We’re pleased to announce that a new iPad-friendly version of Google Mobile App is now available in the App Store worldwide. By “iPad-friendly”, we mean that this new version has been designed to show neatly on the iPad’s screen, and that the usual features of Google Mobile App for iPhone, like search by voice and My Location, work well. From the Apps tab, you can also easily navigate to Google’s web-based apps, such as Gmail, which was recently optimized for iPad.
While this first version of Google Mobile App for iPad is essentially the same app we’ve built for iPhone, we’re working on improving Google Mobile App so that it takes advantage of iPad’s features. Stay tuned as we continue to make it and other Google products even better on this new type of device.
To download Google Mobile App to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch (requires OS 3.0 or higher), search for “Google Mobile App” in the App Store or just visit http://itunes.com/app/googlemobileapp.
Last month, Vic Gundotra, VP of Engineering, demonstrated at the Computer History Museum the ability to search by using your location as the query. Starting today, you can try this yourself by going to Google.com in your iPhone or Android browser and clicking on "Near me now" once your location has been provided by your phone.
"Near me now" was designed to address two user problems. First, we wanted to make it fast and easy to find out more about a place in your immediate vicinity, whether you're standing right in front of a business or if it's just a short walk away. For example, you may want to know what other customers think about a restaurant before you go inside (see quick video below) or what they have been raving about on the menu before you order. By selecting the "Explore right here" option, you can find out more about a place "right here" with just a few clicks.
Second, we wanted to make searching for popular categories of nearby places really simple. Imagine that you emerge from the subway station and you want to grab a coffee, but you don't see a coffee shop around you. You can simply search for all nearby coffee shops by using "Near me now". To search other categories of places not shown, "Browse more categories" provides access to our local search product with more category choices.
"Near me now" is currently available in the US for iPhone (OS 3.x) or Android-powered devices with version 2.0.1 or later. You must first enable location in order for "Near me now" to appear, and "Explore right here" works only if the phone provides location accuracy within approximately a city block.
Posted by John Eric Hoffman and Jussi Myllymaki, Google Mobile Engineering
It's easier and faster than ever to search Google using your Windows Mobile phone. Just visit m.google.com to download the latest version of Google Mobile App, which includes these new features:
My Location. Get local results without typing your location. Once you see the blue My Location dot with your current location below the search box, simply search for a local query, for example "italian restaurant", and the search results will contain local business results along with web results.
To protect your privacy, location is encrypted when sent to the server, and only your most recent location is stored so that successive searches can use the same location. You can disable My Location at any time in the "Advanced Options" screen.
Google Suggest. Reduce typing time by selecting suggestions to complete your queries. You will also see URL suggestions, which bring you directly to a web page, skipping the search results page entirely. Try typing "facebook" to see this kind of suggestion.
Search with Maps. If you have installed Google Maps, type a local query and wait for suggestions. Select the suggestion with the red pin next to it to launch your search inside Google Maps.
To download the new version of Google Mobile App, visit m.google.com from your phone.
I recently visited NYC where I met up with my friend Joanne, a jazz singer with a wonderful 1920's throwback style. I wanted to find a jazz club close to my hotel on the west side for us to meet. The problem was that I hadn't lived in Manhattan for 5 years, and my memory for places was failing me.
At Google, we want to make searching the world around you as easy and informative as searching the web. That's why we're introducing Search with My Location for iPhone 3.0. Now if I want to know which jazz clubs are near me, I don't have to specify a location - I just search for "jazz clubs".
As of today, when you visit www.google.com from Safari on your iPhone 3.0, you can choose to turn on My Location by tapping on the link on the homepage. When you tap on the "update" link, your location will be updated and displayed right there on the homepage. Whenever you want to refresh your location, just tap the "update" link. Testing this in New York, my search for "jazz clubs" returned a handful of places within walking distance. I picked one, tapped the phone number, made a reservation, and we were set for the night.
As always, your privacy is one of our top concerns. Google won’t use your location in search unless you explicitly opt in. And you can always disable the feature from Preferences at the bottom of the homepage.
Search with My Location from Safari is available in English in the US and UK. Look for other country and language combinations soon. You can also search with My Location using Google Mobile App, available from the iPhone App Store.
