The most obvious way to display a map of a given location is to enter the location’s street address or general location. There are a number of ways you can enter an address or a location, as detailed in Table 27.1.

Table 27.1 Google Maps Address Formats

Remember to put a comma after each part of the address. In most instances, you don’t need to spell out words like “east,” “street,” or “drive”; common abbreviations are okay, and you don’t need to put a period after the abbreviation.

For many major cities, Google Maps also accepts just the city name. For example, entering miami gives you a map of Miami, Florida; entering san francisco displays a map of the California city. If, on the other hand, you enter a city name that’s fairly common (such as greentown—which appears in Indiana, Ohio, and several other states), Google will either display a map of the largest city with that name, or provide a list of cities or matching businesses for you to choose from.

If you want to enter latitude and longitude, you have two options. First, you can enter latitude and longitude as decimal degrees, using the - sign to express west longitude or south latitude. Second, you can use N, S, E, and W designations. What you can’t do is express latitude and longitude using degrees-minutes-seconds (such as 28 24’ 23.4”); Google doesn’t recognize the ‘ and “ syntax.

If Google doesn’t recognize an address you entered (such as when an address could either be on an “east” or a “west” street, or the same address for a “drive” and a “lane”), Google will display a list of possible addresses. Assuming you can identify the correct address from this list, click the link to display the map of that location.

Sometimes you don’t need to know the exact address to generate a Google map. Google has hard-coded many landmarks and institutions into its map database, so that you only have to enter the name of the landmark or location into the search box. For example, entering hoover dam generates the map shown in Figure 27.2.

Figure 27.2. The Hoover Dam on a Google map.

Here’s another tip. You don’t have to go to the Google Maps page to display a Google map. When you enter a street address, city, and state (or ZIP code) into the standard Google web search box, the OneBox at the top of the search results page displays a small map of the address, shown in Figure 27.3. Click the link to see the full Google Maps page, or use the Start Address box to generate a page of driving directions to the address.

Figure 27.3. Map results from the standard Google search page.

To display the satellite image of a location, click the Satellite button at the top of the map. You can use the standard navigation and zoom controls to pan around and zoom into or out of the satellite image. Depending on the level of magnification, you may be able to see rooftops and trees. (Figure 27.8 shows a satellite map of Chicago’s Wrigley Field—if it were game day, you could almost see the pitcher on the mound!)

Figure 27.8. A satellite map of Wrigley Field.

And here’s something kind of creepy. Some satellite images have been digitally altered, supposedly for “national security” reasons. For example, Figure 27.9 shows 1 Observatory Circle in Washington, D.C., the official residence of the Vice President. As you can see, the entire area on the left has been pixilated on the map to keep anyone (terrorists included, I suppose) from seeing what’s going on there. (Interestingly, a similar view of the White House is completely unpixelated, which makes one wonder what it is about the VP’s place that makes it more top secret than the President’s house....)

Figure 27.9. A digitally altered satellite image of the Vice President’s residence.

Want to view the different types of terrain (woods, fields, lakes, and so on) in a given location? Your wish is Google’s command; just click the Terrain button to view a color-coded terrain map, like the one shown in Figure 27.10.

Figure 27.10. Viewing a terrain map of the San Juan River, near Monument Valley, Utah.

Here’s something else new and cool on Google Maps—for selected locations, anyway. If you’re viewing a map of many cities and towns, you see a Street View button. Click this button, and certain streets on the map turn blue, as shown in Figure 27.11, and you see a little person icon standing on the street. Click the icon, and Google displays a panoramic photo of that location, as shown in Figure 27.12.

Figure 27.11. Blue-lined streets have Street View photos attached.

Figure 27.12. A Google Street View panoramic photo.

Use your mouse to pan left or right around the photo, or drag within the photo to move up or down the street. You can also use the navigation controls in the upper left of the photo to pan around and zoom in and out of the photo. To display the panoramic photo full-screen, click the Full-screen link in the photo window.

