Google's Ambitious Digital Map

Search engine giant Google Inc is currently deploying a fleet of small aircraft have been equipped with cameras for a flight in some cities as a means of information technology company based in Mountain View, California, United States is to realize their ambitious projects and sometimes controversial, about their plan to create a digital map of the world.

Google plans to release the first three-dimensional maps for several cities by the end of this year, Google said in a press conference in one of their office in San Francisco. Google declined to name the cities that currently they worked in the manufacturing of three-dimensional maps, but show demonstrations a way of creating a 3D map of San Francisco, where the user can navigate around an aerial view of the city.

Google shows off the 3D feature on San Francisco. (Picture from: http://naption.com/)

"We're trying to create the illusion as if you are flying over the city, almost as if you are on your own private helicopter," said Peter Birch, a Google Earth product manager, told Reuters.

Brian McClendon, VP of 
Engineering,Google Maps.  
(Picture from: http://www.theverge.com/)

Head of engineering for Google maps, Brian McClendon, said the company was using a fleet of aircraft owned and operated by contractors and fly exclusively to Google. Then, when asked about the potential implications regarding privacy, McClendon said privacy issues similar to aerial imagery and all that kind of 45-degree angle taken from the plane has been used for a long time.

Google has used aircraft to collect aerial photographs in the past, such as the events of 2010 and of the natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, California, but recent efforts have been marked for the first time the company will deploy aircraft systemically to build a standard feature in any of the products.

At the end of the year, Google hopes to soon have a 3D map that includes metropolitan area with a combined population of 300 million people. The first 3D cityscape will be available within a few weeks.

Google has many years of operating a fleet of camera cars that swept the world for shooting panoramic roads to popular mapping service. The cars had been feared by some state because it is considered to be violating privacy.

In 2010, Google admitted that the so-called Car Street View car that was intentionally collect e-mail, password and other personal data from wireless home network. WiFi is not related to collecting data through Google Maps project, so that Google can collect data on WiFi hotspots that can be used to provide separate location-based services.

3D city maps to come be a part of the Google Earth software, applications will be available also for mobile devices such as smart-phone based on Google's Android and iOS. Google, founded on 4 September 1998 in Menlo Park, California, United States, it also announced a version of Google Maps for Android smartphones that allows users to access specific maps without connecting to the Internet network alias Google Maps offline version.

Competing with Apple

Google's announcement comes a week before Apple Inc. held a conference for developers WWDC (Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference) in San Francisco, since rivalry between the two technology giants continue to heat up, especially in the mobile market is booming.

Apple Inc., manufacturer of technology based in the City of Cupertino, California, United States is planning to replace Google Mapss as built-in mapping services on the iPhone and the iPad at the end of this year with the technology of the company's automotive navigation systems from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, namely TomTom NV which was acquired by Apple Inc. It is said that Apple has showcased a new mapping software in front of invited guests who attended the WWDC event.

Head of engineering for Google maps, Brian McClendon said the company will continue to make Google Maps available as widely as possible and so it can run on almost any platform.

As alluded to Apple's veiled punches through the mapping service which has been supported by the technology of the TomTom which had already been playing in the business of mapping systems, he said was not worried that the integration with Google search engine will provide a mapping of a much more useful than just products using a "geocoder" - technology that uses geographic coordinates to create a digital map. Apple began using its own technology-based geocoder technology in Google Maps on your smartphone at the end of last year.

Google gives a little glimpse of the number of users who actively use Internet-based digital mapping is said to have exceeded 1 billion users to monthly active users in the Google Maps and Street View car has to travel more than 5 million miles (8 million kms) to do the shooting streets around the world.

Then when asked about the use of unmanned aircraft to pass up a photo shoot in the air above the city (3D cityscape), McClendon said that the plane is still a subject of evaluation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). *** [TONI IRAWAN | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 21062012 | FROM VARIOUS SOURCE]

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