GoogleMapsMania has blogged that Google has released new data for the following countries with new roads/streets maps:
This is a lot of new coverage! Not sure yet whether this means directions are available for all these countries. Russia, for example, has some new major roads, and big cities have down to smaller streets – but, other cities are still missing street-level data. I did notice that Moscow even has building outlines in the city (although not the new 2.5D buildings like in the US). Also, they probably do not have “Local Business” search available. But, Google has been adding more data on a global basis at a prodigious rate.
So, why am I blogging about it? Because once they release it to Google Maps, they inevitably begin working on porting the data over to Google Earth as well. So, in a few weeks or months (it took six months for New Zealand and Australia) we can expect GE will have even more road layer data and possibly points of interest layers (dining, lodging, parks, etc.) as well for some or all of these countries!
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.
Regarding Moscow, none of this is new. I’ve been enjoying the detailed street names, building outlines and numbers, etc. for months in Moscow — at least as far back as early summer 2006.
. . . That list looks vaguely familiar to the recent NavTeq update list. . .
Thank you Google! You can only imagine my happiness seeing the road coverage appearing in my country (Estonia). I have been waiting that for so long. Even though the underlying images are still very low resolution, having the roadmap helps a lot. It encourages the usage of Google Earth in vast amounts here, because since yesterday as most areas were in low res, nobody without any knowledge about the exact coordinates of their house or any other place, couldn’t find it. Now it is very easy thanks to the roadmap, despite the “still low res” imagery. So again, big thanks for all that work!
It is a bit surprising that Estonia and Lithuania were covered, but Latvia in between was left as a blank sheet. Only the capital Riga got the roadmap. But I hope they will get the rest of their roads soon as well.
Does anybody know why the routing works in Estonia but not in Turkey?
Thailand has roads data only in Thai language… Or is there some way to change it to english?
Being from Slovenia, I am pleasantly surprised about the accuracy of the maps. Really great to see they truly went into detail with these maps, as (at least the capital area) is more detailed than the map I got from work. 😛
Streets in my area of Lake Ariel PA do not appear in the new version of Google Earth when they were in the previous version. This is in the United States.