Tim Wang's eLearning Blog

Now you can apply a flash interface over the existing Google Map and yet preserves all functionalities of Google Map!

This demo is built based on VGMap. VGMap is a new library created by Eyebeam that allows designers, developers, and mapping geeks to overlay data on top of Google Maps in a richer way than is possible using their standard system. Flash provides for vector drawing, as well as a interactive and animation functionality. This VGMap library is simply the glue between GMap and Flash, as well as a handful of Flash ActionScript libraries and sample code to simplify the process of drawing over the map correctly.

This new technology simply opens a new dimension to the future Google GPS development. Will give it a try to see how this works...

According to Xinhuanet, China will soon put into use electronic GPS maps in 142 cities in order to weave a network across the country within 10 years. This project is carried out by China's Planet Map Publishing House and Shenzhen Maxwell Technology Corp. Ltd. The overall investment is at more than 100 million yuan (15 million CAD dollars), hoping to make the system cover major Chinese cities, counties and towns. According to the paper,the two companies have so far developed electronic GPS maps covering 19 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. The GPS system will be ported to standard GPS devices and advanced mobile devices (cell phones, palmtop computers etc.) The return of this investment is also huge, experts are quoted as saying that the market volume of electronic GPS maps is huge, exceeding 10 billion yuan (over 1.5 billion CAD dollars). With the increasing demand of automobiles, a consummate GPS system will gain its market in no time.

Google recently launched a stand alone software - Google Earth. The software is free, it allows one to easily pin point a location or find out the flight paths and driving directions between two destinations. The data is based on the google map search engine. It also has a 3D building feature that allows one to tilt the map and if there are any 3D images for the particular section you are viewing, they will show as real 3D figures on the flat panel. When you look for the driving destinations between two locations, you will be given an amazing 3D animation illustrate the entire driving direction. Simply put, this is an amazing application. Why Google doing it? I guess soon or later, Google wants a piece of the GPS pie and plus advertise for travelling related services like Hotels, Resturants, Entertaiment Zones etc... Smart Move!!!
Google GPS Google Earth

Google map is no longer a new toy. Millions around the world have experimented and enjoyed the amazing interactive map engine. Recently, a programmer, Cristian Streng whom used the feature that Google may pin down a location via the Latitude and Longitude, created a small software that displays Google Maps and Keyhole satellite imagery on Java J2ME-enabled mobile phones or other devices. The software is free, however, I imagine the amount of data need to be downloaded from the internet via WAP, which would show up on your monthly bill from your wireless service providers. Anyway, if you want to impress some one or have a really good deal in wireless internet browsing, download it here:
http://www.mgmaps.com/download.php

Google GPS