Google Maps on Android

[Breon Nagy]

Google just released a new version of Google Maps in the Android
Market. This is the first 'core' app on the G1 that has received an
update outside of a firmware update. I wonder what happens if you
uninstall it? does it delete the entire app or just the update? I'm
not going to find out.

- Voice Search
- Transit/Walking Directions
- Improvements to Google Latitude
- "Updates"
- Other

The voice search is pretty darn good. I tried about 15 different
things. I spoke a mix of places and businesses. I tried to confuse
it by using words with weird accents like Duquette, MN and Pizza
Lucé. It was flawless until Bemidji, MN...which resulted in 'the
midget mn'. I tried again and it corrected itself. Keep in mind that
I was sitting on my couch with the TV muted. I'm not sure how well it
will work in the car with the windows down.

The only time I really use the walking feature of Google Maps is when
I'm in San Francisco. I used it a lot earlier this spring. I would
have loved to have it on my phone. I have fuond an issue with the
implementation on Android. I plotted a course from my house to Pizza
Lucé in Uptown. Driving and walking (HA! 7h37m) directions were
identical between my phone and computer. However, when searching for
a transit route on my phone, it said it couldn't find a route (or
something to that effect). While on the computer, they found a route
and even provided alternate departure and arrival times.

The new "Updates" feature sounds like a good idea, but it seems very
closed. I think it just posts your updates to other Google Latitude
users. It would be more beneficial if you could choose your output
network (i.e. twitter, facebook, gtalk, etc)

There are some other updates as well. Street View is more
integrated. The UI is a little sexier. What I like the most is you
can get directions to any point on the map. All you have to do is
tap. You don't need to know a business name or address.

All-in-all i think the update is pretty good. Hopefully this starts a
trend of updating core apps on the phone, without the need of a full
firmware update.

Here's the blog post...
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/06/search-by-voice-and-transit-directions.html

Here's a link to the app...
http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.google.android.apps.maps

[Justin Grammens]

Breon,
The voice search rocks! I tried it out even looking for look up something like my old high school and it picked up the name just fine. I am very impressed and am happy to see that these new map features on Android. Surprisingly, the "transit" features have been on the iPhone Google Maps application for well over 6 months. It always annoys me when a company doesn't release the same features for it's own platform that is does for others. They also have the "shout out" feature for Android. Not sure what that's all about or haven't used it much. Thoughts?

Two things that I wish were better.

1. Location when GPS is not enabled should be better. I have an iphone as well as my G2 and have been very surprised at the location services on the iPhone. When the GPS is on with my G2 they work well, but even just the default location position of the iPhone out the box is very good. This might be more of T-Mobile problem rather than Android.. not sure.
 
2. I would like to see better is the synchronization time of "latitude". My wife and I use latitude, but I find the application not so good on updating  where we are. Every time you go into the maps application it updates, but there also seems to be some sort of time that it updates as well. Regardless, it would be nice if I could set it to automatically update my position in the background as some fixed interval.

With the improved UI overall, I'm pretty happy with the application and am glad to see Google putting out updates for their core services!

Justin