Talk:Google Maps

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Can Google Map (or satellite) images be used on Wikipedia?

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"Maximum Ground Imagery"

This term needs to be defined. I have no idea what it means. It seems to refer to the size of the smallest resolvable object. Google for this term reveals nothing except this same text, so obviously the term is not in common usage. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.185.247.124 (talk) 22:11, 13 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Adding a link to the Google Maps Help Center

Hi, I like to add a link to the Google Maps help Center at [1]. I think this would really help new Google Maps users, as it has helped me. --Jsopher (talk) 00:53, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Southern Ontario, why??...!!

Ok why is the example map at the top a map of Southern Ontario??

Rhetorical question -- I'll tell you why: because Wiki has been hijacked by a cabal of young Southern Ontario (I don't know what else to call them...) nerds. Whose sole purpose seems to be to artificially boost Southern Ontario, tricking Americans and other foreigners into investing there and continuing the insane population growth in Southern Ontario that doesn't make sense.

I'm sorry if I sound 'wonky' on this but I see it over and over. Like the Wiki article about the "GTA" and many others (as well as similar diatribes on Emporis), there seems to be this group of nerds living in their parents' basements in bungalows scattered throughout Etobicoke and Scarborough who have nothing better to do with their miserable lives except spend hours on Wiki, and similar sites, making Southern Ontario look good.

Never mind that Southern Ontario and Southern Quebec have been 100% artificially created by government dictatorship for over 200 years. What with the Staple Theory of economic development, a non-regional non-US type Senate, exploitation of natural resources, import tariffs, the Auto Pact, centralized bank laws, differential freight rates and preferential government procurement rules. The list goes on.

It's all a parasite/host relationship, where Southern Ontario-Southern Quebec are the parasites, and the natural resource rich hinterland of Canada -- representing 98% of its land mass, by the way! -- are the hosts. Think it's like that in America? Uh-uh. Check it out; do the math. You'll see.

I hoping this is trolling. Bsimmons666 (talk) ^Friend? 05:46, 1 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm rather sick of these Southern Ontario stasi like nerds who seem to control every Canadian aspect of Wikipedia and now seem to be infiltrating non-Canadian sections as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Atikokan (talk • contribs) 05:30, 23 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The picture should be of So-Cal, which would show many benefits on the service, such as freeways, public transite, etc. I'm sorry, but an image taken of a country that has less people than the State of California and is like X8568745764 times larger should not be used. Using Ontario is like talking a picture of a desert in Navada, NO ONE IS THERE. --Cooljuno411 (talk) 05:33, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to take it upon myself to change the image to So-Cal, sorry American product = American picture. And lets actually show an area that actually has people, come on now, their is more people in the LA Metro area then that whole Provence.... --Cooljuno411 (talk) 05:51, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Um, you guys are all joking/trolling, right? 69.95.240.44 (talk) 18:32, 2 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Quality of maps

I notice that some countries have more detailed maps than others.

This is particularly noticable in Map (as opposed to Satellite) view. For instance, Argentina is one big flat expanse of land with no city markers, whereas Uruguay and Brazil have considerably more detail. See [2]

Also, some countries have detailed areas, yet are mostly sparse. See this overview of Asuncion in Paraguay [3].

Also, the Chinese version of Google Maps, Ditu, has very detailed Chinese cities, whereas Google(.com) Maps only have a handful of cities and railroads, without much detail to them. Compare [4] and [5], the same Shanghai area, and the difference is immediately clear.

I'm guessing the first case is a matter of resources, the second a matter of completeness and the third a matter of censorship, but this is just my opinion. Regardless, I feel this should be reflected in the article. Please write your thoughts on the matter. --92.104.254.8 (talk) 16:37, 7 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

EL nomination

We don't have any links to developers' guides, so I nominate the Google Maps API Tutorial. Are there better resources? Adoniscik (talk) 02:22, 9 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Originated in Australia

May want to incorporate this into the article:

Google Maps originated in Australia, with a company called Where 2 Technologies which was bought by Google in late 2004 and resulted in Google opening an office in Australia. - ITWire: Google Transit comes to Australia --ozzmosis (talk) 11:11, 19 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Google Maps for Mobile 2.0 is available for Blackberry

This statement from the article:

On November 28th, 2007, Google Maps for Mobile 2.0 was released. It introduced a GPS-like location service that does not require a GPS receiver. As of April 20, 2008, this service is available for Windows Mobile | Palm OS | Nokia/Symbian (S60 3rd edition only) | Symbian OS (UIQ v3)[8].

