Hoping to make it even easier to turn its online maps into collages of local information — Google Inc. is introducing tools that will stitch together applications from a hodgepodge of Web sites.
San Francisco — Google Inc. has officially launched its Mapplets add-ons to Google Maps, a new collection of tools and mini-applications which enable users to layer third-party data — like real estate listings, events, photos, gas prices, and even YouTube videos — directly onto Google Maps, similar to the way users are able to customize their iGoogle pages with Google-provided and third-party applications.
The free service, scheduled to be introduced Wednesday morning, represents the Mountain View-based company’s most ambitious attempt yet to capitalize on the growing popularity of hybrid maps known as “mashups.”
In the last two years, Google estimates more than 50,000 mashups have been built on its maps.
MyMaps, as the new feature is known, allows consumers to select from more than one hundred mini-applications created by independent software developers. These allow users to overlay data on top of Google’s popular online map service.
One map application allows users to watch YouTube videos based on the locations where they are uploaded. One could switch from the video confessions of a teenager in Ohio to tourist videos shot in the Andes Mountains of South America.
In order to access the Mapplets, users will need to click a newly-added “MyMaps” tab, which is placed conveniently next to the “Search Results” tab on the Google Maps web page.
Originally announced in May when Google debuted street-level photography in Google Maps, the new tools are directly accessible within Google Maps –clicking the “Add Content” link in the MyMaps tag in Google Maps — lets users save the customized maps in their own personal library.
For user-created content that is a bit more interesting, clicking “add-content” will bring up over a hundred Mapplets, ranging from useful metropolitan transit maps to a tool that allows users to look up US addresses by selecting specific buildings, including Mapplets which show the locations of tagged Flickr photos, and show the locations of local events.
Google has also developed a series of its own Mapplets, including a real estate search which toes into Google Base, YouTube videos uploaded from around the world, and location-tagged photos from Panoramio.
The Mapplets could prove to be especially useful for travelers looking for more information on their destinations. Take the New York City Subway system for example: travelers can familiarize themselves with its layout days in advance to their trip to Manhattan without having to search around the MTA web site.
Figuring out the closest and cheapest gas station is easy, too; a search in my area with the GasBuddy.com Mapplet showed that the cheapest gas was at a local Wawa for $2.57.
Once a Mapplet is added to your Google Maps page, which you will need to be logged into, you can select which Mapplets you would like to activate by clicking a checkbox. Deactivation of certain Mapplets is as easy as unclicking the box.
Users can also display data using multiple Mapplets, potentially uncovering interesting geographic correlations between data sets — for instance, real estate values and crime statistics, or sporting events and traffic tie-ups.
“It is a really powerful innovation,” said John Hanke, Google’s director of maps. “It is like combining chocolate and peanut butter. They are good by themselves, but the combination is much more valuable than when they are served in isolation.”
Google introduced MyMaps in April to give users a way to save and share their own mashups.
Those interested in developing Mapplets should choose the “Developers Tools” option which reveals three Mapplets: “Mapplet Scratch Pad,” “Developer Mapplet,” and “API Reference.”
For examples and more information, developers can also visit Google’s Google Mapplets Concepts and Examples web page.
Like with most things it does, Google is hoping the new feature will generate more advertising revenue as people spend more time on its site. Advertising already accounts for most of Google’s profits, which totaled $1 billion during the first three months of this year.
The company believes developers will be eager to share mapplets as a way to distribute their own ads and attract more traffic to their Web sites.
Google’s maps attract the third most U.S. visitors in its category, ranking behind rival services from AOL’s Mapquest and Yahoo Inc., according to comScore Media Metrix.
Consumers who have signed up for a Google Gmail account can save personalized maps. Users who choose not to sign into Google services can remain anonymous but use the service, Hanke said.
If you are itching to give Google Mapplets a try today, prepare for a sluggish experience; we found it to be a bit slow during our testing, perhaps due to a high amount of traffic at launch.
Mapplets are currently available to Google Maps users in the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia; several localized versions are also available, including French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, and Chinese.