Google has once again proved to be the world’s favorite with Google Maps, yet another of its popular offerings to the public.
This wonderful utility tool can be installed on both computers and smartphones irrespective of any platform. In other words, the cross-platform versatility makes it ideal to use this mapping service just about anywhere you might need it. Additionally, you do not need a separate registration for Google Maps. All that you actually need is a valid Google account. It is thus no wonder that this app was rated as one of the most popular apps on smartphones.
What Can You View Using Google Maps?
Earlier known as Google Local, there are many interesting listings that you can view with Google Maps. The most important listings include route planners, street maps and urban business locators for almost all countries across the globe. Route planners are available for traveling by foot, bike, car and even public transport. You can also view satellite or aerial images of high resolution for almost any urban area worldwide. However, a drawback with this wonderful mapping tool is that you cannot use it to view polar areas. To view these areas, you can use Google Earth, a related and yet stand-alone program. This mapping tool provides additional globe viewing features, including polar areas.
It is worth noting that while the satellite images in Google Maps are not updated real time, new data are periodically added to the primary database. This ensures that the images are only a maximum of three years old.
Embedding Google Maps to Your Own Website
Are you the owner of a website or a blog and would like to have Google Maps embedded on it? Well, doing this is very easy and does not require you to have exceptional programming skills. You can add either static maps that comprise satellite and terrain maps or static street view imageries. With four simple steps, you can get this done.
Open the classic version of Google Maps. Check out whether the map you want to embed appears in the display. Click on the Link button that appears at the bottom of the map. This is usually at the top left corner. You will find the HTML code to embed in the website. Copy this code and paste it along with the other content for your blog or website. And you are done. Google Maps is available on your website. This can also help to increase the traffic to your website.
Do not worry if you are not able to obtain the HTML code. There are many websites that help you in generating the code. All you have to do is to enter your address and other required details in the form that is provided on such websites and click the button to generate the code. You can copy the generated code and paste it along with the other code for your website or blog.
To sum up, it may be interesting to note that Google Maps is a storehouse of more than 120 historical maps from the well known David Rumsey’s collection. These maps represent cartographic art and abundant information about the past with sample time periods that illustrate visual history stories. These historical maps are converted into digital images. Using a technique known as geo-referencing, these images are made to appear in their correct positions on Google Maps.
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