Posted by Joshua Siegel, Product Manager, Google Mobile Team
Since its launch in Nov 2007, My Location has helped millions of people know where they are and get better local results on their mobile devices. We thought, wouldn't it be great if laptop and desktop users could also take advantage of My Location?
Imagine searching for pizza from your computer and seeing the closest pizza places without having to enter your location. No more entering zip codes or city names in your queries -- isn't that magical? Of course, you can already do this with your phone, and searches on the computer can sometimes use an IP address to determine the city that you're in. But now your location can be determined much more precisely on your computer (as long as you opt in) and you can get better search results.
How does this work? Google Toolbar with My Location uses information about surrounding Wi-Fi access points to estimate your location. Naturally, this means it won't work if you're on a computer that doesn't have Wi-Fi (or has Wi-Fi turned off).
Along with getting more locally relevant Google search results, we also have additional goodies. Entering "maps.google.com" in your browser takes you to Google Maps automatically centered around your current location. You are one step closer to finding what you want. There is also a Google Maps gadget that uses My Location, installed in the Toolbar by default.
We take user privacy very seriously, so we make it easy for you to disable or enable the "My Location" functionality in Toolbar with just the click of a button. If you would like to know more about our privacy policy, please refer to this link.
We are really excited about this launch and hope to hear from you what you think. Let us know!
Google Toolbar with My Location is currently available only for Internet Explorer and works only within the US. You can download it from here.
Written by Venkat Malladi and Tsuwei Chen, Software Engineers, Google Mobile
If you own a BlackBerry Storm on Verizon Wireless, we encourage you to download a brand new version of Google Maps for mobile that utilizes the Storm's internal GPS. The Storm is the first Verizon BlackBerry that makes it possible for My Location to access GPS location. After you install the new version on your Storm, you will notice improved accuracy for My Location and Latitude. Based on interest in certain Google Mobile User Forum threads, this functionality should be a welcome addition.
So if you have a Verizon BlackBerry Storm, just go to m.google.com/maps from your BlackBerry's browser to download the latest version of Google Maps to your device - and start getting hyper-accurate!
(Note: If you have an older BlackBerry on Verizon, even one with GPS like the BlackBerry 8130, this announcement unfortunately does not apply to you. The Storm is currently the only BlackBerry Verizon phone that makes GPS available to Google Maps. We hope you enjoy using My Location through network positioning or Wi-Fi, when available.)
Posted by Tom Dimopoulos, Consumer Operations Mobile
Just a week ago we announced Google Latitude, a new feature of Google Maps for mobile that lets you see your friends' locations. Today Dylan Casey, a former professional cyclist, announced another location-based service from Google. My Tracks is a new Android application that makes it easy to record your routes when cycling, running, hiking, or doing pretty much any outdoor activity.
Because the Android operating system supports background processes, you can run the My Tracks app while using other applications on your phone.
My Tracks also integrates with other Android applications to make it easy to share your routes. When you select "Share with friends," Android will allow you to share your track through other Android applications that can send messages. By default this is the Gmail application, but if you have installed other applications that can send messages, there will be more options. To demonstrate this we worked with the Twidroid team. It is now just as easy to tweet your tracks as it is to email them. Simply install the latest version of Twidroid available from Android market. Next time you share a track recorded with My Tracks, you can also tweet a link to your tracks!
To download My Tracks to your G1, go to Android Market and search for "My Tracks." And don't forget to check out the My Tracks website.
Way back in November 2007, we location-enabled all of our Google Maps for mobile clients to bring location awareness to the masses and improve the local search experience. Using My Location, millions of you have been able to easily find yourselves on a map at the touch of a button. But what about finding other people? Lots of you have been requesting to see where your friends are on a map, too. Well now you can with Google Latitude.
Latitude is a new feature of Google Maps for mobile, as well as an iGoogle gadget, that allows you to share your location with your friends and to see their approximate locations, if they choose to share them with you. You can use your Google account to sign in and easily invite friends to Latitude from your existing list of contacts or by entering their email addresses. Google Talk is integrated with Latitude, so you and your friends can update your status messages and profile photos on the go and see what everyone is up to. You can also call, SMS, IM, or email each other within the app. Check out the video below to see Latitude in action.
