Jonah Jones

Geocode highlighting on Google Maps

2012-01-27T15:14:00.001+11:00

Last week we launched Geocode highlighting on Maps, which highlights search results for political features and postal codes on desktop Maps for places where the data are available and we can show them. Highlighting was already available on websearch and is now also available on desktop Maps (a frequent user request):

Core77 article - Google Maps: Designing the Modern Atlas

2012-01-10T09:34:00.001+11:00

My colleague Willem and I just wrote an article on the design process for Google Maps, which is being featured on the front page of Core77!

Read the Core77 article: Google Maps: Designing the Modern Atlas

Google Maps biking layer, now with built-in legend

2012-01-05T09:17:00.002+11:00

One of the most commonly requested features for our biking layer on Google Maps was the provision of a legend. We've now launched this, built right into where you activate the layer, so it's there when you need it and out of the way when you don't:

More details in the blog post on the Google Lat Long blog...

Typography improvements on Google Maps

2011-12-20T13:39:00.001+11:00

We just launched a couple of nice typography improvements on Google Maps. We now have clearer country/state/province labeling with the introduction of text tracking and more distinct styles, and a new treatment for water bodies makes it easier to distinguish water labels from land labels. Both combine to make the map a little more legible and less noisy, as you can see from the below before/after screenshots:

Good Design Award 2011

2011-12-20T13:15:00.001+11:00

We just won the Good Design Award 2011 for our work on the Google Maps Japan map tiles!

For more details on what we did, see my earlier blog post about it...

Google Maps goes indoors

2011-11-30T17:06:00.001+11:00

We just launched a killer new feature on Google Maps for Android: indoor maps! Initial coverage includes some of the largest retailers, airports and transit stations in the U.S. and Japan:

More details in the blog post on the Official Google blog...

See your rated places and discover new ones on Google Maps

2011-11-24T17:16:00.001+11:00

We just launched a cool new feature: now you can see places that that you have rated & reviewed, and places recommended for you, directly annotated on the map. By emphasizing the places that you care about, Google Maps now a little bit more personalized for you.

More details in the blog post on the Google Lat Long blog...

3D maps in your browser with Google Maps and WebGL

2011-10-14T11:25:00.002+11:00

We just launched a very cool technology preview of something that we've been working on for some time: MapsGL. If you have a modern browser and computer, give it a whirl and try out our new 3D vector-based maps right in your web browser!

Some highlights to look out for:

Full 3D buildings, with perspective rendering, warm sun highlights and cool shadows, and realistic shadow casting depending on the time of day
Faster and smoother transitions into streetview, now animated with a cool swoop effect
Beautiful transitions between imagery, especially when transitioning from top-down to 45 degrees, and when rotating the map

See the difference here in San Francisco with the new MapsGL rendering (top) vs the old static rendering (bottom):

Some nice comments so far:

“All that work to build 3D graphics into the Web just bore fruit on one of the Internet's most useful and widely used sites: Google Maps... Google is creating a virtual reconstruction of the world in 3D, and this is a big step on the way..” -- Stephen Shankland, CNET

“...the Google Maps experience with WebGL is far more in tune with the highly detailed visuals found in the company’s Google Earth application.” -- Tom Cheredar, VentureBeat

"Google provided a sneak peak into the future of Google Maps, in the process showcasing the future of plug-in-free 3-D graphics for the Web." -- David Carr, Information Week

"The coolest part, though, is the addition of 3D buildings to many towns and cities. Not only do they look awesome, but it's helpful to know where actual buildings are on a street..." -- Whitson Gordon, Lifehacker

“Great idea!” ... “This is sweet!” ... “It’s like I’m there… Hello poor man’s free vacation!” -- Comments from the article on Mashable

“Here's what cool: 3D buildings in Google Maps GL are casting shadows based on the current position of the sun, at that location.” ... “Very Cool! Good Stuff.” -- Comments from the article on The Next Web

More details in the blog post on the Official Google blog...

