To contact us Click HERE
Xperia smartphone "Xperia SL LT26ii" made of unpublished SonyMobile have appeared in the authentication POSTEL dated June 28.
"Xperia SL" Xperia smartphone is unpublished. Detailed specification is unknown. From having a model name that LT26ii However, it is may be smart phones based on the Xperia S LT26i.
Potential relationship, such as Xperia arc S and Xperia arc (added) has been pointed out.
SonyMobile that is developing a "LT30 Mint" as the flagship machine of this other unpublished have been reported.
Source: Information Postel
30 Haziran 2012 Cumartesi
It's Time for Google Maps
To contact us Click HERE
The new Symbols function and Heatmap Layer in the Google Maps API mean that it is now much easier for developers to create compelling map visualisations.
Both these features make it much easier for developers to add animations to maps. The result is that Google Maps can now beautifully render data both spatially and temporally.
This morning I've been playing with the new Heatmap Layer. The Blitz Map is an animated heat map of the bombs dropped on London on the first night of the London Blitz in the Second World War.
I've cheated a little with the timing on the map. At the moment the map just adds the bombs sequentially, step by step, and doesn't use a real time-frame. It should be simple however to add a real time-line to the map at a later date.
The new Symbols function and Heatmap Layer in the Google Maps API mean that it is now much easier for developers to create compelling map visualisations.
Both these features make it much easier for developers to add animations to maps. The result is that Google Maps can now beautifully render data both spatially and temporally.
This morning I've been playing with the new Heatmap Layer. The Blitz Map is an animated heat map of the bombs dropped on London on the first night of the London Blitz in the Second World War.
I've cheated a little with the timing on the map. At the moment the map just adds the bombs sequentially, step by step, and doesn't use a real time-frame. It should be simple however to add a real time-line to the map at a later date.
Google Maps Putting on the Style
To contact us Click HERE
Submarine Cable Map
Google has added some new features to the Google Maps API to give developers more control over the look of their maps.
One of the most requested features I've heard for the Styled Maps feature in the Maps API is to be able to specify colors as an RGB value. You now can!
You can now also style the outline stroke of features separately from the interior fill, and the label text separately from any icon. So, for example, you could style all text labels on the map to have black outlines with a white fill.
Finally you can now also adjust the width of line features such as roads and rivers, and also the width of feature outlines.
If you want to get some hints for your own map styles check out the Styled Maps label for Google Maps Mania posts.
Via: Google Geo Developers Blog
Submarine Cable Map
Google has added some new features to the Google Maps API to give developers more control over the look of their maps.
One of the most requested features I've heard for the Styled Maps feature in the Maps API is to be able to specify colors as an RGB value. You now can!
You can now also style the outline stroke of features separately from the interior fill, and the label text separately from any icon. So, for example, you could style all text labels on the map to have black outlines with a white fill.
Finally you can now also adjust the width of line features such as roads and rivers, and also the width of feature outlines.
If you want to get some hints for your own map styles check out the Styled Maps label for Google Maps Mania posts.
Via: Google Geo Developers Blog
Wildfire Map from Google Crisis Response
To contact us Click HERE
The Google Crisis Response team has created a US Wildfires Map to provide information about the current wildfires in Colorado.
The map uses data from the U.S. Geological Survey and the state’s Division of Emergency Management to provide a number of layers that can be viewed on a Google Map. The layers includes 2012-06-28) satellite imagery.
The Google Crisis Response team has created a US Wildfires Map to provide information about the current wildfires in Colorado.
The map uses data from the U.S. Geological Survey and the state’s Division of Emergency Management to provide a number of layers that can be viewed on a Google Map. The layers includes 2012-06-28) satellite imagery.
The Tour De France on Google Maps
To contact us Click HERE
This year you can keep ahead of the peloton on Google Maps with the official Tour de France website.
The Tour de France website has created Google Maps for each stage of the race. The maps show the starting and finishing lines, the last kilometre marker, sprint stages and the feeding zone.
Having a look at the key for each map there is also a marker set-up for the yellow jersey, so my guess is that the riders could be tracked live on these maps.
Via: Mapperz
This year you can keep ahead of the peloton on Google Maps with the official Tour de France website.
The Tour de France website has created Google Maps for each stage of the race. The maps show the starting and finishing lines, the last kilometre marker, sprint stages and the feeding zone.
Having a look at the key for each map there is also a marker set-up for the yellow jersey, so my guess is that the riders could be tracked live on these maps.
Via: Mapperz
27 Haziran 2012 Çarşamba
Xperia™ S, SI numbers for ICS update
To contact us Click HERE
Hi all
The Ice Cream Sandwich software update for Xperia™ S is now being rolled out. The update is released in batches, and below you will find links your phones list of all the currently released ICS software’s. Since there are minor differences in the software depending on product, country and operator we have a unique identifier that we call Sales Item (SI). The SI is identified by an 8-digit number in the format XXXX-XXXX. To find out what SI number your phone has, please take off the back-cover and check on your label.
We suggest that you use the in-page search in your web browser, which is commonly found by pressing ctrl + f key on your computer’s keyboard.
If you find your SI in the released software table the software for your device is released and available in PC Companion and Bridge for Mac where you can update your Xperia™ S. If you have enabled notifications for software update you will receive a notification about the ICS update in your phone. You can make the update and change settings for notifications in the Update Center application found in your app drawer.
The update will be directly accessible in your phone over mobile networks and WiFi, but also with the option of upgrading using a computer – either with our web-based Xperia Update, PC Companion or Bridge for Mac.
Whats new.
How to upgrade.
We will continue to add items in the list as soon as they are released.
We will however not be able to answer on questions like: "When will SI number XXXX-XXXX be added to this list?" or "when will country X get the update?"
Phone model SI-number Released
Xperia S (LT26) 1256-9609 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0599 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0600 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0869 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0870 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0884 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0887 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0890 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0898 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0987 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0989 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0990 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0991 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-1836 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-1837 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-2734 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-2735 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-2760 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-2761 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-3318 2012-06-27
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-3319 2012-06-27
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-3740 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-3741 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-3742 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4255 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4531 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4879 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4882 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4899 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4900 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5062 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5063 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5069 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5070 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5071 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5073 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5173 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5175 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5177 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5179 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5182 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5183 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5186 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5187 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5188 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5189 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5212 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5588 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5589 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6087 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6088 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6089 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6090 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6092 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6093 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6095 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6099 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6100 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6105 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6107 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6114 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6118 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6119 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6120 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6131 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6708 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6709 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6711 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6713 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6723 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1261-1875 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1261-1876 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1261-5441 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1261-5442 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1262-1228 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1263-1730 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1263-1731 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-1425 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-1426 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-1986 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-4177 2012-06-27
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-4179 2012-06-27
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-6606 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-6610 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-6621 2012-06-26
Hi all
The Ice Cream Sandwich software update for Xperia™ S is now being rolled out. The update is released in batches, and below you will find links your phones list of all the currently released ICS software’s. Since there are minor differences in the software depending on product, country and operator we have a unique identifier that we call Sales Item (SI). The SI is identified by an 8-digit number in the format XXXX-XXXX. To find out what SI number your phone has, please take off the back-cover and check on your label.
We suggest that you use the in-page search in your web browser, which is commonly found by pressing ctrl + f key on your computer’s keyboard.
If you find your SI in the released software table the software for your device is released and available in PC Companion and Bridge for Mac where you can update your Xperia™ S. If you have enabled notifications for software update you will receive a notification about the ICS update in your phone. You can make the update and change settings for notifications in the Update Center application found in your app drawer.