We've gone to great lengths to put this on as many smartphone devices as possible from day one so that most of the people you know will be able to use Latitude right away. There are two primary ways to use Latitude right now:
On your mobile phone: visit google.com/latitude from your phone's mobile browser to download Google Maps for mobile with Latitude. We currently support most of the popular smartphone platforms: Android, Blackberry, Symbian S60, and Windows Mobile, and we are hoping to see Latitude on the iPhone soon. It will be available through Google Mobile App, and you'll just need to download or update the app from the App store to find Latitude in the Apps tab.
On your computer: go to http://google.com/latitude from your browser and add the Latitude gadget to your iGoogle homepage. What's neat is that if you've installed Google Gears or if you're using Google Chrome, you can choose to automatically share your location from your laptop or desktop computer -- no smartphone required!
Latitude gives you control over how much or little location information you want to share, and with whom. And of course Latitude is 100% opt-in. Learn more about using Latitude and its privacy features in our Help Center or check out our privacy video. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention - it is available in 27 countries and 42 languages. See in which part of the world your friends are now!
Posted by Charles Mendis, Software Engineer, Google mobile team
The new Google Mobile App for iPhone makes it possible for you to do a Google web search using only your voice. Just hold the phone to your ear, wait for the beep, and say what you're looking for. That's it. Just talk. Once the App is on, you don't have to push any buttons to search. Check out the video below to watch engineer Mike LeBeau explain how this works.
And if you're doing a local search, there's no need to specify where you are because Google Mobile App now has Search with My Location. Search for "movie showtimes" or "Mediterranean restaurant" and you'll automatically see results based on your current location. For this to work, Location Services must be enabled on your iPhone and you have to opt-in to let Google Mobile App use your location.
To get the latest Google Mobile App for iPhone or iPod touch, go to the App Store and look for "Google Mobile App." Note that the voice search feature is currently available only in U.S. English and for the iPhone. Read more about other features of Google Mobile App.
Watch this video to see what Googlers from Chicago, London, New York, and Mountain View are searching for. Then consider sharing your most interesting voice search query by submitting a video response.
Posted by Dave Burke, Engineering Manager, Google mobile team
One of our goals here on the location team is to keep shrinking that magical blue circle that shows you where you are. In fact, just a few weeks ago, we released new optimizations for My Location that helped us calculate location even more accurately.
Today, we're taking another step toward that goal, with the release of My Location with Wi-Fi, which will provide even greater accuracy when you use a device with Wi-Fi. The premise is similar to what we do with cell tower information: information transmitted by nearby Wi-Fi access points is used to pinpoint your location. Since the range of a Wi-Fi access point is smaller than that of a cell phone tower, this often results in a much more accurate position.
Wi-Fi-based location is available in many major cities around the world, but coverage and accuracy will vary. We expect it to improve over time as more people use it.
So how can you start enjoying this Wi-Fi goodness? If you have a Wi-Fi enabled BlackBerry, please download the latest version of Google Maps for mobile. Maps for other mobile platforms, including Android, will get Wi-Fi location soon.
Wi-Fi-based location is also now available through the Gears Geolocation API, bringing more-accurate location information to the browser on your phone or laptop, including Search with My Location.
Enjoy the smaller circles!
Posted by Adel Youssef and Arunesh Mishra, Software Engineers, Google mobile team
On September 23, T-Mobile announced the world's first Android-powered phone, the G1. The phone comes preloaded with Search, Maps, Gmail with Contacts, Calendar, Google Talk, and YouTube. The applications are easy to use, fully synchronized with the web, and work together in new and innovative ways, as explained in our first post in the blog series: 'Google on Android'. Over the next couple of weeks, we will put the spotlight on each one of the Google applications for Android. Today: Maps. -- Marc Vanlerberghe, Product Marketing Director.
When we designed Google Maps for the T-Mobile G1, we set out to create a great mapping application that took full advantage of the G1's hardware, like the touch screen, accelerometer, and GPS, as well as the deep system integration made possible by the Android platform.
One of my favorite things to do with Google Maps on Android is to explore new and favorite places. You can pan around and zoom in and out easily using just your thumb on the touchscreen -- a big plus for all those times when that other hand is unavailable. And if I want to see a restaurant or building up close, I can switch to Street View and view a panorama from street level. I can even turn on Compass mode to let me look around the panorama by moving my phone up, down, and to the side. It's like popping up a virtual periscope anywhere you want to check out what's there with your own eyes. Check out the video below for a quick demo. Note that Street View on Android is only available in the US at this time.
