Official Google Cloud Blog

Redfin helps people find the right house at the right price, using Google Maps APIs

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Posted by Curtis Howell, Redfin Senior Product Manager for Customer Engagement

Editor's note: Today’s guest blogger is Curtis Howell, Redfin senior product manager for customer engagement. Read how Redfin makes it easier for buyers to find their ideal homes.

Redfin launched in 2006 with the mission to change the way people buy and sell homes. Unlike traditional real estate brokerages, Redfin real estate agents are paid based on customer satisfaction, not just commission, so the agent’s and client’s interests are aligned. Redfin uses technology to improve the customer experience at every step, from the initial home search to the closing table.

We used the Google Maps Javascript API to build the web interface for Redfin.com and the Google Maps Android API for the Redfin Android app. People are familiar with the Google Maps interface so they intuitively know how to navigate and search when they come to our site or use our Android app.

People often want to search for houses based on places-of-interest, such as a park or a landmark, and the Google Places API allows them to do just that. They can also find houses for sale in specific neighborhoods by drawing a polygon on a map and then searching within that area.

Finding houses for sale on a map is only the beginning of the homebuying process. The next step is touring homes in-person with a Redfin agent. Our customers often schedule multiple tours in one day, so Redfin uses the Google Maps Distance Matrix API to estimate the time it takes to drive between homes.

Google’s location-based search increased the rate of completed searches performed on our site by 4 percent. Data shows that faster searches leads to more satisfied and loyal website users, which ultimately leads to more clients for Redfin.

Map-based search is one aspect of our technology that makes our agents more efficient and able to deliver great service to Redfin customers. Because Redfin is more efficient than traditional brokerages, we’re able to provide full service and still save our customers money.

Disney and Spitfire Studio bring Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood to life in new ways with Google Maps APIs

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Editor's note: Today Jac de Haan, Developer Marketing for Google Maps for Work, speaks with Anna Hill, Chief Marketing Officer of The Walt Disney Company, UK & Ireland, and Spitfire Studio Client Services Director Tim George. They give us insight into how Disney and Spitfire Studio used Google Maps APIs and Google Street View. The immersive experience brings together more than 1,000 Winnie-the-Pooh assets, including videos, images, stories, downloadable content and games while also providing helpful guides, hints and tips for new mums. Fans navigate the 3-dimensional site and explore different character locations, including Pooh’s house, all through 360° photospheres.

Jac de Haan: Anna, the first question’s for you. The new Hundred Acre Wood site is both modern in its immersive and interactive nature and historic, paying homage to Hundred Acre Wood, the home of Winnie-the-Pooh that we all know and love. What was Disney’s goal in building the website, and why did Disney choose Google Maps for it?

Anna Hill: 2016 marks 90 years since families were introduced to the characters from the Hundred Acre Wood, when A.A. Milne’s first story was published. Winnie-the-Pooh and friends have stood the test of time with their heart-warming stories that continue to inspire children and adults alike.

Disney wanted to create the world of Winnie-the-Pooh for parents and children to easily interact with the classic characters and inspire their play time. Google was the perfect partner for delivering the platform—research shows that mothers are very actively searching the Internet for advice, tools and new content. So, we partnered with Spitfire Studio to design and develop the site, which we wanted to be optimised for tablets as well as traditional desktop computers. We anticipated that the site would continue to evolve, so it was intentionally designed to make adding new map locations and content within existing areas over time incredibly easy and seamless. We want to continue building on the experience as we see how children and parents engage with the site and content.

Jac de Haan: Tim, tell us about how you used Google Maps APIs to develop the site.

Tim George: The site’s main interface is a map of the Hundred Acre Wood, which includes graphics of characters — Pooh, Rabbit, Eeyore, Piglet and others — and their houses. It’s built using the Google Maps Javascript API, so you can navigate, with zoom and panning, just like any other Google map. We provided our own graphics, so you really feel like you’re in the world of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Places on the map like Pooh’s House and Eeyore’s field are marked with customized pins. Click on a character, and the Google Maps Street View Service launches you into a Street View of that location — you can find yourself right inside Pooh’s House or out in Eeyore’s field. You can pan and look around, just like you can in Street View. We did this using our own creative assets. Once you’re there, you can click objects and access games, advice, videos and more.

We wanted to personalize the experience, so we used the Geolocation capability of the Google Maps JavaScript API along with a Weather API to reflect the weather in your location. The site will suggest play ideas best suited to your local weather, such as rainy-day activities during a stormy afternoon.

Jac de Haan: Anna, how does this Google Maps API integration empower your developers and benefit Winnie the Pooh fans?

Anna Hill: Google Maps APIs are great to have in your creative toolkit, and they let you think and work in unexpected ways. Integrating Google Maps by detecting the locations of website visitors lets us create a more well-rounded experience for both parents and children. In partnership with Spitfire, we’ve created something we’re immensely proud of, and Google Maps play a big part in that. We look forward to seeing how families interact with the Hundred Acre Wood experience and hope that they have a lot of fun engaging with our characters — just as they have for the last 90 years, but now in a thoroughly modern way.

Google I/O: What’s new for enterprise developers

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Posted by Diane Greene, SVP, Google

Applications have long been the lifeblood of the enterprise. This has never been more true than in today’s market. And Google has never been more committed to the enterprise. We’re excited to expose our APIs to enterprise developers who can now incorporate advanced technologies such as image recognition, speech recognition, location and maps, email and calendaring into their applications.

Google I/O is a great opportunity to share what excites us about the massive digital transformation happening at companies around the globe. We’re thrilled about the speed of innovation with all of our enterprise products, particularly Google Cloud Platform, Google Apps, Maps, Android and Chromebooks. We’re laser focused on creating what developers need to build successfully in the cloud.

