Google Terrain Added!

07th December 2007 | Category: Maps

Quite surprisingly, Google added the new Terrain feature to the API (2.94) in a very timely manner. Even though I talked it down a bit in a previous post, I still think this feature adds a bit of value to the home searching experience. It could look better if it were a proper relief map, but it does give you an idea of the lay of the land. The screenshot below is of some of our listings in hilly San Francisco (there are no hills in Florida). It doesn’t show the altitude contrast as clearly as it could and I still feel a bit like I’m on the moon, but at the zoom levels Google provides, I’m not complaining.

Also, somewhere along the line, Google added the 3Dish (2.5D) buildings to the API tiles. I am guessing this occurred somewhere in the late 2.8x updates. You can read about my 3Dish tile rant. The API still does not have the zoom level that Google Maps does, but the 3Dishness is a start.

PropertyMaps Terrain
San Francisco using Google Terrain