Ski Resorts now on Google Maps

You just stepped out of the gondola into a strong wind at the peak. It’s cold and you’re weighing whether to drop into that powdery black diamond chute you’ve always dreamt of...or sliding down the nearest blue for hot cider at the base.

With 38 new run and lift maps for some of the most popular mountains across the US and Canada, Google Maps is your “go to” mountain guide. Whether you’re shredding Squaw Valley, Big Sky, or Okemo, Google Maps are a comprehensive, accurate and easy way to find the best route down the hill.

Power up Google Maps on your Android device or iPhone, and the mountain information you need is right there. Blue, green and black runs are shown as solid colored lines and ski lifts are red dotted lines.

Lake Louise Resort on Android and Whistler Blackcomb Resort on iPhone

Ski resorts in Google Maps can also be helpful when you’re gearing up for a trip. You can check out the maps on your laptop browser to plot your course, and even get a Street View preview of a few select slopes before you head up the mountain.

Map of Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe in California

The growing list of mountain maps now available in Google Maps is here:

Alpine Meadows - CA Alyeska Resort - AK Aspen Highlands - CO Aspen Mountain - CO Attitash Mountain Resort - NH Big Sky Resort - MT Big White Ski Resort - BC Breckenridge Ski Resort - CO Brighton - UT Buttermilk - CO Copper Mountain - CO Crested Butte Mountain Resort - CO Deer Valley Resort  - UT Granite Gorge - NH Heavenly Mountain Resort - CA Jackson Hole Mountain Resort - WY Lake Louise Ski Area - AB Mammoth Mountain - CA Mount Bachelor - OR Mount Shasta - CA

Okemo Mountain Resort - VT Panorama Mountain Village - BC Park City Mountain Resort - UT Revelstoke Mountain Resort - BC Schweitzer Mountain Resort - ID Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort - CA Snowbasin - UT Snowmass - CO Squaw Valley - CA Steamboat Ski Resort - CO Stowe Mountain Resort - VT Sugar Bowl Resort - CA Sun Valley Resort - ID Telluride Ski Resort - CO Vail Mountain - CO Whistler Blackcomb - BC Wildcat Mountain - NH Winter Park Resort - CO

We hope you’ll use these maps to discover new trails and find your way around the mountain more quickly and easily. We’ve got more ski resort maps on the way, so be sure to check Google Maps before your next trip. See you out there!

Posted by Ryan Poscharsky, Strategic Partner Manager, Google Maps

Better maps in your Android apps!

(Cross posted on Google Geo Developer Blog) 

Today we’re launching an update to the Google Maps Android API, which gives developers the ability to use Google’s comprehensive, accurate and useful maps to build beautiful Android apps. The updated API is easy to use and features vector-based maps that load quickly and enables users to easily navigate 2D and 3D views, and tilt and rotate the map with simple gestures.

With the new version of the Google Maps Android API, developers can utilize Google Maps to its fullest. We’ve incorporated many of the highly-requested features developers want, such as:

• More dynamic and flexible UI designs for large screen Android devices, such as tablets, using Android Fragments

• Adding more Google Maps layers in their apps including satellite, hybrid, terrain, traffic and now indoor maps for many major airports and shopping centers

• The ability to create markers and info windows with less code

Some of our favorite apps already use Google Maps, such as Trulia, Expedia Hotels and FlightTrack. Soon, when you upgrade to the latest version of these apps, you’ll experience the new API and maps as rich as those in Google Maps for Android.

With the latest Google Maps Android API, Trulia Android app users can search for a place to buy or rent in 3D.

To hear from these developers about their apps and migration to the new version of the API, check out the following Google Developers Live video below.

More than 800,000 sites around the world use our mapping APIs to create amazing and useful apps. We hope you enjoy using this new addition to the Google Maps API family and building mapping experiences that were never before possible on a mobile device.

To get started, follow the Google Maps Android API v2 documentation and reach out to the developer community if you have questions on building your app with this API.

Posted by Andrew Foster, Senior Product Manager, Google Maps

Something to smile about: A 5,000-mile walk across Asia, guided by Google Maps

(Cross posted on the Official Google Blog)

Inspiration comes in many shapes and forms. For U.S. Marine Sgt. Winston Fiore, it was a news article about the International Children’s Surgical Foundation (ICSF) and Dr. Geoff Williams, who provides free facial-reconstructive surgeries for children with cleft lips/palates in developing countries. Although cleft palates are quite correctable, if left untreated the deformity can cause serious health issues. Many children don’t have the surgery because the cost of each procedure ($250 USD) is out of reach for their families.

