Helping GE visualize its world with Google Maps for Business

Posted by Bryan Friehauf, product line leader-software solutions for GE’s Digital Energy business

Editor's note: They power our homes and supply clean water - utility companies fulfill our most basic needs. This week we're showcasing the Utilities Industry and the ways they’re relying on Google Maps for Business to improve operations and keep the lights on. Today’s guest blogger is Bryan Friehauf from GE.

Electric companies are responsible for providing safe, reliable energy to thousands of households. At GE’s Digital Energy business, we know our utility customers have a big job to do and are constantly looking for efficient ways they can meet growing energy demands.

To help our clients improve mission-critical operations, we’ve developed a suite of applications for the utility industry. GE’s Smallworld™ technology brings users smarter ways to plan and design networks, manage jobs in the field and visualize assets using Google Maps. With access to Google’s mapping tools, we’re giving our customers location-based technology that is fully customized for their operations and easy for their employees to use.

By integrating the Google Maps API, GE’s Smallworld-powered Distribution and Outage Management Systems can display location-based information on a Google Map. With a GE device in-hand, a utility worker can see infrastructure that’s down in real-time and quickly respond to the situation. This gives our utility customers a portable solution for gaining information on-the-go.

In addition to having instant, mobile insights, our Smallworld applications give users access to data visualization on a map that is familiar and accurate. Teams in the field can use features like Google Street View, helping them more efficiently locate assets that are hard to uncover, such as transmission lines, or a repair job.

From planning electric, gas and water distribution systems to designing telecommunications networks, having the right tools to visualize and manage complex infrastructure is critical for today’s utility industry. But with Google Maps integrated as part of our applications, we’re making it a little easier.

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FedEx.com re-imagined with Google Maps Engine

Posted by Pat Doyle, Manager IT, FedEx

Editor's note: Today we announced the availability of the Google Maps Engine API, letting organizations build their own applications on Google’s cloud infrastructure. Hear from guest blogger, Pat Doyle, to find out how FedEx helps its customers locate their nearly 50,000 retail touchpoints on FedEx.com, using Maps Engine.

Delivering packages to almost any location in the world is just another day on the job at FedEx. On average, we ship more than nine million packages daily and guarantee they’ll arrive on-time, at the right place and unharmed. However, our commitment to a superior customer experience extends far beyond delivering packages. To make it even easier for people to find the information they need online, we launched a new store locator site using Google Maps.

Using Google Maps, and more specifically Google Maps Engine, allowed us to completely re-imagine FedEx.com. We turned to Maps Engine because it gave us a powerful platform to build and share our own FedEx maps. By integrating features that so many people use everyday, like Google Street View and driving directions, FedEx.com visitors can easily find the nearest FedEx.

In addition to providing a much easier way to locate us, Google Maps Engine gives us another big advantage: global accuracy and consistency. Central to the cloud-based offering, we can rely on Google’s core infrastructure to host our always-changing and growing database of store information. By hosting attributes, such as street addresses, opening hours, holiday schedules and local pick-up times on Maps Engine, we can update details for nearly 50,000 retail touchpoints in real-time and share this information to FedEx.com visitors within minutes. This helped us replace a patchwork of region-bound store locators with a single, global site.

Providing a store locator that is easy-to-use, accurate and reliable helps us deliver a brand experience that our customers can trust. Google Maps Engine is critical to better customer service and it helps users quickly find and access our stores online. With our new store locator, powered by the Google Maps Engine, we can concentrate on what FedEx does best - delivering packages on-time.

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Google Maps Engine: Changing the way enterprises create and use maps

Posted by Jen Kovnats, Product Manager, Google Maps for Business

Maps tell stories about the world around us. With a single map, an organization can locate underground pipelines, decide on the best place to build their next store, or inform customers about cell phone coverage areas. Today we're announcing the Google Maps Engine API, allowing developers to bring the power of Maps Engine into their own applications.