Single language labels launched worldwide on Google Maps

2011-10-10T15:34:00.001+11:00

We just launched single language labels across the world. Not only does this make the maps more legible in places with non-English labels by halving the amount of text drawn onto the map, it also makes the map more useful by translating the labels to ones that you'll be familiar with.

In the examples below, see how Switzerland is now labeled once instead of four times, leaving room for us to label Lucerne. Also note now Milano in Italy is now labeled Milan (the English name for the city). In China, the amount of labels is halved due to dropping the Chinese text, leading to a cleaner and more legible map:

More details in the blog post on the Google Lat Long blog...

My Location for directions now supported on Google Maps

2011-10-07T14:17:00.000+11:00

We just launched support for My Location when getting directions. This will make getting directions a little bit faster, a lot of the time :-)

More details in the blog post on the Google Lat Long blog...

Helicopter view for directions in Google Maps

2011-10-07T14:11:00.001+11:00

We just launched a nifty little feature which lets you preview your directions route in 3D. Now when I get invited to dinner with the queen, I'll have a much better idea of how to get there :-)

More details in the blog post on the Google Lat Long blog...

Improvements to borders on Google Maps

2011-09-16T17:38:00.000+10:00

There are a few new visual tweaks that have just gone live on Google Maps:

- Cleaner rendering of country borders, making them look less blurry
- Less prominent rendering of province borders in France, making it easier to distinguish countries/provinces and follow roads
- Better road thinning in France, making it easier to tell major from minor roads
- Improved label density, making the map more legible by removing minor cities from far zooms following the less is more rule :-)

Improvements to POI rendering on Google Maps

2011-09-14T12:14:00.004+10:00

I was looking over some of our map tiles from last year, and thought it would be interesting to show how we have improved the rendering of points of interest (POIs). There are a whole bunch of subtle changes to the icons, placement, and visual style that we implemented, resulting in a map that's much more useful and easier to read. Things to notice:

- Better POI placement, with icons aligned with roads & labels avoiding roads
- More road names shown, due to less label collision
- Clearer distinction between different data types (building numbers, roads, POIs)
- Better choice of icons for POIs

(On the left are the tiles from last year, on the right are the current ones):

See the Weather on Google Maps

2011-08-19T04:59:00.001+10:00

We have just launched a weather layer on Google Maps, something that I'm very excited to see go live after making my first concept designs of this feature 4 years ago!

More details in the blog post that I wrote for the Official Google blog...

It hit the #2 spot on Techmeme, with coverage from CNET, Engadget, TechCrunch, LifeHacker, Gizmodo, Slashgear, PC Magazine and more! Some nice comments so far:

ReadWriteWeb: "It's one of those technologies that would blow the minds of the humans of the past."

TheNextWeb: "It's a handy addition to a tool that you probably already use. We like those."

Public transport directions for London now in Google Maps!

2011-07-29T09:51:00.002+10:00

Since starting work on Google Transit 4.5 years ago, this is the big one that I've been waiting for :-)

More details in the Official Google blog...

New 3D buildings in London & more

2011-07-20T09:20:00.000+10:00

Alongside the new style update that we just launched on Google Maps, we also have pushed new 3D buildings in London and many other major cities worldwide. It's great to see this feature appearing in my hometown!

More details and examples can be found on the Google Lat Long blog...

Evolving the look of Google Maps, redux

2011-07-20T09:04:00.001+10:00

Our third big update to the Google Maps tiles has just gone live, continuing the theme of simplifying the visual style whilst adding more useful information.

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

Bangladesh

2011-06-30T12:42:00.002+10:00

View the complete set...

My Places in Google Maps

2011-06-29T18:26:00.001+10:00

We've launched a new feature in Google Maps which makes it much simpler to keep track of places you've visited, starred or reviewed, and to create and share your own maps. Simply click on the My Places tab in the top of the left panel to get started!

