Google Maps: Hybrid out, Terrain in. Sort of.

by Justin Glow on

Google quietly replaced the hybrid, satellite-and-road layer on their Maps application in favor of a terrain-only view of the world. At first glance, I was confused because the ability to look at the satellite view while still being able to see road names was handy, but then I noticed that Hybrid wasn’t REALLY gone, it was just renamed to Satellite. And satellite now has a checkbox that allows you to turn labels on and off. So just to clear things up, here’s what’s going on:

  • Hybrid layer has been renamed Satellite.
  • Satellite now has a check box that allows you to toggle between Satellite-only and Hybrid.
  • Terrain is in.

But Terrain isn’t just just mountains and valleys. If you zoom in on a major city (take NYC for instance), buildings will be displayed in 3D. Nifty!

[Via DownloadSquad]

Using Facebook to find cheap airfare (and stalk people)

by Jerry Guo on

The hit social networking site Facebook recently introduced third party applications that serve various purposes. Some are useful: trading music tips. Some are more frivolous: killing zombies. Now there’s a nifty little tool that could save you cold hard cash. It’s an app called “Where I’ve Been,” which mainly serves to show your friends, well, where you’ve been.

But one of its newest features is “flight finder,” which lets you select a departure city and then view a visual representation of the cheapest fares to hundreds of international destinations. The best part is you can narrow the results based on how much you’re willing to pay. For instance, I wanted to go somewhere cheap in late December, so I selected Newark, NJ as the departure city and then used the slider to put a $500 max on airfare. Most of the dots that popped up were in Europe or the states, but I also found a $400 ticket to Lima, Peru.

One thing to keep in mind is the service is in beta right now, so important details like dates of travel haven’t been worked out. Come to think of it, I don’t even know which travel sites they get the data from. That hasn’t stopped rumors that the app has been purchased for $3 million by TripAdvisor.

GADLING TAKE FIVE Week of November 11-23

by Catherine Bodry on

Hope everyone had a happy Turkey Day! If you watched the Macy’s parade yesterday, be sure to check out Jamie’s post where she got the inside scoop from a balloon handler’s perspective. And of the many things I was thankful for his Thanksgiving, one of them was that I didn’t have to fly this holiday. I’m wondering if the extra airspace Prez Bush opened over the Eastern corridor eased air traffic at all; we’ll find out soon, I’m sure.

Also this week:

Happy Friday! And if you celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday, happy digesting!

Philadelphia puts on the steam to attract tourists

by Jamie Rhein on

Grant recently waxed poetic about Philadelphia. In August, I posted about a 24 hour walking tour of the city that proved to be a rousing success. Two Decembers ago, Kelly offered a list of suggestions for a Philadelphia New Year. These are not even all our Philadelphia mentions. Here’s yet another reason to head to the land of the Liberty Bell. Their is a promotion going on to attract more visitors.

Starting from today through January 9, 2008, if you book a hotel through Philadephia’s tourist Web site, gophila/holidays.com you’ll be able to get a $50 discount on a hotel room in the form of a gift card. (The room needs to be above $150 which means you’ll get it for $100. That’s my understanding.) You need to use the code holidays when booking. Also, there’s a place on the site where you can enter the Winner Wonderland contest to win a slew of prizes.

I don’t think this link is up yet, because I couldn’t find it–and I looked around, but perhaps, I just missed it. The promotion starts Thanksgiving Weekend. If you find it, let us know how this works. I do know that when you shop in Philadelphia there aren’t an taxes on shoes or clothes. Also, here’s a link to half-price tickets for various entertainment and cultural venues.

As I was looking though the Web site, I noticed how many tour options there are. You can pick one that suits your interest level and time frame. One I found particularly intriguing is The Constitutional Cell Phone Tour. A map shows you historic sights to go and, when you stop at each one, you use your cell phone for the recorded message descriptions. That’s handy and clever. This tour can accommodate more than one cell phone.

GPS widgets for your cell phone

by Neil Woodburn on

Now that GPS is installed in all new cell phones, an entire industry has sprung up to provide direction and guidance to anyone holding a phone in their hands.

And it’s not just old-fashioned directions on a map, either.

Today’s new fangled widgets provide a bevy of topical, geographically desirable information served directly to the user. One of the hottest providers of such services is a company called Where. For just $2.99 a month, subscribers can download a variety of specialized GPS based widgets which can tell them the location of the nearest burger joint, roadside attraction, pub, or pretty much anything else they might be on the lookout for.

In addition, there are handy applications that will put drivers in contact with the person in charge of fixing potholes on the street they happen to be driving on. Or, my personal favorite; there is a widget in the Where Library that tells a user exactly where they would surface on the other side of the planet if they were to start digging a hole from where they were standing.