Google New Zealand Blog: Google Maps

Become an Antarctic explorer with panoramic imagery

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Cross posted from the Official Google Blogan advertisementStreet View imagery of the AntarcticWorld Wonders sitePolar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota New Zealand Antarctic Heritage TrustSouth Pole TelescopeShackleton's hutScott’s hutCape Royds Adélie Penguin RookeryCeremonial South Pole The ceremonial South Pole (View Larger Map) The interior of Shackleton’s Hut demonstrates the host of supplies used in early 20th Century Antarctic Expeditions—everything from medicine and food to candles and cargo sleds can be found neatly stored inside. (View Larger Map) The landscape outside of Robert Falcon Scott’s supply hut conveys just how desolate the area is. For these early explorers, the supply huts were an oasis of warmth and comfort in a cold and inhospitable landscape. (View Larger Map)Business Photos programStreet View trikesPosted by Alex Starns, Technical Program Manager, Street View

Traffic Conditions for New Zealand on Google Maps

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Kiwi automobile commuters, we want to reduce your time stuck in traffic. Today we have expanded our live traffic coverage in Google Maps to cities in New Zealand.

To look at the current traffic conditions for an area, simply go to maps.google.co.nz and click on the traffic layer located in the widget on the upper right hand side of the screen. The desktop maps are great for scanning the roads before you get in the car. But if you want to check out the latest road info on the go, the traffic layer is also available on your mobile device through Google Maps for Mobile and Google Maps Navigation.

Also note that if the roads you are travelling on do not yet show traffic information, don’t despair. You can help your fellow drivers and improve traffic data by using Google Maps Navigation or Google Maps for Mobile while traveling.

Posted by Andrew Foster, Product Manager, Google Maps

Picture perfect: Welcome customers into your business on Google Maps

Friday, January 27, 2012

When we initially announced the Business Photos pilot program, we wanted to give business owners an easy way to get customers in the door online using interactive, high-quality, 360-degree images of places on Google Maps and on Google Search results. With thousands of businesses under our belt — from restaurants to salons— we’ve been hearing the same question again and again from both business owners and photographers alike: How can I participate?

Well, with the overwhelming success of the first pilot, we’ve decided to unveil a complementary initiative that will help us reach more interested business owners, more quickly: Trusted Photographers.

View Larger Map

Click and drag to view the inside of Da Vincis 

It’s simple. Visit our new website and search for a Google Trusted Photographer in your area. Either email or call a photographer in your area to schedule a time and agree on a price that you will pay the photographer for a photoshoot of your business. This self-serve model makes for easier scheduling and quicker turnaround, while also supporting the local photographers in your community. During the hour it should take for the shoot, you can collaborate with the photographer about how best to display and capture your business. When finished, the photographer will upload the images to Google, and shortly thereafter, you’ll see 360-degree panoramic views of your business on Google.co.nz, Google Maps and on your Google Places listing.  

See how Business Photos has helped Toy Joy of Austin, Texas.

Trusted Photographers are available in 14 U.S. cities, as well as in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and France. Don’t see a photographer in your area? Let us know, as that will help us determine where more Trusted Photographers are needed.

Posted by Gadi Royz, Product Manager, Google Maps

Hundreds of New Destinations for Your Virtual Travel Itinerary

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Over the last few years, Google Maps’ Street View service has helped Kiwis plan out routes to new locations, search for real estate online, and pick out visually memorable meeting spots. But you can also use Street View to travel virtually around the world. Global adventurers once shared their photos of far-away destinations with jealous friends, but now with Street View, those friends can walk around the same foreign lands and see famous tourist destinations like they were right there.

Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy

We have some good news today for New Zealand’s virtual explorers. We have added hundreds and hundreds of new sites around the world for you to explore, ranging from temples in Taiwan, castles in Ireland, French chateaus, and snowy slopes in North American mountain ranges. You can walk around Italy’s iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa and try to find angles where it looks perfectly straight. Or you can lounge around the poolside at Monaco’s Monte Carlo Bay Resort. For years we have had the streets of Amsterdam on Street View, but now you can also enjoy an all-out full-out recreation of The Netherlands in Nagasaki, Japan at the Huis Ten Bosch Theme Park.