More details on the Google Lat Long blog

Evolving the Google Maps design and experience

2011-06-29T16:06:00.001+10:00

We've just launched a new, cleaner UI for Google Maps, as part of a larger redesign of all Google properties. After all the effort we've put into making the map itself cleaner and more efficient, it's time to give the UI outside the map the same attention.

Here's how the UI looked after we underwent the last redesign in 2008:

And here's the new UI for 2011:

More details and examples can be found on the Google Lat Long blog, and for more information on the Google-wide redesign, the Official Google blog.

Area highlighting on Google search

2011-05-26T11:20:00.001+10:00

We've just launched a new map-based feature on Google web search! Now, when you search for something that matches an area triggering a map, we highlight the borders and fade the surrounding areas. Here's how it looks for cities and roads:

New Zealand

2011-05-04T11:28:00.000+10:00

View the complete set...

Tasmania

2011-04-14T11:26:00.002+10:00

View the complete set...

Better alternate routes for directions

2011-04-12T11:54:00.001+10:00

We've just launched a better alternate routes UI for directions, which now embeds other transit modes into the suggested routes panel with accurate times when appropriate.

More details and examples can be found on the Google Lat Long blog.

Summer 2011

2011-04-01T11:21:00.002+11:00

View the complete set...

Transparency improvements to roads on Google Maps

2011-02-04T13:21:00.005+11:00

Some small but important improvements have just gone live today:

1. Roads at deep zooms in Hybrid map mode are now less opaque, covering less of the map imagery

2. Tunnels that previously had no fill now also have a transparent fill, making them easier to spot on busy backgrounds

3. Tunnels that previously had a solid fill now have a transparent fill, making them easier to distinguish from above ground roads

Here are some before/after screenshots:

The Australian Open and the Great Ocean Road

2011-02-03T11:24:00.000+11:00

View the complete set...

Power Plant

2011-01-20T11:23:00.002+11:00

View the complete set...

Christmas & New Year 2010

2011-01-07T11:18:00.002+11:00

Sydney and the Blue Mountains:

View the complete set...

New Google Maps for Mobile with 3D, offline, vector maps

2010-12-17T14:55:00.002+11:00

We've just launched Google Maps for Mobile 5, with 3D buildings, vector rendering and offline support!

Many more details and examples can be found on the launch announcement and deep dive on the official Google blog.

Some nice reactions from the press:

"New Google Maps changes everything again forever. Amazing."
Joshua Toposky, Engadget (tweet)

"If it weren’t already, Maps for Android is now quite certainly the best mapping experience in mobile."
Greg Kumparak, TechCrunch

"Google Maps 5.0 Makes Old Google Maps Feel Like Paper... it makes every other maps app—including older Google Maps and Google Maps on the iPhone—seem straight-up Stone Age."
Matt Buchanan, Gizmodo

"If you ever doubted the awesomeness of Google Maps on Android, today's update will seriously blow your mind"
Whitson Gordon, Lifehacker (tweet)

"3D Maps? Check. Offline caching? Check. Offline rerouting? Check. Wait, did they just say offline rerouting? Jebus how much is that app going to cost me? Oh right, free. Damn that is disruptive, iPhone version please!"
James Fee, GIS Blog

Birthday Olympics!

2010-11-27T11:15:00.001+11:00

View the complete set...

New design for directions on Google Maps

2010-11-17T12:50:00.000+11:00

We just launched a major upgrade to directions on Google Maps! It’s now simpler than ever to switch transport modes, change the time/date of your trip, get a high-level overview comparing different routes, and view details of a single trip at-a-glance.

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

Sculptures by the sea

2010-11-12T11:13:00.000+11:00

View the complete set...

Style upgrade for Google Maps in Japan

2010-11-11T14:23:00.002+11:00

We've just launched a significant upgrade to the styling of our map and hybrid views for Japan in Google Maps!

