mapping

Google to split mapping, commerce ops, WSJ reports

It appears that Google's "spring cleaning" is even broader than thought.

The online search giant is splitting its mapping and commerce unit into two separate businesses, The Wall Street Journal reported today, citing its sources.

Jeff Huber, who led the mapping and commerce business, is stepping aside from his role and will be moving to the Google X unit, the Journal said. That business is run by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and works on projects such as self-driving cars and Google Glass.

Google confirmed to CNET that Huber is shifting roles.

"Jeff is an extraordinary executive,&… Read more

Apple quietly updates Maps in Japan

Apple this week quietly made behind-the-scenes changes to its mapping service in Japan, fixing a handful of shortcomings.

Chief among them are changes to pronunciation during turn-by-turn navigation, a key feature introduced in Apple's own mapping service in iOS 6. The app now also alerts drivers to toll roads, and has better point-of-interest labels for things like subways, freeways, and hospitals.

Other tweaks include 3D buildings for some Japanese landmarks like Tokyo Station and Tokyo Tower, as well as changing the freeway color to green.

The changes rolled out without an additional software update from Apple. That's because … Read more

Track your walks with Map My Walk, an easy-to-use GPS-enabled app

There is no better way to encourage healthy living than to turn it into a competition. Keep track of your activity, share it with friends, and provide a real-time look at your GPS position as you walk around town and it becomes not only easier, but also more compelling to get out and walk. Map My Walk is a fantastic example of how to encourage healthy habits with an intuitive design and function-loaded app that manages not to get in its own way.

After installation, you'll need to register, either through Facebook or the app itself. It's not … Read more

View Google Maps on your desktop with eMaps for Mac

People who are disappointed in the Google Maps Internet interface might want alternatives for viewing maps online. eMaps for Mac allows you to operate a different interface, although the lack of any additional features ultimately makes the program unnecessary.

Available as a free trial version, there is an option to buy eMaps for Mac for $10. The trial version had no noticeable limits. The program's small size led to a quick download and, while there was no native installer, it did initiate and start quickly. There were no instructions or support readily apparent. The interface has an intuitive design … Read more

Google Maps facing ban in Germany as trial advances

A patent battle between Google and Microsoft could see Google Maps banned in Germany.

Florian Mueller, of FOSS Patents, reported from court in Munich today, where he said the tide is shifting against Google:

Judge Dr. Matthias Zigann of the Munich I Regional Court just told Google and its Motorola Mobility subsidiary in no uncertain terms that his court is at this point (prior to counsel's argument on claim construction, infringement and validity) inclined to hold Google Inc., its subsidiary Motorola Mobility LLC and MMI's German subsidiary liable for infringement of a key Microsoft patent, EP0845124 on a &… Read more

Recon 2: The Google map of the human body

What if you could "street view" the human body, navigating its interactive components all the way down to a metabolic level? An international group of scientists is working on that right now with a map of the human metabolism, which they call Recon 2.

Metabolism plays a key role in many diseases, and while scientists have already managed to reconstruct several models of it, each "represents only a subset of our knowledge" with "only partially overlapping content," the team writes in the journal Nature Biology.

"It's like having the coordinates of all the cars in town, but no street map," Bernhard Palsson, a professor of bioengineering at the University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and one of the authors of the paper, said in a statement. "Without this tool, we don't know why people are moving the way they are."… Read more

Google curates points of interest with Field Trip for iPhone

Field Trip (Android|iPhone) helps you find out more about your current location by sending you notifications when you're near landmarks, restaurants, historical sites, and other noteworthy spots. The app draws information from several sources, including Arcadia, Historvius, Food Network, Zagat, Atlas Obscura, Daily Secret, and others to enrich your experience of locations you wouldn't know were uniquely interesting otherwise. You can use it as a personal tour guide or share interesting locales over Facebook and Twitter.

The app also lets you set the frequency of notifications from none to an Explore mode that gives you all the … Read more

Cat Map: Like Google Maps, but for felines

It's like Google Maps, but for finding cats: Cat Map, a Web site set up by the London Zoo.

Have you ever wanted to stare at a global map of cats? Just hang out on a world map, seeing where all the cats are? Well, now you can.

The Zoological Society of London set up the Web site to promote tiger conservation and its tiger sanctuary, opening March 22, but the map lets you see beloved felines, not just from London, but everywhere. … Read more

Google Maps for iOS gets first big update

Google today pushed out its first update to its mapping software on Apple's iOS, adding a few new features.

Chief among them is integration with a user's Google contact list, a feature that will pull up any addresses you have stored with Google, and not just on your phone.

The update (iTunes) also adds a new option in the search menu that will quickly look for nearby points of interest, including restaurants, gas stations, movie theaters, and coffee shops. You could search for these things before, but the new menu means you don't actually have to type … Read more