Inspired to do something to help, Winston set out on a 5,000-mile trek across Southeast Asia to raise money and awareness for the ICSF—a mission he dubbed Smile Trek. Armed with sturdy boots, a 20-pound vest carrying essentials and an Android phone with Google Maps, Winston set off on his mission in October 2011. In the last year, he has walked (yes, walked!) through Brunei, China, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Along the way he’s met countless individuals who have contributed to his cause, whether it was a place to stay, a hot meal or a monetary donation on his website.

Trekking along: Winston, standing in front of a durian fruit stand near Sematan, the westernmost town of Malaysian Borneo

Out on the road, Winston’s Android phone and Google Maps became “the hub” of his entire operation. He used Google Maps to find accurate and easy-to-use walking directions everywhere he went, whether it was through remote villages and farms, down tiny dirt roads, or across rice paddies and desolate sugar cane fields. “Walking directions in Google Maps were critical to my trek. The directions were accurate and efficient—it’s essential to take the shortest route when you’re walking 20-25 miles each day,” said Winston. “But the best part was being routed onto roads and trails through areas I otherwise never would have discovered with, say, driving directions, or even a physical map.”

View the complete map of Winston's journey on his site.

In addition to using Google Maps, Winston relied on many other Google products during his trek. He used Google Latitude to keep his family, friends and supporters informed of his whereabouts, and MyTracks to record his speed, distance and the places he visited. He also used Google Translate to communicate with locals, and in one case found it essential: when bit by a stray dog outside of Bangkok, he typed "I got bit by a dog, can someone take me to a hospital?" into his app. A taxi driver took him to the hospital, where he got 11 shots!

Today, after walking 5,000 miles in 408 days, Sgt. Fiore completes his journey, with more than $65,000 raised for ICSF. The money will help to fund more than 200 life-saving surgeries for children in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world. If you’d like to contribute to the International Children’s Surgery Fund and Winston Fiore’s effort, we encourage you to visit: http://smiletrek.org

Posted by Jennifer J. Chen, Product Manager, Google Maps

Add your Photo Sphere images to Google Maps with Android 4.2

Remember the last time you went on a hike, triumphantly reached the lookout point, and took out your camera to snap a few photos? Odds are that somehow, the pictures weren’t able to fully convey your experience of standing at the top of the peak with the rolling hills surrounding you, the vibrant blue skies above, and the rocky terrain beneath your feet.

Now, with Photo Sphere, the new camera mode that’s part of the latest version of Android 4.2, Jelly Bean, you can photograph an entire scene—up, down, and all around—to create a 360º immersive experience.

View Larger Map

Explore immersive 360º Photo Spheres such as Vernal Falls in Yosemite Valley

You can easily choose to share your Photo Spheres to Google Maps so the entire world can enjoy the beauty of your favorite places. Your images will help make Google Maps more comprehensive, and enable other travelers to get an accurate preview of a location before they arrive.

Blue circle icons indicate where user-contributed Photo Spheres are available directly on Google Maps for desktop. They’re also discoverable on this website, which highlights some of the most incredible imagery from photographers around the world. Your geotagged Photo Spheres will be attributed to your Google+ profile name when you choose to share them on Google Maps. Of course, you also have the option of sharing them just with your friends and family through your Google+ circles.

Look for the blue circle icon to explore user-contributed panoramas on Google Maps

Whether you want to highlight your favorite places, show off your photography skills, or just help other Google Maps users see and experience a particular location, now sharing your Photo Spheres is just a few taps away on your Android device!

To learn more about creating Photo Spheres please visit this site. We can’t wait to see your favorite spots on Google Maps!


Posted by Evan Rapoport, Product Manager, Google Maps

Explore the great indoors with Google Maps for Android in France

(Cross posted on Google France Blog) 

Every day, millions of people use Google Maps to get where they need to go, including airports, shopping malls and museums. As of last year, people could continue using Google Maps once inside these popular locations, as we began our effort to provide indoor floor plans and directions via Google Maps for Android.

Today, we’re expanding the coverage of this indoor maps feature to include popular French venues, making the maps of France more comprehensive, accurate and usable for both locals and travelers alike. Now, even if you’re visiting one of these large, well-trafficked places for the first time, you can navigate your way around like a pro. And with the accurate My Location feature that works indoors, you can easily figure out if you’re close to the shop you’re looking for, the escalator that will get you to the right gate, or even the nearest ATM or restroom.