The update will be directly accessible in your phone over mobile networks and WiFi, but also with the option of upgrading using a computer – either with our web-based Xperia Update, PC Companion or Bridge for Mac.
Whats new.
How to upgrade.
We will continue to add items in the list as soon as they are released.
We will however not be able to answer on questions like: "When will SI number XXXX-XXXX be added to this list?" or "when will country X get the update?"
Phone model SI-number Released
Xperia S (LT26) 1256-9609 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0599 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0600 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0869 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0870 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0884 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0887 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0890 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0898 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0987 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0989 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0990 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-0991 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-1836 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-1837 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-2734 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-2735 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-2760 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-2761 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-3318 2012-06-27
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-3319 2012-06-27
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-3740 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-3741 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-3742 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4255 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4531 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4879 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4882 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4899 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-4900 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5062 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5063 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5069 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5070 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5071 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5073 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5173 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5175 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5177 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5179 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5182 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5183 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5186 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5187 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5188 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5189 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5212 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5588 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-5589 2012-06-21
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6087 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6088 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6089 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6090 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6092 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6093 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6095 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6099 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6100 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6105 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6107 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6114 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6118 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6119 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6120 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6131 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6708 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6709 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6711 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6713 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1257-6723 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1261-1875 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1261-1876 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1261-5441 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1261-5442 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1262-1228 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1263-1730 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1263-1731 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-1425 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-1426 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-1986 2012-06-26
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-4177 2012-06-27
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-4179 2012-06-27
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-6606 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-6610 2012-06-22
Xperia S (LT26) 1264-6621 2012-06-26
Introducing Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) preview platform, and more
To contact us Click HERE
[This post is by Angana Ghosh, Product Manager on the Android team]
At Google I/O today we announced the latest version of the Android platform, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). With Jelly Bean, we’ve made the great things about Android even better with improved system performance and enhanced user features.
Improvements include a smoother and more responsive UI across the system, a home screen that automatically adapts to fit your content, a powerful predictive keyboard, richer and more interactive notifications, larger payload sizes for Android Beam sharing and much more. For a lowdown on what’s new, head over to the Jelly Bean platform highlights.
Of course, Jelly Bean wouldn’t be complete without a healthy serving of new APIs for app developers. Here are some of the new APIs that Jelly Bean introduces:
Expandable notifications: Android 4.1 brings a major update to the Android notifications framework. Apps can now display larger, richer notifications to users that can be expanded and collapsed with a pinch. Users can now take actions directly from the notification shade, and notifications support new types of content, including photos.
Android Beam: In Android 4.1, Android Beam makes it easier to share images, videos, or other payloads by leveraging Bluetooth for the data transfer.
Bi-directional text support: Android 4.1 helps you to reach more users through support for for bi-directional text in TextView and EditText elements.
Gesture mode: New APIs for accessibility services let you handle gestures and manage accessibility focus. Now you can traverse any element on the screen using gestures, accessories, you name it.
Media codec access: Provides low-level access to platform hardware and software codecs.
Wi-Fi Direct service discoverability: New API provides pre-associated service discovery letting apps get more information from nearby devices about the services they support, before they attempt to connect.
Network bandwidth management: New API provides ability to detect metered networks, including tethering to a mobile hotspot.
For a complete overview of new APIs in Jelly Bean, please read the API highlights document. Note that this is a preview of the Jelly Bean platform. While we’re still finalizing the API implementations we wanted to give developers a look at the new API to begin planning app updates. We’ll be releasing a final platform in a few weeks that you should use to build and publish applications for Android 4.1.
For Android devices with the Google Play, we launched the following at Google I/O today:
Smart app updates: For Android 2.3, Gingerbread devices and up, when there is a new version of an app in Google Play, only the parts of the app that changed are downloaded to users’ devices. On average, a smart app update is a third the size of a full apk update. This means your users save bandwidth and battery and the best part? You don’t have to do a thing. This is automatically enabled for all apps downloaded from Google Play.
App encryption: From Jelly Bean and forward, paid apps in Google Play are encrypted with a device-specific key before they are delivered and stored on the device. We know you work hard building your apps. We work hard to protect your investment.
Google Cloud Messaging for Android: This is the next version of C2DM and goes back to Froyo. Getting started is easy and has a whole bunch of new APIs than C2DM has to offer. If you sign-up for GCM, you will be able to see C2DM and GCM stats in the Android developer console. Most importantly, the service is free and there are no quotas. [Learn more.]
Starting from today, over 20 Android sessions at Google I/O will deep-dive in many of these areas. Join us in-person or follow us live.
[This post is by Angana Ghosh, Product Manager on the Android team]
At Google I/O today we announced the latest version of the Android platform, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). With Jelly Bean, we’ve made the great things about Android even better with improved system performance and enhanced user features.
Improvements include a smoother and more responsive UI across the system, a home screen that automatically adapts to fit your content, a powerful predictive keyboard, richer and more interactive notifications, larger payload sizes for Android Beam sharing and much more. For a lowdown on what’s new, head over to the Jelly Bean platform highlights.
Of course, Jelly Bean wouldn’t be complete without a healthy serving of new APIs for app developers. Here are some of the new APIs that Jelly Bean introduces:
Expandable notifications: Android 4.1 brings a major update to the Android notifications framework. Apps can now display larger, richer notifications to users that can be expanded and collapsed with a pinch. Users can now take actions directly from the notification shade, and notifications support new types of content, including photos.
Android Beam: In Android 4.1, Android Beam makes it easier to share images, videos, or other payloads by leveraging Bluetooth for the data transfer.
Bi-directional text support: Android 4.1 helps you to reach more users through support for for bi-directional text in TextView and EditText elements.
Gesture mode: New APIs for accessibility services let you handle gestures and manage accessibility focus. Now you can traverse any element on the screen using gestures, accessories, you name it.
Media codec access: Provides low-level access to platform hardware and software codecs.
Wi-Fi Direct service discoverability: New API provides pre-associated service discovery letting apps get more information from nearby devices about the services they support, before they attempt to connect.
Network bandwidth management: New API provides ability to detect metered networks, including tethering to a mobile hotspot.
For a complete overview of new APIs in Jelly Bean, please read the API highlights document. Note that this is a preview of the Jelly Bean platform. While we’re still finalizing the API implementations we wanted to give developers a look at the new API to begin planning app updates. We’ll be releasing a final platform in a few weeks that you should use to build and publish applications for Android 4.1.
For Android devices with the Google Play, we launched the following at Google I/O today:
Smart app updates: For Android 2.3, Gingerbread devices and up, when there is a new version of an app in Google Play, only the parts of the app that changed are downloaded to users’ devices. On average, a smart app update is a third the size of a full apk update. This means your users save bandwidth and battery and the best part? You don’t have to do a thing. This is automatically enabled for all apps downloaded from Google Play.
App encryption: From Jelly Bean and forward, paid apps in Google Play are encrypted with a device-specific key before they are delivered and stored on the device. We know you work hard building your apps. We work hard to protect your investment.
Google Cloud Messaging for Android: This is the next version of C2DM and goes back to Froyo. Getting started is easy and has a whole bunch of new APIs than C2DM has to offer. If you sign-up for GCM, you will be able to see C2DM and GCM stats in the Android developer console. Most importantly, the service is free and there are no quotas. [Learn more.]
Starting from today, over 20 Android sessions at Google I/O will deep-dive in many of these areas. Join us in-person or follow us live.
Android 4.1 for Developers
To contact us Click HERE
Welcome to Android 4.1, Jelly Bean!
