Re: Mapping Issues Document

Great idea to compile the document!

>From the document (section 4):
>What is the Google position on displaying satellite maps of sensitive
>areas, both in the US and other parts of the world? How can a country or
>government body get an area censored?

Why should we care if Google has a position or not?
Why should Google care? Why should Google be interested in such a
mechanism at all? Why should Google be an arbiter of whether an image
should be available or not?

The current method -arranging exclusive purchase agreements with the
image companies, so nobody else can purchase an image of your site-
seems to work perfectly well already, upstream from Google.

Besides, the roof of Area 51 probably looks like...a roof.
Really, it does seem like a moot point

Section 6 (routing)
Other desirable routing features:
Option to highlight prescribed route (coded or XML - "route Z42" -
instead of calculated route)
Options to mark routes along rail, trial, and other corridors, not
just roads and highways.
Option to use known realtime highway speeds (instead of speed limits)
for route calculation
Options to show/hide exit numbers and mile markers
Optional dynamic route highlight width based on zoom (you zoom out,
the highlight gets thinner or fatter)
Optional adjacent route highlights based on zoom (routes X and Y use
the same road for a segment, highlights remain consistently adjacent -
neither overlapping nor separated- when you zoom)
Events, handlers, and calculators for arrows, circles, and area-fill
polygons (yes, I know some extensions have these...I want 'em in the
API!)
Optional North-arrow and label...so basic to cartography.

-Ian