Hacking Google Maps And Google Earth

500 pages of jaw-dropping hacks, mods and customizations, including creating mashups with data from other sources such as Flickr, building a space station tracker, and hacking Maps with Firefox PiggyBank. This work shows readers how to find any golf course in the world, hack maps with statistical data, build interactive maps, and more.

Want to find every pizza place within a 15-mile radius? Where the dog parks are in a new town? The most central meeting place for your class, club or group of friends? The cheapest gas stations on a day-to-day basis? The location of convicted sex offenders in an area to which you may be considering moving? The applications, serendipitous and serious, seem to be infinite, as developers find ever more creative ways to add to and customize the satellite images and underlying API of Google Maps. Written by Schuyler Erle and Rich Gibson, authors of the popular Mapping Hacks, Google Maps Hacks shares dozens of tricks for combining the capabilities of Google Maps with your own datasets. Such diverse information as apartment listings, crime reporting or flight routes can be integrated with Google's satellite imagery in creative ways, to yield new and useful applications. The authors begin with a complete introduction to the "standard" features of Google Maps. The adventure continues with 60 useful and interesting mapping projects that demonstrate ways developers have added their own features to the maps. After that's given you ideas of your own, you learn to apply the techniques and tools to add your own data to customize and manipulate Google Maps. Even Google seems to be tacitly blessing what might be seen as unauthorized use, but maybe they just know a good thing when they see one. With the tricks and techniques you'll learn from Google Maps Hacks, you'll be able to adapt Google's satellite map feature to create interactive maps for personal and commercial applications for businesses ranging from real estate to package delivery to home services, transportation and more. Includes a foreword by Google Maps tech leads, Jens and Lars Rasmussen.

An insider account of the security holes that left Google Maps exposed Hacking and Exposing Google Mapsis the story of Bryan Seely, the well-known ethical hacker who discovered the vulnerabilities in Google Maps. Written by Bryan himself, this detailed story draws from his firsthand experience to define all the parties involved, outline the background information, lay out the timeline of events, and explain the technical solutions that sew up the holes in Google Maps. Engaging and revealing, this book provides expert insight into the vulnerabilities and hacks that could affect other map directories like Yelp, Bing, and Apple Maps. Bryan discusses his struggles in convincing the Secret Service, FBI, and Google of the threat, and divulges the shocking details of how criminals have forged a stronghold in Google Maps and other directories by means of mail fraud, wire fraud, and more. Google Maps for mobile is one of the most popular mobile apps, but security has become a growing concern, with the satellite imagery offering potential terrorists a valuable tool for choosing targets and planning attacks. This book describes the vulnerabilities that hackers exploit, from the man who was the first to discover them in the Google Maps directory. Understand Google Maps' critical vulnerabilities Discover who is taking advantage of the situation Learn how victims are fighting back Explore the technical fixes that lock it down tight Data security is increasingly on everyone's mind, and this book tells a riveting, real-life tale of what happens when it goes wrong on a massive scale. Hacking and Exposing Google Maps is a witty, absorbing, informative story and cautionary tale, with in-depth technical know-how for preventing future attacks.

The Internet has redefined how maps are used. No longer restricted to paper, maps are now transmitted almost instantly and delivered to the user in a fraction of the time required to distribute maps on paper. They are viewed in a more timely fashion. The Internet presents the map user with both a faster method of map distribution and different forms of mapping. This book provides an international perspective on this growing area of information dissemination.

Want to find every pizza place within a 15-mile radius? Where the dog parks are in a new town? The most central meeting place for your class, club or group of friends? The cheapest gas stations on a day-to-day basis? The location of convicted sex offenders in an area to which you may be considering moving? The applications, serendipitous and serious, seem to be infinite, as developers find ever more creative ways to add to and customize the satellite images and underlying API of Google Maps. Written by Schuyler Erle and Rich Gibson, authors of the popular Mapping Hacks, Google Maps Hacks shares dozens of tricks for combining the capabilities of Google Maps with your own datasets. Such diverse information as apartment listings, crime reporting or flight routes can be integrated with Google's satellite imagery in creative ways, to yield new and useful applications. The authors begin with a complete introduction to the "standard" features of Google Maps. The adventure continues with 60 useful and interesting mapping projects that demonstrate ways developers have added their own features to the maps. After that's given you ideas of your own, you learn to apply the techniques and tools to add your own data to customize and manipulate Google Maps. Even Google seems to be tacitly blessing what might be seen as unauthorized use, but maybe they just know a good thing when they see one. With the tricks and techniques you'll learn from Google Maps Hacks, you'll be able to adapt Google's satellite map feature to create interactive maps for personal and commercial applications for businesses ranging from real estate to package delivery to home services, transportation and more. Includes a foreword by Google Maps tech leads, Jens and Lars Rasmussen.

This is the eBook version of the printed book. Using Google™ Maps and Google Earth is more than just a book: it’s the fastest, easiest way to master Google’s amazing mapping applications! Don’t just “read” about it: see it, hear it, live it, with step-by-step screencasts and expert audio tips. Discover how to map your favorite places with Google Maps…see actual locations with Street View…generate driving, walking, and public transit directions…find and learn more about businesses…create and share custom maps and mashups…use Google Maps on iPhone…navigate Google Earth to find locations fast…create life-like Google Earth roadmaps, and tour your route…even explore Google Sky, Google Moon, and Google Earth’s Flight Simulator! Exclusive online Show Me video walks through tasks you’ve just got to see…Tell Me More audio delivers practical, “straight from the experts” insights…Point-Counterpoint audio compares alternative solutions—so you can pick the one that’s best for you. It’s all the help you’ll ever need…where you want it, when you want it!

Everyone knows that Google lets you search billions of web pages. But few people realize that Google also gives you hundreds of cool ways to organize and play with information. Since we released the last edition of this bestselling book, Google has added many new features and services to its expanding universe: Google Earth, Google Talk, Google Maps, Google Blog Search, Video Search, Music Search, Google Base, Google Reader, and Google Desktop among them. We've found ways to get these new services to do even more. The expanded third edition of Google Hacks is a brand-new and infinitely more useful book for this powerful search engine. You'll not only find dozens of hacks for the new Google services, but plenty of updated tips, tricks and scripts for hacking the old ones. Now you can make a Google Earth movie, visualize your web site traffic with Google Analytics, post pictures to your blog with Picasa, or access Gmail in your favorite email client. Industrial strength and real-world tested, this new collection enables you to mine a ton of information within Google's reach. And have a lot of fun while doing it: Search Google over IM with a Google Talk bot Build a customized Google Map and add it to your own web site Cover your searching tracks and take back your browsing privacy Turn any Google query into an RSS feed that you can monitor in Google Reader or the newsreader of your choice Keep tabs on blogs in new, useful ways Turn Gmail into an external hard drive for Windows, Mac, or Linux Beef up your web pages with search, ads, news feeds, and more Program Google with the Google API and language of your choice For those of you concerned about Google as an emerging Big Brother, this new edition also offers advice and concrete tips for protecting your privacy. Get into the world of Google and bend it to your will!

Google is challenging the venerable Microsoft Office suite with its own Web-based office applications. This book offers scores of clever hacks and workarounds that enable power users to get more out of various applications.