We’ve worked with more than 50 French venues, including shopping malls, retailers, airports and museums, to have their indoor floor plans appear on Google Maps for Android. We even partnered with super markets such as Carrefour so that you can look for items like the “dairy” aisle and figure out the fastest way to the milk products to save time when shopping.

Whether you use indoor maps to view the different departments of iconic French retailers like Galeries Lafayette Montparnasse, or simply to find your way to a fresh loaf of bread at the local Carrefour supermarket, Google Maps for Android can help you explore the great indoors. For a list of locations for which indoor maps are available, check out our Help Center article here.

Otherwise, start your indoor adventure here!

Posted by Cedric Dupont, Product Manager, Google Maps

Live Road Traffic Launches in 3 New Countries

Today, Google Maps is expanding its offering of live road traffic in three new cities: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Kuwait City, Kuwait and Guayaquil, Ecuador. Now, the maps of these locations are much more useful, as drivers can quickly determine the clearest route to their destinations and reduce the amount of time spent in the car. In addition to being able to see current traffic conditions, estimated travel times are also available to ease anxiety and help you plan your trips accordingly.

See road traffic in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Guayaquil, Ecuador

We’ve also improved the live traffic information to include more roads and highways in 15 regions where this popular feature of Google Maps is already available: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S.

We hope this more comprehensive coverage provides a more accurate picture of the traffic conditions in these areas, and helps people to not only avoid getting stuck in traffic jams, but also more easily get where they want to go.

A quick glance at our live traffic coverage around the globe

For new users, simply check traffic conditions by visiting maps.google.com and clicking on the traffic layer in the widget on the upper right-hand side of the map. This useful traffic information is also available on Google Maps for Mobile devices and Google Maps Navigation.

Get traffic information on Google Maps for Android (Shown: Kuwait City, Kuwait)

And if the roads you’re traveling do not yet show traffic conditions, you can help! Simply opt in to using Google Navigation or Google Maps for Mobile while traveling to help your fellow drivers get improved traffic information.

Posted by Stephan Seyboth, Product Manager

All your Google Maps searches in one place

When you’re on the go, it can be difficult to recall all of the places you’ve searched on your desktop browser at home. To make Google Maps more useful and comprehensive, we added a few improvements to better sync your maps experience across all of your devices. Today, with the latest release of Google Maps for Android, we’re making it faster and easier for you to get the information you’ve searched for on your browser, right on your Android phone.

Just make sure you’re signed in to Google Maps and your web history is enabled to get a number of new benefits including search and directions history. When you start to type a place or directions into the search box on your Android device, you’ll see suggestions for directions and locations that you’ve previously searched for – making it easier to quickly find directions on the go.

Desktop and Mobile search synchronisation.

You can also see your mapping search history, as well as your directions history, on your Android phone by going to the “Search” or “Directions” tab under My Places. This way, places and businesses you have already searched for will show up in your suggestions to save you time when you’re out and about.

Access your search history under My Places.

Also, as in previous versions of Google Maps for Android, when you chose to set locations such as “home” and “work", you can quickly access directions to these places by simply typing “home” or “work” in the search field on your mobile device.
       

Searching for work automatically suggests your work address.

We’re always working to make your Google Maps experience more comprehensive, accurate and useful across all devices. To learn more about these features you can visit our site.

Posted by Keiji Maekawa, Software Engineer, Google Maps

Half a gigameter of biking navigation in 12 countries in Google Maps for Android

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

Whether you’re a seasoned century rider or a casual beach cruiser, finding the best biking routes can be a challenge. That’s why today we’re bringing mobile biking directions and navigation to the 10 countries where we launched desktop biking directions last month (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK). Plus, we’re adding turn-by-turn, voice-guided biking navigation to Google Maps Navigation (beta) in every country with biking directions. Mount your device on your handlebars to see the turn-by-turn directions and navigation, or use speaker-mode to hear voice-guided directions.

Turn-by-turn biking navigation in Copenhagen

We know there are lots of ways to get from here to there, which is why in 2010 we added biking directions to Google Maps in the U.S. and Canada, and continue to work to bring more biking features to more places. Today, there are more than 330,000 miles (equal to more than 530,000 kilometers, or half a gigameter) of green biking lines in Google Maps. Dark green lines on the map show dedicated bike trails and paths with no motor vehicles, light green lines show streets with bike lanes and dashed green lines show other streets recommended for cycling. Biking navigation even helps you avoid steep hills.