At Google, we continue to push new innovations that enable developers to turn great ideas into world class applications. We can also help you get your apps in the hands of your customers through marketplaces like Google Play, Chrome Web Store, Google Apps Marketplace and Cloud Launcher, which serve billions of Android and Chrome users and millions of businesses.

Today’s announcements at I/O further build out our developer toolkit, with new features to help developers build what’s next for the enterprise.

New APIs for Sheets & Slides: With the new Sheets API, we're giving developers a new level of access to some of the most popular features in Sheets. Create new spreadsheets, populate them with data and formulas, insert charts and pivot tables, and pull results right into your apps. Developers can use Sheets in a powerful workflow to push data from their app into Sheets, allowing users to collaborate on that data, before the updated data is pulled back into the original app. The Slides API enables developers to push data from other applications into Slides in order to create custom, polished presentations quickly.
API Partner Ecosystem: A number of partners, including Salesforce, SAP Anywhere, Conga, Prosperworks, Anaplan, Sage, Trello, and Asana are already connecting their services through these new APIs, and we look forward to seeing even more developers follow suit.
Enhancements to the Classroom API: We’re giving developers programmatic access to our most powerful features within Google Classroom. The Classroom API lets school reporting systems sync coursework and grades from Classroom and quickly connect teachers and students to their learning content.

Whether you’re using Google Cloud Platform, integrating with our Machine Learning APIs or building on top of our Google Apps suite, we’re committed to delivering the tools and technologies that help businesses improve productivity, securely connect information across platforms and power new workflows. Earlier this month we announced a BigQuery integration with Google Drive that allows customers to run queries, gather insights and then share that data with teams in a familiar and easy to understand template, no matter where they are. We also recently added two new security certifications, ISO27017 for cloud security and ISO27018 for privacy. And customers like Land O Lakes are taking advantage of our cloud and APIs to revolutionize their fields — in this case, modern farming.

Ever since I began my career in technology, I’ve been working to advance the way the enterprise runs. I worked on some of the first relational databases for Sybase and Tandem and then, at VMware, helped to create an entirely new industry centered around virtualization. Fast forward to today, and I can say that I’ve never been more excited about the potential for the cloud to transform businesses. There was a period in time where the energy was around consumer applications, but we can now see that people are realizing just how much innovation can be done in the enterprise, and it’s enticing more and more developers. While we’re excited about the innovations that we’re bringing to market, we’re even more excited about how you will take advantage of these new advancements. As the momentum continues in the enterprise, we can’t wait to see what you build next.

Vallie helps Londoners get on-demand valet parking fast, using Google Maps APIs

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Posted by Nash Islam, Vallie Co-founder

Editor's note: Today we hear from Nash Islam, co-founder of the UK-based parking service Vallie. Read how Vallie used Google Maps APIs to launch an on-demand valet service in London.

The idea for Vallie came from a problem that so many Londoners face: finding parking in one of the world’s largest and most congested cities. The Daily Telegraph reports that it takes Londoners 20 minutes on average to find a parking spot, and that motorists spend up to 106 days of their lives circling streets to find a spot across the UK.

Using the Vallie app, customers pay £5/hour (up to £25 per day) to drop their car off in any central London location and hand over their keys to a Vallie driver who parks their car in a safe commercial car park. Vallie drivers can return a car anywhere in our serviced zone within 20 minutes. Customers can also request additional services: Vallie offers electric re-charging, car wash and Matters of Testing (MOT) services.

The mapping experience is so fundamental to our on-demand valet service that we wanted to invest in a high quality mapping service. We decided to use Google Maps APIs because it provides a consistent mapping service across all our platforms with quality routing and location data. We worked with Google for Work Premier Partner Ancoris for licensing and general implementation questions, and Google's support team worked with us to ensure we had an efficient implementation.

Customers request pick-ups and returns through the Vallie app. Vallie drivers have their own app that tells them where to meet customers and where to park. We used the Google Maps SDK for iOS to build our iOS app for customers and parkers and the Google Maps Android API for our upcoming Android app. Our online booking process is powered by Google Maps JavaScript API.

A variety of Google Maps APIs are core to our app’s services. We use the Google Places API to display building names or points of interest at meeting locations, which helps both the customers and Vallie drivers. We use Google Maps Directions API to show estimated arrival times. Finally, the Google Maps Distance Matrix API helps us calculate the nearest valet and car park so we can minimize customer wait times.

In the future, we plan to expand further afield in London, and then to other cities across the UK and Europe. We hope to expand our car maintenance services while also exploring ways to make parking much smarter and more effective. As we grow, Google Maps APIs will continue to be at the center of the quality parking and transportation services we provide to our customers.

How Infoxchange and Google Maps are empowering Australia’s homeless

Monday, May 9, 2016

Posted by Diana Brown, Product Manager at Infoxchange

Editor's note: This is the fifth in a series of “Mapping a Better World” posts, highlighting organizations using location data to affect positive local and global change. Today’s guest post comes from Diana Brown, Product Manager at Infoxchange, creators of Ask Izzy, a mobile app for Australia’s homeless that connects them with shelter, food and other essential services. The company was founded in a Melbourne garage in 1989.

No one expects to become homeless. For those that do, knowing where to find resources like water, shelter and medical supplies — resources we can’t live without but can take for granted when we have a roof over our head — can be a daily struggle.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy Turnbull speak with a former homeless man who helped consult on Ask Izzy.

In Australia, 1 in 200 people are homeless, but 80 percent of them have a smartphone. We realized that these smartphones could act as lifeline to basic resources, providing real-time information about nearby services, including services that offer food and shelter. That’s how we came up with the idea for the Ask Izzy app.

