How does Google Maps work ?

When you want to locate a business or a place, you need the right tools in your hand. This can be in the form of a paper map, a business card with the complete address or a directory through which you can complete your task of searching for the place. Now there is an even more powerful application through which a search can be made - Google Maps.

What is Google Maps? It is a web mapping service which is provided for free by Google and it can be used to find locations in any part of the world. It is highly useful for the navigation industry and also for businesses. As a business owner, you can build your business listing through Google maps by creating an account at Google Places or Local Business Centre.

When you open Google Maps for the first time, you are taken to a map of the United States. Enter any location on the search box at the top of the window and the application will show you the location in map form after performing a search through its global servers. Information is retrieved from TeleAtlas, where all map imagery is stored. The location map is displayed with a visual pointer that shows the exact location where a search has to be performed. This makes the search process all the more easy.

Google Maps helps to find business locations as well. When you specify a business and a location in the search box, it directs you to the place where that business is located, giving you the address. If you specify a complete business address, the application retrieves the map imagery corresponding to it.
In addition to this facility, Google Maps can be used to find driving and walking directions between addresses. You have to enter the direction mode and specify the addresses in the search fields. The fastest location between both locations is found and displays an image of the trip with a line showing the entire route.

This application has the ability to display detailed street maps that can be further expanded to reveal areas in an expanded form, right down to the pedestrian level such that you can view from the street level and even from the block by block level. A point to be noted when using Google Maps is that places that are densely populated are shown in more detail, than those which are thinly populated.