No Refolding Required: Navigating Google Maps

I spent the past week sipping wine amongst the vineyards and orchards of the Okanagan's Naramata Bench, so I guess it's time I took a sober look at how far behind I am in my blogging assignments.

Google products I use: YouTube (which I didn't realize belonged to the Google universe and which is a whole other assignment!), Blogger, Image search, and need I even say it...Web search. I also use the product I've chosen to discuss here - Google Maps. And I'll use my recent vacation to illustrate - maybe it'll help me hang onto my holiday bliss a little longer...

I ain't no gadget gal, so while I've heard wild rumours that all of this can be accessed via mobile devices, I'm still rockin' it old school on my desktop PC at home! For the rest of you tech savvy folks out there, I'm sure this is mostly old news, although you may find some small entertainment value in observing my lack of savvy-ness...

Off the top, I like the variety of search options available depending on the information I have at hand and the information I'm looking for: I can type in a specific address, the name of a road, the name of a specific business or attraction, the name of a town, or something quite general like "library naramata." As I'm typing, Google offers a helpful list of suggestions on a drop-down menu that I can also choose from to save precious time and key strokes.

Then I get a hit list and an accompanying map which I can view as a simple street map, a satellite map with a street map superimposed on it, or a 3D Earth view (which I haven't downloaded). My favourite view is the satellite map as I find it helps me get the lay of the land a lot better than just a street map when I'm looking something up that's in completely foreign territory. Included on the map are other nearby landmarks, businesses, towns or roads that help me get my bearings.

If I click on one of the items in the hit list, I have access to a raft of useful information such as: a complete address, a photo and a link to a website if one exists, directions, links to reviews if there are any, the option to save my map to my Google account, and the option to "search nearby" for whatever other amenities I might need.

At the bottom of my hit list, each successive search is saved and can be added to the map using colour-coded dots. So my search for restaurants, wineries, hiking opportunities, and a library, can all be added to my initial search for accommodations and I've got the necessities of my whole trip mapped out before my very eyes in no time at all!

If I've looked up a place that's located in an urban area, I've also got the option to look at a "street view" of it, which essentially looks like someone stood outside and snapped a photo of it. (Kind of eerie when I look up my own residential address - brings my "big brother is watching you" paranoia out!) This feature helps to prevent having to drive around the block multiple times trying to spot that little hole-in-the-wall amazing restaurant that only the locals know about! And when I access the driving directions, I can see a split screen street view and corresponding satellite map for each intersection. Guess that's not such a handy feature if I'm not viewing it on a mobile device...hmmm...might have to get me one of those! 

Of course there are inevitably flaws and glitches with technology like this. Google Maps states clearly that "Placement on map is approximate" which can definitely be a big problem. If I'd used only the Google map to find our accommodation in a rural area of the Okanagan, I'd have been camping in the bush near the local landfill a few kilometres from the bed and breakfast I'd reserved! I have the option to move a marker on the map if it's not in the right location, although if it's moved more than 200 metres from it's existing location, the change will not be posted immediately. I tried moving the marker for the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at, but the change has not been posted yet. But editing the map after I've returned from my vacation doesn't really help ME - only the next B and B guests maybe!

Another thing that one needs to be aware of is that both street maps and the satellite maps appear to be out of date by at least a couple of years. Residential areas where I live that have gone from cow pasture to fully built out communities are still showing up on the satellite map as pasture!

All in all, I still think Google Maps is a useful tool, as long as the user is aware of it's potential shortcomings.

Now, where's that stash of wine I transported illegally across provincial borders...