This was a complex task, as Japan offers many unique challenges. Unlike western countries, most Japanese roads do not have names; instead, the cities are organized with a hierarchical block system. This makes the placement of landmarks critical to wayfinding. Another challenge is the huge density of map information in big cities such as Tokyo, which have complex subway and train systems, compact high-rise buildings, and extensive underground subway and shopping areas.

Find out a high-level summary of what we did in the Google Lat Long blog post, or more details in the Google Japan blog post...

Improvements to Google Maps in 10 countries

2010-11-11T14:14:00.001+11:00

We've just launched vastly improved data in 10 new countries on Google Maps. Taking Sydney as an example, you can immediately notice some nice new features on the map tiles:

- Traffic lights now visible on the map, great for wayfinding
- Much better walking path, building and park data
- Nicer tunnel positioning (William St is finally visible!)

Enjoy!

More details are in the official Google Lat Long blog post.

Japan 2010

2010-11-11T14:05:00.000+11:00

Photos from my recent trip to Japan:

View the complete set...

Byron Bay

2010-10-03T11:10:00.000+11:00

View the complete set...

Revamping the Photos layer on Google Maps

2010-09-29T12:32:00.002+10:00

We just launched a revamped Panoramio photo layer on Google Maps! The improvements include:

- Density-aware photo selection, making it easy to spot areas of interest. Look out for the clusters
- Large thumbnails on hover, showing an instant preview of the photo
- Transparent small thumbnails, allowing better orientation on the map

The launch got some nice coverage from Softpedia:
"The Photos layer in Google Maps just got a major improvement making it much easier to find great user photos of the locations you're interested in ... If you're browsing a location you're not familiar with, it makes a world of difference."

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

Stunt Driving school!

2010-09-19T11:08:00.000+10:00

View the complete set...

Flying Trapeze!

2010-09-12T15:55:00.000+10:00

Fulfilling a childhood dream :-)

View the complete set...

Sydney Tower

2010-09-10T15:56:00.001+10:00

Photos from the top of Sydney at night:

View the complete set...

La Perouse & Maroubra

2010-09-06T11:04:00.001+10:00

Photos from La Perouse & Maroubra:

View the complete set...

Shoal Bay & Melbourne

2010-08-25T23:35:00.000+10:00

Photos from the last week:

View the complete set...

West Head

2010-08-14T10:55:00.003+10:00

Photos from West Head:

View the complete set...

Southern Highlands

2010-07-12T23:23:00.000+10:00

Photos from our weekend trip to the Southern Highlands, just south of Sydney:

View the complete set...

Minor style updates, major improvements

2010-06-25T15:51:00.001+10:00

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

2010-06-20T16:37:00.000+10:00

Photos from this:

View the complete set...

Where to watch the World Cup

2010-06-18T16:25:00.000+10:00

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

2010-06-11T16:22:00.002+10:00

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:

Updated directions UI on Google Maps

2010-06-01T16:10:00.001+10:00

Last week, we launched a redesigned "Get Directions" UI on Google Maps.

Major changes include replacing the modality dropdown with a set of button pills at the head of the launcher, and replacing the simple text boxes plus calendar icon with smart drop down boxes with "today" and "tomorrow" pre-filled options. These changes are intended to make common use cases easier to perform.

We hope you'll enjoy using the new design!

Add a touch of style to your maps

2010-05-20T16:03:00.001+10:00

Today at Google I/O, we launched a new feature on the Google Maps API that lets you customize the styling of Google Maps to make it look pretty much however you want it to when you embed it on your website. Have fun!

Official post on Google Geo Developers blog

The end of summer

2010-05-19T15:22:00.002+10:00

This is the last set of photos from summer in Sydney, some nice ones in here though:

View the complete set...

Palm Beach (aka Summer Bay)

2010-05-15T21:52:00.000+10:00

We just visited Palm Beach, which is where they film Home and Away! The childhood memories came flooding back :)

View the complete set...

Sydney harbour sunset

2010-05-09T20:52:00.000+10:00

Three days until winter officially begins, and the weather in Sydney is still amazing...

