It's December 1st, which means you can finally break into that advent calendar and start the countdown to Christmas. Today Google and NORAD have kicked off their official countdown, which allows one and all to follow Santa online as he embarks on his annual trip from the North Pole to your chimney (an annual tradition). more ›

While there are a few grumpy groups protesting today, the majority of New Yorkers seem united in celebrating and appreciating the first day of legal same-sex marriage in the state. And here's a little Easter egg for you: Google Maps has joined in the celebrating too. more ›

How can you tell when you've been slinging drugs for too long on the same corner? When police are able to use Google Maps to identify you. NYPD set up a sting on a drug crew working near the Cooper Park Houses in East Williamsburg yesterday, busting seven dealers including three whose faces were captured in the Google street view. And the police did so in the guise of hipsters. "They were catering to the hipster crowd, among other customers," one law-enforcement source told the Post. more ›

It looks Photoshopped, but it's not. This plane shows up in the satellite view over the Bushwick Houses in Google Maps—see for yourself. Untapped New York points out that "the official imagery date is June 18th, 2010 and the plane appears in both Google Earth and Google Maps, but not in the street views which are from 2009." more ›

Before Google Maps came along, most of us managed to get around town with a little good sense and an inner-compass. So when your Google Maps app lets you down shouldn't you still be able to, you know, walk someplace without injuring yourself? more ›

Just in case it's not abundantly clear how catastrophic the ongoing Gulf oil spill really is, Google Earth is putting it in horrific perspective for you, letting you fathom just how enormous the spill is by transposing the giant mess over your home town. Via Paul Rademacher, a Google Maps engineering manager, here's the oil spill as it looks compared in size to NYC. As you can see, the oil slick is saturating the entire metropolitan area but carefully avoiding Newark, where even toxic oil is too scared to ooze. more ›

A couple of days ago Google unveiled their Beta version of a new Maps interface, which provides bike route recommendations across America. It's a vast undertaking, with a lot of nuances to factor in, but that didn't stop the Post from saddling up to nitpick Google to the max. (If we didn't know better, we'd think the Post has some sort of ax to grind with Google.) One day after it was launched, a reporter for the tabloid pedaled around and took Google to task for several shortcomings around NYC, such as: more ›

Google has added bicycle directions to their American Maps. This handy video shows you how it works, but it's not brain surgery; you just click on "Get Directions" link in Google Maps and choose the "Bicycling" option from the drop down menu. Enter the origin and destination, and you'll get turn-by-turn directions. The map indicates dedicated bike paths (no cars) in dark green, while roads with bike lanes are shown in light green. more ›

An eagle-eyed reader noticed that Google Maps has placed US Airways Flight 1549 at West 42nd Street and 10th Avenue. Not only is Google's version of Sullenberger's landing a much more tragic one, blocks from the real watery landing spot in the Hudson... it's also listed as an eatery! more ›

Back in the day, being able to say, "Hey it's that Eyewitness News van!" after a run-in with the news vehicle was enough fodder to get through cocktail parties for the month to follow. Nowadays that sort of excitement is reserved for spotting the Google Street View vehicle, currently at the tail end of a month where it is traversing the five boroughs in order to update the nerd's eye view of New York on Google Maps. Street View is so popular that it's even spawned a website dedicated to capturing and sharing some of the more unusual images caught by the Google vehicle. While some of those pictures include being able to detect New Yorkers at specific spots around town, a concern for the local ACLU, Google spokeswoman Elaine Filadelfo told the Times, "The spirit of Google Maps is not to tie in a specific person to a specific place." We passed along a Street View sighting by Nylon last month; the Times mentions the car's appearance on Jeremiah's Vanishing New York. While Google keeps many details of the car on the DL, the driver did tell one New Yorker that his next stop was Dubai. more ›

If you happened to look at Google Maps' Street View, you may have noticed the usual yellow "peg man" has been replaced by a panda. (Doesn't seem to be Sad Panda, though.) According to GoogleMapsMania, "Following complaints that the little yellow man shaped Street View icon wasn't cute enough Google have today replaced Pegman in Google Maps Street View with a panda." And Google Maps users in different countries have different icons. Unfortunately, it appears to be part of Google's April Foolery, involving an artificial intelligence program named CADIE (which also has a blog). more ›

As a reader pointed out, while Google's Google Maps ads-wrapped subway cars are nifty-looking, an ad inside the car "mislabels Times Square as Grand Central Station." The mistake implies that one can get the 1, 2 or 3 from Grand Central--when everyone knows that the only way to get to the 1, 2, or 3 from Grand Central is to take the S shuttle or the 7 (if the S isn't working) to Times Square first, and then get the 1, 2, or 3 there. At least, that's what experience and Google Maps tells us. more ›

Last month the History Channel series "Cities of the Underworld" was the first subway wrap ad to be unveiled on the Times Square Shuttle. Now Google Maps has stepped up to the plate, helping the MTA with their huge budget crisis by paying for a colorful ad campaign on the S. NYC the Blog notes that "Google has only wrapped the exterior of the train, leaving the interior with the more traditional ads we are used to seeing." more ›