With the help of Google Maps APIs, Ask Izzy gives homeless people information about over 350,000 vital nearby services such as shelter, food, needle exchanges, employment resources, technology facilities like Wi-Fi and charging stations, legal and financial advice. The Places API allows us to suggest specific destinations and services based on a user's current location. We can tell a user how far away various services are with the Distance Matrix API and provide transit options with the Directions API.

We work closely with those who have overcome homelessness to understand the specific needs of the homeless population and provide the best access to resources. We also collaborate with the service providers who help meet these specific needs.

None of the benefits provided by Ask Izzy would be possible without our partners, whose cutting-edge technology we depend on every day. We’re thrilled to call Google a partner and we look forward to growing our working relationship and doing more to address the needs of our users.

Charity: water provides clean water and reinvents charity with the help of Google Maps

Friday, April 22, 2016

Posted by Alessandra Mosenifar, Senior Product Designer for charity: water

Editor's note: This is the fourth post in our “Mapping a Better World” series, highlighting organizations using location data to affect positive local and global change. Today’s guest blogger is Alessandra Mosenifar, Senior Product Designer for charity: water. Read how the organization uses Google Maps to share the results of their work providing clean water for millions of people.

Charity: water’s mission is to bring clean drinking water to everyone on the planet. We work towards this mission by funding global partners who understand what’s needed for their specific communities. Our partners around the world have years of experience working with their state and local governments to build sustainable, community-owned water projects. We ensure this information is transparent and accessible so that donors, stakeholders and interested users can see what has been funded and the realized impact.

With Google Maps APIs, we were able to create a new way for donors to view exactly where their dollars go. We also built an easily digestible map packed with details and visuals for the thousands of water projects we've completed. Each project is represented by an icon on the map. When a user clicks the icon the project details appear — including the project completion date, the number of people benefiting from clean water, the implementation partner and the project's precise GPS coordinates.

We use Javascript API to display projects on our completed projects page and on project detail pages. We also use the Geocoding API for reverse geocoding of GPS coordinates to determine the district and village names for each project.

We also recently partnered with Google on a program that allows us to continuously monitor water projects and provide reporting accessible via our website. Using sensors to measure water flow per hour (transmitted weekly), we know if a water point is broken, as well as learn patterns of usage on a daily or yearly basis. Anyone can take a look at project status and details, including the average number of liters of water provided each day.

To date, we’ve funded nearly 20,000 water projects in 24 countries, providing clean water to more than 6 million people. Thanks to Google Maps APIs, donors can see exactly where and how their money is spent. Beyond providing clean water for millions of people, we’re helping transform how charities work by providing the highest degree of transparency about donation impact.

If you're a nonprofit and interested in staying up to date on grants offerings for Google products like Google Maps APIs, apply to join Google for Nonprofits today.

BigChange Apps improves mobile workforce productivity using Google Maps APIs

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Posted Martin Port, BigChange Apps CEO

Editor's note: Today we hear from Martin Port, BigChange Apps CEO. Read how BigChange Apps helps its customers improve mobile workforce productivity, efficiency and their bottom line with Google Maps APIs.

Many companies that require fleet and workforce tracking waste too much time, money and fuel managing their mobile workforces because they’re using old technology, manual reporting or paper-based systems. At BigChange Apps, we set out to change that by building a mobile workforce management platform called JobWatch that combines a back-office application, vehicle-tracking and mobile apps for drivers. The platform connects a company’s back-office processes to their mobile workforce while also allowing their end-customer to place new bookings, check the ETA and status of existing jobs and even view historical information and documents such as invoices. Companies can manage jobs and create reports in real time directly from JobWatch, improving workforce productivity and eliminating manual processes like providing paper project quotes.

Maps are at the heart of what we do — they power the mobile apps for drivers and our back-office web app for dispatchers and other staff. When we started, we used a different mapping solution. But it wasn’t keeping up by adding new features. Pricing was too complex, and we couldn’t get the help we needed. So we switched to Google, which gave us great tools in Google Maps APIs and advice on how to use them to improve JobWatch. And since Google Maps sets the standard for the way people interface with maps, we spent less time training our customers how to use JobWatch.

The back-office web app uses the Google Maps Javascript API for its Maps tab, which lets our customers track vehicles in real-time. Dispatchers can see where all their resources are. So if there’s a problem out in the field, they can immediately send help by dispatching someone nearby.

On the drivers’ side, the iOS mobile app for drivers is powered by the Google Maps SDK for iOS, and the Android app uses the Google Maps Android API.

We’re big fans of the Google Maps Distance Matrix API, the Google Maps Directions API and the predictive travel time feature because they help our dispatchers more efficiently schedule drivers. When customers call asking when a driver will be arriving, dispatchers can give them an exact time.

What’s also great about Google Maps APIs is they integrate so well with other systems, like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. We’ve built a widget that imports contacts, then passes them through the Google Maps Geocoding API, which translates addresses into geographic coordinates so they can be more accurately mapped.

JobWatch means big savings for our customers — in two recent customer case studies, our customers have reported a 10 percent reduction in fuel use, 10 hours less of travel time per mobile worker per month, an extra four jobs finished per driver per month and eight hours of office administration time saved per mobile employee. Happy customers translate into growth for us — our revenue grew from £337,000 in 2013 to £2 million in 2015. By 2020, we forecast having £4 million in recurring annual revenue. For that, we have Google Maps to thank, by providing the tools to help us build a single platform uniting drivers and the back office.

Never walk home alone again with Companion app and Google Maps

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Posted by Jake Wayne, Co-founder of Companion

Editor's note: This is the second post in our “Mapping a Better World” series, highlighting organizations using location data to affect positive local and global change. Today’s guest post comes from Jake Wayne, co-founder of Companion, a safety app created so no one has to walk home alone. The company was founded by five University of Michigan students.

