Get notified when Google Maps updates the satellite imagery for your house

“Love this tip from +Jake Parrillo – I had no idea you could get notified when there was new satellite imagery for your house. Living in the future is pretty great.” – Rick Klau   The full story from Jake: Last night, I received an email from the “Follow Your World” application of Google Maps that alerted …

Google Maps adds real-time traffic to driving directions

Google Maps now includes the ability to see the estimated time of your trip, based on real-time traffic conditions. The data will show up when you search for directions, and Google Maps will show how long several different routes will take with no traffic, as well as the estimated amount of time it will take …

Historical and Recreational Map of Los Angeles – by Jo Mora, 1942

“Historical and Recreational Map of Los Angeles,” designed by Jo Mora in 1942 and dedicated to his “buen amigo” Charles Lummis. The map squeezes in an extraordinary amount of historical facts and figures onto its 23- by 30-inch surface, depicting almost the entire history of Los Angeles up to that point, while looking toward the …

Tumblr Blog finds all the Monsters in Google Maps 8-bit

  From the Yeti to the Rock Monster, all of the scariest places in the 8-bit world – Google Maps Monsters — More about Google’s April Fools Day fun – Begin your quest with Google Maps 8-bit for NES

Before, after, and a year later – satellite images of the devastation from the Japanese tsunami

On the 1-year anniversary of the earthquake/tsunami that hit Japan, Google Maps updated its imagery all along the coast. This included side-by-side shots of two specific regions, the Shiogama Port and the Sanriku Bridge. The photos are: years before, days after, one month after, and a year after. The devastation is incredible, but so is …

Say hello to OpenStreetMap – the Wikipedia of maps

In October 2011, Google finally revealed pricing for Google Maps services. Lightweight usage was still free…significant load volumes would begin to incur charges: basically, services and applications that generated more 25,000 map loads per day would be charged $10-$40 for every additional 1,000 map loads. For businesses put off by the new costs of Google Maps, …

Change your world view – maps with the North Pole as the center

Imagine the world with its center at the North Pole. Asia nearly touches North America, and Europe is a short Viking’s paddle from North America too. Add in the Winter ice and all the land masses connect. The view from space.     //Maps are from – Reading Teachers, Athropolis, and the National Science Foundation.