From Google Maps to Street View

Google has given life to many websites with its Google Maps service, but with the advent of the optional MyMaps tool, they are becoming useless. What is an important technology?

In December 2011, MyMaps was replaced by MapMaker, with a simplified interface. Provided by Google, this is a set of tools for creating maps yourself. Intuitively, you can use the mouse to draw a road and place photos or videos on it. Links to descriptive web pages are also added.
The created map can be integrated with Google Earth, which is a public display service for maps available to Google (see restrictions below). It should also be posted on a website that has been provided by Google Maps.
You can also use TileMill (see links at the bottom of the page).

Google Maps is the most popular Web 2.0 application for creating mashup, a combination of features to create a new service.

Map content

They can have the following elements: Guides, lines, shapes, supplemented with descriptive HTML texts or not, photos and videos.
The design is carried out using an online tool resembling a vector drawing program. Create a new map by giving a name and description, and then use the buttons to place a line, shape, photo, etc. Subsequently, you can select elements to edit, move.
You also have a manager to manage the created cards.
Photos and videos must be stored online to be usable. This can be done with Picasa. They are associated with a coordinate system in the map.

Cartography wiki

Since the map is available in the space provided by Google, it is enough to specify the URL to share it with Internet users. You can set the authorization level with your manager, public or private. Public maps are taken into account by search engines, private ones are not, only those who know the URL can see it.
A priori, maps created in this way are not built into the public version of Google Earth. They can be included in your version of the software installed on your computer for personal use. And of course, they are posted on the Web individually.

So, Google, by centralizing the work of Internet users around a unique tool, creates a kind of encyclopedia of geography, or rather mapping, enriched with geographical photos and texts. It resembles something! Something well above what Wikipedia offers!

Documents and tools

• Liflet. JavaScript Framework for interacting with OpenStreetMap.
• Mapnik. Map rendering engine. Allows you to enlarge, etc. Can be used with TileMill maps.

Sky map

• Source code. Sky Map is no longer being developed by Google but is left to members.

Other online services

• OpenStreetMap. Free map service competing with Maps.
• WebGL Earth. Open source digital planet.

Street view

Street View is built into Maps and provides a 360 ° 3D view from the location. In 3D mode, you can move along the streets of a city or landscape, as long as Google cars pass with their cameras in this place. They tirelessly go around all the squares of the world. Thus, we can visit the whole world without traveling, Jules Verns dreamed about it!
Sometimes Internet users are warned about their appearance and place unusual items in their path...

• Street View.
• To go everywhere, Streetview uses a tricycle. Video.
• Collections of stunning photos taken by cars.
• Visit the abandoned island of Hashima. (Japan). After the closure of the coal mine in 1974, the island was deserted .