Android 4.1 is the fastest and smoothest version of Android yet. We’ve made improvements throughout the platform and added great new features for users and developers. This document provides a glimpse of what's new for developers.
See the Android 4.1 APIs document for a detailed look at the new developer APIs,
Faster, Smoother, More Responsive
Android 4.1 is optimized to deliver Android's best performance and lowest touch latency, in an effortless, intuitive UI.
To ensure a consistent framerate, Android 4.1 extends vsync timing across all drawing and animation done by the Android framework. Everything runs in lockstep against a 16 millisecond vsync heartbeat — application rendering, touch events, screen composition, and display refresh — so frames don’t get ahead or behind.
Android 4.1 also adds triple buffering in the graphics pipeline, for more consistent rendering that makes everything feel smoother, from scrolling to paging and animations.
Android 4.1 reduces touch latency not only by synchronizing touch to vsync timing, but also by actually anticipating where your finger will be at the time of the screen refresh. This results in a more reactive and uniform touch response. In addition, after periods of inactivity, Android applies a CPU input boost at the next touch event, to make sure there’s no latency.
Tooling can help you get the absolute best performance out of your apps. Android 4.1 is designed to work with a new tool called systrace, which collects data directly from the Linux kernel to produce an overall picture of system activities. The data is represented as a group of vertically stacked time series graphs, to help isolate rendering interruptions and other issues. The tool is available now in the Android SDK (Tools R20 or higher)
Enhanced Accessibility
New APIs for accessibility services let you handle gestures and manage accessibility focus as the user moves through the on-screen elements and navigation buttons using accessibility gestures, accessories, and other input. The Talkback system and explore-by-touch are redesigned to use accessibility focus for easier use and offer a complete set of APIs for developers.
Accessibility services can link their own tutorials into the Accessibility settings, to help users configure and use their services.
Apps that use standard View components inherit support for the new accessibility features automatically, without any changes in their code. Apps that use custom Views can use new accessibility node APIs to indicate the parts of the View that are of interest to accessibility services.
Support for International Users
Bi-Directional Text and Other Language Support
Android 4.1 helps you to reach more users through support for bi-directional text in TextView and EditText elements. Apps can display text or handle text editing in left-to-right or right-to-left scripts. Apps can make use of new Arabic and Hebrew locales and associated fonts.
Other types of new language support include:
Additional Indic languages: Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam
The new Emoji characters from Unicode version 6.0
Better glyph support for Japanese users (renders Japanese-specific versions of glyphs when system language is set to Japanese)
Arabic glyphs optimized for WebViews in addition to the Arabic glyphs for TextViews
Vertical Text support in WebViews, including Ruby Text and additional Vertical Text glyphs
Synthetic Bold is now available for all fonts that don't have dedicated bold glyphs
User-installable keymaps
The platform now supports user-installable keyboard maps, such as for additional international keyboards and special layout types. By default, Android 4.1 includes 27 international keymaps for keyboards, including Dvorak. When users connect a keyboard, they can go to the Settings app and select one or more keymaps that they want to use for that keyboard. When typing, users can switch between keymaps using a shortcut (ctrl-space).
You can create an app to publish additional keymaps to the system. The APK would include the keyboard layout resources in it, based on standard Android keymap format. The application can offer additional keyboard layouts to the user by declaring a suitable broadcast receiver for ACTION_QUERY_KEYBOARD_LAYOUTS in its manifest.
New Ways to Create Beautiful UI
Expandable notifications let you dsplay more types of content in your notifications. Users can expand them with a simple gesture.
Expandable notifications
Notifications have long been a unique and popular feature on Android. Developers can use them to place important or time-based information in front of users in the notification bar, outside of the app’s normal UI.
Android 4.1 brings a major update to the Android notifications framework. Apps can now display larger, richer notifications to users that can be expanded and collapsed with a pinch. Notifications support new types of content, including photos, have configurable priority, and can even include multiple actions.
Through an improved notification builder, apps can create notifications that use a larger area, up to 256 dp in height. Three templated notification styles are available:
BigTextStyle — a notification that includes a multiline TextView object.
BigInboxStyle — a notification the shows any kind of list such as messages, headlines, and so on.
BigPictureStyle — a notification that showcases visual content such as a bitmap.
In addition to the templated styles, you can create you own notification styles using any remote View.
Apps can add up to three actions to a notification, which are displayed below the notification content. The actions let the users respond directly to the information in the notification in alternative ways. such as by email or by phone call, without visiting the app.
With expandable notifications, apps can give more information to the user, effortlessly and on demand. Users remain in control and can long-press any notification to get information about the sender and optionally disable further notifications from the app.
App Widgets can resize automatically to fit the home screen and load different content as their sizes change.
Resizable app widgets
Android 4.1 introduces improved App Widgets that can automatically resize, based on where the user drops them on the home screen, the size to which the user expands them, and the amount of room available on the home screen. New App Widget APIs let you take advantage of this to optimize your app widget content as the size of widgets changes.
When a widget changes size, the system notifies the host app’s widget provider, which can reload the content in the widget as needed. For example, a widget could display larger, richer graphics or additional functionality or options. Developers can still maintain control over maximum and minimum sizes and can update other widget options whenever needed.
You can also supply separate landscape and portrait layouts for your widgets, which the system inflates as appropriate when the screen orientation changes.
App widgets can now be displayed in third party launchers and other host apps through a new bind Intent (AppWidgetManager.ACTION_APPWIDGET_BIND).
Simplified task navigation
Android 4.1 makes it easy for you to manage the “Up” navigation that’s available to users from inside of your apps and helps ensure a consistent experience for users.
You can define the intended Up navigation for individual Activity components of your UI by adding a new XML attribute in the app’s manifest file. At run time, as Activities are launched, the system extracts the Up navigation tree from the manifest file and automatically creates the Up affordance navigation in the action bar. Developers who declare Up navigation in the manifest no longer need to manage navigation by callback at run time, although they can also do so if needed.
Also available is a new TaskStackBuilder class that lets you quickly put together a synthetic task stack to start immediately or to use when an Activity is launched from a PendingIntent. Creating a synthetic task stack is especially useful when users launch Activities from remote views, such as from Home screen widgets and notifications, because it lets the developer provide a managed, consistent experience on Back navigation.
Easy animations for Activity launch
You can use a new helper class, ActivityOptions, to create and control the animation displayed when you launch your Activities. Through the helper class, you can specify custom animation resources to be used when the activity is launched, or request new zoom animations that start from any rectangle you specify on screen and that optionally include a thumbnail bitmap.
Transitions to Lights Out and Full Screen Modes
New system UI flags in View let you to cleanly transition from a normal application UI (with action bar, navigation bar, and system bar visible), to "lights out mode" (with status bar and action bar hidden and navigation bar dimmed) or "full screen mode" (with status bar, action bar, and navigation bar all hidden).
New types of remoteable Views
Developers can now use GridLayout and ViewStub views in Home screen widgets and notifications. GridLayout lets you structure the content of your remote views and manage child views alignments with a shallower UI hierarchy. ViewStub is an invisible, zero-sized View that can be used to lazily inflate layout resources at runtime.
Live wallpaper preview
Android 4.1 makes it easier for users to find and install Live Wallpapers from apps that include them. If your app includes Live Wallpapers, you can now start an Activity (ACTION_CHANGE_LIVE_WALLPAPER) that shows the user a preview of the Live Wallpaper from your own app. From the preview, users can directly load the Live Wallpaper.
