Posted by Tom Touchet, CEO, City 24/7

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Enterprise Blog)

Editor's note: Our guest blogger this week is from City 24/7, a non-traditional media company with a mission of providing “what you need to know, when and where it helps you most.” See how the company uses Google Places APIs as a way to give the public access to vital local information.

Imagine you are visiting New York City for the very first time. The lights, sounds and endless city blocks are all pretty amazing – yet a little confusing. That’s where City 24/7 comes in.

To give you an easy (and free) way of learning about your surroundings, we’re installing 250 Smart Screens in retrofitted telephone booths across NYC. City 24/7 Smart Screens are large, interactive touch screens that give you a range of information about local businesses and points of interest. And in the case of an emergency you can also access vital safety information, such as safety tips from the police department or updates from the mayor’s office.

We turned to the Google Places API to help us provide you with accurate, reliable information about events and places in any given neighborhood. The Places API includes location info from Google Maps, content from Google+ Local, Zagat-recommended establishments and (as of last week), Place Summaries - which include curated reviews and ratings.

Cities should be easy to live in and fun to visit. And with access to Google+ Local data, everyone can feel like a local, knowing all the best places to eat, shop, play and hang out. With the help of the Google Places API, we look forward to bringing our Smart Screens to bus shelters, train platforms, and major pedestrian streets in cities all around the world, as well as to launch our mobile application.

Posted by: Justin Chu, Places API Product Manager

Cross-post to the Official Enterprise Blog, where we've announced a new enterprise feature

Starting today, the Google Places API will feature Place Summaries, reliable reviews about points of interest. This allows your application to embed useful review information. For example, car manufacturers can use the API to provide drivers with detailed reviews of local establishments directly in their in-car system.

Place Summaries are curated expert reviews and ratings, based on user feedback, that provide information about a location’s key attributes such as decor, quality and service. The API also shows Zagat-recommended establishments. So whether your customer is looking for a local Chinese restaurant or a national park, the Google Places API help them make a quick, informed decision about where to go and what to do.

We’re continually improving the Google Places API to deliver accurate and comprehensive information about local businesses across the globe. For more information about the Google Places API, contact our sales team.

Map of the Week: Skyvi
Why we like it: Skyvi uses the Google Places API to help users find nearby points of interest while on the go.  Users simply speak their request into their Android phone while Skyvi is running to get voice guided, turn-by-turn directions from the Google Maps for Android app.

[Editor’s note: For this week’s “Map of the Week” post, we’ve asked Sarah Montgomery of Blue Tornado to write a guest blog post about how her team used the Google Maps APIs to create Skyvi.  - Paul Saxman]

Skyvi is a fast voice application for Android that lets you perform various tasks by voice input alone! Whether you want to find somewhere to eat or update your social network status, you can get things done by speaking to your phone.



Users can voice a command to find a point of interest such as 'find an Italian restaurant' or 'where can I get a haircut'. Skyvi then retrieves the user’s current GPS coordinates from the Android platform and queries the Google Places API with the search keywords and coordinates. The Google Places API returns a list of locations for the user to select from. Upon choosing a location, Skyvi uses an Android Intent to pass the GPS coordinates to Google Maps Navigation, which then directs the user along the route.

As a result, users are able to discover a point of interest and get seamlessly navigated there just by speaking commands. We are excited that, by incorporating the Google Places API into our app, our users no longer need to handle their phones or GPS devices while they drive.

It was quick and easy to integrate the Google Places API into our app, taking only a couple of hours. Google Maps saved us from investing in base map data, and the API allows us to suggest relevant search results based on Google's data, which is already used by millions of people.

Posted by Paul Saxman, Google Maps Developer Relations Team

At least I think that’s how the saying goes. Today, we are announcing two new features for the Google Places API that can add some visual pop to your applications: Place Photos and Radar Search.

Place Photos

Photos are one of the most highly requested features from our developers, and we’re confident that the extensive inventory from our Google+ Local pages will suit developers’ local photo needs. To include your own photos in the API, please upload them to the place’s Google+ Page. With Place Photos, each Place Search response will include a reference to a photo, and each Place Details response will include up to 10. The photo fields contain various metadata, as well as a reference that are used to retrieve the photo via the photos service. We also offer a built-in resizing functionality, so your requests can specify the photo’s maximum width and height.

Radar Search

In addition to Place Photos, we wanted to give developers easier access to the comprehensive database underlying the Places API; and what better way to showcase our Place data than by allowing bigger result sets? With Radar Search, you can access up to 200 locations and Place References with one query, no paging needed, giving you more data to play with.

Give this example a try to find the best areas in Sydney for restaurants with nice views, or where to shop for clothes in Paris - this is where the name came from, at a high zoom level, it resembles a radar image. We look forward to seeing even more beautiful visualizations from developers.



