Google Hybrid Maps!
I think Google has outdone themselves with this one. I was a fan of Google Maps as soon as they went live. Mapquest and Yahoo Maps have always done the job, but Google’s map rendering engine is one of the best I’ve seen. It’s clearer and easier to read than a paper map. Not only that, but the slick real time scrolling and zooming makes it unbelievably easy to visualize where you’re trying to go.
Then of course just recently they incorporated satellite imagery into their map system. That feature is very neat, but not as useful as it could be because it is often difficult to determine which roads are which because you were basically looking at raw satellite images with no labels.
Enter Google hybrid maps! The new hybrid map feature takes the satellite image and overlays the graphical road map complete with labels and road numbers directly onto the image. Thus it combines the actual physical view of the area with the simplicity of a standard road map! I included a link to a map centered on Fenway Park for your viewing pleasure!
One thing that continues to puzzle me about Google, though, is why so many of their services seem to be perpetually in the beta testing phase? Gmail for example has been live for years now and it has millions and millions of users using it for their primary email. Then what about Google News? All it is is a news syndicator that pulls live feeds from existing news websites. I understand that maybe there are bugs in it? or maybe not all the features are fully implemented? But honestly, it’s news pulled from other websites, why is the beta tag even necessary here? Then of course there are things like Google Groups and Local Google which both are highly sophisticated and popular usenet sites and local business search sites respectively. Yup they’re beta too. The list goes on and on.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think Google’s services are great. Not only are they great but they are free and completely supported by advertising revenue. This probably immediately eliminates my right to complain about them. I’m not complaining about the services themselves though. I just think that because Google carries so much clout in the online world, they have literally redefined the definition of the word beta. What does beta mean? Is it a rock solid service that has been running for years and is established as a leader in the field? But wait there’s another feature that we haven’t finished implementing so it’s still in beta? That sounds kind of ridiculous to me. Beta is supposed to be a product that’s ready for demoing or even using but is not quite polished enough for fully supported consumer use.
In any case I don’t mean to bash Google too badly because they continue to do great things for the industry. Including Google hybrid maps! (I think I’m the only one excited about this). I just wish they would stop hiding behind that ridiculous beta tag and own up to the truly great services that they offer.
August 17th, 2005 at 2:54 pm
[…] I know this is about the third post I’ve made on Google Maps in the last few weeks including this one on cheap gas locations and this one on hybrid maps. In any case I thought this article from lifehack.org was worth mentioning. It lists several other applications that are similar to (and also including) the cheap gas locator mentioned previously. […]
September 14th, 2005 at 10:18 am
[…] In any case, the new Google Blog Search tool (released in Beta form in typical Google fashion) operates using this same technique as most of the existing blog search services out there. Early returns seem to indicate that it is similarly useful to all of the other players in this particular niche service industry. However, since it’s Google, I would imagine that Technorati et. al. are none too happy (and yet none too surprised) that Google has entered into direct competition for the services that they provide. […]
January 30th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
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