Google Maps | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2019-06-21

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps


00:03:26 1 History
00:03:35 1.1 Acquisitions
00:05:01 1.2 2005–2010
00:06:53 1.3 2011–2015
00:10:32 1.4 2016–present
00:12:44 2 Functionality
00:12:53 2.1 Directions and transit
00:13:32 2.2 Traffic conditions
00:14:41 2.3 Street View
00:16:16 2.4 45° imagery
00:17:13 2.5 Business listings
00:18:59 2.6 Indoor maps
00:19:56 2.7 My Maps
00:20:40 2.8 Google Local Guides
00:21:25 3 Implementation
00:23:19 3.1 Map data and imagery
00:25:19 3.2 Google Maps API
00:27:51 3.3 Google Maps in China
00:31:00 4 Discontinued features
00:31:11 4.1 Google Latitude
00:32:03 4.2 Google Map Maker
00:33:29 5 Mobile app
00:34:59 5.1 Features
00:37:17 5.2 Reception
00:40:27 6 Potential misuse
00:42:16 7 Comparable services
00:45:18 8 See also



Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.

Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain

Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.

Listen on Google Assistant through Extra Audio:
https://assistant.google.com/services/invoke/uid/0000001a130b3f91
Other Wikipedia audio articles at:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wikipedia+tts
Upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
https://github.com/nodef/wikipedia-tts
Speaking Rate: 0.7180377238221665
Voice name: en-US-Wavenet-D


"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think."
- Socrates


SUMMARY
=======
Google Maps is a web mapping service developed by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° panoramic views of streets (Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and route planning for traveling by foot, car, bicycle and air (in beta), or public transportation.
Google Maps began as a C++ desktop program at Where 2 Technologies. In October 2004, the company was acquired by Google, which converted it into a web application. After additional acquisitions of a geospatial data visualization company and a realtime traffic analyzer, Google Maps was launched in February 2005. The service's front end utilizes JavaScript, XML, and Ajax. Google Maps offers an API that allows maps to be embedded on third-party websites, and offers a locator for businesses and other organizations in numerous countries around the world. Google Map Maker allowed users to collaboratively expand and update the service's mapping worldwide but was discontinued from March 2017. However, crowdsourced contributions to Google Maps were not discontinued as the company announced those features will be transferred to the Google Local Guides program.Google Maps' satellite view is a "top-down" or "birds eye" view; most of the high-resolution imagery of cities is aerial photography taken from aircraft flying at 800 to 1,500 feet (240 to 460 m), while most other imagery is from satellites. Much of the available satellite imagery is no more than three years old and is updated on a regular basis. Google Maps used a variant of the Mercator projection, and therefore could not accurately show areas around the poles. However, in August 2018, the desktop version of Google Maps was updated to show a 3D globe as the default projection. It is still possible to switch back to the Mercator Projection in the settings.
Google Maps for Android and iOS devices was released in September 2008 and features GPS turn-by-turn navigation along with dedicated parking assistance features. In August 2013, it was determined to be the world's most popular app for smartphones, with over 54% of global smartphone owners using it at least once.In 2012, Google reported having over 7,100 employees and contractors directly working in mapping.