New York 'Map Cuts' Aren't for Traveling, But Sure Are Purdy

I can't imagine how long it took to cut out these extremely detailed maps of NYC. By removing the bustle of street names, traffic flows and landmarks, nothing is left but the city's organizational beauty. More »

Is Google Secretly Working On A Free Mobile Navigation App?

There's a lot of speculation about Google working on and preparing to release a mobile navigation app. For free. The logic's there and the pieces fit, but we still lack solid proof. More »

Apple Buys Their Very Own Maps Company (See Ya, Google Maps?)

The Apple/Google divorce continues to come into focus: Apple quietly bought Placebase, a mapping service company, back in July. Apple doesn't buy companies it's not going to use. Meaning, Apple's getting into making their own maps. Peace out, Google. More »

Nokia Booklet 3G and N900 Will Come to America, Absolutely No ETA

In a U.S. press briefing this morning, Nokia said that its Booklet 3G and the N900 will eventually be sold in the US of A. The company would not detail if they would be sold through carriers or simply unlocked (and in Nokia's U.S. based flagship stores). More »

What To Do If Your GPS Fails

Have you ever considered a backup plan for your GPS if it happens to fail in a city you're not familiar with? If you said "another GPS", you get a gold star. But what if you're not rich? More »

The Most Detailed 3D Map of Earth Yet

Forget Google Maps: NASA and Japan's Ministry of Economy have released the most detailed three-dimensional map of Earth yet. It covers our planet between the 83 north and 83 south parallels thanks to 1.3 million stereo images like these: More »

NYC Subway Mapped to Street Gauntlet

At last, your claims of knowing New York's subway system "like the back of your hand" will be more than just boasting (OK, lying). More »

Google Street View Gets Smarter Navigation, 3D Effects

Street View has given us a near-endless supply of shenanigans, but it's always been awkward to actually use. Now, Google has implemented semi-3D "Smart Navigation," which makes your virtual walking and/or stalking a lot easier, and way, way cooler. More »

North Korea Secrets Uncovered In Google Earth by Amateur Spies

On April 4 2007, Curtis Melvin—a PhD student at George Mason University—decided to start the "North Korea Uncovered" project. Two years later it became the definitive reference for the country's secrets, thanks to an army of amateur spies. More »

Snowmodo: Install Motion X GPS For the IPhone So We Can Track Our Total Skiing Mileage

Saturday, at our Snowmodo reader event, we're going to be tabulating everyone's ski/snowboard runs TOTAL mileage for the day for the entire Gizmodo hivemind. If you have an iphone, use the Motion-x gps app. More »

Peek Emailer Spotted Running a Very Fuzzy Maps App

Spotted in the wild, this Peek appears to be running a maps app. Whether it's a creative hack or a sign of things to come, the Peek might soon do more than just one thing. More »

Navigon 7300T and 4300T GPS Units Powered by Rand McNally

At CES, we heard that Rand McNally and Navigon were partnering up to make some interesting GPSs. And the results of that torrid affair, the 7300T and 4300T, do have some pinchable cheecks. More »

Download Google Earth 5.0: Explore the Oceans and Time

Google Earth 5.0 beta is live and more amazing than ever: You can travel back in time and see how a place has developed, go ocean-diving with Jacques Cousteau, and record your journeys to share. More »

Google Maps Gets a Public Transit Layer

Google Maps added a transit layer to its terrain and sat and road views today for viewing bus, train and ferry lines, etc. There's no NY support, but these 50 cities are covered: More »

Google Street View Captures Prototype Porsches

First Google Street View captures a person peeing on the street, and now they drive right by a bunch of Porsche prototypes in Colorado. More »

Rand McNally Releases Atlases for Kindle, Has Odd Vision for the Future of Maps

Rand McNally can't be happy with everyone dropping their bulky atlases for GPS units and nav-enabled phones, so they're fighting back. But they seem a little confused. More »

Celestial Globe Shows Earth During Day, Star Map at Night

When I eventually decide that it's time to manufacture or purchase my offspring, needless to say, they will be outfitted with the best tech I can force onto them, including this great day/night globe.