Bike layer showing recommended streets for cycling in Stockholm

Where Map Maker and biking directions are both available, riders can add bike trails, lanes and suggested routes to Google Maps, helping to create a more comprehensive map for everyone living in or visiting their community. Thanks to the contributions of members of the biking community like Todd Scott and our partnership with nonprofits like Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, we’ve added bike data for hundreds of cities and trails to Google Maps in the past two-and-a-half years.

When you’re pedaling from Point A to Point B, we hope biking navigation will make Google Maps for Android more useful to you.


Posted by Larry Powelson, Software Engineer, Google Maps

Know the traffic to speed up your trips in new cities with Google Maps

We may not be able to eliminate the bottlenecks that plague rush hours worldwide, but since launching our live traffic feature in 2008 we’ve been working to make the traffic information in Google Maps even more comprehensive and accurate to help you speed up your trips. Today, we’re expanding this coverage for the first time to more than 130 smaller cities across the United States as well as the capitals of Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama.

Now the streets of Bogotá, San José, and Panama City and the arterial roads in Kalamazoo (Michigan), Portland (Maine), Tuscaloosa (Alabama) and many more cities will include real-time current traffic conditions as well as estimated travel times. Whether you’re online on your home computer ensuring no unexpected snarls await your drive to the airport or you’ve been stuck behind a line of cars for a few minutes and can ask your friend in the passenger seat to check whether it’ll clear up just around the bend, we hope these updates save you time and stress when getting to your destination.

San Jose, Panama City, Bogota traffic conditions on Google Maps for Android

In addition we’ve improved and expanded our coverage in parts of Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. For an overview of cities with traffic data you can go here.

See traffic conditions in your city and cities around the world

To check traffic conditions on either your Android device or through your web browser, here’s a quick tutorial:

Remember, you can help your fellow drivers and improve traffic data by using Google Navigation or Google Maps for Mobile while traveling. Drive safely!

Posted by Raphaël Marinier, Software Engineer, Google Maps

At your service: planned NYC subway changes now in Google Maps

Since first making New York City public transit directions available in Google Maps, we’ve been working to deliver you with the most accurate and useful information about subway, bus, commuter rail, and ferry service across the greater metro area. Starting today, we’ll also be showing planned service alerts for the city’s subways, which serve more than 1 billion riders each year.

Have you ever arrived at a subway platform only to find that the train you intended to take is skipping stops, rerouted on another line, or isn't running at all due to scheduled maintenance? Now when you click on any of the 468 New York City subway stations labeled on Google Maps, you’ll see whether any planned service changes are expected to affect that station at the time. In addition, the relevant alerts will be included in the step-by-step transit directions pointing you wherever you’re going.

Get transit service alerts on your desktop browser

If you’re looking to find the best route to see a concert after work or checking for any expected delays when already running late, this feature works when you’re online via maps.google.com and Google Maps for Mobile on Android. To adjust your travel around the alerts you see, simply choose another suggested route or change your departure time.

Get transit service alerts on Google Maps for Android

We’re regularly adding new cities and features globally and looking forward to continuing our efforts to make travel by public transportation a better experience in more than 400 regions around the world. For everybody who lives in one of New York City’s five boroughs, commutes in and out every day or is visiting for business or vacation, we hope today’s update improves the ease and efficiency of your trips around the city.

Posted by Csaba Garay, Transit Partner Technology Manager, Google Maps

Biking directions expands into Europe and Australia

Back in 2010 we added biking directions for users of Google Maps in the US and Canada. Helping cyclists navigate the bike trails throughout those countries proved hugely popular, so we’re wheelie excited to announce that starting today, we've also added extensive biking data to Google Maps for Austria, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In many of these countries we are also enabling biking directions in beta mode.

We know how popular cycling is in many parts of the world, so we wanted to include as much bike trail data as possible to provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trips, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and busy roads and to customize the look of the cycling map to encourage people to hop on their bikes. So that's exactly what we've done.

To start off, we've added information about bike trails, lanes and recommended roads directly to the map through the updated biking directions legend. This can help you get a better sense of your route, or easily find trails nearby for a recreational ride. When you're zoomed into a city, use the widget at the top right of the map to turn on the "Bicycling” layer.