View the complete set...

Sydney in miniature

2010-04-17T20:17:00.002+10:00

A little bit of time lapse tilt-shift taken on my walk home from work on a sunny evening:

Watch this in YouTube

Translated tiles on Google Maps, part 2

2010-04-05T15:56:00.003+10:00

We've just launched a second set of transliterated tiles (following the Japanese launch) - Google Maps translated into Russian:

Official post on Google Russia blog
(... and the English translation for those who can't read Russian)

A new look for Google Transit Maps

2010-04-04T08:09:00.003+10:00

We've just released a significant redesign of our public transit map tiles!

I wrote a blog post about it on the Google Lat Long blog:
"Before, the transit map was placed on top of the base road map, obscuring some important information in the base map and competing visually with the complexity of the road network. With this redesign, we're changing the entire base map to put more focus on the transit lines, and lower the prominence of roads. We hope you'll agree that the result is a cleaner, less cluttered map that will make it easier for transit riders to get around."

Here's a nice quote from 41latitude.com:
"Make no mistake, these simplified maps are gorgeous. They’re immensely readable, and the lack of bright colors gives the maps a professional aesthetic..."

San Francisco in miniature

2010-04-03T08:25:00.002+11:00

A tilt & shift test movie from my recent trip to San Francisco:

Watch this in YouTube

March in San Francisco

2010-04-03T08:19:00.001+11:00

A few photos from my recent trip to San Francisco:

View the complete set...

Jumps in slowmo

2010-03-15T12:53:00.003+11:00

Some 60fps footage taken using my new Canon 550D on our rooftop garden:

Watch this in YouTube

Biking directions on Google Maps

2010-03-11T11:06:00.006+11:00

Yesterday we added a new biking layer to Google maps across over 150 cities in the US, which gives information about bike trails, lanes and recommended roads directly onto the map. You can also now get biking directions, taking into account various factors such as bike trails, bike lanes, recommended routes, hills and more.

We worked hard to create a simple, understandable map, in contrast to the confusing and non-standardised cycle maps commonly found in shops with dosens of colours and styles covering the map, requiring a detailed legend. Instead, we dropped back the visual prominence of the road network by narrowing the streets and turning all roads white, to use as a clean backdrop. Then we added three types of bike data in a clear hierarchy of importance:

- Dark green indicates a dedicated bike-only trail;
- Light green indicates a dedicated bike lane along a road;
- Dashed green indicates roads that are designated as preferred for bicycling, but without dedicated lanes.

We also provided support for biking data on terrain maps (which let you see the hills much more clearly) and satellite maps (where you can see exactly what you will be cycling through, using an adapted visual design):

It seems to be going down very well so far: hundreds of broadcast hits including some notable national news coverage (NPR, CNN, Associated Press, Fox, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, New York Times) and all of the major tech press (TechCrunch, Wired, CNET etc). A couple of quotes:

Googlemapsbikethere.org (an online petition for biking directions on Google maps with over 50,000 signatures) says:
"Thanks to the Google Maps team that put together, what at first glance, appears to me to be an exceptional tool. The quick and accurate routing, the multiple route options, the drag-and-drop routing ability, and the bike route layer are all brilliant."

Cleveland vs the world says:
"This is great, and Cleveland is one of the cities included in this. This trail hierarchy is good, too. Excellent way of showing this on maps"

And a nice note taped to the window of our Seattle office, along the Burke Gilman trail:

Try it out for yourself at http://maps.google.com/biking

Official post on the Google blog

More details on the Google Lat Long blog

Mardi Gras 2010

2010-03-07T16:51:00.000+11:00

Photos from our rooftop party:

View the complete set...

Sydney summer

2010-02-18T16:25:00.002+11:00

Goodbye London, hello Sydney:

View the complete set...

