14 DAY TRIAL // Google Maps Australia has always been a top service at the Australian Googleplex and sometimes, the users from outside this country were somehow envious that the Australians are the first to receive the latest updates. Well, we now have an explanation for the numerous updates introduced in Google Maps for Australia: the team working for the search giant wanted to improve the service in order to publish it on the main page of Google Australia. At this time, it is marked with a 'New' sign that shows Google Maps as the new tab on the official page of the search engine.
"Becoming a "tab" on the Google homepage is like graduating from University - for a product at Google, its a sign that you've really arrived, proven your stuff, and are now ready to be showcased to the millions of people who use Google every day," Carl Sjogreen, Senior Product Manager, wrote today.
As you probably know, the main page of the Google search engine allows you to search for websites, images, news, groups, Scholar and now maps. This is quite a useful addition because you're able to search for several types of information straight from the main Google page without being necessary to connect to a different website for each product.
"There's been a mountain of great news and new Google Maps features in Australia recently. From easily embeddable maps to the Aussie engineers behind the product, to draggable driving directions, to Mapplets, local business reviews and more. The team here in Sydney has been working hard on making Google Maps the best mapping product out there - both globally and for our Australian users," the Google employee added.
Google Maps is a web-based solution that provides satellite imagery with every corner of the world and, since recently, also street-level panoramas from several US cities.