Posts Tagged ‘Google Maps’

Where To Vote and Google Vote Search Box

October 25, 2008

Yesterday I wrote about Google Maps providing maps for voters showing them where to vote along with location specific voter registration information.

Today Google is giving searchers even easier access to voter information via a Google Vote Search Box under voting related search queries.

Where To Vote

Where To Vote

Voters can locate their polling place and find more information about voter registration via Google searches with these voting related phrases like these: “absentee voting”, “register to vote”, “register vote”, “vote location”, “vote locations”, “vote registration”, “voter registration” and “where do i vote”.

Americans who have internet access and can type a search into Google’s Vote Search Box should be able to find all the voting related information they need cast their vote on November 4th.

Where to Vote on November 4th? Find Your Local Polling Place with Google Maps

October 24, 2008

Today when I was logging into my Google Adwords account, I received the first non Google message I can ever remember receiving in My Client Center: “Vote On November 4th.”

Accompanying the reminder to vote message were two links: one to Google’s 2008 Voter Info Map and the other to: Find your local polling place.

Vote on November 4th

Vote on November 4th

The first link took me to Google Maps and their 2008 US Voter Information search box. Here visitors can  find their neighborhood voting location by entering their home address.

According to Google, their local polling place Maps were developed with help from state and local election officials and the Voting Information Project in conjunction with the League of Women Voters.

Where To Vote

Where To Vote

I entered my address and sure enough I received the correct location for where to vote within my local precinct.

Locate Polling Place

Locate Polling Place

Google Maps suggests searchers who have looked for and found their local polling place in Google Maps verify their voting location with local election officials to ensure that it is correct.

Google Maps also provides a link to absentee ballot and early voting information for how to “Vote by Mail” as well as how much time is left for voting by mail within a particular state.

Google’s 2008 Voter information Map is a great starting point for any voter who is looking for more information about where to cast their votes in the 2008 Presidential Election on November 4th, 2008.

Google Street View: Eiffel Tower Paris France

October 16, 2008

Google Maps now have Street View available live in France.

To get an idea of which cities in France have Google Street View available, search Google Maps for “France” and switch to the street view tab.

Google Street View France

Google Street View France

This will give you a general idea of where Google has street view images available in France.

Next, search street view while in Google Maps for a specific city within France to see whether the city has been photographed yet or not.

This image indicates Paris, France has live Google street view images.

Paris France Google Street View

Paris France Google Street View

A search for Eiffel Tower Paris France then produces a view from the base of the Eiffel Tower.

Clicking or moving the orange person icon onto any blue street and panning the camera image can give you a better perspective of any location or landmark as in the picture below.

Welcome to the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

Adwords Examples on Google Maps

October 11, 2008

I was giving a presentation in Utah last week using Google Local Search and Google Maps as examples which evidently included new distribution points for Adwords advertising.

In the examples below, you can see an Adwords ad displayed in two locations in both types of Google Maps products being searched.

A search for Trump Soho Hotel in Google Maps produces two Adwords advertisers ads – one in the top left corner above Google’s local search results with the other ad below the map itself.

Trump Soho Hotel Google Maps

Trump Soho Hotel Google Maps

The same search in Google Street View also generates two Google Ads in the same locations as in the Google Map view search.

Trump Soho Hotel Google Maps Street View

Trump Soho Hotel Google Maps Street View

Its not clear to me as a Google Adwords advertiser just how I can get my ads distributed and displayed in these local map search results.

None of my geo-targeted Adwords campaigns are generating these types of ad distribution results.

Hurricane Ike Galveston Texas Damage on Google Earth

September 18, 2008

The teams from Google Earth and Maps have assembled images and resources for Galveston Texas residents displaced by Hurricane Ike as well as state and local emergency management personnel.

Within hours after Hurricane Ike’s arrival the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Remote Sensing Division began flying rapid response aerial reconnaissance missions of the Texas and Louisiana Gulf region.

NOAA Remote Sensing

NOAA Remote Sensing

The NOAA Remote Sensing team has published the data they have collected on their official Hurricane Ike response page.

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike

The images posted on NOAA site are of the coast of Texas and Louisiana after Hurricane Ike made landfall.

The NOAA Remote Sensing Division gathered their Hurricane Ike images to meet NOAA national security and emergency response requirements.

The NOAA data will also be used for ongoing research efforts to test and further develop standards for airborne digital imagery.

To see pictures of Galveston and the Texas coastline in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, click on the NOAA base map grid boxes.

Hurricane Ike Image

Hurricane Ike Image

You can then drill down to each NOAA picture taken after Hurricane Ike made landfall.

Hurricane Ike Damage

Hurricane Ike Damage

The Google Earth and Google Maps teams have also processed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data it into a KML image overlay for easy access.

Here is just one example of the type of before and after pictures you can view of Galveston, Texas after Hurricane Ike struck the Texas Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Ike Before Picture

Hurricane Ike Before Picture

Hurricane Ike Before Picture

Hurricane Ike After Picture

Hurricane Ike After Picture

Hurricane Ike After Picture

Galveston Texas Hurricane Ike on Google Maps

September 12, 2008

Google Maps is providing a convenient weather forecast map overlay of Hurricane Ike and its projected path over the next 24, 36 and 48 hours.

Hurricane Ike 24 Hour Forecast

Hurricane Ike 24 Hour Forecast

Hurricane Ike: Galveston Island, TX 24 hour weather map forecast

Hurricane Ike 36 Hour Forecast

Hurricane Ike 36 Hour Forecast

Hurricane Ike: Houston Texas, Central Texas 36 weather map forecast

Hurricane Ike 48 Hour Forecast

Hurricane Ike 48 Hour Forecast

Hurricane Ike: Texas and Oklahoma 48 hour weather map forecast

Google Maps is also providing a third party’s “Rising Sea Simulator” for visualizing storm surge levels but according to HeyWhat’sThat.com:

“We’re currently seeing heavy demand on our servers, so for now you’ll have to hit ‘Go’ whenever you move or zoom the map to load the overlay images.”

I had difficulty getting their application to load and couldn’t get it to produce a storm surge map for Galveston Bay or Galveston Island other than from space.

Storm Surge

Storm Surge

To get more information about Hurricane Ike and its status, a quick Google search for Galveston web cams, Galveston newspapers or Galveston TV Stations will produce a list of other Hurricane Ike news sources.

I tried to access most of Galveston Web Cameras listed but they too were experiencing heavy usage and didn’t load very fast (less than 90 seconds).

Overall, it won’t be a good day to be in the Galveston Bay and Beach area.

Google Street View Maps

August 20, 2008

Google has been busy populating their maps product with more street level view pictures.

To see whether or not your city has been captured on film or not, go to Google Maps and select street view.

Google Maps shows which cities have been photographed or not.

Google US Street View

Google US Street View

Next drill down to your particular city and location by inputting the address, city and state or in the case of a specific landmark like the Golden Gate Bridge – just enter the landmark’s name with or without the city

Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco CA

Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco CA

Click on the street view link and you will get a photograph which can then be tilted up and down or rotated 360 degrees to view different angles of the location Google has mapped.

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

In this case you can see the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco Bay and the San Francisco skyline all at once.

San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay