Google Maps

A handful of foreign contractors were caught "abusing OSM data" for an Open Source company Google both competes against and supports.

Google Maps for Android includes a beta function that has been floating around for a while: Indoor Maps. They're just floor plans from companies that uploaded them voluntarily, and don't always work in real time. For airports and big malls, though, they could be sore-foot-savers.

Google does three things well; one of them is search my hardware for information the same way it searches the Internet. Why kill the most intimate thing Google will ever do for customers?

Google Maps looks a little bit more like Foursquare this week with new "check-in" and "rate and review" buttons on Place pages. The new buttons feature prominently on each locale's page and make it easy to check in and give a star rating with just two taps.

Google Monday announced the beta release of an update to its Google Maps Navigation tool set.

Want to know what time Santa will be touching down Christmas Eve to fill your stockings and drink the glass of milk you've left him? Google is teaming with NORAD to make it possible.

China will investigate and prosecute Google next July if the search engine company does not acquire the necessary state license to operate its Google Maps service in the country, according to the government.

Got a BlackBerry for your business? Getting around is about to get a lot easier.

Missing from Google's announcement Wednesday that biking directions would be added to Google Maps is any word of support for smartphones. For the bicycle bound, that own smartphones, it looks like you're going to have to print your maps out before you grab your helmet and head out the door.

Google on Wednesday launched bicycle directions for Google Maps making it easier for cyclists to plan routes in 150 U.S. cities including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Portland and Washington, DC. You can use Google Maps to find cycling-specific directions in urban areas, and by default Google Maps will plan your route to avoid steep hills whenever possible. The new maps feature can also be used as a map layer to get an overall sense of cycling accessibility in a particular city.

Imagine the job ad! "Wanted: One person to map all streets everywhere."