| Google Maps (for a time named Google Local) is a basic web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free (for non-commercial use), that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API. It offers street maps, a route planner for traveling by foot, car, or public transport and an urban business locator for numerous countries around the world. According to one of its creators (Lars Rasmussen), Google Maps is "a way of organizing the world's information geographically".
Google Maps uses a close variant of the Mercator projection, so it cannot show areas around the poles. A related product is Google Earth, a stand-alone program which offers more globe-viewing features, including showing polar areas.
Google Maps provides high-resolution satellite images for most urban areas in the United States (including Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), Canada, and the United Kingdom, as well as parts of Australia and many other countries. The high-resolution imagery has been used by Google Maps to cover all of Egypt's Nile Valley, Sahara desert and Sinai. Google Maps also covers many cities in the English speaking areas. However, Google Maps is not solely an English maps service, since its service is intended to cover the world.
Various governments have complained about the potential for terrorists to use the satellite images in planning attacks. Google has blurred some areas for security (mostly in the United States), including the U.S. Naval Observatory area (where the official residence of the Vice President is located), and previously the United States Capitol and the White House. Other well-known government installations, including Area 51 in the Nevada desert, are visible. Not all areas on satellite images are covered in the same resolution; less populated areas usually get less detail. Some areas may be obscured by patches of clouds.
With the introduction of an easily pannable and searchable mapping and satellite imagery tool, Google's mapping engine prompted a surge of interest in satellite imagery. Sites were established which feature satellite images of interesting natural and man-made landmarks, including such novelties as "large type" writing visible in the imagery, as well as famous stadia and unique geological formations. As of November 2008[update], the U.S. National Weather Service also now uses Google Maps within its local weather forecasts, showing the 5 x 5 km "point forecast" squares used in forecast models.
Although Google uses the word satellite, most of the high-resolution imagery is aerial photography taken from airplanes rather than from satellites.
Google Maps directions work:
- Contiguously in Eastern and Southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa*, Swaziland, Sudan, Tanzania (excluding Zanzibar), Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
- Contiguously in Northern and Western Africa: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea (continental part only), Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Libya, Mali, Mauretania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Republic of Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tunisia
- Contiguously in Europe and Asia: Andorra, Albania, Armenia, Austria*, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium*, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia*, Czech Republic*, Denmark* (excluding the Faroe Islands), Estonia, France*, Finland*, Germany*, Greece*, Gibraltar, Hungary*, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy*, Latvia, Liechtenstein*, Lithuania, Luxembourg*, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Monaco*, Montenegro, Nepal, The Netherlands*, Norway*, Pakistan, Poland*, Portugal* (excluding the Azores and Madeira), Romania, San Marino, Slovakia*, Slovenia, Serbia, Spain* (including the Canary Islands but excluding Ceuta and Melilla), Sweden*, Switzerland*, Tajikistan, Turkey*, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom* Uzbekistan, and Vatican City.
- Contiguously in North America: Alaska* (excluding the Panhandle), Canada* and the continental United States*
- Contiguously in South America: Argentina*, Bolivia, Brazil*, Chile* and Paraguay
- Contiguously in Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Laos, Singapore*, peninsular Malaysia*, Thailand* and Vietnam
- In certain noncontiguous countries and regions: the Alaska Panhandle, Australia*, China*, Comoros, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Hawaii*, Hong Kong*, Iceland, India*, Indonesia (Bali, Java and Sumatra only), Iran, Israel (and parts of the West Bank), Jamaica, Japan*, Jordan, Lebanon, Macau*, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, New Zealand*, Puerto Rico*, Réunion, Russia* (Moscow area only), Sabah*, Sarawak*, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Taiwan*, and the US Virgin Islands*.
^ = not all roads are featured in this country, so directions are very limited.
* = has directions and places of interest.
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