Minor style updates, major improvements

We've just launched some new style improvements on Google Maps. This update was focused heavily on unifying the several localized styles down into a single config that works better worldwide. This has resulted in a much cleaner map style in a significant portion of the world.

More details and examples are in the post that I wrote on the Google Lat Long blog...

Biennale of Sydney

Photos from this:


View the complete set...

Where to watch the World Cup

We've just launched some World Cup themed features on Google Maps! Now you can use Google Maps to find a great place in your neighborhood to meet up with friends to watch the World Cup by going to maps.google.com and searching for "world cup", "wm gucken" or "fútbol" or get an overview of places around the world. Not behind your computer and want to find a place near you? Pull out your mobile and find the football layer in Maps for Mobile to discover places to watch the World Cup.

If you're a business owner, and would like to be included on this map, sign up at:
http://www.google.com/landing/showfootball/alt.html

Subtle improvement to search results on Google Maps

The more eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed a small but significant change that's just gone live for search results on Google Maps: area and street labels are no longer obscured by the long-tail red search result dots. This minor visual change makes the map a lot easier to read, as geographical cues are now visible again: