Posts Tagged ‘Suchmaschinenriese’
Google schielt auf Yelp: Nachhilfe für 500 Milliarden Dollar
23 Dec. 2009 | Author: Antonio De Mitri |
Das Web überschlägt sich mal wieder mit Gerüchten. Nach Informationen von TechCrunch will Google das regionale US-Bewertungsportal Yelp schlucken. Die Rede ist von einer halben Milliarde Dollar. Experten finden den Preis erstaunlich niedrig.
Und wieder streckt Google seine Fühler nach neuen Allianzen aus. Nach dem jüngsten Flirt mit Twitter jetzt also ein handfester Deal mit Yelp, das für 2009 mit 30, für kommendes Jahr mit 50 Millionen Dollar Umsatz rechnet. Der Suchmaschinenriese aus Mountain View merkt zusehends, dass die guten alten Zeiten des puristischen Googlens so allmählich Vergangenheit sind. Der Trend geht in Richtung Echtzeitsuche und Bewertung, und da hat der Marktführer noch eine Menge Hausaufgaben zu machen.
David Mimh zeigt sich in seinem Blog übrigens nahezu enttäuscht über den seiner Meinung nach niedrigen Kaufpreis, der im Moment kolportiert wird. Es scheint, als mache Google ein echtes Schnäppchen angesichts der Multi-Multi-Milliarden-Chance, die die Lokale Suche in den nächsten fünf bis zehn Jahren verheißt, schreibt er und erinnert daran, dass die Suchmaschine in diesem Segment mit den Place Pages erst kürzlich einen großen Schritt nach vorn gemacht hat.
Posted in Lokale Suche per Smartphone, Local Search per PC, Local Search on the go, Local Search per Mobile phone, Local Search, New Search Machine Interest, Local Search Engines | 
Tags: Bewertungsportal, Google, mountain view, Place Pages, Suchmaschinenriese, Twitter, US-Bewertungsportal, yelp | 
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Google: Mehr Transparenz bei Street View
12 Aug. 2009 | Author: Antonio De Mitri |
Google hat offensichtlich gezielt auf die vielen Proteste gegen sein Maps-Feature Street View reagiert.
Der Suchmaschinenriese hat in seinem Lat Long Blog mitgeteilt, die Übersichtsseite des Dienstes überarbeitet zu haben und bringt damit mehr Transparenz in das Projekt. So kann sich der User jetzt informieren, wie Google den Schutz der Privatsphäre gewährleistet und was man tun muss, um eine Aufnahme – zum Beispiel vom eigenen Haus – löschen zu lassen. Darüber hinaus gibt Google Auskunft, wo die nächsten Aufnahmen gemacht werden. Wer den Dienst ausprobieren will, kann sich auf der Karte zeigen lassen, wo Street View bereits verfügbar ist. Prompt haben Hamburgs Datenschützer Johannes Caspar und Google ihren Streit über fehlende Transparenz bei Street View beigelegt. Hintergrund war, dass Google die Behörden offenbar nicht informiert hatte, wo im August die nächsten Aufnahmen gemacht werden sollten. Dies sei inzwischen nachgeholt worden.
Google Maps presents videos more prominently
Local-interest video clips have been available for some time on Google Maps. The search engine giant has now integrated these directly in the map view of their local search service.
Until recently, the videos with geodata were somewhat hard to find – in the left-hand navigation bar, under the menu item “Discover this area”. Now users can display these easily alongside photos and Wikipedia articles, using the “More” button. The videos open when clicking on the Preview images.
Further items have newly appeared in the Street View feature arena – shortly after the beginning of December 2009, many street images of New Zealand were integrated, and the coverage of 360º views in the USA were doubled, as outlined in a post in the Google Lat Long blog.
Posted in General, Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Local Search Engines, Practical features |
Tags: 360°-Ansichten, google maps, lokale Suchmaschine, Neuseeland, Straßenansichten, Straßenaufnahmen, street view, Suchmaschinenprimus, Suchmaschinenriese, USA, Videos, YouTube, YouTube-Videos |
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Google peps up “Street View”
Google has delivered some new improvements to its Google Maps feature “Street View”, moving it more firmly into the center of its local search function. Alongside a new navigation system, some new features have been added to their street views.
Google-associates Stephane Lafon and Andy Szybalski outlined this in Google Lat Long blog. The update now places the yellow Street View so-called “Pegmen” prominently over the Zoom slider to the left of the map view, thus being always ready for use. If one wants 360º views of a location, one drags the Pegman to the desired location on the map. Even more impressive is the possibility to zoom right into a location (assuming one is viewing a city where Street Views are available). One then discovers a street facade that one previously viewed from above. In such a situation, Street View functions as the final enlargement possibility.
Which locations actually offer 360º views? These are no longer assigned camera icons. One can identify them only by moving the Pegman over the map – when one passes over a location with a 360º view, the Pegman changes color from yellow to blue. When the Pegman hovers over such a zone, a small preview pop-up window appears. If the user then releases the mouse at this location on the map, the Street View appears. These are often as large as the whole map.
So that one doesn’t lose the overview, a mini-map is visible in the right hand lower corner of the Street View. This shows the location of the place being viewed. Using this mini map, one can also change the location of the Pegman. With a click on the arrow at the left, one can enlarge (or reduce) the map view.
The new navigation features are also practical in the Street View. Using the navigation wheel or the arrow buttons at the upper left, one can turn the views and with clicks on the “+” or “-” buttons one can enlarge or reduce.
Google Maps: new street views
Thanks to Google Maps feature “Street View” (we have already discussed this several times, most recently) users can now wander virtually through even more metropoli in Europe and the USA.
Thick and fast, Google has recently added numerous new street views on its local search, Google Maps. This was recently referred to in, several entries in the Google Lat Long Blog.
Soon after the search engine giant added many French towns such as Lyon, Marseilles and Nice (in mid-October 2008), street views of Spain and Italy followed at the end of October. So users can now ramble through Rome, Milan and Florence, or roam through Madrid, Valencia or Seville, and see the sights by mouse click. However, its not only the major European cities that have been documented – one can even view Lake Como. And punctually timed for the US elections, one can flit through the inner cities of Washington, DC as well as Seattle and Baltimore.
Locations that are available in Street View are marked with Camera icons, after the user selects the Street View button while in Map View. There are not too many in Europe as yet, but this is apparently soon to change. for example, Focus.de published an interview with Google spokesperson Stefan Keuchel, in which he announced that the German Street View debut will feature at least three cities, in early 2009.
This project is however quite disputed in Germany for reasons of data protection (see our article). Regarding this controversy , Stefan Keuchel drew the readers’ attention to an interesting article on the Podcast Portal ‘PR on Air’.
Google Maps builds on the knowledge of its users
Google knows that Users know their own areas best of all. The search engine giant is now allowing users of its German-language Maps site, to edit and append the search results.
The ability to rate entries has been available to registered Google-Account holders, as of June 2007. Now users have the possibility to change these – such as when address details are incorrect or incomplete, or the markers are incorrectly positioned on the maps. Indeed an out-of-date result can be completely deleted. All these functions can be found in the respective Info-Window of each search result page, accessible through a click on the “Bearbeiten” [en=edit] link. This however can only be done as long as the owner of the undertaking themselves have not ‘claimed’ control over the entry and have verified the information themselves.
If a location is missing, registered users can complete or add to the results. To access this, the user clicks on the link “Add Location to Map”.
These features have been available on other language editions (eg. the USA edition) of Google since March 2008 (see our post).
Google Maps edges localized ads more into view
For quite a while now, Google Maps has offered localized advertising, visible on search results pages. As of recently, these ads have now been moved into a more prominent position directly under the generated map.
Ads on the Google Maps site are now displayed on the left side of the pages, either or both above and below the results list. To clearly separate the ads from the results, the ads are generated in blue, and labelled with “Advert” [de=Anzeige]. In addition, Google is also now allowing ads to appear directly in the map views – whereas regular search results are marked in red, ads are given the option of various special symbols, which are then also linked visually with the text link at the left.
On each results page, a total of 4 Adwords Ads are displayed, with one above, and three below the search results. The latest innovation is that now the three lower ads can also be displayed under the map view, and therefore in the center of the page. However, only one of the three lower ads is ever visible at one time… one can navigate to the other two ads using an arrow button.
