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Google Maps is a desktop web mapping service developed by Google. It offers satellite imagery, street maps, 360° panoramic views of streets (Street View), real-time traffic conditions (Google Traffic), and route planning for traveling by foot, car, bicycle (in beta), or public transportation. Google Maps began as a C++ desktop program designed by Lars and Jens Eilstrup Rasmussen 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 urban businesses and other organizations in numerous countries around the world. Google Map Maker allows users to collaboratively expand and update the service's mapping worldwide. Google Maps' satellite view is a "top-down" view; most of the high-resolution imagery of cities is aerial photography taken from aircraft flying at to , 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.〔(How Often is Google Maps and Google Earth Updated? ). Technicamix.com (2011-10-18). Retrieved on 2013-11-24.〕 Google Maps uses a close variant of the Mercator projection, and therefore cannot accurately show areas around the poles. The current redesigned version of the desktop application was made available in 2013, alongside the "classic" (pre-2013) version. Google Maps for mobile was released in September 2008 and features GPS turn-by-turn navigation. 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Google+ Smartphone App Popularity )〕 == Security concerns == In 2005 the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) complained about the potential for terrorists to use the satellite images in planning attacks, with specific reference to the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor; however, the Australian Federal government did not support the organization's concern. At the time of the ANSTO complaint, Google had colored over some areas for security (mostly in the US), such as the rooftop of the White House and several other Washington, D.C., US buildings. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Google Maps」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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