Higher-resolution contact photos
With Android 4.1, you can store contact photos that are as large as 720 x 720, making contacts even richer and more personal. Apps can store and retrieve contact photos at that size or use any other size needed. The maximum photo size supported on specific devices may vary, so apps should query the built-in contacts provider at run time to obtain the max size for the current device.
New Input Types and Capabilities
Find out about devices being added and removed
Apps can register to be notified when any new input devices are attached, by USB, Bluetooth, or any other connection type. They can use this information to change state or capabilities as needed. For example, a game could receive notification that a new keyboard or joystick is attached, indicating the presence of a new player.
Query the capabilities of input devices
Android 4.1 includes APIs that let apps and games take full advantage of all input devices that are connected and available.
Apps can query the device manager to enumerate all of the input devices currently attached and learn about the capabilities of each.
Control vibrator on input devices
Among other capabilities, apps can now make use of any vibrator service associated with an attached input device, such as for Rumble Pak controllers.
Animation and Graphics
Vsync for apps
Extending vsync across the Android framework leads to a more consistent framerate and a smooth, steady UI. So that apps also benefit, Android 4.1 extends vsync timing to all drawing and animations initiated by apps. This lets them optimize operations on the UI thread and provides a stable timebase for synchronization.
Apps can take advantage of vsync timing for free, through Android’s animation framework. The animation framework now uses vsync timing to automatically handle synchronization across animators.
For specialized uses, apps can access vsync timing through APIs exposed by a new Choreographer class. Apps can request invalidation on the next vsync frame — a good way to schedule animation when the app is not using the animation framework. For more advanced uses, apps can post a calllback that the Choreographer class will run on the next frame.
New animation actions and transition types
The animation framework now lets you define start and end actions to take when running ViewPropertyAnimator animations, to help synchronize them with other animations or actions in the application. The action can run any runnable object. For example, the runnable might specify another animation to start when the previous one finishes.
You can also now specify that a ViewPropertyAnimator use a layer during the course of its animation. Previously, it was a best practice to animate complicated views by setting up a layer prior to starting an animation and then handling an onAnimationEnd() event to remove the layer when the animation finishes. Now, the withLayer() method on ViewPropertyAnimator simplifies this process with a single method call.
A new transition type in LayoutTransition enables you to automate animations in response to all layout changes in a ViewGroup.
New Types of Connectivity
Android Beam
Android Beam is a popular NFC-based technology that lets users instantly share, just by touching two NFC-enabled phones together.
In Android 4.1, Android Beam makes it easier to share images, videos, or other payloads by leveraging Bluetooth for the data transfer. When the user triggers a transfer, Android Beam hands over from NFC to Bluetooth, making it really easy to manage the transfer of a file from one device to another.
Wi-fi Network Service Discovery
Android 4.1 introduces support for multicast DNS-based service discovery, which lets applications find and connect to services offered by peer devices over Wi-Fi networks — including mobile devices, printers, cameras, media players, and others. Developers can take advantage of Wi-Fi network service discovery to build cross-platform or multiplayer games and application experiences.
Using the service discovery API, apps can create and register any kind of service, for any other NSD-enabled device to discover. The service is advertised by multicast across the network using a human-readable string identifier, which lets user more easily identify the type of service.
Consumer devices can use the API to scan and discover services available from devices connected to the local Wi-Fi network. After discovery, apps can use the API to resolve the service to an IP adress and port through which it can establish a socket connection.
You can take advantage of this API to build new features into your apps. For example, you could let users connect to a webcam, a printer, or an app on another mobile device that supports Wi-Fi peer-to-peer connections.
Wifi-Direct Service Discovery
Ice Cream Sandwich introduced support for Wi-Fi Direct, a technology that lets apps discover and pair directly, over a high-bandwidth peer-to-peer connection. Wi-Fi Direct is an ideal way to share media, photos, files and other types of data and sessions, even where there is no cell network or Wi-Fi available.
With Jelly Bean, Android takes Wi-Fi Direct further, adding API support for pre-associated service discovery. Pre-associated service discovery lets your apps get more useful information from nearby devices about the services they support, before they attempt to connect. Apps can initiate discovery for a specific service and filter the list of discovered devices to those that actually support the target service or application.
For example, this means that your app could discover only devices that are “printers” or that have a specific game available, instead of discovering all nearby Wi-Fi Direct devices. On the other hand, your app can advertise the service it provides to other devices, which can discover it and then negotiate a connection. This greatly simplifies discovery and pairing for users and lets apps take advantage of Wi-Fi Direct more effectively.
With Wi-Fi Direct service discovery, you can create apps and multiplayer games that can share photos, videos, gameplay, scores, or almost anything else — all without requiring any Internet or mobile network. Your users can connect using only a direct p2p connection, which avoids using mobile bandwidth.
Network Bandwidth Management
Android 4.1 helps apps manage data usage appropriately when the device is connected to a metered network, including tethering to a mobile hotspot. Apps can query whether the current network is metered before beginning a large download that might otherwise be relatively expensive to the user. Through the API, you can now get a clear picture of which networks are sensitive to data usage and manage your network activity accordingly.
New Media Capabilities
Media codec access
Android 4.1 provides low-level access to platform hardware and software codecs. Apps can query the system to discover what low-level media codecs are available on the device and then and use them in the ways they need. For example, you can now create multiple instances of a media codec, queue input buffers, and receive output buffers in return. In addition, the media codec framework supports protected content. Apps can query for an available codec that is able to play protected content with a DRM solution available on the the device.
USB Audio
USB audio output support allows hardware vendors to build hardware such as audio docks that interface with Android devices. This functionality is also exposed with the Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK) to give all developers the chance to create their own hardware.
Audio record triggering
Android now lets you trigger audio recording based on the completion of an audio playback track. This is useful for situations such as playing back a tone to cue your users to begin speaking to record their voices. This feature helps you sync up recording so you don’t record audio that is currently being played back and prevents recordings from beginning too late.
Multichannel audio
Android 4.1 supports multichannel audio on devices that have hardware multichannel audio out through the HDMI port. Multichannel audio lets you deliver rich media experiences to users for applications such as games, music apps, and video players. For devices that do not have the supported hardware, Android automatically downmixes the audio to the number of channels that are supported by the device (usually stereo).
Android 4.1 also adds built-in support for encoding/decoding AAC 5.1 audio.
Audio preprocessing
Developers can apply preprocessing effects to audio being recorded, such as to apply noise suppression for improving speech recording quality, echo cancellation for acoustic echo, and auto gain control for audio with inconsistent volume levels. Apps that require high quality and clean audio recording will benefit from these preprocessors.
Audio chaining
MediaPlayer supports chaining audio streams together to play audio files without pauses. This is useful for apps that require seamless transitions between audio files such as music players to play albums with continuous tracks or games.
Media Router
The new APIs MediaRouter, MediaRouteActionProvider, and MediaRouteButton provide standard mechanisms and UI for choosing where to play media. Support is built-in for wired headsets and a2dp bluetooth headsets and speakers, and you can add your own routing options within your own app.
Renderscript Computation
Android 4.1 extends Renderscript computation to give you more flexibility. You can now sample textures in your Renderscript compute scripts, and new pragmas are available to define the floating point precision required by your scripts. This lets you enable NEON instructions such as fast vector math operations on the CPU path, that wouldn’t otherwise be possible with the full IEEE 754-2008 standard.
You can now debug your Renderscript compute scripts on x86-based emulator and hardware devices. You can also define multiple root-style kernels in a single Renderscript source file.
Android Browser and WebView
In Android 4.1, the Android Browser and WebViews include these enhancements:
Better HTML5 video user experience, including touch-to-play/pause and smooth transition from inline to full screen mode.
