Google I/O 2014: Geo Highlights



Google’s yearly developer conference had very impressive displays of all of its technologies. Of particular interest in this blog post is developer presentations unique to Google Geo Products. Below are the sessions related to Google’s Geo products with Google’s descriptions of each presentation.



I/O Bytes (Short Sessions):



“Map Up Your Apps!” with Googler Megan Boundey (5 minutes 47 seconds)

Interested in adding Google Maps to your mobile apps but needing inspiration? Did you know that you can now add Street View to your apps too? Come and see how incorporating maps into your app can delight your users! We’ll show you some exciting uses of the Google Maps Mobile APIs and describe the functionality available in the APIs as we go.



“Building location-based apps with the Places API” with Googler Justin Chu (5 minutes and 29 seconds)



Google Maps is powered by a global database of places, from the Moscone Center in San Francisco to the Potala Palace in Tibet. We’ll show you how to build these places into your apps, including reviews, ratings, photos, opening hours, and more.



“Maps Made Easier: GeoJSON in the Maps API” with Googler Jen Kovnats (6 minutes and 3 seconds)





GeoJSON has become the lingua franca of geographic data on the web. Let us show you how to turn GeoJSON into rich and engaging spatial visualiztions with a few lines of code, using the Google Maps Data Layer.
Full I/O Sessions:



“Views from Everywhere: Bringing developers the world’s largest geo photo library” with Googlers Evan Rapoport and Luc Vincent (38 minutes 26 seconds)
Google Maps is creating the world’s most comprehensive geolocated photo library through Street View. We’re also empowering anyone to contribute photos and 360-degree panoramas to Google Maps via products like Trekker, Business View, Views, and Photo Sphere. In this talk, we’ll show how developers can integrate billions of panoramas into their projects. We’ll also show how anyone can quickly publish imagery of places they care about, then easily access them via our APIs and viewers. This session is relevant to developers creating experiences that include location and imagery.
“Android Auto: Developers, start your engines!” with Googlers Andy Brenner, Gabriel Peal, Nick Pelly (50 minutes and 16 seconds)





This is a developer-focused session that goes “under the hood” on the just-announced Android Auto SDK. The session will go into depth on our API set, including coding examples, and also more detail on the Android Auto technology solution. Learn what it takes to car-enable your audio or messaging app now so you’re ready for the launch of Android Auto later this year!



“Maps for good: Saving trees and saving lives with petapixel-scale computing” with Googler Rebecca Moore (47 minutes and 34 seconds)
Satellites have been systematically collecting imagery of our changing planet for more than 40 years, yet until recently this treasure trove of “big data” has not been online and available for high-performance data mining. This session will cover the new Google Earth Engine technology and experimental API for massively-parallel geospatial analysis on daily-updating global datasets such as Landsat satellite imagery. Scientists and other domain experts are developing new EE-powered applications which map, measure and monitor our changing planet in unprecedented detail, for the benefit of people and the environment. Applications include tracking and reducing global deforestation; mapping and mitigating the risks of earthquakes and extreme weather events such as floods and drought; and even creating new kinds of geo-visualizations such as the 2014 Webby award-winning “Timelapse” – a zoomable, browsable HTML5 video animation of the entire Earth from 1984-2012, built from nearly a petabyte of Landsat data. These early results merely hint at what’s now possible.
“Redesigning Google Maps” with Googlers Jonah Jones and Annette Leong (41 minutes and 57 seconds)
How do you redesign a product used by a billion people? The Google Maps team recently launched their biggest redesign since the product was introduced 8 years ago. The lead designers will take you through the journey, illustrating three lessons learned that can apply to any design and product development process.
“How 20% engineers built Santa Tracker” with Googlers Chris Broadfoot and Ankur Kotwal (32 minutes and 31 seconds)
Built on Google’s developer platform, Santa Tracker lets millions of children and adults track Santa in 34 languages as he delivers presents across the world. The project’s technical leads go behind the scenes to provide insight into the challenges of building a cohesive Google developer platform experience across mobile/desktop web, Android, Chromecast, Maps and Search; all powered by a Go AppEngine backend.
As a Google Maps Authorized Reseller, Dito can assist your business with implementing Google Maps, and help your business integrate the capabilities shown at this year’s I/O into your application. To learn more about Google Maps products for Business, click here.

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