Improvements to the Google Maps photos layer

2010-02-18T15:05:00.006+11:00

We have just launched a couple of nice improvements to the photos layer on Google Maps. The photos now appear in piles when there are lots of views of the same scene, and the left panel now contains links to filter the photos by popular tags.

Enjoy!

January snow

2010-01-14T10:04:00.003+11:00

Photos from the last few weeks in London & Zurich:

View the complete set...

More information with fewer clicks on Google Maps

2009-12-16T07:00:00.002+11:00

Last week we rolled out a useful new improvement to Google Maps, showing hover tooltips the map to give more information on search results and other things without clicking:

Official post on Google LatLong blog

Pre-regeneration Elephant

2009-12-02T13:24:00.001+11:00

This weekend I left Elephant & Castle in preparation for relocation to Sydney. As the local regeneration picks up, it is likely that the area will be almost unrecognizable upon my return in a few years. I've taken some photos of the area around the soon-to-be-demolished Heygate Estate and Southern roundabout subways for posterity:

View the complete set...

Victorian Pullens

2009-11-29T13:20:00.001+11:00

In the aftermath of a new film being shot around my street, I took a few photos of the street as a film set, complete with Victorian advertisements and sooty building facades:

View the complete set...

New Google Maps tiles for mobile

2009-11-10T15:27:00.002+11:00

Following the roll-out a few weeks ago of new map styles on Google Maps for desktop, we have now updated the mobile maps tiles to be consistent with the desktop style for the first time. The new design offers a much greater information density without sacrificing any legibility, as the example below shows:

To see the new styles, simply access Google Maps on your mobile device of choice.

New York subways on Google Maps

2009-11-10T04:35:00.004+11:00

We've just added New York City to the Transit layer on Google Maps for desktop and mobile, one of the most requested cities since we first launched:

Official post on Google Lat Long blog
Official post on Google Mobile blog

Evolving the look of Google Maps

2009-10-26T22:48:00.005+11:00

After a lot of hard work and lots of iterations, we have just launched brand new map and hybrid tiles on Google Maps!

I wrote a blog post about it on the Google Lat Long blog:
"Today's changes are intended to keep the same information-rich map while making it easier to pick out the information that is most useful. The changes affect both the Map and Hybrid styles, and include numerous refinements to colour, density, typography, and road styling worldwide."

Marissa Mayer also posted it on the Google Blog:
"We have updated the way that maps render on Google Maps, and it is our biggest change in almost 5 years. The changes are subtle but significant. The blog post with the announcement has some very interesting before and after examples. The impetus of this change is to improve usability and readability and literally help people find where they are going faster — our goal both on the web with search, and in the physical world with maps."

Irene Au tweeted it:
"Evolving the look of Google Maps (congrats Jonah!)"

A glowing review from TechCrunch:
"...looking at the side-by-side images, it’s clear to see that the new look is much nicer. Gone is much of the clutter caused by darkened street outlines... subtle, but much better."

Google Watch: "Google Maps' Biggest Little Refresh for Map, Hybrid Styles"
"Jones posts more Maps changes on the Maps blog here, but you can see where Google is going with this: disambiguation between topographical components leads to better usability, which will keep Maps users from going elsewhere and could even bring more Maps users to the fold via word of mouth. That will be crucial at a time when Yahoo, Microsoft, and maybe even Apple are vying for users with their own map programs."

Bubble Foundry: "This is why Google Maps is so good"
Check out the blog post Google LatLong: Evolving the look of Google Maps and I’m sure you’ll agree that Google Maps is by far the most usable and aesthetically pleasing online mapping service out there.

Comment on TechCrunch:
"Wow! The new look is much easier on the eyes. It seems so cluttered when you look at the old images of Google maps. Google did a good job on this one. Two thumbs up"

New directions for Google Mobile Maps

2009-10-07T19:17:00.008+11:00

Last week we launched an entirely rebuilt Directions component in Google Mobile Maps, adding Transit & Walking directions to the app - one of the top feature requests since the launch earlier this year:

If you own a Palm Pre, you'll automatically pick up the change in the Google Maps app. On the iPhone, you can bookmark a direct invocation path to Transit (http://maps.google.com/maps/m?mode=transit), which our Japanese users will see as a mobile One Google link.