Maps Engine lets organizations use Google’s fast and reliable cloud infrastructure to layer their data on top of a Google Map and share their custom-made Google Maps with employees, customers or the public-at-large. At the push of a button an organization can share their maps internally or publish them on the web, making it easy to access their data from anywhere.

The API provides direct access to Maps Engine for reading and editing spatial data hosted in the cloud. With the API, organizations can develop on any platform - web, Android, iOS and server-to-server - and build applications like store locators, crowdsourced maps or crisis-response maps. For example, FedEx.com uses the API to query its more than 50,000 retail locations and IRIS creates applications for utilities to track underground pipelines.

Google Maps Engine is changing the way enterprises create and use maps - replacing complex GIS technologies with accurate and comprehensive Google Maps-based tools. Contact sales if you are interested in Google Maps Engine or learn more about today’s newly launched API.

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Google Maps Helps Trulia Put Some Heart into Home Buying

Posted by Jeff McConathy, VP Engineering at Trulia

Editor's note: Our guest blogger is Jeff McConathy, Vice President of Engineering, Consumer Services, at Trulia, a San Francisco-based company that gives home buyers, sellers, owners and renters the inside scoop on properties, places and real estate professionals. See what other organizations that have gone Google have to say.

There is an old saying in real estate: it’s all about location, location, location. With this in mind, it’s natural that maps are key to the success of any real estate business. They’re the first real guidepost that homebuyers look at when searching for a new home. At Trulia, we want our maps to do more. Maps are the canvas that let us tell the story of every property on our site – not just where it is, but what the neighborhood is like, how safe it is, the quality of the schools, how long it takes to commute to work and more. By using the Google Maps API for Business, we’re able to connect bits of data with home listings to give the 31.4 million people who visit Trulia each month a complete picture of a potential new home before they ever step inside it.

Google Maps API is core to Trulia’s user experience. It’s the common interface that lets homebuyers search for and browse through properties, explore neighborhoods, and jumpstart their home buying process. We’ve been working with Google since 2005, after we gave both Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth a trial run. Google Maps proved to be the easiest to customize and had the best functionality. Since then, our partnership has grown seamlessly – Google constantly adds new features to the API and we update our maps weekly.

Google Maps let us visualize data in a context that’s important to homebuyers. Instead of a list of crime statistics, we can create a color-coded heat map where our users can look around the city or town they’re exploring and compare neighborhoods, or even streets that are close to each other. We can present home buyers, sellers, and renters data about schools, public transit, nightlife, environmental and natural disaster risks, property valuations, and sales trends.

Google Maps also lets Trulia run efficiently on all mobile platforms. In addition to our mobile site, we have 14 different apps for homebuyers, agents, renters, mortgage representatives and more, with over 11 million mobile users each month. The Google Maps API ensures that we have full functionality across all of our apps, no matter the platform.

Trulia’s business is built on providing insights to consumers who are looking for the right place to live and then connecting them to a real estate professional. Google Maps adds color and life to that process by giving us a platform to tell a story about a particular neighborhood or property. It gives users clarity and simplicity in what can be an extremely complicated and confusing process, and that’s the absolute most valuable thing we can offer our users.

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Smarter Cities with City 24/7 and Google Places API

Posted by Tom Touchet, CEO, City 24/7

(Cross-posted on the Google Geo Developers Blog)

Editor's note: Our guest blogger this week is from City 24/7, a non-traditional media company with a mission of providing “what you need to know, when and where it helps you most.” See how the company uses Google Places APIs as a way to give the public access to vital local information.

Imagine you are visiting New York City for the very first time. The lights, sounds and endless city blocks are all pretty amazing – yet a little confusing. That’s where City 24/7 comes in.

To give you an easy (and free) way of learning about your surroundings, we’re installing 250 Smart Screens in retrofitted telephone booths across NYC. City 24/7 Smart Screens are large, interactive touch screens that give you a range of information about local businesses and points of interest. And in the case of an emergency you can also access vital safety information, such as safety tips from the police department or updates from the mayor’s office.