Commentary

The key to saving or sharing any map you’ve created is that Google assigns every possible map its own unique URL. When you know the URL, you can share it with others—or save it to your computer desktop.

Here’s how it works:

Alternatively, you can save the map as a shortcut on your desktop. To do this, create the map, click the Link link, highlight the URL, and then drag it onto your desktop.

There’s an even easier way to email a map to friends and family—or to yourself, so you’ll have a link to the map as a message in your inbox. Just follow these steps:

Figure 27.14. Emailing a link to a map you created.

Of course, you can also just print a hard copy of the map. This is as easy as clicking the Print link above the map you’ve created; nothing more is necessary.

To generate driving directions, follow these steps:

You can also generate driving directions to or from any location you’ve previously mapped. When the location is pinpointed on the map, click either the To Here or From Here links in the info balloon. The balloon now changes to include a Start Address or End Address box; enter the second address, and then click the Go button.

Initially, Google Maps only let you generate simple driving directions, from one point to another with no stops in-between. But that’s seldom how we drive, especially on long trips and vacations.

That’s why Google has finally added multiple-stop directions to Google Maps. This means you can plan a multi-stop trip (point A to point B to point C), instead of merely going from point A to point C with no stops in-between.

To create multiple-stop directions, start by generating directions from the starting point to your first stop. Then click the Add Destination link; this extends the Directions panel to include a third (C) address box. Enter your second stop into this box, then click the Add Destination button; directions from the first stop to the second stop will now be generated. Keep clicking the Add a Destination link to create more complex trips and directions.

However you enter your locations, Google now generates a page of driving instructions, as shown in Figure 27.16. The step-by-step directions are listed on the left side of the page; an overview map is displayed on the right.

Figure 27.16. Driving directions and a map of your route.

It seems pretty straight ahead so far, but there’s a neat little feature hidden on this page. When you click any of the numbered steps on the left, a Street View photo pops up on top of the overview map, as shown in Figure 27.17. This is a great way to see those detailed directions that are easy to misunderstand—as long as photos are available for that location, of course.

Figure 27.17. A pop-up Street View photo that zooms into a particular piece of your route.

Don’t like the directions that Google suggested? Rather take a slightly different route to your destination? Well, fortunately for you, Google lets you change your driving directions—just by dragging the route on the map.

Here’s how it works. Generate your driving direction as normal, then locate that part of your route that you want to change. Click that part of the route, press and hold down your left mouse button, and then drag the route to a different location. The route readjusts to include the changes you’ve made.

For example, generate driving directions from Indianapolis to Minneapolis. (That’s a long drive—which I can confirm from experience!) The default directions route you through Chicago, but that’s not the only (or best) way to go. If you’d rather travel via central Illinois, click on the Chicago area of the route and drag it down to Bloomington, Illinois. The directions now change to reflect your preferred route.

One last thing. Google Maps’ driving directions are great, but they won’t do you any good if they’re displayed on your home PC screen while you’re on the road. To take a copy of your directions with you, just click the Print link. This makes a hard copy printout of the directions page, map and all.

Commentary

As part of its Google Maps service, Google hosts a large database of local retailers. This lets you use Google Maps to search for retailers within any area or neighborhood, or near any address.

The easiest way to find a local business is to start with a map of your location. Now enter the name or type of business into the top-of-page search box, then click the Search Maps button.

Google now displays a map of the specified location with matching businesses pinpointed on the map and listed on the left side of the page, as shown in Figure 27.18.

Figure 27.18. The results of a Google Maps business search.

When you click a business name or pinpoint, an information balloon appears, as shown in Figure 27.19. To display more information about a business, click the More Info link in the Search results page; this displays a new box of information and links.

Figure 27.19. Displaying general information about a business.

Note that Google Maps only lists 10 businesses per page. To display the next page of results, you have to scroll down the left side of the page and then click the Next link. The map will change (zoom in or out) to display this next batch of businesses; Google Maps typically lists the closest businesses first, and then expands its results, geographically.