(Cross-posted on the Google Maps blog)

Whether it’s touring the canals of Venice, swimming with the seals in the Galapagos or climbing the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Street View has taken you to some of the most beautiful and exciting places around the world. Now, in addition to scoping out your destination, Street View can help you cut down the stress of traveling by giving you a preview of your journey, too. Our first efforts to map global transit locations include 16 international airports, over 50 train and subway stations, and even a cable car station in Hong Kong.

Here’s an interactive map so you can see the new Street View transit locations worldwide.

Now you can visit the check-in counter of your airline in Madrid, map out the way from baggage claim to the bus at Tokyo International Airport and check out where to pick up your rental car at Eindhoven Airport; you can even scope out your seat on an Emirates flight from Dubai! Or, if you’re planning to take the train, navigate through Waterloo station so you can be one step ahead, whether you’re with a group of friends, family or a baby stroller.

Check in at Madrid Barajas, ES

Arrivals, Tokyo International Airport, JP

Eindhoven Airport, NL

Emirates A380 at Dubai Airport

Waterloo Station, London, UK

Don’t let travel logistics get you down this holiday season. With Street View, you can see how to get where you’re going faster and easier. Enjoy and safe travels!

Posted by Ulf Spitzer, Google Street View Program Manager

(Cross-posted on the Android Official blog)

Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen! For Santa’s holiday travel this season, Google Now is just the prescription.

As you head off this holiday season, the latest update to Google Now makes it even more useful for traveling. Before you even leave your house, Google Now will tell you what the weather will be like at your destination (just in time to make sure you remember to pack those mittens). At the airport, your boarding pass is automatically pulled up, helping you breeze through to the gate (launching shortly for United Airlines, with more to come). And once you've arrived at your destination, Google Now can help you uncover some great activities, by showing you events happening around you, suggesting websites for you to explore as you research things to do, or allowing you to learn more about specific pieces while you’re at a museum (using Google Goggles).



All of this builds on top of some of the other cards designed for travel, like the currency conversion, translation, and flight status cards -- hopefully taking a little bit of the stress out of holiday travel so you can focus on family and fun.

We're also making Voice Search even more powerful: you can find out the name of the song that’s playing (“What’s this song?”), quickly find product info (“Scan this barcode”) and post updates to Google+ simply by using just your voice.

These goodies are waiting for you in the updated Google Search app, available on Google Play for devices running Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, or higher.

Posted by Baris Gultekin, Product Management Director

Many expert flyers use our powerful Matrix and OnTheFly search tools to help find the perfect flight. In Matrix, you can use our advanced routing language, calendar view, and multi-city search to construct the right search to meet your needs. OnTheFly gives you a streamlined mobile interface to help you narrow down your options quickly.

Today we added a new discussion forum to help users get even more out of Matrix and OnTheFly! The discussion forum provides a venue for all users to get help from a large audience, including Googlers with both an extensive knowledge of Matrix technology and the airline industry, as well as external Matrix and OnTheFly mavens. It’s a space where power users can share tips with one another and learn how other people are using our products.



Interacting with our users in the forum will help us get to know you and your priorities even better. The forum will also supplement our recently revamped help content for Matrix and OnTheFly as a knowledge repository of tips and tricks for getting the most out of our products.

We hope you’ll drop by the new forum and leave us a note!

Posted by Jacqueline Dozier, Consumer Operations

Many of us will travel hundreds of miles to visit family and friends this holiday season, and it’s likely we’ll find ourselves in an airport or two. We might even find ourselves stuck on a layover wondering where our gate is or trying to find our favorite coffee spot. The good news is Google Maps 6.0 for Android has a new feature that can help. Google Maps recently added floor plans and the ability to see where you are on the map when you’re indoors, for several U.S. airports, making it easier to find a gate or grab that cup of coffee.

For more information, watch this video and visit the Lat Long blog.

Posted by Scott Ciabattari, Strategic Partner Development Manager