Intertube-savvy metropolitan diners now have yet another way to make sure their every culinary craving is sated: the new website FoodieBytes, now beta testing, lets users search restaurant menus based on the food they desire. For instance, typing in “pesto” and “whole wheat pasta” yields over a hundred New York eateries. You can narrow your search by neighborhood and, once you find a restaurant that seems appealing, peruse the entire menu, get the hours, address and price info, and find directions through a Google Maps interface. more ›

While even Google can't help out with the subway perv problem, Subway Blogger reports that they are "getting geared up to start mapping New York City Transit systems. Ultimately, you’ll be able to map a transit or subway route just like Google Maps." more ›

What do tourists like more than walking slowly in bunches, visiting Ground Zero, buying fake handbags in Chinatown, and wearing socks with sandals? Eating at restaurants they can find at home! The Post is reporting that IHOP (aka the International House of Pancakes) is in talks with Vornado to open a location at 1540 Broadway (btwn 45th and 46th). It would be the 2nd Manhattan location for the chain - the first location opened in 2004 at 135th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in Harlem. more ›

No one likes getting a parking ticket, but it's those instances when tickets are handed down unfairly that really make people crazy and determined to beat them. Sanford Young, a lawyer, spent two years and an estimated $10,000 to beat a $65 ticket in Manhattan Supreme Court. From The Post:

Young got the ticket on Nov. 29, 2005, after he parked on First Avenue near East 70th Street to have dinner with a friend. He returned from his $60 dinner to find a $65 ticket. more ›

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. more ›

Google Maps has upped its considerable offering to include "Street View," which offers views of the certain locations at the street-level imagery. The areas where you can see images are noted by blue lines on the map (click the "Street View" button). Manhattan is pretty covered and downtown Brooklyn is covered, but the Bronx, Queens and State Island views are pretty much limited by major roads. Below is 1 Centre Street; you can't get an image of City Hall, because the blue line doesn't go into City Hall Park. Here's what Eastern Parkway at the Brooklyn Library looks like and this is the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. more ›

Today was Transportation Alternatives' Battle for the Fastest Commute! where a bike rider, subway rider, and cab rider are pitted against each other to see who can get to a destination fastest. This year, the race started at 8:25AM at Fix Cafe on North 11th Street and Bedford in Williamsburg and ended at Bellevue Hospital at East 26th Street and First Avenue in Manhattan. more ›

If you've ever used Google Maps for driving directions, you might like the new feature they added. They've added real-time traffic information to the site. If you're actually navigating at street level though, the new feature isn't very useful. The traffic info only covers some highways and river crossings (it almost looks like only interstates and US highways). more ›

Google Maps Mania says it's the "ultimate travel mashup". The NY Times Travel section has integrated its Travel guide pages, with all its hotels and restaurants, with Google Maps to create guide for different cities. The map above is the New York City Guide, which is certainly useful, if not definitive. more ›

Google Maps has added two useful features: subway stations and building outlines. The subways are indicated with an M on the map (Metro? MTA?), and the building outlines can be seen, faintly, in magnifications at the top two zoom levels. For instance, you can see them here, around Broadway and Lafayette. more ›

Google Maps Mania points to a new map offering: Walking, subway and bus directions from GypsyMaps, all laid out on a Google Map. Actually, bus information will be coming in April, but GypsyMaps has a nice start, as it shows the point to point directions all laid out. (We asked for directions between 1 West 57th Street in Manhattan to 1 Centre Street.) more ›

Following the announcement earlier this week that Pfizer is closing their Brooklyn plant, the Times has a virtual paean to the company and how they've played a role in the community for the past century-and-a-half. Founded in 1849, the company's first best-selling drug was an intestinal-worm remedy called antonin, Pfizer's headquarters remained on Flushing Avenue until 1961, when it moved to Manhattan. more ›

Today's our lucky day! As late as 4:30 this morning, Gothamist was having a little insomnia problem, the Weather Service was calling for widespread freezing rain during the morning rush. Thankfully, that threat and the mess it would have created, have passed and all we've got to worry about today is a few flurries. more ›

Twelve-year old Jacob Colon was killed after being hit by a speeding Mercedes-Benze while crossing 108th Street at Atlantic Avenue yesterday. Colon was going home after helping his mother at her laundromat job. more ›

Via The Daily Politics, the City of New York has created its own Google-type map with all sorts of information overlaid to show you the nearest services. more ›

For the "Too Good to Be True, So It's Just Not True" file: The NY Times reports that 23 year old Daniel Markovitz "told people that he could get their parking fines reduced, saying that he knew someone in the Parking Violations Bureau or that he worked for a Web site that helped adjudicate tickets." Markovitz collected up to $780 from each person and did pay off fines for 53 parking tickets (which totaled $4,700). Except he used stolen credit cards to do so and making a profit of $2,000. more ›