When I'm in a new city or just a new part of town, I like to turn on My Location. It can use GPS or just the nearest cell tower to tell me where I am and re-center my position in the middle of my screen when I approach the edge. When I'm walking or in a taxi in a dense city, like New York, I zoom in to street level and turn on GPS for the highest accuracy.
And as I wander the city, I can search for nearby businesses (like restaurants), and use Android's integrated Map features to save search results to my contacts. For instance, if I find a restaurant that I like, I can save it to my contacts and then later on call it or Map it with one touch. In the future, when I do another search with Maps, I might even see this contact again as a suggested search result along side past queries.
Maps is also integrated with email, IM, and the web on Android. For instance, street addresses that appear as plain text in these apps become touchable zones that you can click on to take you straight to Maps. Something similar happens when a Google Maps link is pasted into an email, IM or placed on a web page. When I touch it, I can choose whether to view the map in the browser, in Google Maps, or in any other application that's built to handle what's known to Android developers as an "intent." Or, I can make the choice once and save it as my default map-viewing application (Google Maps, in my case).
Perhaps best of all is that most of the resources, flexibility, and functionality in Google Maps are available to any application written for Android. Cab4me and Locale are both Android Developer Challenge winners that used the Android platform to build compelling applications with maps and location at their core. Any developer can use Android's MapView and location APIs to build location-aware mobile applications like these. While the team is proud of Google Maps on Android and other cool applications we've seen to date, we're equally excited to see what new kinds of maps and location-enabled applications developers create in the coming months.
Posted by David Conway, Product Manager, Android Team
My Location just got better for all the applications that use Google's geolocation service!
In November 2007 we launched My Location on Google Maps for mobile, and in the past few months, we've location-enabled other applications from third parties and Google. Hundreds of location-enabled iPhone applications, including the Google Mobile App, use Google's database of cell towers to determine approximate location. And just last week we announced Mobile Search with My Location, powered by the Gears Geolocation API.
With today's launch, your location estimate will be centered closer to your true location, and we have also improved the calculation of just how good our estimate is. When we originally launched the "blue circle" on Google Maps for mobile, the circle usually stayed the same size no matter if you were in downtown Manhattan or rural Iowa. Now, the next time you're using Google Maps in downtown Manhattan, expect to see a much smaller circle that's also far more accurate. Conversely, when you're in a lightly populated area like rural Iowa, expect to see a much larger circle which also happens to be centered closer to your true location. Check out these screenshots to get a better idea of the before and after effects of today's change:
New York City -- a smaller light blue circle denotes that we're more confident of your actual location.
Slater, Iowa - the light blue circle is larger because there are fewer cell towers with which to determine your location, but the dark blue circle is more accurately centered in downtown Slater
So how exactly have we made these improvements? Mobile operators typically need a lot more cell towers in populous areas to service all the users. This means each individual tower provides a much smaller coverage footprint. On the other hand, in a very sparsely populated area, towers provide much larger coverage footprints. We've developed algorithms to try and figure out what the right circle size should be and are pleased to make this available to you today.
There's actually nothing you need to do to start enjoying the new improvements to My Location. Any application powered by Google's geolocation service automatically benefits from today's launch. Enjoy!
From time to time, we all need information about local businesses when we're away from our computers -- like confirming the address of a bar while on the way to meet friends. Today we're introducing Search with My Location, a new way to make searching for nearby businesses on your Windows Mobile phone faster and easier.
Previously, when you went to google.com from your phone’s browser and performed a local search, the results were tailored to the last location you entered. Now, using the Gears Geolocation API, Search with My Location approximates your actual location using the same Cell ID technology used by Google maps for mobile. So if you want to find sushi nearby, just type "sushi" and Google will return local business listings around you. If you want to know the forecast, type "weather". If you want to search somewhere else, specify a location in the query like "pizza Kansas City".
We take your privacy seriously and have designed Search with My Location so that it doesn't associate your location with any personally identifiable information, even if you are logged in. We won’t send your location until you explicitly opt in, and you can always opt-out from the Gears Settings under the Tools menu.
Note that some devices don't yet support My Location. For this reason, we’re initially launching the feature on the devices listed in this help center article while we work with manufacturers to add support to future phone versions.
Initially, Search with My Location will be available in the US and UK. To get started, visit google.com from your phone and click on the My Location link under the search box (you may have to refresh the page to see the link). Enjoy the new feature and check out the video to see how Search with My Location can help save your thumbs!