We turned to the Google Places API to help us provide you with accurate, reliable information about events and places in any given neighborhood. The Places API includes location info from Google Maps, content from Google+ Local, Zagat-recommended establishments and (as of last week), Place Summaries - which include curated reviews and ratings.

Cities should be easy to live in and fun to visit. And with access to Google+ Local data, everyone can feel like a local, knowing all the best places to eat, shop, play and hang out. With the help of the Google Places API, we look forward to bringing our Smart Screens to bus shelters, train platforms, and major pedestrian streets in cities all around the world, as well as to launch our mobile application.

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Auto manufacturers take a new turn with Google Maps

Posted by Mickey Kataria, Senior Product Manager, Google Maps for Business

You should have access to comprehensive, accurate and useful information no matter where you are – including when you're behind the wheel. Today, Hyundai Motors Groups joins the ranks of leading auto manufacturers making Google Maps technology available to their drivers.

Using Google Send-to-Car, local search and voice search, Hyundai and Kia owners in the United States can access a variety of maps features through Hyundai’s Blue Link technology and Kia’s second generation UVO eServices telematics system. Voice search enables drivers to easily find destinations, while Google Maps and Google Places APIs – used to power additional trip planning services – give drivers even more ways to find restaurants, stores and other points of interest while on-the-go.

In addition to Hyundai Motors Group, these automakers are also creating familiar experiences based on the Google Maps drivers know and love from their computers, smartphones and tablets:

• Audi: Audi connect™ brings Google local search, satellite and Street View imagery directly to drivers and passengers, providing real-time, real-life images of the world around you – from California’s Highway 1 to Chicago’s "Magnificent Mile." Combined with voice search, you can safely explore and discover local destinations.
• Daimler: With Google Street View imagery, Mercedes-Benz A-Class drivers can be sure they’re going to the right destination. The Mercedes-Benz “Digital DriveStyle App” gives you access to Google local search, as well as Zagat ratings to make it easy to find anything from a Michelin-rated restaurant to your favorite fast food joint.
• Tesla Motor Co: A 17-inch, high-resolution touch screen display brings Google Maps to life in the Tesla Model S. Drivers can see topographic satellite images with overlaid roads and real-time traffic updates from Google Maps.

Including Google local search, Google Earth and Google Street View in cars makes maps even more comprehensive, useful and accurate for automakers and their drivers.

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Building a better map of Europe

Posted by Brian McClendon, Vice President, Google Maps and Google Earth

Whether your business is building a solution to map gas pipelines or developing an easier way for people to locate your store, incorporating Google Maps into an application or website can help your customers get the information they need. As part of our ongoing effort to build the most comprehensive and accurate maps of the ever-changing world, today we’re releasing updated maps for 10 countries and regions in Europe.

New maps are available in Andorra, Bulgaria, Estonia, Gibraltar, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. Today’s launch includes updates to core map elements like roads and addresses in each of these locations, but that’s not all: we’ve also added important new details like walking paths, ferry lines, building outlines, park boundaries, university campuses and more.

We believe that this combination of new and updated data provides a richer and more realistic Google Maps experience for both consumers and enterprise users. With up-to-date data and maps features, your business can rely on the Google Maps API to enhance your custom mapping applications. Learn more about the Google Maps API for Business.

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Dong-A Pharmaceuticals gets on the road with the Google Maps API

Posted by Jungil Lee, Dong-A Pharmaceuticals

(Cross-posted on the Google Korea blog.)

Editors note: Today’s guest blogger is Mr. Jungil Lee from Dong-A Pharmaceuticals. Dong-A Pharmaceuticals is one of many local businesses featured at Korea’s Geospatial Expo in Seoul. This event puts the spotlight on Korea’s growing geospatial technology sector and the businesses that are embracing maps and mobile work solutions to work smarter.

Being mobile is critical when you work in a mobile sales force, but prior to moving to the Mobile Smart Office and Google Maps API, our sales team faced some major challenges to being genuinely mobile. With only desktop PCs, our fleet of 1,000 sales staff had to look up hospital and clinic locations and check client records before heading out on the road. With each staff member making between 10 and 20 client visits per day, this meant lots of trips to the office to update records and look-up upcoming client locations.