Improved rendering speed and reduced memory usage for better scrolling and zooming performance.
Improved HTML5/CSS3/Canvas animation performance.
Improved text input.
Updated JavaScript Engine (V8) for better JavaScript performance.
Support for the updated HTML5 Media Capture specification (the "capture" attribute on input type=file elements).
Google APIs and services
To extend the capabilities of Android even further, several new services for Android are available.
Google Cloud Messaging for Android
Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) is a service that lets developers send short message data to their users on Android devices, without needing a proprietary sync solution.
GCM handles all the details of queuing messages and delivering them efficiently to the targeted Android devices. It supports message multicasting and can reach up to 1000 connected devices simultaneously with a single request. It also supports message payloads, which means that in addition to sending tickle messages to an app on the device, developers can send up to 4K of data.
Google Cloud Messaging is completely free for all developers and sign-up is easy. See the Google Cloud Messaging page for registration, downloads, and documentation.
App Encryption
Starting with Android 4.1, Google Play will help protect application assets by encrypting all paid apps with a device-specific key before they are delivered and stored on a device.
Smart App Updates
Smart app updates is a new feature of Google Play that introduces a better way of delivering app updates to devices. When developers publish an update, Google Play now delivers only the bits that have changed to devices, rather than the entire APK. This makes the updates much lighter-weight in most cases, so they are faster to download, save the device’s battery, and conserve bandwidth usage on users’ mobile data plan. On average, a smart app update is about 1/3 the size of a full APK update.
Google Play services (coming soon)
Google Play services helps developers to integrate Google services such as authentication and Google+ into their apps delivered through Google Play.
Google Play services will be automatically provisioned to end user devices by Google Play, so all you need is a thin client library in your apps.
Because your app only contains the small client library, you can take advantage of these services without a big increase in download size and storage footprint. Also, Google Play will deliver regular updates to the services, without developers needing to publish app updates to take advantage of them.
For more information about the APIs included in Google Play Services, see the Google Play Services developer page.
Welcome to Android 4.1, Jelly Bean!
Android 4.1 is the fastest and smoothest version of Android yet. We’ve made improvements throughout the platform and added great new features for users and developers. This document provides a glimpse of what's new for developers.
See the Android 4.1 APIs document for a detailed look at the new developer APIs,
Faster, Smoother, More Responsive
Android 4.1 is optimized to deliver Android's best performance and lowest touch latency, in an effortless, intuitive UI.
To ensure a consistent framerate, Android 4.1 extends vsync timing across all drawing and animation done by the Android framework. Everything runs in lockstep against a 16 millisecond vsync heartbeat — application rendering, touch events, screen composition, and display refresh — so frames don’t get ahead or behind.
Android 4.1 also adds triple buffering in the graphics pipeline, for more consistent rendering that makes everything feel smoother, from scrolling to paging and animations.
Android 4.1 reduces touch latency not only by synchronizing touch to vsync timing, but also by actually anticipating where your finger will be at the time of the screen refresh. This results in a more reactive and uniform touch response. In addition, after periods of inactivity, Android applies a CPU input boost at the next touch event, to make sure there’s no latency.
Tooling can help you get the absolute best performance out of your apps. Android 4.1 is designed to work with a new tool called systrace, which collects data directly from the Linux kernel to produce an overall picture of system activities. The data is represented as a group of vertically stacked time series graphs, to help isolate rendering interruptions and other issues. The tool is available now in the Android SDK (Tools R20 or higher)
Enhanced Accessibility
New APIs for accessibility services let you handle gestures and manage accessibility focus as the user moves through the on-screen elements and navigation buttons using accessibility gestures, accessories, and other input. The Talkback system and explore-by-touch are redesigned to use accessibility focus for easier use and offer a complete set of APIs for developers.
Accessibility services can link their own tutorials into the Accessibility settings, to help users configure and use their services.
Apps that use standard View components inherit support for the new accessibility features automatically, without any changes in their code. Apps that use custom Views can use new accessibility node APIs to indicate the parts of the View that are of interest to accessibility services.
Support for International Users
Bi-Directional Text and Other Language Support
Android 4.1 helps you to reach more users through support for bi-directional text in TextView and EditText elements. Apps can display text or handle text editing in left-to-right or right-to-left scripts. Apps can make use of new Arabic and Hebrew locales and associated fonts.
Other types of new language support include:
Additional Indic languages: Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam
The new Emoji characters from Unicode version 6.0
Better glyph support for Japanese users (renders Japanese-specific versions of glyphs when system language is set to Japanese)
Arabic glyphs optimized for WebViews in addition to the Arabic glyphs for TextViews
Vertical Text support in WebViews, including Ruby Text and additional Vertical Text glyphs
Synthetic Bold is now available for all fonts that don't have dedicated bold glyphs
User-installable keymaps
The platform now supports user-installable keyboard maps, such as for additional international keyboards and special layout types. By default, Android 4.1 includes 27 international keymaps for keyboards, including Dvorak. When users connect a keyboard, they can go to the Settings app and select one or more keymaps that they want to use for that keyboard. When typing, users can switch between keymaps using a shortcut (ctrl-space).
You can create an app to publish additional keymaps to the system. The APK would include the keyboard layout resources in it, based on standard Android keymap format. The application can offer additional keyboard layouts to the user by declaring a suitable broadcast receiver for ACTION_QUERY_KEYBOARD_LAYOUTS in its manifest.
New Ways to Create Beautiful UI
Expandable notifications let you dsplay more types of content in your notifications. Users can expand them with a simple gesture.
Expandable notifications
Notifications have long been a unique and popular feature on Android. Developers can use them to place important or time-based information in front of users in the notification bar, outside of the app’s normal UI.
Android 4.1 brings a major update to the Android notifications framework. Apps can now display larger, richer notifications to users that can be expanded and collapsed with a pinch. Notifications support new types of content, including photos, have configurable priority, and can even include multiple actions.
Through an improved notification builder, apps can create notifications that use a larger area, up to 256 dp in height. Three templated notification styles are available:
BigTextStyle — a notification that includes a multiline TextView object.
BigInboxStyle — a notification the shows any kind of list such as messages, headlines, and so on.
BigPictureStyle — a notification that showcases visual content such as a bitmap.
In addition to the templated styles, you can create you own notification styles using any remote View.
Apps can add up to three actions to a notification, which are displayed below the notification content. The actions let the users respond directly to the information in the notification in alternative ways. such as by email or by phone call, without visiting the app.
With expandable notifications, apps can give more information to the user, effortlessly and on demand. Users remain in control and can long-press any notification to get information about the sender and optionally disable further notifications from the app.
App Widgets can resize automatically to fit the home screen and load different content as their sizes change.
Resizable app widgets
Android 4.1 introduces improved App Widgets that can automatically resize, based on where the user drops them on the home screen, the size to which the user expands them, and the amount of room available on the home screen. New App Widget APIs let you take advantage of this to optimize your app widget content as the size of widgets changes.
When a widget changes size, the system notifies the host app’s widget provider, which can reload the content in the widget as needed. For example, a widget could display larger, richer graphics or additional functionality or options. Developers can still maintain control over maximum and minimum sizes and can update other widget options whenever needed.
You can also supply separate landscape and portrait layouts for your widgets, which the system inflates as appropriate when the screen orientation changes.
App widgets can now be displayed in third party launchers and other host apps through a new bind Intent (AppWidgetManager.ACTION_APPWIDGET_BIND).