Making sure friends and family get home safe, especially late at night, is a common concern, but a text message confirmation can be unreliable since people often forget to send the message or check that the other person arrived safely. Some colleges have taken safety precautions by introducing escort systems in which police officers walk students home, but outside of these institutions there wasn't an automated system in place to help people feel safe and connected if they're walking or driving home alone.

When we learned that fellow University of Michigan students felt unsafe walking or driving home late at night, we decided to create a way for people to let family, friends or the public safety department know they’re headed home and give them a tool to quickly contact others if they feel unsafe. Younger generations have grown up with mobile phones, so it’s natural for them to reach for their phones in times of need. That’s why we created Companion, because human safety is an issue beyond college campuses.

When we set out to create the app, we knew we wanted to build something that ultimately improves the way we live. In just three months, we created an app that now more than one million people in 184 countries have interacted with — both as users and companions. We’re excited to continue making an impact.

When it comes to safety, everything needs to work seamlessly. We decided to use Google Maps for our app, because consumers and developers alike trust Google Maps technology. Google Maps is easy to use and available internationally. When users open the Companion app and see Google Maps, it gives them peace of mind due to its familiar user interface.

When a user requests a friend to accompany them as a “companion” on the walk home, the app tracks the person walking home on a map in the app. Companions don’t even need to have the app downloaded to make sure the user get home safely. The user can reach out to their companion to let them know they feels nervous with one tap on their phone, prompting the companion to check in. With two taps, the user can dial 911.

If the app detects a sudden change, like the user running or removing headphones, the app sends a notification to the user asking if they’re OK. If there’s no response within 15 seconds, the app notifies the companion, who can instantly contact the police from the app. The app will also make siren noises and go into alert mode, until the user is confirmed safe.

The Google Maps Places API makes it incredibly easy for users to input their destinations quickly and accurately. Using the Directions API, we’re able to better estimate how long it will take a user to get from Point A to Point B, and communicate this to their companions every step of the way.

The Companion app also collects anonymous information about locations where users feel nervous. This allows us to analyze the data and share it with the safety officials and universities to help make streets safer. For example, we’re working with the University of Michigan police department to help determine areas that should be patrolled.

When you’re dealing with safety, user trust and confidence is important. Google Maps APIs helps our users feel that Companion can facilitate a safe journey home.

GRAS helps build sustainable and ethical supply chains using Google Maps APIs and Google Cloud Platform

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Posted by Dr. Norbert Schmitz, Managing Director of Meo Carbon Solutions

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of “Mapping a better world” blog posts highlighting ways in which organizations are using location data to affect positive local and global change. Google Maps APIs continues to create opportunities and tools to support our community.

Today we hear from Dr. Norbert Schmitz, managing director of Meo Carbon Solutions. Read how Meo Carbon Solutions and Google for Work Premier Partner Wabion used Google Maps APIs and Google Cloud Platform to develop Global Risk Assessment Services (GRAS). The tool provides reliable information about the ecological and social risks of expanding agriculture into natural habitats.

In the European Union, companies that sell biofuels must get certifications to show that producing their fuel — often made from agricultural crops — does not cause deforestation, the loss of biodiversity or the loss of carbon stocks. We established GRAS to provide a single tool to gather and visualize this data required to support a credible certification.

Through GRAS, we’ve made this information accessible not only to governments and NGOs, but also to businesses, financial institutions and individuals. For example, a U.S. company buying soybean oil from Brazil can use GRAS to verify the ecological and social risk exposure of the mills and the farmers supplying the mills.

We decided the most effective way to present this complex set of information was to build a web app that would overlay data from multiple sources on top of a map. Using this tool, auditors can compare before-and-after maps of a certain area, and based on changes to the habitat, either grant or deny certifications.

To build GRAS, we partnered with IT consultant Wabion, a Google for Work Premier Partner. After testing several map solutions, we chose Google Maps because of its high performance, ability to easily integrate data from multiple sources, flexible APIs, solid support and large user community.

The GRAS website combines mapping information with data from dozens of government agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other global databases. It uses the Google Maps JavaScript API to display the base maps for the site. The API also visualizes layers and more than 100 types of data — including agriculture, deforestation and social welfare — on top of the maps.

Users can upload and visualize their own data sets. The Google Maps Geocoding API verifies map locations, and the Google Maps Places API autocomplete makes it easy for site users to choose locations that they want to learn about.

A GRAS visualization of biodiversity risk in Brazil

GRAS is powered by the Google Cloud Platform — specifically, Google App Engine and Google Compute Engine. Combining these services with the Google Maps APIs lets us handle geodata in a 10-terabyte database, which hosts more than 100 layers, many of them extremely large.

We’ve recently expanded GRAS beyond our original mission to provide insights for other industries by expanding the data layered on top of maps. We’ve included new information on biodiversity, land-use changes, and available carbon stock. We’ve also been able to incorporate numerous measurements of social health — ranging from the Global Slavery Index to the Global Hunger Index and the UNICEF index of access to drinking water and sanitation.

Through GRAS, we’ve made this information accessible not only to governments and NGOs, but also to businesses, financial institutions and individuals. For example, a U.S. company buying soybean oil from Brazil can use GRAS to verify the ecological and social risk exposure of the mills and the farmers supplying the mills.

Far exceeding our initial vision, the GRAS website combines transparency with the power of technology to help users in wide-ranging industries, —from food, to chemicals and energy — operate environmentally and socially sound supply chains.

Chariot connects New Zealand drivers and passengers in new ride-sharing app, using Google Maps

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Posted by Dr. Thomas Kiefer, Co-founder of Chariot

Editor's note: Today’s guest author is Dr. Thomas Kiefer, founder of Chariot, a recently launched ride-sharing company in New Zealand. Chariot sees itself as the Airbnb of transportation, “renting out” empty seats in cars to reduce driving costs and ease traffic congestion.

