Along with the custom maps, the update brings more languages and better performance. Anyone managed to get the update yet? [Google Lat Long Blog]

The search engine has collaborated with the US Department for Health and Human Services and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to add a Google Maps service that will locate the nearest seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccine programs in the US. Just go to this site and enter your city or postal code. Google says that the project has just started, so there are still locations with no information:

At the moment we have data for locations of flu vaccine directly from 20 states and counting. We are also continuing to add information from chain pharmacies and other providers in all 50 states; today, you’ll find results from chains such as Walgreens, CVS and PDX participants, such as Kmart, Duane Reade, WinnDixie and Giant Eagle.

After reading about the many problems with the vaccine in countries like Sweden — where they have top notch healthcare — I think I will pass on this round, thank you very much.

Now, the ad focuses on 3G alone, and the discussion is about 3G services, including video. But the charge AT&T makes is that people who watch the ad are being deliberately led to thinking that in the white spaces, there’s no AT&T phone service at all. Here’s the accusation:

Consumers are interpreting the white or blank space on the maps to mean that AT&T customers who are not in an AT&T “3G” coverage area have no wireless coverage whatsoever, and therefore have no ability to use their wireless devices for any purposes in vast areas of the country. This interpretation is not surprising as Verizon, in its own coverage maps, uses white space to inform customers that no coverage of any kind exists.

The thing is, this is somewhat tricky to prove, but it sounds wrong. There are areas of Verizon voice coverage that are not marked as red in the map in the commercial, if my squint-eye human-instrument comparison test is accurate. Try it for yourself. Does the map up top better resemble the one in blue and yellow (but not green), which shows broadband, aka 3G? Or the one in red, which shows voice and messaging?

For reference, here’s AT&T’s map — note, only the very darkest shade of blue represents 3G coverage:

The ad may be filled with jargon that confuses middle America — I will admit that — but to the trained ear, it’s pretty clearly about 3G. As far as these maps claim though, that seems dubious. The maps that Verizon chose do seem to represent the same thing — 3G coverage only. Yes, AT&T lawyers, if I’m right about this, it means that Verizon could have gone with a map of all their services that was even redder than the one in the ad. So what’s say we spend more of that iPhone subscription money on fixing the network (near my house, please!) and less money on frivolous lawsuits.

[AT&T's Motion for the Restraining Order of Verizon WARNING: PDF]

AU: Google Maps Navigation is currently only available in the US. _-EH

• What’s getting it: It’s Android OS 2.0 only for now, and will be available when devices like that ship. (Google demo’d the app to us on a Droid, FWIW.) Other platform support will be announced “by carriers and phone makers” when they’re ready, but Google implied they are working closely with Apple now on it.

• How you tell it where to go: Addresses are input by both text and voice (using the same tech as in the iPhone’s Google mobile app). But the app can take things like business names and restaurant types as well as soft queries like “that museum that has the king tut exhibit” and return a list of suggested locations.

• Traffic handling: The traffic data, as on Google Maps, is driven by multiple sources. Typically, this means data from local road authority services, like speed cameras, but also data from mobile phones using Google Maps.

• Price: It’s free, and there are no ads. There’s nothing like it in the App store that’s less than $US50 a year.

• Turn-by-turn voice: Maps cache along your intended route, so even if your connection dies along the way the route will still show you what you need to see, and voice synthesis of street names still works too.

• Maps that never age: Like most cloud map services, you’ll never need to update your map data, but you have to download route maps every time you head out (so you need mobile reception at the starting point).

• Unique views: It has satellite view, which is super cool for context on the street, but also, it has streetview. Streetview images come up, overlayed with arrows, when you’re supposed to turn. Or at your final destination. Since streetview images have metadata on direction faced and position, Google Maps Navigation intelligently draws the arrows where you’re supposed to go. Sort of.

• Traffic UI: Traffic icon is simple — green, yellow and red according to flow of traffic, with time to arrival numbers next to the symbol. If you click on the traffic icon, the map zooms out to show congestion points along your route.

• Multi-destination routing? There’s no multiple route selection to help you plan a day’s drive of many locations. But you can search for locations (petrol, eateries) along your route, and those results will show up on the map as long as they’re within a radius that moves long your path. You can also pre-determine your stops and quickly queue up the next when you reach each destination.

• Navigate to point on map: You can tell it to navigate to a location by spotting it on a map and holding your finger down on that point.

• OS integration: You can bookmark locations as icons on your Android phone’s home page.

• Layers? The data on the map, like traffic, satellite view and points of interest, are called layers. Google said it would be easy for them to add more layers, so its ostensibly possible to add things like Google Latitude support and other neat tricks. Maybe they’ll open up an API for it.

• Different UIs for different usage cases: There’s a landscape and portrait mode, as well as a big-icon UI for dashboard usage.

• My fears on zero pricing, for the long term: If Google sells this in the app store for zero dollars, those millions of bucks Apple makes off of GPS app sales will likely disappear. It’s not for us to worry about until there’s no more GPS competition except Google, and we’re dependent on their pace of progress, but no competition is a bad thing. And it’s a little strange that Google’s search money is going to pay for a free map app that is competitive with stuff that costs $US100 a year from full time GPS makers like TomTom. Unfair is the word that comes to mind. But I can’t say I don’t want this App.

With Google’s increased focus on collecting map data (and less reliance on third-party map providers such as Tele Atlas) and Android 2.0’s rumoured turn-by-turn directions in the soon-to-be-released Droid, it’s feasible that they are in fact making preparations to let out a new Google product.

Android and Me, who has dubbed this app as the Google Navigator (which seems like it would fit well enough with Google’s naming pattern), predicts that we’ll see it in 2010. Forbes doesn’t care to throw out a date, but one thing’s for sure anyway: A free app of this nature from Google could definitely shake up the mobile navigation game. [Android and Me; Forbes via Engadget]

The new costing is as following:
MY30: $249
MY50T: $349
MY55T: $449
MY500XT: $549

The offer kicks off on November 1 and ends January 31 next year, although I can’t imagine the price will go back up then — you just won’t get the mapping updates free anymore.

[Navman]

As per the instructions by the gentleman on Reddit who found this anomaly, “click forward“. And as per my instructions, click forward again. And again, and again, and again. Again!

Then sputter a little prayer in Latin, exorcise your laptop, slaughter a baby goat, whatever you have to do to help this man escape this fiery, oddly typographical abyss, which never ends. (Except for when it does, somewhere around East Pittsburgh.) [Reddit]

The idea is to help create a familiar setting for when you’re driving through an unfamiliar city. Or something like that anyway. The first device to boast the feature that is the Uniden TRAX 5000, which hits shelves next week. It’s Sydney and Melbourne only at the moment, but there are plans for Brisbane, Perth, plus Auckland and Wellington in NZ.

I can’t say this particular feature has me ready to upgrade my satnav any time soon. How about you?