Google maps

Another feature of the Google platform is Google Maps. Now, there are other map softwares, Apple has got their own one, there's lots and lots of others, but what we are going to do in this film, is just concentrate on the Google version. Now if you are logged into your Gmail account, you want to go directly there again, hit these little buttons at the top, and you go through and you see there is a little icon there for maps, hit that, a new window will open up and it will tell you exactly where you are. So you can see the exact location where we are right now. So that is in the centre of the map, what you can do from this, is you can change the view as well, so in the bottom left, you can click on different views. This is the standard sort of map view, but if you want to, you could switch over to a satellite view. And what you can also do with this, is you can then zoom in, so if you want to literally zoom in, to zoom in on the screen using a track pad or your mouse, or you could use these buttons on the bottom and just click in and zoom through. So what you can see here, you can see a little local area, you can see the Sainsbury store there, there is lots of things on it as well, and this building just here is exactly where we are, it is set on an industrial site there.

So there is lots of different things you can do with the map system, you can also go over onto the icon on the bottom left again, you can look at the terrain, so this will look at how... Oh there is Friendly Flat, where we are, it is not going to show too much up, but this looks at the different areas we are, and you can also change it in the settings on the bottom to see the map in different views. Now, other things you can do with it is you could search the map, so if you wanted to find out somewhere you want to go to, so what we are going to do here is just put Birmingham and you will see it has come up on the bottom here. When you are searching towns on Google Maps, if you are working from the UK, you need to find the Birmingham in the UK and not the one in America or in the other areas. So this is the top one here and then that's taking you through and this is showing the map and we have got satellite view again, so what we are going to do is we will switch that back down to a standard map view. And then we can see that we are in Birmingham and all the areas around it and we can zoom in the same as we did before if you want to and we can look at more details.

So what it does by default, is it sets some other information on the side for different hotels and things like that, if we wanted to particularly stay there. But you can also set it for doing navigation as well. So on this top menu, there is lots of things there, you can save places that you are going to regularly, you can share locations with other people and there is print maps and lots of others, you can see there is lots and lots of other settings down here, including if you want to know all the features of Google Maps, then just take the tour. That will run you through all sorts of other information about how to use Google. On here, you can also see the traffic data, so if you want to know what the roads are like within the area that you are traveling, you see here it is all in red, where it is busy, we are kind of near towards the end of the day now, so there is lots of areas where there is traffic problems and also it highlights other areas that are relevant, where the airport is and as you see down the bottom here, there is a table that shows the live traffic data. And a little on the left here, you have got all the details, all the congestion around the Birmingham area. The other feature you can do is you can set directions, so here we have got by car, you can do it by public transport, walking, cycling or plane.

So what we can do here is set in, so if we want to go from Colchester to Birmingham, just enter the details on there and then we will search that. Give it a few seconds and then what it will do is it will create a map of different ways of getting from Colchester, which is here on the right, to Birmingham up on the left and it will show you the different routes. So this route here, it is showing that it is the quickest route, but there is also another route and if you just click on it, it switches it and it will tell you down here how long it takes and how many miles is it and another route up here and you can pick that. So if you think that the roads are going to be busy in one way, you can go in a different direction. And you also, with all these maps, you can print them, you can change different views on them and see different data. So Google Maps is a great way of finding information about anywhere in the world, but also you can use other software programs and other websites, which will show you different ways of finding information about areas and getting you from A to B.