about USAPhotoMaps is that the info is downloaded to your hard drive. So if you have a laptop or possibly a palmtop PC, you can take the maps with you (at least to your car Link to comment
+geognerd Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 Just remember that the satellite images aren't up-to-date. Despite the 2005 copyright, the imagery for my suburban Chicago neighborhood is at least 2 years old. Another nice tip for those of you who don't know is that you can enter decimal degrees in the search box on Google Maps. For example N41 45.000 W88 15.000 would be entered in the search box as "41.75, -88.25" (without the quotes of course). Found this feature helpful with my geocaching, seeing where to park and where trails are. Currently the MapQuest link on a cache page will bring up a map for the cache's coordinates. Hopefully the same will be done for Google Maps. Link to comment
tossedsalad Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 I have also found that you can enter decimal minutes. I tried typing N39 35.0 W77 35.0 and it took me right to the spot. Link to comment
Jeremy Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 Where do they get their maps? DigitalGlobe supplies them. Their QuickBird satellite offers the finest satellite imagery available today. They provide their archival data to Google. Well, to Keyhole but they're Google now. Obviously when you take pictures of the entire world they tend to go out of date, especially when an analyst has to adjust the footage to match the location on the planet. 2 years ain't bad. You have to admit that Google has a great brand. They're doing their best to make maps sexy and many folks are eating that up. Link to comment
tossedsalad Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 I don't know why anyone would consider 2 year old maps out of date. The maps on terraserver are up to 10 years old. The bank next door to me and even the street it is on is not on the terraserver maps or photos. On the other hand, the google maps seem to leave off some of the fine details, like the entire **Shenandoah river**! Link to comment
+CoasterFamily Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 If you use Mozilla Firefox, be sure to check out the Geocaching GreaseMonkey scripts. I tweaked the script a bit myself and now have these links: (All based of this cache). Google Map Google Map (inc Satellite) Yeah, this one doesn't work for this cache but you get the picture. Directions from Home Just the cache These have been really helpful. Especially the link to directions from home. Link to comment
+geoduck.5 Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 Another nice internet mapping site is www.map24.com - much like Google, you can pan, without having to have the page refresh. And it has Europe! Map24 Link to comment
+aerospacecase Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 Is there any way to add .gpx files to the interactive online maps? Link to comment
+boulter Posted June 12, 2005 Share Posted June 12, 2005 Is there any way to add .gpx files to the interactive online maps? I've been playing with this: http://boulter.com/gps/maps/ Link to comment
+as77 Posted June 12, 2005 Share Posted June 12, 2005 Is there any way to add .gpx files to the interactive online maps? I've been playing with this: http://boulter.com/gps/maps/ Wow! That is extremely cool!!! And very useful! Can you use different icons for multi-caches, etc? It's fantastic! Link to comment
+geognerd Posted June 16, 2005 Share Posted June 16, 2005 I don't know why anyone would consider 2 year old maps out of date. The maps on terraserver are up to 10 years old. The bank next door to me and even the street it is on is not on the terraserver maps or photos. Perhaps it is just my profession that causes me to find 2-year old imagery to be old. I develop and maintain geographic information systems in a rapidly developing area. I find the 1-yr old aerial photos from my county to be too old! Lucky for me, a group of governmental agencies funded a flyover of the Chicago area in April. Free new 1-ft resolution aerial photos by the end of this year/early next year. Woo hoo! Link to comment
+Marky Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 Perhaps it is just my profession that causes me to find 2-year old imagery to be old. I develop and maintain geographic information systems in a rapidly developing area. I find the 1-yr old aerial photos from my county to be too old! Lucky for me, a group of governmental agencies funded a flyover of the Chicago area in April. Free new 1-ft resolution aerial photos by the end of this year/early next year. Woo hoo! At which point, they will be nearly a year old, lol. --Marky Link to comment
+Marky Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 Now that google has published an offcial public map API and maps show up on the main menu (although 'beta' still shows on the logo image), maybe we can get a link on the cache page soon. Link to comment
+Gaddiel Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 Google lets developers create Web sites, software applications in relation to mapping service. http://ap.thecabin.net/pstories/technology...9/3131250.shtml Will this open things up a bit for us? Link to comment
Jeremy Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 Remove that "beta" logo and we'll add it. Link to comment
+Lux Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 Remove that "beta" logo and we'll add it. Are you suggesting he hack the website??!?!?!! J/k Link to comment
+Marky Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 Remove that "beta" logo and we'll add it. Dang, I'll have to have a talk with somebody at google to get rid of that. --Marky Link to comment
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