Every now and then I drift into the Google Labs to have a look at the current projects underway. This latest round I was intrigued by several cool projects baking in the Google oven.

Google Notebook

http://www.google.com/notebook

Pros: This is my favorite item coming out of the labs. Especially if you install the "My Notebook" toolbar for your browser. This way you can highlight and right click items on a Web page and save them to your notebook. It is sort of a glorified scribble pad of idea, text and links which you can search on later.

Cons: I haven’t found one yet, but let me keep working with it and I’ll be sure to find something it can do better.

Google Music Trends

Visit http://www.google.com/trends/music

Pros: The default listing isn’t that interesting but once you select a Genres or Country, then the list becomes a bit more interesting.

Cons: It’s just Google Talk participants so the data feeding into this is a bit suspect to say the least.

Google Trends

Visit http://www.google.com/trends

Pros: Presents a visual trend line on various search terms. The regions and cities is a useful subset of data which sometimes shows very distinct differences how users search.

Example: I used "web site, website" to see which term most people search on. Interestingly enough both terms have dropped in search volume from 2004 to 2008 however the news references for the terms has increased in the same time period. Plus, India much prefers the grammatically incorrect "website" whereas the French and Italians lean towards "Web site".

Cons: The news on the right seems a bit odd and out of place. I actually stumbled on two broken links during my short tests.

Google Code Search

Visit http://www.google.com/codesearch

Pros: If you are looking for code examples to steal learn and integrate into your project, this is certainly a good point to start from.

Cons: Just stay away unless your a coder.

Google Mars

Visit http://www.google.com/mars/

Pros: I think I found a real nice piece of real-estate once we find a way to get there.

Cons: For real? Why do we need this? And why does it wrap 4 times when you zoom all the way out? I’m still waiting for Google to drop a Martian into the map as an Easter egg.

Google Information / 411

Dial 1-800-GOOG-411

Pros: Uses voice recognition to locate businesses and then patches you right thru, and yes it’s free. They located "Imulus" in Boulder, Colorado just fine and on the first try. Not bad for a word which is hard to decipher with voice recognition.

Cons: Where is the residential side of this

Transit

Visit http://www.google.com/transit

Pro: Once you find a location which has public transportation the familiar Google Map interface is overlaid by transit locations which highlight when you select a schedule which is close to the time you wish to leave.

Cons: The city availability is pretty limiting, especially in the US where the coverage is scattered and seems to defy logic. For instance why would they have coverage for Grand Junction, Colorado rather then Denver, Boulder or even Colorado Springs? Sorry, no New York or Chicago either.

I remember way back in the day (in 2000) when you had to read the online newspaper classifieds to find a good rental property. Now there are many options for finding the ultimate pad. (more…)

Now you can easily switch from Google, Yahoo Microsoft, Ask and even NASA mapping services to get aerial / satellite maps from around the world. Flashearth.com uses the Google-ish interface we have all come to love. Using this service is becomes very clear how up to date each mapping option is. For instance, using Ask aerial photos I can see my home as it was early this summer; however Microsoft aerial photos show my house as a dirt lot, as it was in early 2002.

Check it out for yourself. http://www.flashearth.com/

The GIS geek in me just had to post about this find.
http://maps.webfoot.com/

Ducky Sherwood has combined census track information over Google Maps. While this doesn’t seem like a big deal, there are several elements of this implementation which make it unique.

Most Google Map mash-ups are point related data. For example, location of coffee shops, location of Digg postings / story submissions, location of New York city taxis. This however is data based in polygons instead of points. Allowing us to simulate GIS richness on a Google Map.

Polygons can hold value data which allows the developer to display statistical information in various color gradients. This allows for richer data visualization.

The next part of this equation is to show line data overlaid on a Google Map. The line data give the ability to show custom routes and trails. It will also allow the developer to assign line weights to various roads to distinguish road capacity.