Google Lat Long Blog
google-latlong.blogspot.com · Company blog · on HN since 2007
Google's official blog for Maps, Earth, and Street View, announcing new features, data updates, and mapping projects.
What HN saysHN commenters link it as a source for Google Maps feature announcements, such as offline mode and new map data, in debates over the app.
123HN people shared it
35linked it in comments
115stories submitted
1.0Kstory points
11 years agolast shared
2007people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1See more views with the new Google Maps widget6 people · 5 points · first shared 2009 · discussion on HN
- 2Google Lat Long: Never ass-ume4 people · 1 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 3Evolving the look of Google Maps2 people · 32 points · first shared 2009 · 2 comments on HN
- 4Retiring real estate on Google Maps2 people · 18 points · first shared 2011 · 12 comments on HN
- 5Helicopter view of your driving directions on Google Maps2 people · 18 points · first shared 2011 · 5 comments on HN
- 6Google Earth, meet the browser2 people · 12 points · first shared 2008 · discussion on HN
- 7Making of Maps: The cornerstones2 people · 6 points · first shared 2014 · 1 comments on HN
- 8Publishing more detailed maps of North Korea2 people · 3 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 9Visit global landmarks with photo tours in Google Maps2 people · 2 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 10Google Maps Adds More RealTime Traffic Data2 people · 2 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 11Google Latitude check ins unlock reward offers (in Austin)2 people · 2 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 12Google maps integrates with Uber2 people · 1 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
- 13Go offline with google maps for android2 people · first shared 2012
- 14Google Earth Pro is now free1 people · 216 points · first shared 2015 · 70 comments on HN
- 15Only clear skies on Google Maps and Earth1 people · 203 points · first shared 2013 · 61 comments on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
tomkarlo · 2013-05-05
There's been a ton of new features on maps over the past few years, including indoor maps, indoor streetview, transit info and all kinds of new aerial views. I'm not sure what you'd want from them... after all, they are still a map service.
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/
capo · 2012-10-01
For the umpteenth time:
There was never a Google Maps app on the iPhone, there was an Apple app powered by Google's data.
The correct way of stating this is that Apple's iOS6 maps app is more data efficient than previous versions. As for the main reason the current app is more efficient is that it relies on vector graphics instead of image tiles, a technique Google have been using on Android for nearly 2 years:
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/under-hood-of-google-maps-50-…
Another Android maps feature lets users select areas to cache offline, which I imagine saves even more data (it auto-caches frequented areas): http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/06/go-offline-with-google-maps…
That feature is also worth mentioning for when Apple duplicates it and some people try to convince themselves that it was Apple's idea.
kristofferR · 2012-09-30
The official Google maps app has an offline mode that works great for me at least.
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/06/go-offline-with-google-maps…
derfclausen · 2012-09-20
In regards to "Where did my university’s buildings go?" (http://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/post/31928845471/where-did-my-uni… it does bother me that so many universities have provided specific map details to Google (see http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/02/map-your-campus-and-win-ann… but not OSM.
nekojima · 2012-07-30
There goes most of my afternoon. I'll be looking at Google Maps for the next few hours. Maybe its an affliction, rather than addiction, but I really enjoy looking at aerial & satellite photos.
This is the link for the updated lists of locations:
http://google-latlong.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/imagery-update-explore-yo…
malvim · 2010-05-24
Nice article, I, too, hadn't noticed the change in scale just by panning around.
The Google LatLong blog (http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/) is packed with information related to Google Maps, and the maps API Google Group also is.
There's lots of talk about the Mercator projection on the list, tradeoffs, pros, cons, etc. So there really was no need to read the obfuscated code. Also, I'm not sure if "ease of implementation" was really what had them choose this projection, so it wouldn't hurt to dig around a little bit more before saying stuff like that, I think.
Still, pretty good stuff for people that want to know a bit more about how Google Maps work.
chippy · 2015-01-30
Official announcement http://google-latlong.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/google-earth-pro-is-now-f…
cbr · 2014-05-08
Google Maps on Android has had offline support for a while, and they just put out a new version of it: http://google-latlong.blogspot.ca/2014/05/get-on-road-go-off-grid-or-p…
mxfh · 2014-02-07
Google Earth has historic aerial imagery of Warsaw for 1935 and December 1945. This helps to adds some sense of scale to the images of the destruction taken on the ground and enables direct comparison to the current city layout.