Simplified task navigation
Android 4.1 makes it easy for you to manage the “Up” navigation that’s available to users from inside of your apps and helps ensure a consistent experience for users.
You can define the intended Up navigation for individual Activity components of your UI by adding a new XML attribute in the app’s manifest file. At run time, as Activities are launched, the system extracts the Up navigation tree from the manifest file and automatically creates the Up affordance navigation in the action bar. Developers who declare Up navigation in the manifest no longer need to manage navigation by callback at run time, although they can also do so if needed.
Also available is a new TaskStackBuilder class that lets you quickly put together a synthetic task stack to start immediately or to use when an Activity is launched from a PendingIntent. Creating a synthetic task stack is especially useful when users launch Activities from remote views, such as from Home screen widgets and notifications, because it lets the developer provide a managed, consistent experience on Back navigation.
Easy animations for Activity launch
You can use a new helper class, ActivityOptions, to create and control the animation displayed when you launch your Activities. Through the helper class, you can specify custom animation resources to be used when the activity is launched, or request new zoom animations that start from any rectangle you specify on screen and that optionally include a thumbnail bitmap.
Transitions to Lights Out and Full Screen Modes
New system UI flags in View let you to cleanly transition from a normal application UI (with action bar, navigation bar, and system bar visible), to "lights out mode" (with status bar and action bar hidden and navigation bar dimmed) or "full screen mode" (with status bar, action bar, and navigation bar all hidden).
New types of remoteable Views
Developers can now use GridLayout and ViewStub views in Home screen widgets and notifications. GridLayout lets you structure the content of your remote views and manage child views alignments with a shallower UI hierarchy. ViewStub is an invisible, zero-sized View that can be used to lazily inflate layout resources at runtime.
Live wallpaper preview
Android 4.1 makes it easier for users to find and install Live Wallpapers from apps that include them. If your app includes Live Wallpapers, you can now start an Activity (ACTION_CHANGE_LIVE_WALLPAPER) that shows the user a preview of the Live Wallpaper from your own app. From the preview, users can directly load the Live Wallpaper.
Higher-resolution contact photos
With Android 4.1, you can store contact photos that are as large as 720 x 720, making contacts even richer and more personal. Apps can store and retrieve contact photos at that size or use any other size needed. The maximum photo size supported on specific devices may vary, so apps should query the built-in contacts provider at run time to obtain the max size for the current device.
New Input Types and Capabilities
Find out about devices being added and removed
Apps can register to be notified when any new input devices are attached, by USB, Bluetooth, or any other connection type. They can use this information to change state or capabilities as needed. For example, a game could receive notification that a new keyboard or joystick is attached, indicating the presence of a new player.
Query the capabilities of input devices
Android 4.1 includes APIs that let apps and games take full advantage of all input devices that are connected and available.
Apps can query the device manager to enumerate all of the input devices currently attached and learn about the capabilities of each.
Control vibrator on input devices
Among other capabilities, apps can now make use of any vibrator service associated with an attached input device, such as for Rumble Pak controllers.
Animation and Graphics
Vsync for apps
Extending vsync across the Android framework leads to a more consistent framerate and a smooth, steady UI. So that apps also benefit, Android 4.1 extends vsync timing to all drawing and animations initiated by apps. This lets them optimize operations on the UI thread and provides a stable timebase for synchronization.
Apps can take advantage of vsync timing for free, through Android’s animation framework. The animation framework now uses vsync timing to automatically handle synchronization across animators.
For specialized uses, apps can access vsync timing through APIs exposed by a new Choreographer class. Apps can request invalidation on the next vsync frame — a good way to schedule animation when the app is not using the animation framework. For more advanced uses, apps can post a calllback that the Choreographer class will run on the next frame.
New animation actions and transition types
The animation framework now lets you define start and end actions to take when running ViewPropertyAnimator animations, to help synchronize them with other animations or actions in the application. The action can run any runnable object. For example, the runnable might specify another animation to start when the previous one finishes.
You can also now specify that a ViewPropertyAnimator use a layer during the course of its animation. Previously, it was a best practice to animate complicated views by setting up a layer prior to starting an animation and then handling an onAnimationEnd() event to remove the layer when the animation finishes. Now, the withLayer() method on ViewPropertyAnimator simplifies this process with a single method call.
A new transition type in LayoutTransition enables you to automate animations in response to all layout changes in a ViewGroup.
New Types of Connectivity
Android Beam
Android Beam is a popular NFC-based technology that lets users instantly share, just by touching two NFC-enabled phones together.
In Android 4.1, Android Beam makes it easier to share images, videos, or other payloads by leveraging Bluetooth for the data transfer. When the user triggers a transfer, Android Beam hands over from NFC to Bluetooth, making it really easy to manage the transfer of a file from one device to another.
Wi-fi Network Service Discovery
Android 4.1 introduces support for multicast DNS-based service discovery, which lets applications find and connect to services offered by peer devices over Wi-Fi networks — including mobile devices, printers, cameras, media players, and others. Developers can take advantage of Wi-Fi network service discovery to build cross-platform or multiplayer games and application experiences.
Using the service discovery API, apps can create and register any kind of service, for any other NSD-enabled device to discover. The service is advertised by multicast across the network using a human-readable string identifier, which lets user more easily identify the type of service.
Consumer devices can use the API to scan and discover services available from devices connected to the local Wi-Fi network. After discovery, apps can use the API to resolve the service to an IP adress and port through which it can establish a socket connection.
You can take advantage of this API to build new features into your apps. For example, you could let users connect to a webcam, a printer, or an app on another mobile device that supports Wi-Fi peer-to-peer connections.
Wifi-Direct Service Discovery
Ice Cream Sandwich introduced support for Wi-Fi Direct, a technology that lets apps discover and pair directly, over a high-bandwidth peer-to-peer connection. Wi-Fi Direct is an ideal way to share media, photos, files and other types of data and sessions, even where there is no cell network or Wi-Fi available.
With Jelly Bean, Android takes Wi-Fi Direct further, adding API support for pre-associated service discovery. Pre-associated service discovery lets your apps get more useful information from nearby devices about the services they support, before they attempt to connect. Apps can initiate discovery for a specific service and filter the list of discovered devices to those that actually support the target service or application.
For example, this means that your app could discover only devices that are “printers” or that have a specific game available, instead of discovering all nearby Wi-Fi Direct devices. On the other hand, your app can advertise the service it provides to other devices, which can discover it and then negotiate a connection. This greatly simplifies discovery and pairing for users and lets apps take advantage of Wi-Fi Direct more effectively.
With Wi-Fi Direct service discovery, you can create apps and multiplayer games that can share photos, videos, gameplay, scores, or almost anything else — all without requiring any Internet or mobile network. Your users can connect using only a direct p2p connection, which avoids using mobile bandwidth.
Network Bandwidth Management
Android 4.1 helps apps manage data usage appropriately when the device is connected to a metered network, including tethering to a mobile hotspot. Apps can query whether the current network is metered before beginning a large download that might otherwise be relatively expensive to the user. Through the API, you can now get a clear picture of which networks are sensitive to data usage and manage your network activity accordingly.
New Media Capabilities
Media codec access
Android 4.1 provides low-level access to platform hardware and software codecs. Apps can query the system to discover what low-level media codecs are available on the device and then and use them in the ways they need. For example, you can now create multiple instances of a media codec, queue input buffers, and receive output buffers in return. In addition, the media codec framework supports protected content. Apps can query for an available codec that is able to play protected content with a DRM solution available on the the device.
USB Audio
USB audio output support allows hardware vendors to build hardware such as audio docks that interface with Android devices. This functionality is also exposed with the Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK) to give all developers the chance to create their own hardware.
