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Google Maps Floor Plans

maps.google.com

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Re: Google Maps Floor Plans

#71

Post by aerosuch »

ajross wrote: post #5
cloudwalking wrote: post #3

This will be very useful in airports. It would also be nice in supermarkets, but that data would be tough to keep fresh.

Which is why they're trying to crowd source the maintainership: the idea is that airports and giant retail stores will have a built-in incentive to keep their maps updated. And it might be true. But I'm a little mixed on this. Google maps, while great and useful, isn't an open source project. The data is closed and proprietary and not useful to the community at large. I'd much rather this be done under the umbrella o…

Have you seen Aisle411 for retail stores? They have some crowdsourced information (aisles in which products are located), which might be easier to maintain than more granular (exact Lat/Lon) location.

http://aisle411.com/

Re: Google Maps Floor Plans

#72

Post by brudgers »

jrockway wrote: post #38
zupreme wrote: post #31

Most large retail outlets will probably opt out of this initiative. A big part of their revenue model hinges on the "impulse buying" which occurs as you wander throughout the store looking for your items. There is a reason why no major department or grocery chain (that I am aware of) has a store directory at the front like most malls do. However, if crowdsourcing is allowed this could become major. I and 20 other peo…

This is probably only partially true. If the goal was really to confuse you, they would not put related products near each other (the cheese would be with the bananas, the milk would be with the dishwasher detergent, etc.) They would also rearrange the store every week, so that you wouldn't be able to learn where items are. Honestly, I've never seen stores arranged for impulse buying except to have certain items prom…

Milk isn't next to the dishwasher detergent for practical reasons - refrigeration is one; contamination of milk by odors is another.

On the other hand, milk is invariably at the back of the store to require the shopper to pass areas containing impulse buy items.

Re: Google Maps Floor Plans

#73

Post by finalcut »

I submitted four floors worth of plans for a building on our campus probably close to two months ago; they are still "pending review"

There is no way to get feedback about the process and no indication on where in the queue our submissions are.

There are probably 40 buildings on our campus that I was going to submit floor plans for. However, I was using this first building as a guinea pig of sorts. I can't imagine spending the time to get the other 39, multi-floor, buildings aligned in their system if there is little likelihood they will ever end up in the system for public consumption.

Re: Google Maps Floor Plans

#74

Post by aerosuch »

anigbrowl wrote: post #60
jrockway wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would one disallow this? The DMCA doesn't cover "I don't want that information available".

Under the CII (critical infrastructure information) Act, to prevent terrorists exploiting it for planning attacks: http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1193091627563.shtm

Data access/usability vs. security/privacy is a worthy concern for building data. I think we will see a designation made based on level of detail. Blueprints (with details about structural features) should not be publicly available. However, simplified floor plans for public spaces are already publicly displayed, as required for fire evacuation purposes.

Where that "level of detail" line is drawn is an important discussion as the availability of indoor maps from Google, Bing, OSM, Micello, etc. continues to expand.

Re: Google Maps Floor Plans

#75

Post by aerosuch »

tocomment wrote: post #29

So it's only available in Google maps on Android, not on the iphone or on the web? If it's just for Android I'm not submitting my building.

While the technology for making indoor map content (georeferencing a floor plan) is already widely available, most smartphones do a very poor job of positioning themselves indoors. GPS doesn't work inside, leaving cell and wifi trilateration as the most readily available alternatives.

Another likely factor for Google deploying on Android only is the ability to use wifi signal strength data from the phone to do approximate indoor positioning (the you-are-here "little blue dot"). Apple chose to lock developers out of the API for reading wifi signal strength, which limits the iPhone's ability to do indoor positioning (or show you nearby wifi routers).

In Apple's defense, the indoor positioning experience on Android does not meet the high expectations that GPS has set for users. Instead of a precise little blue dot, you get a 10-30m wide big blue circle. Some of the positioning hardware announced from chipset makers like CSR and Broadcom may improve this situation in the next generation of handsets.

Re: Google Maps Floor Plans

#76

Post by esrauch »

brudgers wrote: post #43
abraham wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The upload form clearly states Make sure you have permission to use the floor plan you are uploading.

That's not the same as Google making sure Google has permission to use them. Standard AIA contract language allows the owner to utilize the plans to construct their project. The author (architect) retains copyright.

IANAL but it seems to be that the layout of a particular existing building is factual information and therefore cannot be copyrighted, just like the location of streets cannot be copyrighted.

I guess it's slightly more hairy because architecture is considered to be artistic as well as functional, whereas street layouts are generally only considered to be functional, but I still think that would stand.

Re: Google Maps Floor Plans

#77

Post by aerosuch »

gee_totes wrote: post #19

What's preventing people from uploading incorrect floor plans? Plus, with no standard floor plan format, I don't see how this is useful, beyond showing another helpful picture of a location.

Good question. This is why a more transparent indoor mapping process could breed innovation (a standard format) and better curation (allowing users to find and fix incorrect floor plans, a la OpenStreetMap or Wikipedia).

Re: Google Maps Floor Plans

#78

Post by jpk »

rickyconnolly wrote: post #15
jamesmiller5 wrote: post #2

The view to align the map is very non-intuitive. It would be simply easier to just pick where the map should overlay first and then fine tune the alignment.

agreed, the two-screen, three-point alignment system is finicky and needlessly complex. All you need is pan, scale, and rotate functions to get the job done. Much more intuitive.

What it's doing is setting ground control points that can be passed to a tool like gdal_translate[1]. That three-point alignment deal is setting three pairs of points made up of a lat,lng on the world, and an x,y on the image. Most world map projections cause distortion that can't be compensated for with just pan, scale, and rotate. The GCP jazz can.

But I'm in agreement, their UI to set the GCPs is terrible. :-P

[1] http://www.gdal.org/gdal_translate.html

Re: Google Maps Floor Plans

#79

Post by hsshah »

yellowbkpk wrote: post #67
magicalist wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

which is weird, because in the android maps application, SFO is completely filled in with a floor plan (and actually more detailed than the bing version, which appears limited to coarsely positioned rectangles for sections of the floor plan). Is there some poor UI incantation you need to do to get this to appear on google maps?

You might be able to see it if you turn on WebGL Maps on maps.google.com.

Nope. Still Bing has a more detailed layout.

Re: Google Maps Floor Plans

#80

Post by hsshah »

This nicely correlated to their Project Glass demo where the guy asks for directions 'inside' the book store. To turn that into a reality, Google will certainly have to crowdsource this info.
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