Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Googland

Googland

[G] Introducing Descriptive Terms in Local Search Results

Posted: 14 Jun 2011 02:36 AM PDT

Google LatLong: Introducing Descriptive Terms in Local Search Results


(Cross-posted on the Google Places and Small Business blogs.)

Whether it's to find a great place for dinner or to grab a cup of coffee, I often look up places directly on Google Maps. Evaluating my options and making a choice just got even easier thanks to the list of associated terms that now appears directly in the local search results.

Starting today, Google Maps search results in the U.S. and Great Britain will include some of the phrases which are most frequently used to describe those places. These phrases come from sources all across the web, such as reviews, web pages and other online references, and they can help people quickly identify the characteristics that make a particular place unique. It's like an opportunity to ask the business owner or its patrons "What's good here?" or "What do most people get here?"

For example, if I'm looking for a place to relax and enjoy a great cup of coffee this weekend, I can see at a quick glance that Cafe Grumpy could be the perfect spot. Besides being known for their "latte" and "great coffee," they have a "no laptop" policy — exactly what I was hoping for since I'd like to unplug and take a break from work this weekend.



Or if I'm planning to visit friends on the west coast and need to organize a night out, Rose & Crown could be an excellent choice given their "great beer selection" and "trivia night" games on site!


Whether you're looking for local businesses in your neighborhood or in another city, these descriptive terms can help you find the places right for you. We hope you use these terms to discover new and interesting places on Google Maps, and watch for this feature to appear in Place search on Google.com and Google Maps for mobile soon!

Posted by Manjunath Srinivasaiah, Software Engineer
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/06/introducing-descriptive-terms-in-local.html

[G] 3D trees in Google Earth - now in more cities around the world

Posted: 14 Jun 2011 02:36 AM PDT

Google LatLong: 3D trees in Google Earth - now in more cities around the world


Last month, we celebrated the trees of the great American wilderness on Arbor Day. Unfortunately, many of us don't get the opportunity to visit majestic forests like these very often, which is why we're making them available on Google Earth.

Since we first launched 3D trees in Google Earth 6 last November, we've worked to bring this experience to more cities. Today, we are happy to announce that the latest group of cities with 3D trees include: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, London and multiple cities in the California Bay Area.



This new 3D imagery brings new perspective to your favorite historical buildings and parks. In Philadelphia we have complemented the Independence Hall model with new 3D trees in Independence National Historic Park to enhance the realism of the historic site. Other examples are Delacorte Theater in New York City and the the famous Emerald Necklace, a gem of Boston designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, a shared experience and memory for many people – locals and visitors alike.

Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


Delacorte Theater in New York City, New York


Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts

We hope that among these new cities you find fond memories of a park, a tree lined street, or even a special tree where you've had a fun picnic or family outing. To relive those memories by viewing 3D Trees (or start planning to make new ones), make sure you check the "Trees" layer under "3D Buildings" in your Google Earth left panel. Enjoy the new tree-lined city streets and filled-in parks!

Posted by Kay Chen, Geo Program Manager
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/06/3d-trees-in-google-earth-now-in-more.html

[G] A tour of the U.S. Green Building Council's headquarters

Posted: 14 Jun 2011 02:36 AM PDT

Google LatLong: A tour of the U.S. Green Building Council's headquarters

[Cross-posted from the SketchUp blog]

You could call our friends at Igloo Studios "multi-taskers". While they mainly concentrate on creating products and plugins for designers and architects, they also have a podcast, a SketchUp training program and a popular book.

Their latest project is a virtual tour of the U.S. Green Building Council's headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Note: you'll need the Google Earth plugin installed to view).


This project is cool for lots of reasons. For starters, USGBC's 75,000-square-foot facility is loaded with efficient and innovative green features that have earned the building a LEED Platinum rating. Professionals regularly tour the USGBC for real-world examples of successful green practices.

USGBC headquarters

However, not everyone has the luxury of being able to visit Washington DC, so Igloo Studios built this one-of-a-kind Google Earth tour of the building. Using a custom instance of the Google Earth plugin and building product catalogs from the 3D Warehouse, Igloo was able to create a tour of both the exterior and interior of the building!

The tour features interactive elements

As you navigate through the 3D building, you'll notice it's jam-packed with other goodies like a guided audio tour, photos and embedded videos. You can even click on the building's materials and products to learn more about the green tech used in its construction.

Once you finish the tour, you can launch a test that will earn you the same continuing education credits that you would get for taking the live tour.

And the coolest feature of all: if you find a building product during the tour that might be useful in one of your projects, you can download it directly into your SketchUp design!

Learn about building materials and then bring them into your model

If you're interested in learning more about how your products or buildings can be visualized in this way, be sure to send Igloo an email.

Posted by Chris Cronin, SketchUp Pro Sales
URL: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/06/special-tour-of-us-green-building.html

[G] Pasting images into messages just got easier

Posted: 13 Jun 2011 10:09 AM PDT

Official Gmail Blog: Pasting images into messages just got easier

Posted by Daniel Cheng, Software Engineer

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and people certainly like to spice up their emails with images. A while back, Gmail started making this easier by letting you drop images from your desktop right into the compose window.

Now, when you're running the latest version of Google Chrome, you can paste images right from your clipboard too. So if you copy an image from the web or another email, you can paste it right into your message. This is especially handy for passing around screenshots — you don't have to save the files any more (I've been using Command-Control-Shift-4 on my Mac to save screenshots directly to the clipboard). While this currently only works in Chrome, we hope to enable it on other browsers soon.
URL: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/pasting-images-into-messages-just-got.html

[G] We have five words for you: celebrate Internet, watch Webbys live

Posted: 13 Jun 2011 09:36 AM PDT

YouTube Blog: We have five words for you: celebrate Internet, watch Webbys live

The Webby Awards have been celebrating excellence on the Internet since 1996, and for the past three years we've been bringing you the full experience from the Webby Awards Gala on YouTube. From the award-winning videos to the five word acceptance speeches to the celebrity interviews, you've seen the celebration first-hand, and we're excited to bring you back for another year.

On Monday June 13 at 8pm ET, you can watch a live stream of the Webbys here on YouTube, hosted by the web therapist herself, Lisa Kudrow. The Webbys YouTube channel will also feature show highlights, speeches and more after the event.

Congratulations to all the YouTubers who were nominated for or won a 2011 Webby Award!

Eric Meyerson, group manager for video advertiser marketing, recently watched Webby winner "The Google Job Project."


URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube/PKJx/~3/_r-RIy12_Lo/we-have-five-words-for-you-celebrate.html
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