ReadWriteWeb

Google Maps and Google Earth are converging on that virtual-reality future we've dreamed about. Today, Google announced Google MapsGL, an enhancement to Maps that uses WebGL to generate swooping 3D graphics inside your browser; no installations necessary. If your hardware meets the requirements, and if you use a WebGL-capable browser, you can opt into the 21st-century Google Maps experience.

Turns out that's a big "if," though. The requirements are pretty stiff. "Some low-end integrated GPUs" aren't supported, and apparently that of the latest MacBook Air is too "low-end." Even a 2-year-old MacBook Pro gets a warning message that MapsGL will "run slowly." You also have use Chrome (of course) or the latest Firefox 8+ Beta; Safari or ... the other ones ... won't cut it. MapsGL sure looks cool, though!

Google has just announced the latest class of countries to graduate from Google Map Maker and become full-fledged citizens of Google Maps. Map Maker allows "citizen cartographers" to add details like little roads, businesses and geographic features to parts of the world that Google's staff can't easily reach.

Today's announcement incorporates community contributions from a bunch of new countries, territories, and even an entire continents into the live Google map. The graduates are: Afghanistan, Antarctica, Ecuador, Georgia, Guatemala, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Honduras, Iraq, Norfolk Island, Saint Pierre & Miquelon and Saudi Arabia.

The Google LatLong team just announced that Google Maps is getting 3D previews of travel directions. The interface now displays a "play" button that switches to a Google Earth view that flies along the route automatically. Playback can be paused and resumed at any point, and dragging the map allows exploration of the surrounding area.

It's all existing Google technology, putting a browser view of Google Earth inside the Maps window, but it's a new integration. It's not the most useful feature, but it is a new and immersive way to plan a trip.

Two months later, Google has joined the international community in recognizing South Sudan's independence and adding it to Google Maps. After uprisings at the beginning of the year, South Sudan declared independence on July 9, 2011.

As we reported this summer, most of the major Web mapping services have lagged on this update. Google is the first to make the change.

Google just announced the first integration of Maps into Google Plus. Users of Google Maps can now easily share maps or directions as Google Plus "+snippets." By clicking "Share..." in the now ubiquitous black Google menu bar, users can now post Google Maps into their Plus-buddies' streams.

Last month, Google rolled out +snippets to help users and publishers share outside Web pages to Google Plus using the +1 button. But +snippets have also become the primary way other Google services are integrated into Plus. Maps now joins Google's Books, Offers and product searches as the major Google services with +snippet integration.

Google has finally admitted that it can't keep Google Maps up to date without the crowd's help. The LatLong Team has just announced a Regional Expert Reviewer program, appointing the best contributors to Google Map Maker as volunteer moderators.

Map Maker, which launched in 2008, allows Maps users to submit edits, but these all had to be reviewed by internal Google teams before being added to the live map. Today's change shifts some of that burden onto the most dedicated volunteers, indicating that Google no longer wants to handle all that work itself.

Google continues the blistering pace of updates to Google Maps today with the announcement of voice search for Maps on the desktop. Only users of Google's Chrome browser get the feature. This could speed up queries for hard-to-spell places, and it also returns queries like "Directions from Portland to San Francisco."

The Google LatLong Team is cranking out features. This month, Google Maps on the desktop has gotten a weather layer, it has become available on over 40 new country domains, and it added shortlinks to make sharing maps and directions easier. Voice search on the desktop adds another new convenience, at least for Chrome users.

The Google Lat Long Team has announced that the Google g.co URL shortener has graduated from testing to become an official feature of Google Maps. The super-short URL dedicated to Google-owned Web properties launched in July, and the g.co/maps path will always lead to a Google Maps page.

The Google Maps screen now displays a link icon in the top right corner. Clicking the link opens a box containing the map's URL, which is no longer visible from the browser's location bar (it just says 'maps.google.com'), as well as HTML to embed the map on a Web page. The full URL is displayed by default, and it can be rather nasty, including the user's search terms and a very long string of numbers. Above that field, though, is a checkbox for a 'Short URL.' Checking the box shortens the link.

Google Maps announced today that it has just become available on over 40 new top-level country domains, including Mongolia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and more. Country domains are an important point of access for users around the world, since the languages and results can be customized to suit the specific audience. Google Maps is now available in more than 130 countries and more than 60 languages.

Google also announced this week that Street View, its photographic interface for exploring places in three dimensions through Google Maps, is coming to the Amazon rainforest with the help of the Foundation for a Sustainable Amazon. The Google LatLong team has had a big week of international news, and their addition of weather to Google Maps yesterday rounds out a pretty busy product week overall.

Google just introduced a weather layer to Google Maps, and WunderMap better watch out. It's a simple overlay of local weather icons with temperatures, and clicking them pops up more information including humidity, wind speed and a forecast. Google is not new to the weather game; Google Earth has been displaying weather information since 2007, adding real-time weather and animations last year. But the addition of this layer to Maps means that users planning an outing or a trip can do it all from one free, Google-powered, ad-supported place.

The data come from Weather.com, although Google's blog post mistakenly says it's all from the U.S. Naval Research Lab, which also provides some of the data for Google Earth's "Clouds" layer (look at the bottom left of the screenshots). The Weather Channel used to offer a Google Maps mapplet, but that's unnecessary now. Google Maps has no radar view or interactive components, so The Weather Channel still has something unique to offer on its own site, but whenever Google gets into a new vertical, be it weather, shopping or email, competitors should proceed with caution.