The Places API team always appreciates developer feedback so we encourage you to continue requesting additional features, or reporting any problems you find, using the Google Maps API Issue Tracker. Our Stack Overflow community is also a great resource for any technical questions.

Posted by Khang Tran, Google Places API Engineer

Map of the Week: Instant Google Street View
Why we like it: Instant Google Street View starts clean, with a simple search box.


As Google, we find this approach very appealing.

As you type, it rapidly updates the page with images from Google Street View...

...until you get where you want to see.


Instant Street View uses the Google Places Library Autocomplete Service to quickly get the location you’re looking for. It uses the Street View Service to display the Street View panoramas. And when you’ve found what you want to look at, you share it via your favorite social media or get a quick map view:



Most of all, we love that it’s fast. So get out there and share some great images from Instant Street View.

Posted by Mano Marks, Maps Developer Relations

Map of the Week: Kekanto

[Editors Note: Last month we launched morethanamap.com to showcase the unique features of the Google Maps API. As part of this project, we’ve been featuring stories from our global community of developers who are using the Google Maps API to start businesses, help improve their communities or save the environment.]

This week we stay in São Paulo, to meet with one of the co-founders of Kekanto. Kekanto is a local search guide created specifically for users in Latin America who want to explore cities, share opinions and meet new people. What’s really exciting about Kekanto is to see a startup that aims to conquer the Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets first, which is made possible due in part to the coverage and language capabilities in Google Maps. We met up with Allan just as the rapidly growing site was moving into a new (a larger office) in São Paulo.

Kekanto was started when the founders realized that US-based local search guides were not really gaining traction with users when exported to Latin America. To make sure that users connected with a product made for them, Kekanto puts an emphasis on hiring managers on the ground that are native residents of their target cities across Latin America. Sharing a successful formula used by other local guides, the site takes a Google Map centric approach to drive activity on the site. The site also uses the Google Places API to provide local search results.

As a whole the design of the Kekanto site is easy to use and it does a great job of integrating the maps where the need to be, without letting them get in the way. We really like are the ability to view public transit layers directly on the map and the ability to calculate directions on the site as well. Another design feature we like is the use of business photos in the custom marker icons. This is really nice way to identify a business and tie the map back to the listings next to the map.

In the video below, Kekanto co-founder Alan Kajimoto gives us a live demonstration of the site.



Many thanks to the Kekanto team for inviting us into their office and sharing their site with us. To learn more about Kekanto and the things that you can do with the Google Maps API, visit morethanamap.com. We end our journey around the world here in São Paulo and we thank all of the great developers who were gracious enough to share with us their story. Next week we’ll recap the journey as well the launch of morethanamap.com, so stay tuned for our final series installment!

Posted by Carlos Cuesta, Google Maps API Product Marketing Manager

Since launching the the Google Places API Developer Challenge in August, developers around the world have been busy collaborating with major municipalities to create applications that address the most pressing needs in our communities. Based on feedback from developers, who want more time to create really impactful apps, we’ve decided to extend the deadline for the challenge through the end of November 2012.

The challenge invites developers to create apps that improve their communities or governments by using the Google Places API and its database of places and tools to create innovative applications.

With a global database of more than 95 million places powering Google Maps, the Google Places API enables you to search for information about a broad range of places around the world.  We also provide links to more than 30,000 interesting data sets on the Google Places API Challenge site at http://developers.google.com/places/challenge.

Check out this video to learn more about the objectives of the challenge. 

Submissions are pouring in and we look forward to seeing all of the great applications that are submitted by November 30, 2012.  Public voting, as well as official judging by our panel of experts in civic innovation and application development, will begin in December 2012.  Awards for both People’s Choice and Judge’s Choice will be announced in January 2013.  Developers of the winning applications will enjoy an immersive VIP experience at Google I/O 2013, along with other prizes. We look forward to seeing what happens when the Google Places API meets inspired developers!
Posted by Rob Gray, Global Marketing Manager, Google Maps and Earth (Enterprise)
Rob Gray leads the marketing team for Google Maps and Earth Enterprise, which includes products such as the Google Maps API, Google Maps Engine, Google Maps Coordinate and Google Earth Pro. Rob has been working in the technology industry for over 15 years in a variety of roles across marketing sales and product management.

Since we launched the Place Autocomplete feature of the Google Places API, we’ve been excited to see a number of developers use it to make entering addresses into HTML forms quick and easy for users. Today, we aim to delight developers and their users even more by releasing Query Autocomplete, which includes popular queries alongside place and address predictions, and Javascript Autocomplete Data Services, which allows you to style and mix in your own predictions while using the Google Maps JavaScript API.