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/02/spotlight-on-historical-ima…
teh_klev · 2013-12-10
Direct link to article: http://google-latlong.blogspot.fr/2013/12/create-your-own-street-view.…
toomuchtodo · 2013-08-14
EDIT: Looks like I'm behind the times. Google already did this:
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669688/googles-photo-tours-suggest-a-crow…
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/visit-global-landmarks-with…
evan_ · 2013-03-31
Here's the blog post about it:
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2013/03/find-treasure-with-google-m…
ch0wn · 2013-01-29
Blog spam. I don't see how Mashable added any value to the original announcement by Google: http://google-latlong.blogspot.ca/2013/01/publishing-more-detailed-map…
mseebach · 2013-01-16
The chronology is backwards. The donkey was lying down, the car drives up to it, it gets up and moves aside. If you move backwards (with the right chronology), there's a car passing in the opposite direction, making the correct chronology obvious.
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2013/01/never-ass-ume.html
mark-r · 2013-01-16
A better link is one contained in the article, straight from Google: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2013/01/never-ass-ume.html
sonabinu · 2013-01-16
hornbaker · 2012-12-04
Looks a little half-baked – only 3 BMW M3s near Silicon Valley, and no Porsches? Otherwise, the interface looks nice, and I hope they crawl more inventory, including pre-owned.
It reminds me of the ill-fated Google Real Estate search (http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/01/retiring-real-estate-on-goo… That said, Google was going up against strong competitors in Trulia and Zillow at the time, and there doesn't seem to be a strong competitor in the car search space.
mcpherrinm · 2012-11-19
Barely more than copy and paste from Google's announcement at http://google-latlong.blogspot.ca/2012/11/imagery-update-tour-sites-ar…
yonran · 2012-08-08
Actual announcement: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/08/know-traffic-to-speed-up-yo…
How do people actually use the traffic layer on Google Maps? It’s not obvious how a red highway compares to a green side street. And how stale are the data? My friends just ignore the traffic layer and use Caltrans’ website directly because the source is known and presumably the information delays are more deterministic.
How many Android phone owners walking down the street does it take before that street is marked red?
Google has been putting a lot of focus on expanding traffic coverage, but it’s not as useful without any transparency about its source and quality.
tonfa · 2012-06-06
The 45° imagery for Zurich was announced one week ago.
http://google-latlong.blogspot.ch/2012/05/new-45-imagery-available-for…
crb · 2012-06-06
Do you mean the 45 degree map view? I'd never heard of that myself, but apparently it's quite old: http://google-latlong.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/changing-your-perspective…
If you mean something else, can you link to a screenshot?
benologist · 2012-04-06
stevep98 · 2012-02-27
You should make the freeways a different color from the rest of the roads. I just tried to zoom into my house, and I discovered that when looking at the city-wide view, I use the freeways as a high-level roadmap. When everything's the same color (gray!) it's hard to locate yourself.
I hope you've all seen this article, about subtle design changes they made at google. Attention to detail is really critical:
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/10/evolving-look-of-google-map…
pasbesoin · 2011-10-02
What has happened to Google's LatLong blog (linked in the story)?
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/09/helicopter-view-of-your-dri…
Zero visible content with NoScript enabled. I have to enable not just blogspot.com but also something from blogblog.com . That's just [explicative] annoying.
EDIT: After enabling scripts from those domains and viewing the content, when I disable scripts and refresh, the content remains visible. In case anyone tries blocking scripts and finds "it works for me".
arkitaip · 2011-09-18
""So how does it work? When you activate the My Location feature, Google Maps asks your web browser for your location. Typically, your browser uses information about the Wi-Fi access points around you to estimate your location. If no Wi-Fi access points are in range, or your computer doesn't have Wi-Fi, it may resort to using your computer's IP address to get an approximate location. As you'd expect, the accuracy of My Location varies with your location, and in some cases, Google Maps may not be able to provide a location at all.""
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/07/blue-circle-comes-to-your-d…
jedc · 2011-03-11
A few relevant links:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/update-to-google-social-search.…
http://googlesocialweb.blogspot.com/2011/03/decide-what-world-sees-whe…
http://googlephotos.blogspot.com/2011/03/more-picturesque-google-profi…
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/03/check-in-gain-status-and-un…
ugh · 2010-11-24
That photo was taken in the small bavarian village Oberstaufen (pop. 7,000). Their marketing people invited Google (and baked cake for them [0]) when the debate about Street View was heating up in Germany. As a consequence Oberstaufen was the only town or village you could visit on Google Street View two weeks before the service launched with all the major cities. Suffice it to say, Oberstaufen received tons of free media coverage because of that.
I think that’s a pretty genius move of the marketing people in a small village in a tourism region.
[0] http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/11/special-preview-of-beautifu…
jojopotato · 2010-07-01
Google already has had a soft entrance to the hotel business through Google Maps:
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/03/experiment-to-show-hotel-pr…
amardeep · 2010-02-27
This page has more information.
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/02/resources-for-chile-earthqu…