Google Maps : Java Glossary

Google Earth shows you aerial photographs and street level photographs to let you virtually explore a city. Google Maps displays conventional maps. It also works out optimal routes for car, cyclist, pedestrian and bus rider. It even shows flights.

Advantages

• It find routes and alternate routes instantaneously.
• It will show you a picture of your destination, so you can find it even if it has no street number.
• It is free.
• It will show you a street level picture of your destination. This makes the final homing in easier especially when none of the businesses or homes post their adress numbers.

Disadvantages

• Maps printed on a printer are not nearly as clear as those you buy at a gas station.
• Maps have most of the small streets left out.
• Street names are obscured by the suggested route lines.
• When you print, it is hard to center the map on the area of interest.
• The maps are small. If you get lost and wander off the edge, you are hosed.
• Many streets lack signs and most businesses lack street numbers. This is not Google’s fault. In contrast, GPS (Global Positioning System) can work with unlabeled streets and houses.
• If you get lost, Google printed maps are all but useless. They have no street numbers. They don’t have the minor streets. I asked half a dozen people to point out where I was on a Google map. None could do it. There were not enough labeled streets. There were no landmarks.
• Map routes don’t take current traffic congestion into account as do some GPS maps.
• Homing in on a spot on the map on the computer screen is far more awkward than it needs to be. When you zoom, the spot you want disappears off screen. You should be able to point at the spot you want and as you slowly zoom, keep it centred by pointing ever more accurately. They should have a look at how some hand held GPS units handle the problem even with a much smaller screen with auto-zoom.
• If you want to use Google Maps on your website in an advanced way, using the API (Application Programming Interface), you must get permission from Google. They will give you a key.

Printed Maps

Google Maps have the following problems when printed:

• The type is too small to read any of the street names.
• Most of the streets are left out.
• There are no block or house number.

I have written Google twice asing them to fix this. So far no reply. Here are my suggestions to fix the problem:

• Use large type that spills out of the street margins.
• When Google prints a map, it should take as many pages as needed to make it legible, printing bits that when stitched together form the route.
• It should print numbers on the streets and print a legend on the back of the map for which street each number signifies.