Official post on Google Japan blog
(... and the English translation for those who can't read Japanese)

Place Pages for Google Maps

2009-09-28T22:16:00.005+10:00

We've just launched a new feature called the Place Page, which aims to give a dedicated webpage to every place on the planet. In doing so, we are finally retiring the old super-sized bubble that used to dominate the map when trying to get more information about a place, and giving a lot more content with a lot more room to breathe:

Official post on Google blog
Official post on Google LatLong blog

Chinese Fitness part II

2009-09-07T22:18:00.001+10:00

In the aftermath of Beijing 2008, Jones and Boonstoppel again visit the Olympic city to find that they are not the only ones getting in shape.

Watch this fullscreen on YouTube

Chinese Fitness practice

2009-09-07T22:17:00.001+10:00

Out-takes and practice for the Chinese Fitness saga:

Watch this fullscreen on YouTube

Beijing Rain

2009-09-07T22:06:00.003+10:00

Slow motion footage of a rainy day near the Forbidden City...

Watch this fullscreen on YouTube

Translated tiles on Google Maps

2009-09-03T00:02:00.006+10:00

We've just launched something very cool that I've been working on: Google Maps translated into Japanese. With over 60 million transliterated/translated labels, it's interesting to see how your city looks with a Japanese twist:

Official post on Google Japan blog
(... and the English translation for those who can't read Japanese)

China

2009-09-02T16:00:00.002+10:00

I've uploaded some photos from the last month spent traveling around Beijing, Guilin, Yangshuo, Kunming, Lijiang, Dali and Yuanyang:

View the complete set...

POIs and landmarks on Google Maps

2009-08-11T12:47:00.002+10:00

We've just added icons and labels of prominent businesses and places of interest directly on the map itself. Not only can you see where these places are, but you can click the icons to get a summary of what this place is about and explore more by choosing more info to see business info, reviews, photos, Wikipedia articles, and a lot of other local information...

Official post on Google LatLong blog

Corsica Studios

2009-07-23T20:06:00.004+10:00

Photos from last night's gig at Corsica Studios in Elephant & Castle, home of the UK's coolest music scene according to the Guardian:

View the complete set...

Summer in London

2009-07-23T20:01:00.003+10:00

Some photos from summertime in London, including some tilt-shift experiments:

View the complete set...

I'm now famous in Switzerland :)

2009-07-23T19:55:00.004+10:00

The local paper wrote an article based on my time lapse video of Zurich!

Tages Anzeiger - Eindunkeln im Zeitraffer

For those who don't speak Swiss-German, here's a translation via Google Translate:

"Dusk in time lapse

An English photographer has the very special atmosphere at the lakeside Zurich shortly before the collapse of the enchanted night - and the evening hours in time-lapse filming.

A summer evening at the Zurich lake. Scraps of clouds move across the sky, the water fountain by gusts of wind disheveled. Last steer boats to port, and Panta Rhei lights in all the colors on their journey to the nearest boat station. On the horizon moves slowly in the night, the lights along the lake and go along.

The English designer, filmmaker and photographer Jonah Jones was impressed by the atmosphere on the lakefront seems so fascinated that he captured with his camera has - in the time-lapse techniques. A short film about a sea, on the night's rest prepared."