Here in New Zealand, our big cities have the honor of turning up on the lists of “world’s worst traffic jams” year after year. We Kiwis love to drive, but 80 percent of the seats in our cars are empty. We thought, wouldn’t it be great if we could fill those empty seats with people who need rides, and affordably match drivers and passengers? Chariot, our new carpooling and ride-sharing app, is the result.

Google Maps helps us match drivers with riders for all kinds of trips from a single app — long drives between cities, regular commutes and short hops around town. Riders pay only what’s needed to cover a driver’s costs, like gas and wear and tear. We spent months perfecting our waypoint-matching algorithm, which makes it much easier for people to find journeys that meet their travel needs. When we needed a map to help drivers and riders see the options available, Google Maps was our first choice.

When Chariot app users search for rides — using their start and end points, preferred pick-up times and fare — they’ll see a list of potential ride partners. Contribution is calculated upfront based on distance (via Google Maps APIs) and applicable rate of the respective fare zone. Clicking on that list shows a map for each person’s trip. With long rides, things get interesting: Since Google Maps lets us show overlapping ride requests along a journey, a driver can pick up one person at location A, find another person at location B, then drop off the first person, pick up yet another person, and so on. Drivers can make the best use of the empty seats in their cars, while riders get more choices for potential rides.

With the expert help of our integration partner, OniGroup, we’re using the Google Maps Geocoding API to create longitude and latitude points from locations given to us by drivers and riders. The Directions API calculates and displays a preferred route for the driver, and then converts that route to a map polyline, which shows all possible pick-up points for drivers and riders. The polylines work with the matching algorithm to deliver rides that match the driver’s route. We’re also using the Places API to autocomplete addresses as users start typing.

For a startup company like Chariot, partners we can count on are essential. Google and OniGroup helped our small IT team make sure all the APIs work together properly. We know the data we pull from Google Maps is accurate, and our investors like to see that we’re using technology from a trusted brand. When people see how our apps and maps make ridesharing a snap, we hope they’ll join us in our plan to “Drive Change” on the road, as we say here at Chariot. Maybe soon, we’ll “Drive Change” on roads around the world.

Belgian groceries supplier louis delhaize keeps things fresh with Google Apps for Work

Monday, February 1, 2016

Posted by Jean-Marc van Cutsem, CEO, louis delhaize Delfood, Montignies-sur-Sambre, Belgium

Editor's note: Today we hear from Jean-Marc van Cutsem, CEO at louis delhaize Delfood, a groceries supplier in Belgium with an annual turnover of €160 million. louis delhaize neighbourhood stores have been a fixture of Belgian life for generations, and all of the food they sell – from fresh fruit to baked goods – comes from the Delfood warehouses. Read how this 140-year-old family firm is using Google Apps for Work to create a faster, more efficient business.

It’s exactly 140 years since Louis Delhaize, the fourth son of a Belgian winemaker, followed his three brothers into the groceries sector. The pioneering companies they set up would go on to dominate Belgian chain-store retail, so that generations have grown up knowing they’ll receive friendly, fast service on everyday items at their local louis delhaize store.

For the Delfood team that supplies the food, honoring that trust means staying one step ahead of rising expectations. So when our 2007 email solution was due for an upgrade, we took the opportunity to build a more efficient business.

With help from Fourcast, we began introducing Google Apps for Work in January 2015. After our early adopters and IT department had migrated, Fourcast and HR gathered crucial feedback using Google Forms to ensure that staff were content with the process. By April, the whole company was online, and the new tools were already making a difference.

From warehouse to shop display, we’re delivering food faster with Google Apps for Work. If items from our 9,000 dry and 3,000 fresh food lines arrive damaged at our two warehouses, staff use Hangouts on a Chromebook to provide visual proof to headquarters and inform our suppliers. When food heads out to the stores, we calculate optimal routes for 40 trucks with Google Maps. Once it arrives at stores from our warehouses, our inventory managers and their teams photograph anything in less than perfect condition and upload the image to Google+ for immediate action at headquarters.

In store, floor managers display food according to promotions and advice posted by our experts on Google+. This close communication between our store teams on-site and our experts located across the country helps us arrange our products in the most sensible way for our customers – ensuring, for example, that when strawberries are in season, they’re the first thing customers see.

Google Apps is helping us improve the working lives of staff throughout the company:

The marketing department moves along the promotion decision process much quicker through the real-time collaboration functionalities of Sheets.
Rather than keep time sheets on paper, store staff enter hours directly into Sheets, so that compiling hours can be done in two minutes, instead of a the full day every week it used to take.
All staff, wherever they are, can use Gmail. With its powerful search function, 30GB storage space per user, and seamless integration with Calendar, it’s everything we could ask for.
Departments use Forms to request leave and sales teams use it to report issues in stores.
Chromebooks at our warehouses and owned stores ensure that information travels fluidly around the company instead of only one-way from headquarters.
We use our Google logins to access other Google for Work products, such as Chrome for Work to manage digital signage in stores, and Google Cloud Platform to build internal applications.
Docs and Sheets with their collaborative features help staff at our separate sites feel like part of a larger team.
Our teams receive continued support and advice so that they can find new ways to implement Google Apps with tutorials in-person and on Hangouts from Fourcast.

With Google Apps for Work, we know we always have the latest and best tools at our disposal. Automatic updates to the software mean we can count on Google to cover new needs in an ever-evolving business environment. Being open to innovation has helped us remain a market leader for more than a century, and we plan to honor that legacy well into the future.

Madison + Fifth builds interactive mall experiences for kiosks and mobile using Google Maps APIs

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Posted by Chris Shirer, President and Chief Strategist of Madison + Fifth

Editor's note: Today we hear from Chris Shirer, President and Chief Strategist of the digital brand management agency Madison + Fifth. Read how Madison + Fifth and Google Maps for Work Partner Woolpert used Google Maps APIs to build an interactive kiosk and mobile apps for the 60-acre Liberty Center mixed-use shopping center.

