Wednesday, 29 June 2005
The world is your JavaScript-enabled oyster
If you like Google Maps, but think you could do something better, now's your chance. Check out the Google Maps API, which lets web developers put Google Maps on their own sites, just like housingmaps.com and chicagocrime.org. You can also reach out to other API developers and the Google Maps team in the API discussion group.
Tuesday, 28 June 2005
Search gets personal
With the launch of Personalized Search, you can use that search history you've been building to get better results. You probably won't notice much difference at first, but as your search history grows, your personalized results will gradually improve.
This whole concept of personalization has been a big part our lives since some of the team was in grad school at Stanford. We shared an office, which happened to be the same one Sergey had used before, and we were pretty familiar with the research he and Larry had done. Related to their work, we thought building a scalable system for personalizing search results presented an interesting challenge. We've still got a long way to go, but we're excited to release this first step. So check out this latest addition to Google Labs and tell us what you think.
Cover the earth
Last October Keyhole and Google joined forces to integrate satellite imagery with Google search technology in a single product. Now we've landed on Google Earth. You can fly from space right down to any place on the planet and take in spectacular 3D views, and for major US cities you can now see 3D city models. And more: where Google Local works today (the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.), you can search Google Local from within Earth for points of interest, businesses listings, driving directions, and lots more (like some of these excellent locations). True to Google form, there is now a free version. Ready to explore?