Audio record triggering
Android now lets you trigger audio recording based on the completion of an audio playback track. This is useful for situations such as playing back a tone to cue your users to begin speaking to record their voices. This feature helps you sync up recording so you don’t record audio that is currently being played back and prevents recordings from beginning too late.
Multichannel audio
Android 4.1 supports multichannel audio on devices that have hardware multichannel audio out through the HDMI port. Multichannel audio lets you deliver rich media experiences to users for applications such as games, music apps, and video players. For devices that do not have the supported hardware, Android automatically downmixes the audio to the number of channels that are supported by the device (usually stereo).
Android 4.1 also adds built-in support for encoding/decoding AAC 5.1 audio.
Audio preprocessing
Developers can apply preprocessing effects to audio being recorded, such as to apply noise suppression for improving speech recording quality, echo cancellation for acoustic echo, and auto gain control for audio with inconsistent volume levels. Apps that require high quality and clean audio recording will benefit from these preprocessors.
Audio chaining
MediaPlayer supports chaining audio streams together to play audio files without pauses. This is useful for apps that require seamless transitions between audio files such as music players to play albums with continuous tracks or games.
Media Router
The new APIs MediaRouter, MediaRouteActionProvider, and MediaRouteButton provide standard mechanisms and UI for choosing where to play media. Support is built-in for wired headsets and a2dp bluetooth headsets and speakers, and you can add your own routing options within your own app.
Renderscript Computation
Android 4.1 extends Renderscript computation to give you more flexibility. You can now sample textures in your Renderscript compute scripts, and new pragmas are available to define the floating point precision required by your scripts. This lets you enable NEON instructions such as fast vector math operations on the CPU path, that wouldn’t otherwise be possible with the full IEEE 754-2008 standard.
You can now debug your Renderscript compute scripts on x86-based emulator and hardware devices. You can also define multiple root-style kernels in a single Renderscript source file.
Android Browser and WebView
In Android 4.1, the Android Browser and WebViews include these enhancements:
Better HTML5 video user experience, including touch-to-play/pause and smooth transition from inline to full screen mode.
Improved rendering speed and reduced memory usage for better scrolling and zooming performance.
Improved HTML5/CSS3/Canvas animation performance.
Improved text input.
Updated JavaScript Engine (V8) for better JavaScript performance.
Support for the updated HTML5 Media Capture specification (the "capture" attribute on input type=file elements).
Google APIs and services
To extend the capabilities of Android even further, several new services for Android are available.
Google Cloud Messaging for Android
Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) is a service that lets developers send short message data to their users on Android devices, without needing a proprietary sync solution.
GCM handles all the details of queuing messages and delivering them efficiently to the targeted Android devices. It supports message multicasting and can reach up to 1000 connected devices simultaneously with a single request. It also supports message payloads, which means that in addition to sending tickle messages to an app on the device, developers can send up to 4K of data.
Google Cloud Messaging is completely free for all developers and sign-up is easy. See the Google Cloud Messaging page for registration, downloads, and documentation.
App Encryption
Starting with Android 4.1, Google Play will help protect application assets by encrypting all paid apps with a device-specific key before they are delivered and stored on a device.
Smart App Updates
Smart app updates is a new feature of Google Play that introduces a better way of delivering app updates to devices. When developers publish an update, Google Play now delivers only the bits that have changed to devices, rather than the entire APK. This makes the updates much lighter-weight in most cases, so they are faster to download, save the device’s battery, and conserve bandwidth usage on users’ mobile data plan. On average, a smart app update is about 1/3 the size of a full APK update.
Google Play services (coming soon)
Google Play services helps developers to integrate Google services such as authentication and Google+ into their apps delivered through Google Play.
Google Play services will be automatically provisioned to end user devices by Google Play, so all you need is a thin client library in your apps.
Because your app only contains the small client library, you can take advantage of these services without a big increase in download size and storage footprint. Also, Google Play will deliver regular updates to the services, without developers needing to publish app updates to take advantage of them.
For more information about the APIs included in Google Play Services, see the Google Play Services developer page.
How Nexus Q Works
To contact us Click HERE
Nexus Q streams your favorite entertainment directly from the cloud to your living room. Just use the Google Play and YouTube apps on your Android phone or tablet to surf an ocean of music, TV, movies and music, and Nexus Q will play it all on the biggest speakers and screen in the house. There are no downloads, no syncing, no running out of space. Just the stuff you love -- at home and out loud.
Nexus Q streams your favorite entertainment directly from the cloud to your living room. Just use the Google Play and YouTube apps on your Android phone or tablet to surf an ocean of music, TV, movies and music, and Nexus Q will play it all on the biggest speakers and screen in the house. There are no downloads, no syncing, no running out of space. Just the stuff you love -- at home and out loud.
+1
To contact us Click HERE
A year ago we started a small project called Google+—to bring friends and family closer together, and to inspire new connections through meaningful conversation. Today more than 250 million people have upgraded to Google+, and we want to give thanks. To you. It's your support and your voice that give the service soul, and we’re grateful.
We figure the best way to show our appreciation is to keep listening and making improvements, so today we're rolling out two major updates in response to your feedback: Google+ for tablets, and Google+ Events.
Google+ for tablets: putting mobile first, on lots more devices
Back in May we introduced new versions of Google+ for Android and iOS phones. In both cases we went native (with gestural navigation, fullscreen media and face-to-face video), and it’s had a powerful impact on community engagement. In fact, more people now use Google+ from a mobile device than a desktop computer, and today’s tablet release will quicken this trend.
Of course, our tablet app isn’t just bigger, like our mobile app isn’t just smaller. It’s designed with the device in mind, and it includes:
Selected screenshots from today’s tablet release
The Android app is rolling out to phones and tablets later today (v3.0), and the iPad update is coming soon.
Google+ Events: for all the moments that matter—before, during and after
To celebrate is human. It’s how we connect with others, honor friends and family, or simply unwind after a long week. We save the date for picnics, parties and nuptials, and we cherish these moments for a lifetime. Unfortunately, the subtlety and substance of real-world events is lost online.
Today’s online event tools are really just web forms that ask, “Are you going?” Worse yet, they bail when you need them the most: during the actual event, and after everyone leaves. In life we plan, we party and we keep in touch. Software should make all of this more awesome, and that's exactly our aim with Google+ Events.
Before: send beautiful invites, and stay in sync with Calendar integration
Inviting someone to your home, your wedding or your favorite restaurant is a deeply personal act. You’re handpicking who’ll be in the room, after all, so invitees should feel part of something special. That’s why Google+ Events offers meaningful ways to build and send beautiful invitations, including:
Google+ events also appear in Google Calendar automatically, and guests’ updates arrive instantly in the stream. The end result is a useful and beautiful place to manage your party.
During: share photos live with Party Mode
Photos are the cornerstone of any great event. They get people laughing and smiling, and they let us relive our favorite moments after the fact. The challenge—especially with the explosion in smartphones—is that too many photos get stranded in too many places. We struggle to even find people’s photos, let alone enjoy them all in one spot. Fortunately, Party Mode fixes these problems with a single tap.
Once you’ve enabled Party Mode on your mobile device, all of your new photos get added to the event in real-time. And as more guests turn on Party Mode, more pictures will instantly appear to fellow invitees. In this way Google+ Events gives your party a visual pulse; we’ve even added a "live slideshow" you can proudly project during the event.