Viewing multiple searches on Google Maps

2009-07-22T22:00:00.000+10:00

We've just launched the ability to be able to view multiple sets of search results at the same time on Google Maps. Very useful for researching things like which bars are close to restaurants in London:

Official post on Google LatLong blog

Lake Zurich, summer 2009

2009-07-14T19:53:00.000+10:00

Time-compressed footage of Lake Zurich, Switzerland, taken as the sun was setting in July 2009:

Watch this fullscreen on YouTube

United Nations Kyoto protocol map

2009-07-07T22:08:00.003+10:00

A website for a worthy cause that I've been helping out with in my 20% time has just gone live. From the UN blog post:

"UNFCCC emissions data visualized on Google Maps (7 July 2009)

The secretariat has cooperated with Google and the Danish government as hosts of COP 15 to display official UNFCCC greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data for Annex I Parties using Google Maps. The user can now select on a world map total national GHG emissions/removals as well as emissions/removals from various sectors; absolute numbers (in Gg CO2 equivalent); or relative changes in emissions (in per cent compared to the base year level)"

Official post on the Google LatLong blog

Sunset over London

2009-07-03T00:40:00.004+10:00

2.5 hours of footage of the sun setting over the millennium wheel, compressed into 30 seconds:

Watch this fullscreen on YouTube

Starring on Google maps

2009-06-30T22:34:00.003+10:00

We have recently launched starring on Google Maps, enabling you to easily bookmark your favourite places in a lightweight way if you are signed in. Once starred they will remain on the map for easy access and are also listed in the "My Maps" section:

Webcams layer on Google maps

2009-06-30T22:31:00.001+10:00

This quarter, we launched the Webcams layer on Google Maps, enabling you to see live video streams of famous sites around the world:

Look at the Google Maps Webcams Layer

Curved lines on the transit layer

2009-06-24T19:43:00.003+10:00

We've just launched a cool new refinement to London and Paris on the Transit layer on Google Maps. Whereas before, the subways in many cities were drawn using straight lines to connect the stations, we now are using curved lines for a much more organic and realistic feel. See below for a before/after comparison:

Look at the Google Maps Transit Layer

Barcelona

2009-06-20T01:00:00.001+10:00

Some photos from my recent trip to Barcelona:

View the complete set...

New countries added to Google Transit Layer

2009-06-20T00:02:00.002+10:00

As part of the ongoing improvements to the Transit Layer on Google Maps, we've recently added cities in China, Japan and Russia. It's pretty cool to see the real paths that the lines take:

Official post on Google LatLong blog

Zurich & Uetliberg

2009-05-06T22:54:00.001+10:00

Some photos from a week in Zurich and on top of the Uetliberg:

View the complete set...

Freeze frame shots

2009-03-23T12:23:00.003+11:00

KeeKim and I went to take some freeze frame photos this afternoon in San Francisco, they've come out pretty well:

View the complete set...

Google Street View arrives in the UK

2009-03-20T09:46:00.005+11:00

The UK Street View has launched! Here's a nice view of my flat:

Try it on Google Maps

Official post on Google Lat Long blog

London through a new lens

2009-03-01T17:15:00.003+11:00

Some photos from my new 50mm prime and 0.45x wide angle lenses:

View the complete set...

New markers for Transit directions on Google Maps

2009-02-26T22:50:00.004+11:00

We've just updated the markers that we use on the map on Google Transit directions. They have an upgraded graphical style to fit in with our new UI, and also have the added benefit of rendering the route name in the localized colour scheme into the marker itself, giving an at-a-glance summary of the route simply from looking at the map.

Earth to Earth on the front page of YouTube

2009-02-24T03:05:00.003+11:00

On Friday, our film Earth To Earth was selected as one of the featured videos on the front page of YouTube.com! We got over 116,000 views within a single day. Not bad publicity :)

Official post on YouTube blog

Going beyond the top 10 results on Google Maps

2009-02-20T00:40:00.007+11:00

It's been a while in the making, but I'm happy to say that we've just launched an update to Google Maps so that you can now see all search results on the map! I always suspected that there were more than 10 restaurants in London...

Official post on Google LatLong blog

February snow in London

2009-02-03T06:09:00.005+11:00

Photos from the day the country stopped working:

View the complete set...

Australia

2009-01-27T02:53:00.003+11:00

Photos from New Years and January in Sydney:

View the complete set...