Google Maps Finally Ready to Tell You "What's Here" for Any Point on a Map... Almost

Image via CrunchBase

Written by Jolie O'Dell / June 19, 2009 5:51 PM

On the Lat Long Blog, Google has announced a new Maps feature in the right-click menu for any point on a map.

Now, when a user clicks on "What's here?" Google will return as specific a result as possible, be that an address, a "natural entity," or a place name. When combined with the "At this address" feature, "What's here?" can even be used to return a full list of businesses located at a given address. Hypothetically, that is. The list of conditions for this feature functioning as laid out in the announcement seems to be a bit long and convoluted.

The feature recognizes magnification as a factor; for example a "What's here?" query for a body of water near Suffolk, Virginia, returns results of photos for Lake Meade and a link to Hampton Roads Executive Airport as well as a couple user-created maps for that general area.

Google Maps Finally Ready to Tell You "What's Here" for Any Point on a Map... Almost