Taiwan Confucius Temple, Tainan, Taiwan

Since most of these partner program collections are not on public streets, Google works closely with the location owners to collect the imagery. And with Street View cars being too big and bulky, we use our Street View Trike, a three-wheeled contraption with a mounted Street View camera and a specially decorated box containing image-collecting gadgetry. Learn more about the trike here.

Stay tuned for even more imagery launches in coming months. And all the virtual tourists shouldn’t forget that you can also travel the world’s top art museums in our Google Art Project — and even the Moon!

Posted by Andrew Foster, Product Manager, Google Maps, Australia

Showcase your business with a 360-degree perspective

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

This is a cross-post from the Google Australia blog

The George Hotel, South Melbourne.

Last week we launched Business Photos in Australia and New Zealand, a new use of Street View technology where businesses can let people who visit their Places pages walk virtually into their restaurants or shops.

With our Business Photos pilot, we’ve been busy photographing businesses, with their permission, to highlight the qualities that make their locations stand out.

We can look at Melbourne, the city of alleyways and arcades, as a great example of how you can research shops, restaurants and bars right from your computer or smartphone. Looking for a birthday cake? You can have a look at the desserts right up close at the Melbourne Bake House. Researching where to hang out with some mates? You can take a peek inside the Railway Hotel. You can even admire the baby grands at Melbourne Piano Sales!

With this pilot, you'll begin to see additional photo experiences on the Place pages of a growing number of businesses. As additional imagery becomes available for more locations in the coming months, you’ll also be able to enter the interior perspective of businesses directly from the Street View images of nearby roads on Google Maps.

We’re continuing this program with businesses in select cities in the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, UK, South Korea, and France. If you would like to highlight your business to Google Maps users, please visit the Business Photos site to learn more and apply.

Posted by Andrew Foster, Product Manager for Google Maps.

Google Maps Navigation comes to New Zealand

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Sydney to HobartGoogle Maps NavigationAndroid smartphone

Search instead of type. Maps Navigation is integrated with Google Search, as well as Google Voice Search. That means you don’t need to know your destination’s exact address, or even its name. You can search instead: try saying “museum Wellington” instead of “Museum of New Zealand”

See where you’re going. You don’t haveto download imagery or data or store it on your phone. It’s always connected to the Internet, which means you can access satellite views of your route or preview your destination in Street View.

Explore along the way. Once you’re on your route, you can search for anything along your route: petrol stations stations, restaurants, museums, hotels, parks, anything you can think of. Some common searches, like petrol stations, are built in. Because Google Maps Navigation is integrated with Google Search, you can search your surroundings just as easily as you search the Internet.

Seamlessly in sync. Simply sign in to Google Maps on your desktop, click the star next to any result on maps.google.co.nz and that place will automatically be starred on your phone, making it easy to remember (and navigate to!).

We’re also excited to announce walking navigation too to help you explore your destination on foot. Your phone will vibrate when you need to make a turn. You can even turn off voice guidance and just use these notifications while soaking in the sights and sounds around you. Use it like a virtual compass with satellite imagery to look ahead or to help pick out landmarks along the way.

As for me, I’m looking forward to our family trip to Hobart even more, now that I have one less thing to worry about, and more time to spend playing “I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with...”

Posted by Andrew Foster, Product Manager

New Zealand Blog

Become an Antarctic explorer with panoramic imagery

Traffic Conditions for New Zealand on Google Maps

Picture perfect: Welcome customers into your business on Google Maps

Hundreds of New Destinations for Your Virtual Travel Itinerary

Showcase your business with a 360-degree perspective

Google Maps Navigation comes to New Zealand

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