Google Adds “Street View” and “Mapplets” to Google Maps

"Google Blogoscoped", enlightens........

The previous rumors are coming true: announced at today’s Where 2.0 conference, Google has added a feature called “Street View” in certain locations on Google Maps. Also, Google is adding developer-created gadgets callled “Mapplets” to Google Maps starting today.

Street View

“Street View” displays an interactive panorama photo for certain locations on Google Maps. Note to get this to work outside the US, you need to add “&gl=us” at the end of the search URL. Below are screenshots for a search for 94111 (that’s San Francisco). Camera icons and blue lines indicate the availability of Street View data.

This new view is available for some regions (Silicon Valley, Las Vegas, Miami, Denver and New York, according to Colin Colehour from the US, who says the Street View button disappears when you move the map away from North America), and is an alternative to the existing Traffic, Map, Satellite and Hybrid views. Clicking it you will see a photograph of the location as if you were standing on the streeet looking around. The O’Reilly Radar blog, who says the data for these pictures is coming from Immersive Media (except for San Francisco, which also has a better zoom level, as it turns out), comments, “This is not just a static, A9-style image. It will also let you move along the street in a smooth manner and even more amazing it will let you change your angle and continue moving that way.”

Here’s a video grab showing Street View in action – this looks & feels amazing, albeit there’s potential privacy issues due to the level of detail (you can make out individual faces, license plates and so on):

[Also see the video as WMV.]

The Google help blurb on the Street View feature, displayed at Search Engine Land, explains how the navigation works :

• “Blue outlines show roads where street view is available.”
• “[A person icon on a green arrow] shows where you are on the map. The green arrow points in the direction you’re looking. You can drag the icon to navigate to a different location.You can also just click on a blue outlined road to go there.”
• “Drag the street view to look around 360°. Use the arrow buttons to navigate down the street. You can also use the arrow keys on the keyboad.”

Google in a press release adds that Street View data “will soon expand to other metropolitan areas.” The world is shrinking.

Mapplets

Also today at the Where 2.0 conference, Google announced Mapplets (as in “map applets”). A Mapplet is a special flavor of a Google Gadget, the XML/JavaScript-based widgets you can add to iGoogle – only that this time, you’ll be adding it to Google Maps. From a press release by Google:

Mapplets enables third party developers to create mini applications that can be displayed on Google Maps, much like Google Gadgets are displayed on iGoogle.These Mapplets contain a variety of information, from housing listings to crime data, and tools like distance measurement. Users can select from a wide range of Google and third party Mapplets to display on the Map, essentially creating their own “mashup of mashups” directly on the Google Maps site, while still enjoying the built-in functionality of Google Maps, such as local search and driving directions. A number of our partners, including WeatherBug, Booking.com and Platial have already created Mapplets.

You can take a first look at this feature at a special preview page. Mapplets can be found in the Mapplets directory, and a developer documentation is available as well, clarifying that “Mapplets are mini-webpages that are served inside an IFrame within the Google Maps site. You can put anything inside this mini-webpage that you can put into a normal webpage, including HTML, Javascript, and Flash. Google provides a Javascript API that gives the Mapplet access to services such as manipulating the map, fetching remote content, and storing user preferences.” Google goes on to say that when a Mapplet is enabled by the user, Google will grab a copy of the source from your server to then serve it from gmodules.com (the domain currently caching iGoogle Gadgets as well).

Ongoing comments

[Thanks Anders C.R., Colin Colehour, TomHTML, Megan Q. and Daniel Garcia!]

[Note that I’ve constantly updated and edited this post as more information came in.]

Google Maps Street View and Mapplets , by Philipp Len

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Precautions To Avoid Getting Banned From Adsense