Posted by Phil Genera, Software Engineer & Joshua Siegel, Product Manager, Google Mobile Search Team
Posted by Zhengrong Ji and Ravi Jain, Google mobile team
At Google we're very excited about the promise of location technology to drive innovation in the mobile industry. We of course use this location technology already in Google Maps for mobile with the My Location feature. However, we wanted 3rd party developers to also have access to the same location technology across multiple platforms. Gears for Windows Mobile and Android already contain location APIs and we expect to see an explosion of mobile applications that use location technology, particularly on the iPhone starting this month.
Some have wondered: How does it work?
Google Maps for mobile version 2.0 launched last November with a new feature called My Location. My Location enables users to pinpoint their approximate location on a map even if their phone doesn't have a GPS chip. My Location is now available in more than 200 countries and across many different platforms, including BlackBerry, Nokia Series 60, Apple iPhone/iPod Touch, Windows Mobile, and many Java phones. Here's a video that explains what it does. Since the launch, we've seen accelerated growth in the adoption of Google Maps for mobile and have received lots of enthusiastic user feedback on My Location.
We're happy to lift the covers and give you a peek into the inner workings of the Google location server, which powers the My Location feature.
Wireless phones can make and receive calls because they are connected over the air to a nearby cell tower. The phone knows the ID of the cell tower that it's currently using. If the phone has GPS, the Maps application on the phone sends the GPS coordinates along with the cell ID to the Google location server. Over millions of such updates, across multiple phones, carriers, and times, the server clusters the GPS updates corresponding to a particular cell ID to find their rough center. So when a phone without GPS needs its own location, the application on the phone queries the Google location server with the cell tower ID to translate that into a geographic location, i.e., lat/long coordinates. Nifty, huh? We think so.
We're working hard to further improve our location platform and making it more widely available. Stay tuned!
Posted by Chris Nguyen and Tom Dimopoulos, Mobile Product Specialists, Google mobile team
We've found that a lot of you that use our services like Google Maps for mobile haven't yet tried some of the great features that are available. Well, those days are hopefully coming to an end. Today we're launching a new video series to help you Better Know Your Mobile by showing you some cool tips and tricks for getting information on the go.
If you've ever wondered how to get the most out of Maps for mobile, then this post is for you. These first two videos highlight the My Location and Traffic view features of Maps for mobile. Stuck in terra incognita? Check out the My Location video to learn how you can quickly find yourself on the map. Once you know your approximate location, you can also figure out whether there's traffic nearby using the Traffic feature. We'll even show you exactly what the different traffic colors actually mean.
If there are any features you'd like to learn more about, give us a shout on the blog or video comments - we'll be rolling out more videos in the near future. To browse all of our videos, hop over to the Google mobile help channel. While you're at it, bookmark that channel to catch new videos about using Google mobile.
Posted by Jerry Morrison, Software Engineer, Google mobile team
At Macworld today, version 1.1.3 of Apple's iPhone software was announced that includes updates to Google Maps for mobile and IMAP access to Gmail. You can get the updated software by syncing your iPhone with iTunes and agreeing to the update.
Once you get the latest version, Google Maps for mobile on the iPhone can provide you with automated location information, thanks in part to Google's My Location technology. Just push the button with a circle on it at the bottom left-hand side of the Google Maps for mobile application and you'll see a circle appear on the map approximating your current position. If you have an iPod Touch, you can now have access to Maps for the first time.
Also, the latest iPhone email application will now use IMAP to access your Gmail account rather than POP. IMAP is better than POP because your Gmail messages on your iPhone are better synchronized to your Gmail account.
As a developer for Google Maps for mobile, I had a good time watching Steve Jobs today demonstrate Maps on the iPhone at Macworld. It's a fun project to work on and it wows my friends and family, too. On Sunday I demo'd it on an iPhone to the FIRST Robotics high school team I mentor. The students seemed to be as inspired by what they saw as I am by their robot designs.
see a restaurant or building up close, I can switch to Street View and view a panorama from street level. I can even turn on Compass mode to let me look around the panorama by moving my phone up, down, and to the side. It's like popping up a virtual periscope anywhere you want to check out what's there with your own eyes. Check out the video below for a quick demo. Note that Street View on Android is only available in the US at this time.