Navigon's 8100T GPS Has 3D Terrain-View Maps

Navigon's just announced a new high-end GPS unit, the 8100T, that actually displays the right terrain in its map representations. Dubbed Panorama View 3D, the system uses NASA-derived height data to accurately recreate the inclinations of the road as it crosses terrain ahead of you. The unit's also got a 4.8-inch screen, includes free traffic data updates for life, voice recognition for destination entry and the company's Reality View junction lane-assistance tech. It's due out this month for $599. Press release below. More »

Google StreetView Spies Burning Home (Probably Microsoft Guy's House)

Google StreetView has been a peculiar bird since its inception earlier this century. It's been banned for voyeurism, the trampling of privacy rights, and other infractions, but then again it's also been known to capture a few nose pickers or two—so it's a wash as far as I'm concerned. Today, we received word it has some hot new imagery on its hands, literally. As in, this burning house on Eagle Point Drive in sunny Sherwood, Arkansas. [Google StreetView via J-Walk Blog]

Disaster Alert Map Shows Where the World is Ending

Until I loaded up this realtime Global Disaster Alert Map operated by the International Disaster and Risk Conference, which tracks biological hazards, chemical spills, fires, volcanoes, earthquakes and epidemics, I earnestly thought that it had been a pretty good day. I was wrong, and I will not be so naive as to drop my constant cynicism again. [IDRC via bookofjoe]

Sony PMX-M80 Big Touchscreen PMP Packs Maps for Chinese Travellers

Sony's PMX-M80 is a cute white touchscreen PMP that stuffs some impressive specs in a 4.3-inch frame, a decent size for watching video without killing your eyes. The player has 16GB onboard memory, expandable via Memory Stick, a microphone, Google Maps-like browser with points of interest and your basic (MP4/AVI/WMA/MP3/AAC) codec support. Sadly, you won't see the PMX-M80 stateside: It's China-only and a little pricey at $330 (2,260 yuan). [Akihabara News]

Google Maps Adds Walking Directions, Bad Neighborhood Caution

If you drive a car in certain cities, you're dumb. There, I said it. But that's how Google Maps assumed everybody locomoted to their destination, until now. Yep! Google Maps finally has an option for step-by-step walking directions. Accounting for the speed difference between your kicks and four-wheeled gas-guzzlers, it estimates covering a mile will take about 19 minutes. And it says to use caution in dicey areas (I guess you'll be routed around them as it's updated?). Hopefully this gets added to the iPhone's maps in the next update, dodging cars on the BQE is exhausting. [Google Maps via Search Engine Roundtable via Lifehacker]

iPhone GPS: We're Not In Kansas Anymore...Wait, How The &$^@ Are We Still in Kansas?

Our ring-wielding Gizmodo brethren over in New Zealand took the iPhone's GPS out for a spin. And after the system properly located their position, the map zoomed in and put them somewhere unrecognizable. Upon zooming our, their new location was revealed: Kansas. And how they got there, no one knows. More »

How Google Really Places Map Markers

Don't let them deceive you with their fancy topographic buzzwords, and smartypants search algorithms. They just use these, and have people who move them really really fast as you click. Seriously. Sergey—the Ukrainian plumber who is fixing the pipes at home—told me the other day. [Dark Roasted Blend]

iPhone World Map Charts Jobs' Giant Game Of Risk

It's tough to keep track of the iPhone's slow global release, so one Apple fan assembled all the data into one easy to read map. If the country is red, then they either have the iPhone or will be getting it this summer. (Note: Switzerland, Spain and Poland are still just rumored, not official). More »

VZ Navigator Update with Traffic Avoidance and 3D View Now Available

The latest and greatest version of VZ Navigator (4.0), which tosses in traffic avoidance for 75 cities, along with 3D view plus some other stuff is live right now. $10 a month or $3 to check it out for a day. [Verizon]