Google to Start Mapping UK Rivers

No doubt we've all used Google Maps to plan a route, whether it was for a road trip or a business meeting. However, Google this week announced a partnership with the UK's Canal and River Trust that aims to help users plan for more relaxing and leisurely routes. Specifically, the search giant will start mapping the UK's rivers and canals in the hope that people will start using them more. According to the Telegraph, Google Maps will be updates to allow users to plan journeys that incorporate locks, bridges and towpaths along the UK's 2,000 miles of river paths.

Canal towpaths offer green routes through our towns and cities, and by working with the Canal and River Trust we're adding towpaths to Google Maps and encouraging people to discover their local waterway," Google UK's geospatial technologist is quoted as saying.

The Register reports that British Waterways will pass its GIS (geographic information system) information, including mapping, statistical analysis and databases, to Google in order to help the search giant with the project. Though Google is getting the GIS data for free, British Waterways told the Register that the partnership would help promote and encourage the use of the waterways.

"We are well aware of the commercial value of the data," the spokesperson said, "but this is consciously a longer term partnership which includes further exciting and beneficial initiatives, details of which will follow in due course."

Google Maps is expected to update to include UK waterways later this year. A more precise timeframe has yet to be revealed.

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  • jhansonxi
    I wonder how long it will be before someone drives their car into a canal and sues Google.
    Reply
  • zak_mckraken
    If this eventually allows the mapping of rocks, logs and shoals, I'll be one happy angler!
    Reply
  • Cy-Kill
    What I'd like to find out, is how to get Google to do a satellite view of a town, to be able to zoom in a lot closer.
    Reply
  • freggo
    Cy-KillWhat I'd like to find out, is how to get Google to do a satellite view of a town, to be able to zoom in a lot closer.

    I think the Department of Defense of each respective country would not have any of that.
    It's not a question of 'can do' but of ' national security'.
    Let's face it, Google maps etc. are -unfortunately- a Terrorist's dream come true when it comes to the planning stages.
    Reply
  • freggo
    jacekringHere's a quote from Benjamin Franklin I like, "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
    Comes down to what 'essential' liberty is.
    In the same way we may insist on our right to get the best and most detailed maps of our and other countries we may find that this may be rather counterproductive.

    It's like making the detailed process of how to build a nuclear weapon freely available to everyone because knowledge should be 'free'. Clearly not a good idea in this case.

    Reply
  • f-14
    zak_mckrakenIf this eventually allows the mapping of rocks, logs and shoals, I'll be one happy angler!i had a friend who worked for the department of natural resources, google mapping was licensed and used and he attached GPS co ordinates to all these things and alot of the depth charts for rivers lakes, ponds and tributaries. we had a blast doing this too as i went with for fun and to do some fishing which was kept record of to chart what kinds of fish were in each body of water, he also landed a side job we his friends tested out tackle and later instructional video for alot of products and video reviews for the company making the product as well as some feedback development while he was doing his primary job. we were reimbursed/comp.'d for our needs to provide such services (food, drinks, gas, sun screen, free boating/fishing gear) we had a nice little armada some times. we didn't get paid to do this but we got to do alot of free fishing, we were sad when he left this job and went to work for a sporting retailer despite still getting free product to test. i see fishermen using co-ordinates and maps we charted with him still at alot of the places we still fish. i esp like the phone aps that let you access google earth viewer and attach the charts and geo tag/gps while out on the water. probably the best product out since humminbird 3-D depth finders and strike master ice augers.
    Reply
  • f-14
    freggoComes down to what 'essential' liberty is.In the same way we may insist on our right to get the best and most detailed maps of our and other countries we may find that this may be rather counterproductive.It's like making the detailed process of how to build a nuclear weapon freely available to everyone because knowledge should be 'free'. Clearly not a good idea in this case.franklin was a great deal smarter than you will ever be i trust.
    he was not only a scientist but also an inventor and a statesmen.
    he was also not alone in this thought, but has been backed up by presidents such as washington, and jefferson and even eisenhower. all of these people we smarter than most of us and proven so.
    yes i understand your concern and arguement, it would only take one psychopath to screw us all, but on that same token has every psychopath shot and killed every one around them?
    Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.
    Thomas Jefferson
    Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
    Thomas Jefferson
    If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
    Thomas Jefferson
    There is not a truth existing which I fear... or would wish unknown to the whole world.
    Thomas Jefferson
    We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.
    Thomas Jefferson
    Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.
    Thomas Jefferson
    Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.
    Thomas Jefferson
    Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.
    Thomas Jefferson
    Reply
  • freggo
    f-14franklin was a great deal smarter than you will ever be i trust.he was not only a scientist but also an inventor and a statesmen.he was also not alone in this thought, but has been backed up by presidents such as washington, and jefferson and even eisenhower. all of these people we smarter than most of us and proven so.yes i understand your concern and arguement, it would only take one psychopath to screw us all, but on that same token has every psychopath shot and killed every one around them?
    Never mind how smart or dumb I am...
    It seems all YOU have to say is what you Quote from your Idols.
    Be a man, have some stones and voice have your own opinions and thoughts!

    Reply
  • ojas
    It's called a loch, not lock :p
    Reply
  • pheadland
    ojasIt's called a loch, not lock
    "Lock" = "A section of a waterway, such as a canal, closed off with gates, in which vessels in transit are raised or lowered by raising or lowering the water level of that section."

    "Loch" = "A lake or an arm of the sea similar to a fjord (Gaelic)"

    In this case, they are talking about "locks".
    Reply