Query Autocomplete

Google Places Query Autocomplete is a new feature available as part of both the Google Places API and the Google Maps JS API Places Library. This feature has the same type-ahead-search behavior of the original Place Autocomplete, but just like the Google Maps search field, it returns places, addresses, and popular queries, such as “italian restaurants” or “swimming pool.”

Autocomplete Data Services

In the Places Library of the Google Maps JS API, we first offered Place Autocomplete as a drop-down widget that’s bound to an input element. We wanted to give developers more flexibility, so both Place Autocomplete and Query Autocomplete now have data services that return predictions in a JSON collection. With this collection, you have complete control over your text inputting and autocomplete experience while using the Google Maps JS API.

This control allows for mixing in your own predictions, such as the user’s home location or her favorite restaurant, or styling predictions to better match your application. In the demo below, we used the data service to give our predictions some rotating Google-themed colors.



Our Autocomplete services do not need to be used in conjunction with a map, but it does require a “powered by Google” logo to appear under the text field if a map isn’t shown.

The Google Places API autocomplete services are here as part of our goal to make location-based textual input an effortless experience. Give them a try and let us know what you think!

Posted by Paul Saxman, Google Maps Developer Advocate

P.S. Submissions for the Places API Developer Challenge are now open. Build an app to help your community and for a chance to win tickets for Google I/O!

Earlier this month we announced the Google Places API Developer Challenge, a 10-week application development event designed to spur the creation of applications focused on civic needs. We’re excited to see how you can find solutions to critical needs in areas such as transit, community engagement, education and city management by combining publicly available data sets with the power of the Google Places API. The developers of the winning applications will receive a VIP experience at Google I/O 2013.

Application submissions begin now and will continue through the end of October. The winning applications will be announced in mid-December. The judging and selection of applications will be performed by a distinguished panel of luminaries with backgrounds in geospatial technology, application development, and civic innovation, and they include:

• Bill Oates, Chief Information Officer, City of Boston
• John Tolva, Chief Technology Officer, City of Chicago
• Jay Nath, Chief Innovation Officer, City of San Francisco
• Adel W. Ebeid, Chief Innovation Officer, City of Philadelphia
• Mark Headd, Chief Data Officer, City of Philadelphia, and former Government Relations Director at Code for America
• John Geraci, Founder of DIYcity.org and Outside.in
• Adam DuVander, Executive Editor at ProgrammableWeb
• Jeanne M. Holm, Chief Knowledge Architect at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and Chair of NASA’s Knowledge Management Team
• Laurenellen McCann, National Policy Manager, Sunlight Foundation
• Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist for Google
• Paul Rademacher, Creator of the First Google Maps API Mashup and Creator of Stratocam
• Rob Gray, Global Marketing Manager, Google Earth and Maps

To hear more about the types of applications that cities need, check out the video above featuring Ed Parsons (Google’s Geospatial Technologist), Jay Nath, (CIO of San Francisco), John Tolva, (CTO of Chicago), Rachel Sterne (Chief Digital Officer of NYC), and Andrew Collinge (Intelligence Office of the Greater London Authority).

Developers have always impressed us with their innovative uses of the Google Places API, and we're excited to see that energy focused on helping our communities. If you have any questions or concerns about the API, please join our developer community on Stack Overflow. We look forward to seeing all of your great ideas and meeting the winners at Google I/O.

Posted by Justin Chu, Google Places API Product Manager

How would you make your community or local government run better? In our first Google Places API Developer Challenge, we’re inviting developers around the world to make something that improves their communities or governments by using the Google Places API and its database of places and tools. The developers of the winning applications will receive a VIP experience at Google I/O 2013.

You might create an app or site that solves health problems, understands crime patterns, or improves commerce. You can use any platform as long as you build with the Google Places API and it benefits your community or government. We’re looking for your best and most innovative ideas.



Built on the comprehensive global database of more than 95 million places that powers Google Maps, the Google Places API enables you to search for information about a variety of nearby places such as establishments, geographic locations and prominent points of interest. You can re-rank place results based on user check-ins, and create new places specific to your app.

To help you develop your ideas and build better apps, we’ve been working with local government officials in Austin, Boston, Chicago, London, Louisville, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland (Ore.), San Francisco, and Seattle along with the White House to surface a wide variety of data sets for your apps. You can find these data sets and more on the Google Places API Challenge site at http://developers.google.com/challenge and hear more about what cities have to say about the challenge here. You can also follow updates and hangouts about the challenge on +Google Maps API.

The submission window opens on August 15th and closes on October 31st, 2012.

We look forward to seeing what can happen when your imagination and the Google Places API come together!

Posted by Carlos Cuesta, Google Maps API Product Marketing Manager