To improve this process and place location and client information into the hands of staff where and when they need it, we decided to upgrade to the Mobile Smart Office in March 2012. A genuinely mobile sales support system, the Mobile Smart Office is a mobile application suite comprising of 10 apps on an iPad.Using Google Maps API, we integrated two apps, including the Mobile Sales Navigation app with Google Maps. Staff now use the Mobile Sales Navigation app to map out routes to multiple clients and add appointments to the system as they’re on the road throughout the day.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Google Maps is at the heart of Dong-A’s Mobile Smart Office and is indispensable for our field staff. It’s not only increased our team’s overall productivity, but has given staff the autonomy to choose the best routes and client schedules for them.

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Bitro connects with the world with the Google Maps API

Posted by Junghoon Lee, Bitro

(Cross-posted on the Google Korea blog.)

Editors note: Today’s guest blogger is Mr. Junghoon Lee from Bitro. Bitro is one of many local businesses featured at Korea’s Geospatial Expo in Seoul. This event puts the spotlight on Korea’s growing geospatial technology sector and the businesses that are embracing maps and mobile work solutions to work smarter.

Losing cell phone reception is annoying. Not having the situation rectified quickly is even more annoying. The cellular and wireless network testing software that we make works to prevent cell network outages and to get you re-connected fast when they happen. We sell this technology to telecommunications companies who deploy mobile workers to conduct testing and respond to incidents. For them, it’s essential that they can map and track the locations of incidents and their workers in the field quickly and easily.

IDC estimates that by 2015 there will be 1.3 billion mobile workers worldwide. That’s a lot of people and businesses that will need reliable and real-time mobile and location-sharing solutions. As a fast expanding business with increasing numbers of international customers, we wanted a mapping API that had global coverage and was recognised internationally. Prior to moving to integrating the Google Maps API into our smartphone-based software in late 2011, we used local mapping software that limited our competitiveness in markets like North America and Europe.

After researching the options we found that only Google had a truly global map service that could support the multiple smartphone, tablet and browser platforms that our customers require. A versatile and affordable option, it’s been a smooth transition to Google Maps – it’s both intuitive for our customers and flexible for our developers.

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Motivating people with MapMyFITNESS and Google Maps API for Business

Cross-posted on the Google Lat Long Blog.

Editor’s Note: Today’s guest blogger is Robin Thurston, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of MapMyFITNESS.

Being fit means moving and moving means going someplace. We created the MapMyFITNESS applications because we are passionate about living active lifestyles and we wanted a way to both track our progress and explore new activities. We wanted to help people experience this passion for themselves. As our community of MapMyFITNESS users has grown to over 9 million people, we have continually worked to make the applications easier to use and more effective at motivating people to keep moving, whether they’re elite athletes or people just getting started.



A key component to that mission has been our integration with Google Maps, which has made it easy for our users to find new routes or make their own, then share them with the rest of the MapMyFITNESS community. As one of the earliest Google Maps API developers, we noticed it was easy to incorporate the mapping functionality into our product. As we set about to completely rebuild our platform that launched earlier this month, our goal was to expand the ways users could take advantage of Google Maps’ latest API functionality. We've gone from tracking and sharing routes in our old platform to providing "Courses" in our new platform. Courses provide our users with real-time data like traffic patterns and temperature, and include "check-in" technology that helps them track workouts, share their progress, and compete in our new leaderboard against specific groups of people. They can compete with local clubs, friends, and most importantly against themselves and their own progress.

The Google Maps API allowed us to show the important information to our users in an easy to read format. Users can visit our site to find new cycling, running or walking routes by searching for the route while viewing it on the map. By using the Google Maps API were we able to incorporate the Street View API to create virtual tours of routes and the Elevation API to calculate how many feet you climb - and descend - during your workout. That familiarity, in addition to fantastic technology and features, makes the user experience both easier and more powerful.

Posted by Robin Thurston, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of MapMyFITNESS

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