The reasons for these new measures probably came as a result that most users usually only saw the upper search results, and the lower results are certainly viewed less often, if at all. With the addition of the results directly under the map, Google is trying to compensate for the lost views, by raising these ads effectively to display higher up on the page.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search, New Search Machine Interest, News, Local Search Engines, lokales SEM |
Tags: Anzeige, Anzeigen, Google, google maps, Kartensuche, lokale Informationen, Maps, Suchdienst, Suchmaschinenmarketing, Suchmaschinenprimus, Suchmaschinenriese, Werbung |
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Sharper images for Google Maps
As of the start of September, our globe has been under a further scrutinous eye – that of the GeoEye-1 Satellite, an undertaking of the USA company GeoEye. Google in the future will be one of the customers using the current satellite images delivered by this company.
In a press release, GeoEye explains how the new spacecraft, which orbits at 681km (XXX miles), is fitted with the highest resolution camera available in the non-governmental sphere. Black and white photos are delivered in a resolution of 0,41 meter, and color photos at 1,65 meter. That means objects on the surface are recognizable at sizes from 41cm and 165cm respectively.
According to A report on CNet details a contract between Google and GeoEye, giving the search engine giant the exclusive use of the images, in the sphere of online-map services. Google will use these for its online applications Google Maps and Google Earth. However, Google will be unable to offer the best resolution images to its clients, as US regulations limit GeoEye to offer photos to the commercial sector with a resolution of 0,5m or worse.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Local Search Engines |
Tags: GeoEye, Google, google maps, local, Maps, Satellit, Suchdienst, Suchmaschine, Suchmaschinenprimus, Suchmaschinenriese, Suchmaschinenriesen |
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Google Maps is pepped up!
At the beginning of August, Google’s local search feature, Google Maps, displayed a new face and overlooked a few new features.
According to the motto “Less is More”, the revised Google maps start page now presents a single entry screen, with which one can search the map as well as research services and providers at a desired location. The route planner has been banished from this view, but is to be found via a link in the blue navigation bar above the search results.
Almost at the same time as the appearance of the new layout, Google treated its users to a variety of other new functions. So, alongside its pedestrian navigation (see our report) in the route planer, there is now the possibility to refine routes by “avoiding toll roads”, which is above all useful for trips outside of Germany.
Especially practical are also the new print functions for the route planner, as indicated by Google programmers Andrew Gove and Jonathan Siegel in the Google Lat Long Blog. Users gain simplified options to print practical/relevant information that will help them en route. To do this, after generating the relevant route, click on “Print” in the blue navigation bar above the map view. On top of the resulting print-view of the map, once can choose whether one requires text descriptions for each leg of the route, or rather generate a “Street View”. In addition the user can choose whether the overview map (showing the overall route) is to be printed or not.
For those who only need descriptions, maps or Street-View pictures for certain legs of the journey, the “Text” link can be chosen. In the route description, one can have a map or street-view generated for each step of the way. This can be chosen with a mouse-over/contextual-option choice. The link “Street View” appears however only when there are existing photos of the chosen location/route. This has yet to appear on the German website.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Local Search Engines, Practical features |
Tags: Druck, Google, google maps, lokale Informationen, Maps, Straßenansicht, Suchmaschinenriese |
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Tour-de-France-Route in Google Street View
The 95th Tour de France has been taking place from July 5 -27, 2008. For this great cycling event, Google has placed its first Street Views of France on-line.
The 360° Views are to be found in Google Maps, Google’s local search wing. By clicking on “Street View”, a virtual view of the entire race routing is to be found. What’s more, the view is presented from the rider’s perspective, as was reported by Google employee Daniel Ratner in the Google Lat Long Blog. According to Ratner, the absolute latest features of Street View have been implemented for the 21-stage France tour, encompassing ‘Face Blurring’ and high image resolution (see our post).
So, for the first time users are able to access panorama views of Europe, via Google Maps. Until this introduction, users were only able to view USA cities, national parks and recreational areas in Street View. The Tour-de-France route is only the beginning ― Google has already announced that views of other European cities and areas will be forthcoming (see our report). At the moment, German cities are being documented (as noted in the Google Watch Blog). Street-View cars have been already spied in Munich and Berlin– confirmed by a report in the Berlin Tagesspiegel, which also mentions that Google is also shooting in Frankfurt am Main. When these Street Views will be posted on-line is any body’s guess.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Local Search Engines, Practical features |
Tags: Frankreich, Google, google maps, lokale Informationen, Maps, Panoramaansicht, Panoramabilder, Radrennen, Straßenansicht, Streckenverlauf, street view, Suchdienst, Suchmaschine, Suchmaschinenriese, Tour de France |
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