Is inaccurate. I am running Google Maps for Mobile 2.0 on my Blackberry which does not run any of the operating systems listed. (Blackberry is its own platform.) There is no Blackberry availability listed on cited URL, and I don't know what URL to cite to prove that I'm right. I hope some more experienced Wikipedia author can handle this. 198.105.0.4 (talk) 20:14, 4 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Copyright

Would using google maps on wikipedia be ok because it's non-profit and all. I think fair use would work here... --Cooljuno411 (talk) 05:34, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Criticism

There is a possible error in the Criticism section.

"A further weakness is that date and time when the photograph is made are not available. If it were, it would be possible to determine the height of a tall structure by measuring the length of its shadow." may be inaccurate now.

At http://ask.metafilter.com/55794/Satellite-image-date-needed-from-Google-Maps the reply states: "Download Google Earth 4, find your target. Under Layers, expand 'Digital Globe Coverage. Starting from the most recent year, checking each box one at a time. One will overlap your area - zoom out and it will tell you the exact date the picture was taken."

I'm unable to verify this on the 'puter I am on right now. If someone would care to check, they could correct the criticism. Kid Bugs (talk) 20:24, 20 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I noticed last week when I was using google earth that in the bottom right of the screen it would say a date and month but it was changing based on my location. I figured out that it was dependent on where I put my mouse when I was at an appropiate zoom level. I assume the dates it was displaying were the dates the imagery was taken. I don't remember what layers I had on though. Doubtful it was many. --76.14.164.181 (talk) 06:06, 13 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia markers in Google maps

Is any information available from Wikipedia's side on the new Wikipedia labels under the 'More...' button? Is this a cooperation between Google and Wikipedia, or was there contact between Google and Wikipedia on this, or is it a unilateral Google thing? And on the technical side: does anyone know how often Google refreshes its database (I changed some erroneous coordinates in some WP articles, but they haven't changed yet in Google), and how the data is collected (Coord templates? Only title coords or also inline coords?)? And why some labels are big and some small? Mtcv (talk) 15:09, 14 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I share the same curiousity with all questions mentioned, and have not yet found answers.

Lanma726 (talk) 23:54, 2 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have not been able to turn on geotagged Wikimedia Commons images in Google Maps. I've seen a few WC images when I've followed a link. I found one link somewhere that turned on ALL tagged WC images(way cool), but I haven't been able to find it again (does anyone know how to do this?). I share your curiousity also. Leon7 (talk) 20:48, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Click the link "See this image at its location on Google Maps" on any image in commons:Category:Media with locations; for example this one. The trick is in adding "&q=http://tools.wikimedia.de/~para/GeoCommons/GeoCommons-simple.kml" to GM's URL. - Erik Baas (talk) 23:01, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Criticisms

"Street map overlays, in some areas, may not match up precisely with the corresponding satellite images."

Come on, this is a valid criticism of almost every digital map product ever made. How is this specific to Google Maps? 69.95.240.44 (talk) 18:34, 2 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Criticism: specific errors

I've removed a criticism about a street name error at Donegall Square in Belfast. The Criticism section already mentions that map data can be incorrect; there's no need to add specific examples. -- Darthsco (talk) 15:09, 8 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No street names available in Belarus or in Romania

Hello,

Does anyone know when the Google maps development team is releasing MORE than just satelite picks of Romania and Belarus. I mean google maps do not have detail level maps with streets etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.28.144.2 (talk) 11:14, 12 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

US-Centric Language

This article states that "Yahoo! Maps lacks international support". In that case, what does it support? Poland? What does "international" mean? Does it mean "outside Botswana?" Does it mean "outside the United States?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.240.61.2 (talk) 04:24, 23 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Missing quote attribution (and missing sentence verb)

From the article: '"The technique of providing greater sparingly", preferring a hidden IFrame with form submission because it preserves browser history.' The main sentence is lacking a verb and there appears to be no attribution of the source for this quote. 81.183.219.192 (talk) 18:09, 27 January 2009 (UTC) (Kevin Pfeiffer)[reply]