When the Liberty Center retail center outside of Cincinnati approached us to provide accessible, intuitive wayfinding for visitors, we saw the opportunity to create something unique — not just a standard kiosk and printed directory. The center includes shopping, restaurants, a hotel, offices and luxury housing, so we wanted to make sure visitors could get around quickly, especially during busy times like this past holiday shopping season. We decided to build a solution that would work on touchscreen kiosks and mobile devices to detect visitors’ locations and give them interactive walking directions in real time.

We chose Google Maps and Google Maps APIs to do it because Google offers a familiar interface for our customers, lets us layer custom information on top of maps and provides a platform that will allow us to add new features, like delivering relevant, location-based ads. We worked closely with Google Maps for Work Partner Woolpert to build the solution. Woolpert not only helped us with licensing information, but also did the programming based on our design and requirements.

Because we wanted the directory to work with both touchscreen kiosks and iOS and Android devices, we built a Web app using the Google Maps JavaScript API. The app scales automatically up to the large size of the kiosk and down to smartphones’ small screen sizes. With a Web app, we don’t have to build and maintain apps on multiple devices, and visitors with smartphones don’t have to download anything to use the service.

We started building the app before the Liberty Center was finished and opened to the public, which meant that Google didn’t yet have mapping information for the center’s streets and stores. We solved this by building a layer with the required information on top of the map. In addition, we had no routing information, so we built an algorithm to provide directions using open source Google Optimization Tools.

Liberty Center opened its doors on October 22, 2015, and thanks to Google Maps, we’re now delivering an engaging, interactive experience for visitors. People who walk up to the kiosks or use the Web app on their smartphones get customized walking directions based on their current location, and can zoom in and out around the property to explore shops and other destinations. Liberty Center shoppers can spend less time getting from place to place and more time in stores and enjoying time together in restaurants.

Update to the Google Maps APIs Premium Plan

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Posted by Ken Hoetmer, Product Manager, Google Maps APIs

For the past ten years, Google Maps APIs have helped over 2 million apps and websites bring the very best of Google Maps to their customers — a familiar map interface combined with global, comprehensive and up-to-date data and imagery.

Today, we’re starting to roll out changes to the Google Maps APIs Premium Plan that give customers access to Maps API Credits, a single usage quota applicable across our suite of services. Maps API Credits make it easier to use multiple Google Maps APIs, allowing customers to bring the best of Google Maps to everything they build without having to change their plan.

In addition to Maps API Credits, customers of the new Premium Plan will continue to have access to the following:

High volume usage – flexible plans for high volume usage
Technical support and SLAs – 24 hour technical support and service level agreement (SLA)
Additional implementations – including asset tracking, external, internal and OEM implementations that are not covered by the Google Maps APIs Standard Plan.

One Google customer, Doctor on Demand, has been using Maps APIs Credits through their Premium Plan through our early testing program."By upgrading to the Premium Plan with the new Maps API Credits, we have maximum flexibility to continue to innovate and add functionality without requiring us to rework our contract and paperwork. We can focus on continuing to build our platform and business to further innovate and improve our patient experience," said Adam Jackson, Co-Founder and CEO of Doctor on Demand.

To learn more about the changes, check out our documentation and FAQs

AppyParking directs drivers to free parking spots using Google Maps APIs

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Posted by Dan Hubert, CEO and co-founder of AppyParking

Editor's note: Today’s guest blogger is Dan Hubert, CEO and co-founder of AppyParking. Read how AppyParking is using Google Maps APIs to help more than 100,000 drivers find real-time available parking spots in congested London areas and show general parking information across 10 nationwide cities.

Parking in London is notoriously challenging. I’ve had to circle the block dozens of times before finding a spot. One night before a show at the Royal Albert Hall is particularly memorable – there was a yellow line on the curb that spanned hundreds of yards in front of the venue, but it wasn’t clear if I could park there. After parking, I found a sign two streets down, saying parking was permitted, but only during the specific window I was there.

This was one of many experiences that inspired me to create AppyParking, a mobile app that uses Google Maps APIs to help drivers across the United Kingdom understand parking regulations and find open spaces. AppyParking serves as a comprehensive database for parking information, detailing what colored curbs mean and the specific rules depending on the time of day. The app color codes parking spots to show drivers where there’s free parking, where restrictions apply and where special types of spaces – such as electric-car charging and motorbike spots – are located. For example, red means restricted, and green means free.

My co-founder, Enric Requena, and I chose Google Maps APIs for the mapping solution to provide rich, reliable data that’s accessible via a user-friendly interface. The app pulls data in varying formats from many sources, so Enric and I developed the Parking Platform, which converts different formats into a usable API. That data is integrated and layered on top of Google Maps using Google Places Autocomplete API for Android, iOS and the web.

With other location-specific developer tools from Google, we’re able to provide our users with a more meaningful and contextual experience. Google Street View shows users where free parking spots are from a 360-degree view and street view. The Directions API is particularly useful in providing driving directions to open parking spots.

We’re also helping commercial fleets find parking information, reduce time spent looking for spots and improve fleet productivity. Fleets pay more than four million pounds per year in parking fines, so knowing where parking is available is extremely valuable for their bottom line.

AppyParking has helped more than 100,000 users find parking spaces faster and with less stress. We’ll continue to expand our app to provide more actionable information for drivers and have added confidence knowing that we can rely on Google Maps tools.