Borrowing a sentence and distorting the same partially, from a US Court case against Google, if it is said that “The web is becoming increasingly ‘Googlized”, it would not be wrong. Existing in a web space without Google has virtually become unimaginable. Whether you may need getting fully indexed by Google, or monetizing your site through adsense or ranking high in Google search results or be it getting page rank for your pages; what ever be your reason, you are going to need Google. After all, it has become a sort of objective source of finding content on the internet.
Google AdSense and controversies.
Rise and rise of Google is not entirely unaccompanied by corresponding increase in litigation and protests over its terms of service. Some of these terms are plainly monopolistic; but you can not wish it away in a fair marketplace.
Those, who have AdSense as revenue model for sustenance of their site, would always dread of having a mail like that your account was found to be related to invalid clicks and publishers disabled for invalid clicks are not allowed further participation in the program. Those banned from AdSense have a unanimous complaint that they were not served with any warning or were not given any data by Google to substantiate claims of fraudulent clicks. Google on the other hand insists on protecting integrity of its proprietary technology and refuses to divulge any details.
Actually the whole system of AdSense is so made up that anyone with just a basic understanding of the internet and search engine ranking can dynamically insert a javascript provided by Google in his website and earn substantial income that is very attractive considering that it takes no much time and one can work from comfort of his home in his free time. This view further gets strengthened when one comes across many “made for AdSense sites” on the net that apparently seem to be doing well.
Of course, a unanimous argument is emerging that Google should explain its actions in more transparent way as to when it blocks AdSense account or removes a site from its index and what irks the people most it that they are unable to find out how they can regain the lost indexing or page rank. Limiting myself only to the issue of disabling of AdSense account in this article, let me opine very clearly that it is good. Nobody has right to cheat ad publishers and it is good that Google takes it seriously.
What can lead to banning from adsense?
Google is not known to take click fraud lightly as they also are to retain the advertisers interest in their mind. But I have seen that they are open to reason. I personally know at least ten webmasters whose account has been restored. If this disabling has happened to you, first action you must take to write them a mail giving all the reasons with some evidence as server log, files etc to strengthen your claim. It is definitely difficult regaining account from Google but if you are honest, it is not impossible. I think more often is the case where the person suffering the ban was doing something they shouldn't have been doing.
Some of things, you must avoid to avoid disabling of your account is signing up under multiple names, clicking yourself or through any network on ads appearing on your publishing network, generating robotized clicks through many enticing programs available on the net, expressly encouraging a visitor to your site to click an ad, having a site that is based on AdSense arbitrage. I have seen many sites that expressly state something to the effect that their services are free but to help them sustain please click the ad. To mind, it is like playing with fire and such publishers can face disqualification any time. When you are buying a domain, please satisfy yourself that it is not previously blacklisted by Google. Remember when Google bans a site, it does not deliver ads to any other url which was previously running on same adsense pub-id.
One major reason of getting banned from adsense is get rich quick. A new webmaster, in case, he does not have much content on hi site would barely get 10-30 visitor on his site, which are not sufficient to help him earn from ad clicks. What he should do at that stage is to build good content but he is soon tempted by con men on the net selling something like "Automated Adsense Software". This is biggest scam happening where many new webmasters are trapped. Most of the time such software would steal content through scraping methods and creates thousand of content pages. As such search engines are cluttered with duplicate and useless content and you are risking getting banned from Adsense as this violates the terms of adsense.
Warnings by Google
Many webmasters whose sites have been banned, grudge that they never got any warning. Remember it is up to you to take precaution at the right time and keep checking the logs. Google will not give you any warning. However on a more personal note I have seen Google give warning or sorts. I saw a site which ultimately was banned, had high value ads being offered and gradually started getting low value ads and more and more of “Public Service ads” even when similar sites were served paying ads. This may be was Google’s way to telling that something is amiss.
What to do when banned from adsense?
Google bans publishers guilty of fraudulent clicks for life and does not allow then to rejoin the program. I would also like to share from my experience that such is Google’s reputation that many advocates who claim to specialize in fighting your case against Google to regain the account also would agree to take your case if you satisfy them that you are a victim and did not do any act against the terms of service.
There is no record of Litigation with Google being fruitful on this account. Google has its proprietary technology to detect such click frauds, which Google does not disclose. This stand of Google that it is not open to disclose its proprietary technology has been upheld by various courts. If you are the one whose account has been disabled, I don’t want to appear distressing to you but from my own experience in dealing with such cases, I must say generally ‘something’ is there which leads to Google disabling the account. If you are sure you did not indulge in such acts, must look around. May be some competitor did it to hurt you.

(Courtesy: R S Chawla a CFO and webmaster of http://www.b2blounge.com/, a free to register portal for trade and services.)

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