Part of the US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency NextView program, the SUV-sized GeoEye-1 launched yesterday in a Delta II 7326 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California—without exploding. Hours later, GeoEye's ground station in Norway confirmed that the rocket had delivered its payload right on target. The satellite was alive, fully armed and operational on its 423-mile orbit above the Earth.

Built by General Dynamics, the GeoEye-1 is equipped with a next-generation camera made by ITT. This camera can easily distinguish objects 16 inches long, with 11-bits per pixel color. In other words: this thing can see the color of your shorts. It will be up there, looking at your pants every single day, the time it takes for it to complete one orbit. And it will keep doing that for more than ten years, its expected life.

Of course, there's nothing new here until you notice the huge Google logo on the rocket, signaling the fact that Sergei and Larry own the exclusive rights to the GeoEye-1 images. Yes, no other company will be able to access this information, only Google. And they will be there, available for the public in Google Maps and Google Earth.

But don't fret, tin-foil hatters, because Google won't be able to access the highest resolution images because of US government regulations. Sure, the other guys will, but then again, their big bad satellites can see closer than this one. Still, you can rest safe that your underpants will be safe from public scrutiny. For now. Unless you do like me and keep flashing them around. [GeoEye, Wikipedia, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency via Cnet]

The problem may have been a by-product of indoor testing, or it may have just been a random bug. Or, somewhat implausibly, the iPhone 3G's GPS is completely broken and entirely unfixable. Or maybe more likely Kansas is some default no man's land for GPS devices on first boot and this is a video taken before the iPhone here got its bearings. Time will tell. [Gizmodo AU]

It's like one of those pandemic maps from the movies. You see the military general plotting two little red dots. Then four. Then eight. And then, all of the sudden, the dots have covered the general's body, spewing puss across the room in all directions. [Apple 2.0]

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Although we're not too sure what they're smoking over there in Germany, because in one of the other videos they claim the old way of getting directions into your car was by printing them out and handing them to your Golden Retriever, who lovingly tapes them to the car's dashboard. [Mercedes]

This way, you can plan directions before you head out (instead of spending 10 minutes punching it in while your car's running in a garage like some kind of failed suicide attempt). Plus, once you do have directions programmed into Google and Yahoo maps, you can just press the "i" button and it'll auto-fetch them. The best feature is probably having other people send you maps and directions while driving.

These are available in the S-class and CL-class starting September 5, and in all 2008 C-class cars. [News.com]

As you can see, IM mounts a 11-camera contraption on top of their vehicle as they drive in order to capture the 360-degree view you get on Google Maps. One thing to note, however, is that Google's San Francisco shots look a lot more detailed than their NYC shots. That's because Google took their own van out to take the SF pics. – Jason Chen

Google Maps zoom: here's the device and vehicle behind it [Boing Boing]

Or maybe it isn't a laser beam or E.T. at all and I've just drank myself stupid, but it's pretty convincing. Thanks, CptPoland –Travis Hudson

Google's just added GPS capability to its Google Maps, which uses the GPS receiver in your phone to plot where you are now. Very useful when you're on a business trip in the bell-end of Florida and can't figure out where the hell you're going. – Jason Chen

Google Maps Mobile [Google via Uneasy Silence]

So who gets to be France??

Germany. Hmm...maybe this map is just old. – Mark Wilson

Major Mio Map Mistakes [gps tracklog]
Mio

Windows Live Search runs on both J2ME (Java) phones and on Windows Mobile phones, whereas Google Maps only works on J2ME phones.

So which is better? Without a doubt, Microsoft's was the winner.

This matchup could have been a bit uneven. We were running WLS on a Windows Mobile phone, seeing as the Windows Live Search had a "native-app" feel, because it was a native app. Google Maps on Java ran like Java always does. Painfully.

In terms of maps, both apps gave you streets as well as "aerial" view, which is a satellite combined with street names. However, WLS's looked smoother, scrolled faster, and zoomed in and out much better. Google's (above) was, well, sluggish.

Traffic was nicely painted green, red, or yellow, and looked clear even on aerial view. You're going to want to use regular map view unless you really like trying to find your own house.

A nice touch with WLS was the turn by turn driving directions, which are usable if you're a passenger, but probably tricky to finagle if you're the driver. Google Maps also has driving directions, but on the whole, the buggy Java implementation renders it too iffy to use while driving.

Local Business Search in WLS also provided interesting results, with two hits when we searched for ballroom dancing in SF. Google does have a Find Business option, but would just hang the app half the time. When it did come with a ballroom dancing result, the results were presented one at a time instead of on a list, which then in turn would sometimes hang the app. Every time it hangs, a full reboot is in order. We blame Java.

If you're using a Windows Mobile phone, we'd definitely recommend you try out Windows Live Search. The Java-based Google Maps is just too buggy and slow, not to mention clunky, to be useful to us. – Jason Chen

Update: Google Maps does have local business and directions. We updated the comparison to reflect that. Thanks to rg and insomnic for pointing out our oversight.

Product Page [Windows Live Search (Visit on your phone)]

Google Maps Mobile [Google]

Google Maps for Mobile is mostly free. It does require java browser support, so some kind of data plan will likely be required by carriers. This is an extremely good alternative to those who want some GPS goodness but don't want to drop a G on a GPS unit for their vehicle. To access this service, simply point your cellphone browser to www.google.com/gmm.– Travis Hudson

Google Maps for Mobile Beta [Via Mobiledia]

Build your own Google Photo Map with a GPS-equipped camera [GoogleMapsMania via NaviGadget]

Google Maps prompts advertising on roofs [The Inquirer]