Tripping.com increases traffic and revenue to its vacation rental site with Google Maps APIs

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Posted by Danny Chi, director of engineering at Tripping.com

Editor's note: Today’s guest blogger is Danny Chi, director of engineering at Tripping.com. Read how Tripping.com and Google for Work Partner Navagis used Google Maps APIs to improve user experience and increase Tripping.com’s revenue and traffic – which has gone up by more than 2,000% over the past 12 months.

At Tripping.com, we aggregate vacation rentals from dozens of sites to help vacationers find the right listing from more than five million properties in 150,000 destinations. Our goal is to make it the world's largest website for researching vacation homes and short-term rentals.

To do that, we need to create the best customer experience to drive traffic and to turn website visitors into guests. That’s why we chose the Google Maps APIs, which let us build an easy-to-use interface with fast loading times and the ability to scale. The APIs also allow the maps to zoom in and out, and accurately confirm rental addresses from the sites we search.

Going with Google Maps APIs gave us access to vast and accurate location data. We also tapped into a world-class ecosystem of partners by choosing Google for Work Partner Navagis to help with licensing and technical advice on how best to start using Google Maps APIs.

When a user visits Tripping.com, they search for where and when they plan to vacation. We send the search to multiple vacation-rental sites, and we use the Google Maps JavaScript API to layer the results onto a Google Map. The left side of the screen displays the map with pins. The right side of the screen displays a photo of each rental. Users can click a pin to display the photo of the rental, and click the photo for more details and to complete their booking.

The Google Places API helps the site automatically scale the map to match searches. For example, if the user searches rentals in Paris, the Places API indicates the correct zoom level to display listings. If, instead, he searches for the Eiffel Tower, it will do a tighter zoom. The Places API also helps ensure accurate address data since in some cases the rental owners don’t provide complete address information.

With the help of the Google Maps APIs, Tripping.com’s traffic has grown 2,918%, to more than two million unique monthly visitors. So thanks to the Google Maps APIs, we’re not only keeping our visitors happy—we’re also seeing great business benefits as well.

From scratching vinyl to starting up: Q&A with Mitch Hills of AroundAbout

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Posted by Flora Wong, Head of Maps for Work Marketing Asia Pacific

Today we speak with the founder of AroundAbout. An activity generating app that started in Brisbane, Australia. Mitch Hills got his first taste for business when he started POGO Entertainment, an event production company, at age 17. He ran the business for more than two years while professionally DJing in Brisbane, Australia, then started his first technology venture at age 20. AroundAbout is a new activity-generating app powered by Google Maps APIs that helps people find interesting things to eat, drink and explore, whenever they want and wherever they are. I sat down with Mitch to learn more about the app, his creative process and how he likes to work.

Tell us more about how the app came about.

I’ve always been interested in entertainment and focused on the idea of “Tinder for activities” — the same simple interface, that gives you a way to find things to do, as well as places to eat and drink, just by swiping left or right. I love hospitality and wanted to create a curated place where people could find cool places and activities, with recommendations they could trust. Once I had the idea, I partnered with developers to make it a reality. Mapping is central to AroundAbout because the app visualises places for users to explore near them. We use the Google Maps iOS and Android APIs for our mobile apps. We chose Google because we wanted really accurate directions and a visually pleasing interface.

How would you describe the transition from DJing to starting your own tech company?

The transition wasn’t difficult, per se, but business itself is difficult. Last year I read 22 books about entrepreneurship, finance and self-development, but reading can only prepare you so much. My background in entertainment was actually incredibly useful, both for building my network and for relating to people who use the app. As I see it, entertainment is about presentation and perception, and that’s useful in any industry.

What do you think it takes to build a successful app for younger people?

Social media plays a huge role in this business, so we invest much of our energy in reaching out to people through social and PR. Young people are also more spontaneous, and we built the app to help feed that spontaneity. Young people also have lots of energy and can be interested in a lot of different things at once, so their tastes and needs can evolve quickly. You have to be constantly listening to what they want, where they’re looking for content and how they’re connecting with each other.

How do you come up with new ideas?

I get inspired by reading about or listening to experts, even if they aren't discussing something directly relevant to me. It gets my brain ticking and my creative juices flowing. I’m always thinking about ideas and come up with something new almost every day. I give it some thought and write it down — some are terrible, but others definitely have potential. I find that the best way to evolve an idea is to talk to people and see what they think.

It’s not easy coming up with ideas that resonate with consumers, particularly in a competitive, fast-moving industry like entertainment. Mitch has an interesting problem: too many ideas and not enough time. For now he’s focusing on AroundAbout and bringing its service to more people by expanding beyond Australia. As for whether Mitch still DJs, he says, “Music will always play a large role in my life, but as much as I like the hospitality industry, I love creating businesses more.”

Tixsee builds a slam-dunk ticket-buying experience for the Dallas Mavericks using Google Maps APIs

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Posted by Brett Dowling, founder and President of Tixsee

(Cross-posted on the Google Geo Developers Blog.)

Editor’s note: Today’s guest blogger is Brett Dowling, founder and President of Tixsee, an innovative Fan Experience Management Platform for the sports, entertainment and venue management industries. Read how Tixsee used Google Maps APIs to build a unique ticket-purchasing platform for the Dallas Mavericks.

When you go to a basketball game, you want to make sure you get great seats, secure an awesome view of the court and are able to find your way around the arena. That’s what we’re doing for fans of the Dallas Mavericks with our Tixsee platform, an immersive shopping experience that lets people see the view from their seats before purchasing.

From the Mavericks’ Web site, fans can take a tour of the arena, stroll the aisles to see the view of the court from any seat, then buy a ticket. They can also tour the Mavericks’ store and buy team gear. Visitors make their way around the arena using familiar Street View controls. We used the Google Maps Street View Service in the Google Maps JavaScript API to build this experience. We worked with Business Photos America, a Google Maps Business View Trusted Agency, to take more than 12,400 images of the arena. We used those images to create more than 1,000 high-definition panoramas that re-create the arena in 3D.