Cycling is big in the Netherlands!

If you’re keen to start riding into work, or maybe just do your bit for the environment by swapping your car for a bike a couple of days a week, biking directions can help you find a convenient route that makes use of dedicated bike lanes and avoids hills whenever possible.

To use biking directions, select the cyclist icon from the list of routing modes when you search for directions. Watch this short video for more information. Biking directions are now available in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

A three hour ride through Swedish countryside

We’ve been working hard to add as much biking data to our maps as possible and we hope you enjoy this latest addition to Google Maps. That said, knowing the best roads for cycling is a challenge and there is only one group of people in the world who really know where the best cycle paths are in their regions: Cyclists!

Luckily, Google Map Maker is available in most countries where we’re releasing biking data and directions today, so we encourage all of you to help your fellow riders enjoy cycling as much as you do. Check out the brief tutorial and start adding those bike paths to your city or other places with which you’re familiar!

Add and edit bike data in Google Map Maker

If you live in a country that does not yet have Map Maker enabled, we appreciate your patience while we work to make it available as soon as possible. Or if you live in a place where biking directions are not yet enabled, but where you can already contribute to the map via Map Maker, we encourage you to add biking information in the meantime - and thanks for your help in making life easier for riders in as many countries as possible!

Posted by Kai Hansen, Product Manager, Google Maps

Indoor Google Maps help you make your way through museums

(Cross posted to Official Google Blog) 

In the past, navigating through museums could be an art form in and of itself. But Google Maps for Android has got wayfinding inside your favorite museums down to a science. With indoor maps and walking directions for U.S. museums now available on your Android phone or tablet, you can plan your route from exhibit to exhibit, identifying points of interest along the way, including between floors.

Today, we’ve added more than twenty popular U.S. museums to our collection of over 10,000 indoor maps that we launched in November: the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cincinnati Museum Center, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History and 17 Smithsonian museums—plus a zoo!

My location in the American Museum of Natural History, New York City

To access the floor plans, simply open Google Maps on your Android phone or tablet and zoom in on the museum of interest. To find the museum, either search for it by name using the magnifying glass icon or, if you’re already there, use the “My location” feature to orient yourself. With the “My location” feature enabled you can even get indoor walking directions.

Indoor walking directions in the National Air and Space Museum - Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

More museums are adding their floor plans to Google Maps for Android soon, including the SFMOMA, The Phillips Collection, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. If you’re interested in getting your museum’s floor plan included in Google Maps, visit the Google Maps Floor Plans tool.

Along with the Google Art Project, indoor mapping is one more way we’re working with museums to bring greater access to revered cultural and educational institutions around the world. Tap into the latest version of Google Maps for Android in Google Play, and enjoy exploring the art and science of the great indoors.

Posted by Cedric Dupont, Google Maps for Mobile team

Go indoors at locations across the United Kingdom

Given the current British weather, we seem to be spending a lot more of the summer than we’d hoped indoors. The thing about being indoors is that people often get lost - I’m not talking about in your own home, of course, but when you’re out and about, in train stations, museums, department stores and shopping centres.

We’re happy to announce that today Google is launching indoor maps for Android devices in the UK. You’ll no longer need to feel clueless when you’re at the railway station, trying to figure out where to buy a coffee before you rush to catch your train from platform 11; nor will you feel embarrassed about asking for the lingerie section when you’re in the department store - because you’ll have all the answers in the palm of your hand.

Just open Google Maps on your Android mobile phone, zoom in to the location you’re in and the indoor floor plan magically appears. And for buildings where the information is available, we’ll even show you where you are on the map with a familiar blue dot if you’ve enabled the My Location feature. Next, search for the location you’d like to get to (Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross Station or Peter Jones in Sloane Square) and we’ll provide directions to help you get there - even if you’re on a completely different floor.

More than 40 venues in the UK have worked with us to have their indoor floor plans appear on Google, ranging from train stations to art galleries, department stores to sporting venues. In fact, any building owner can upload their maps for future inclusion in Google Maps.

I know that I’ll definitely be using the indoor maps feature this summer to find my way around London as I start my work as a volunteer this summer. And no doubt I’ll also be using it in between my shifts, perhaps for a spot of retail therapy at Peter Jones or to check out the James Bond exhibition at the Barbican.

So whatever the weather, take time to explore the indoors this summer in the UK.

Posted by Razia Ahamed, Geo Indoor Partnerships Lead, UK