The Mavericks’ ticketing platform is much more than just the site’s interactive interface. Just as important is the content management system (CMS) that lets the team do things like create special offers to drum up excitement and increase ticket sales. We use the Google Maps Embed API to embed the Street View imagery inside the CMS. The backend users can then orient the panoramas and preview campaigns before deploying to the live project. For a social media campaign, they hid a photograph of an autographed team ball in the virtual arena, and the first person to find the ball online was able to keep it. Traffic to the site spiked.

We’ve got a lot more planned, especially for mobile, because we know people will be bringing their phones to the arena. We have plans to release apps for iOS and Android in the near future. We’ll be using the Google Maps Directions API so people can find their way to one of the eight parking lots near the arena, then navigate right to their seats. It’s all part of our ultimate goal: to build a platform for the Mavericks that intensifies the fan experience and reinforces the value of purchasing tickets to live events at the arena.

Harley-Davidson Ride Planner uses Google Maps APIs to help motorcyclists cruise the highways and byways

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Posted by Heidi Skinner, Social Strategy Manager at the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company

(Cross-posted on the Google Geo Developers Blog.)

Editor’s note: Today’s guest blogger is Heidi Skinner, Social Strategy Manager at the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company. Read how Harley-Davidson uses Google Maps APIs to help motorcyclists plan and share road trips. Harley-Davidson is one of many customers sharing their story as part of our cross-country road trip, Code the Road.

Hitting the open road on your motorcycle isn’t what it used to be—it’s better, thanks to the Harley-Davidson Ride Planner mobile app and website that use the Google Maps APIs to help you plan trips, share them with others and get the most out of your route along the way. It's one of the many ways Harley-Davidson helps more people ride more miles.

Motorcyclists are a varied bunch. Some like short drives through urban centers, while others favor long rides through mountain ranges. They plan their rides with the same care as they plan their honeymoons or vacations. On the Ride Planner website, powered by the Google Maps JavaScript API, they can build their routes using Google Maps and choose the kinds of roads they favor, including Harley-Davidson Great Roads, which are some of the best roads in the country to ride on as rated by other Harley-Davidson riders.

The Google Places API lets them add important places—gas stations, hotels and attractions. We also use it to call out relevant places people might want to visit, like the hundreds of Harley-Davidson dealerships across the country that offer official Harley-Davidson merchandise, riding gear and parts and accessories as well as great restaurants, landmarks, campgrounds and other points of interest.

After people build their trips, the iOS and Android apps grab the information. The Android app uses the Google Maps API for Android to display the map, route and turn-by-turn directions. The Google Places API for Android lets people see and change their planned stops and attractions. The Google Maps SDK for iOS and Google Places SDK for iOS do the same thing for our iOS app, providing the same user experience across both platforms.

People can share their rides as well. Members of the Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.) plan rides for as many as 500 people, who follow the route on the mobile apps. The apps also tie into mobile device GPS systems for navigation, and motorcyclists can export rides using GPX format into the built-in GPS on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

The app has been a huge success—people have planned hundreds of thousands of rides on the website, and the apps are each downloaded between 3,000 and 5,000 times a month. To help celebrate this momentum, we’re excited to be part of the Code the Road road trip with Google.

On June 8, members of local H.O.G. groups drove their Harleys alongside the Code the Road bus from our headquarters in Milwaukee to the nearby Harley-Davidson Museum. At the museum, we celebrated with a big party, including live music, tours of the bus and museum discounts for attendees. It was a great time with a great partner.

Lyft connects drivers and riders with Google Maps APIs

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Posted by Vishay Nihalani, Product Manager, Lyft

(Cross-posted on the Google Geo Developers Blog.)

Editor’s note: Today’s guest blogger is Vishay Nihalani, Product Manager at the ride-sharing service Lyft. Read how Lyft uses Google Maps APIs to help riders save money and get to their destinations faster. Lyft is one of many customers sharing their story as part of our cross-country road trip, Code the Road.

We know a lot about road trips—people have taken tens of millions of rides with us from the steep hills of San Francisco to the city streets of Chicago. Ride-sharing today is an intensely competitive business. If you’re going to succeed, you’ve got to connect riders and drivers simply and conveniently and make the experience delightful from beginning to end. That’s why we chose Google Maps and the Google Maps APIs. We started using them with our internal operations tools, and when we saw how valuable and scalable they were, we worked with Google to launch their services in our customer-facing apps.

The Google Maps Android API creates our Android app’s main interface—it’s the map you see when users log in. Our users can drop pins on a map or enter their location manually to indicate pick-up and drop-off locations. Through reverse geocoding, the app will recognize locations and determine an address automatically based on where the pin is dropped. We also help people find their locations by using the Google Places Search API. People often think about the places they want to go by name—for example, they’ll enter “Cliff House” rather than the restaurant’s street address. The Google Places Search API allows a passenger to enter the name of a destination.

When customers use our app, they expect there’ll be a car waiting for them and they’ll get to their destination as quickly as possible. They need to know when they’ll be picked up and when they’ll get where they want to go. We make it easy for our riders to quickly see this information right in the app.

Lyft now has more than 100,000 drivers and delivers more than two million rides per month in 65 cities. We’ve seen more than 500% growth in rides and revenue since last year, thanks in large part to Google Maps. And we’re exploring ways to make Lyft even better by using maps to improve the ride options we offer—for example, by expanding our new Lyft Line option for riders going in the same direction.

Google has been a great partner and has really contributed to our success, so we’re pleased to participate in Code the Road as Google celebrates mapping innovation and fun on its trip across America. Kyle Madsen, Android Developer at Lyft, presented at the Chicago developer meetup on June 9th. It was a great crowd and an exciting event. We hope to see you on the road!

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