After: see everyone’s pictures in one place
Once the guests go home, it's natural to reflect on the evening's events. We reminisce about the food, or the last dance, or the sparkle in someone’s eye. And we bask in the afterglow of shared experience for as long as memory allows. With Google+ Events you can now relive the party whenever you want, with a captivating and comprehensive set of photos.
Just visit your event page after it’s over, and you’ll see everyone’s pictures and comments in chronological order. You can also browse by popularity, photographer or photo tag with a few clicks. It’s easy, immersive and awesome.
Google+ has come a long way in a year, but we know we've got a long way to go. Fortunately we serve a community that's filled with thoughtful, committed individuals, and together we're creating something special. +1 person at a time.
We figure the best way to show our appreciation is to keep listening and making improvements, so today we're rolling out two major updates in response to your feedback: Google+ for tablets, and Google+ Events.
Google+ for tablets: putting mobile first, on lots more devices
Back in May we introduced new versions of Google+ for Android and iOS phones. In both cases we went native (with gestural navigation, fullscreen media and face-to-face video), and it’s had a powerful impact on community engagement. In fact, more people now use Google+ from a mobile device than a desktop computer, and today’s tablet release will quicken this trend.
Of course, our tablet app isn’t just bigger, like our mobile app isn’t just smaller. It’s designed with the device in mind, and it includes:
- A beautiful stream that styles content based on popularity, type and orientation
- A “lean back” Hangouts experience that’s great for the couch or common room
- Crisper text, fuller photos and easily-tappable actions like +1 and comment
Selected screenshots from today’s tablet release
The Android app is rolling out to phones and tablets later today (v3.0), and the iPad update is coming soon.
Google+ Events: for all the moments that matter—before, during and after
To celebrate is human. It’s how we connect with others, honor friends and family, or simply unwind after a long week. We save the date for picnics, parties and nuptials, and we cherish these moments for a lifetime. Unfortunately, the subtlety and substance of real-world events is lost online.
Today’s online event tools are really just web forms that ask, “Are you going?” Worse yet, they bail when you need them the most: during the actual event, and after everyone leaves. In life we plan, we party and we keep in touch. Software should make all of this more awesome, and that's exactly our aim with Google+ Events.
Before: send beautiful invites, and stay in sync with Calendar integration
Inviting someone to your home, your wedding or your favorite restaurant is a deeply personal act. You’re handpicking who’ll be in the room, after all, so invitees should feel part of something special. That’s why Google+ Events offers meaningful ways to build and send beautiful invitations, including:
- Cinemagraphic themes for your beach trip, weekend brunch, or baseball game (and a whole lot more)
- The ability to attach a personalized video greeting from YouTube
- Unique animations that make your invites a joy to receive
Google+ events also appear in Google Calendar automatically, and guests’ updates arrive instantly in the stream. The end result is a useful and beautiful place to manage your party.
During: share photos live with Party Mode
Photos are the cornerstone of any great event. They get people laughing and smiling, and they let us relive our favorite moments after the fact. The challenge—especially with the explosion in smartphones—is that too many photos get stranded in too many places. We struggle to even find people’s photos, let alone enjoy them all in one spot. Fortunately, Party Mode fixes these problems with a single tap.
Once you’ve enabled Party Mode on your mobile device, all of your new photos get added to the event in real-time. And as more guests turn on Party Mode, more pictures will instantly appear to fellow invitees. In this way Google+ Events gives your party a visual pulse; we’ve even added a "live slideshow" you can proudly project during the event.
After: see everyone’s pictures in one place
Once the guests go home, it's natural to reflect on the evening's events. We reminisce about the food, or the last dance, or the sparkle in someone’s eye. And we bask in the afterglow of shared experience for as long as memory allows. With Google+ Events you can now relive the party whenever you want, with a captivating and comprehensive set of photos.
Just visit your event page after it’s over, and you’ll see everyone’s pictures and comments in chronological order. You can also browse by popularity, photographer or photo tag with a few clicks. It’s easy, immersive and awesome.
Google+ has come a long way in a year, but we know we've got a long way to go. Fortunately we serve a community that's filled with thoughtful, committed individuals, and together we're creating something special. +1 person at a time.
25 Haziran 2012 Pazartesi
The never-ending quest for the perfect map
To contact us Click HERE
(Cross posted from the Official Google Blog)
For the last decade we’ve obsessed over building great maps for our users—maps that are totally comprehensive (we’re shooting for literally the whole world), ever more accurate and incredibly easy to navigate.
Comprehensiveness
It’s a pretty limited search engine that only draws from a subset of sources. In the same way, it’s not much of a map that leaves you stranded the moment you step off the highway or visit a new country. Over the last few years we’ve been building a comprehensive base map of the entire globe—based on public and commercial data, imagery from every level (satellite, aerial and street level) and the collective knowledge of our millions of users.
Today, we’re taking another step forward with our Street View Trekker. You’ve seen our cars, trikes, snowmobiles and trolleys—but wheels only get you so far. There’s a whole wilderness out there that is only accessible by foot. Trekker solves that problem by enabling us to photograph beautiful places such as the Grand Canyon so anyone can explore them. All the equipment fits in this one backpack, and we’ve already taken it out on the slopes.
Luc Vincent, engineering director, taking the Street View Trekker for a trial run in Tahoe
Accuracy
The next attribute map makers obsess over is accuracy. We still have a way to go because the world is constantly changing—with new houses, cities and parks appearing all the time—it’s a never ending job. But by cross-checking the data we have, we can significantly improve the accuracy of our maps. Turns out our users are as passionate about the quality of Google Maps as we are, and they give us great feedback on where we can do better. We make thousands of edits a day based on user feedback through our Report a Problem tool and via Map Maker, which we launched in 2008. Today we’re announcing the expansion of Map Maker to South Africa and Egypt, and to 10 more countries in the next few weeks: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland.
Usability
The final element of the perfect map is usability. It’s hard to remember what digital maps were like before Google Maps went live in 2005, and the huge technological breakthroughs that transformed clicking on arrows and waiting, to simply dragging a map with a mouse and watching it render smoothly and quickly. Plus, we added one single search box. Today we have thousands of data sources that feed into our maps making them a rich and interactive experience on any device—from driving directions to transit and indoor maps to restaurant reviews.
People have been asking for the ability to use our maps offline on their mobile phones. So today we’re announcing that offline Google Maps for Android are coming in the next few weeks. Users will be able to take maps offline from more than 100 countries. This means that the next time you are on the subway, or don’t have a data connection, you can still use our maps.
The next dimension
An important next step in improving all of these areas—comprehensiveness, accuracy, and usability of our maps—is the ability to model the world in 3D. Since 2006, we’ve had textured 3D buildings in Google Earth, and today we are excited to announce that we will begin adding 3D models to entire metropolitan areas to Google Earth on mobile devices. This is possible thanks to a combination of our new imagery rendering techniques and computer vision that let us automatically create 3D cityscapes, complete with buildings, terrain and even landscaping, from 45-degree aerial imagery. By the end of the year we aim to have 3D coverage for metropolitan areas with a combined population of 300 million people.
I have been working on mapping technology most of my life. We’ve made more progress, more quickly as an industry than I ever imagined possible. And we expect innovation to speed-up even more over the next few years. While we may never create the perfect map … we’re going to get much, much closer than we are today.
For the last decade we’ve obsessed over building great maps for our users—maps that are totally comprehensive (we’re shooting for literally the whole world), ever more accurate and incredibly easy to navigate.
Comprehensiveness
It’s a pretty limited search engine that only draws from a subset of sources. In the same way, it’s not much of a map that leaves you stranded the moment you step off the highway or visit a new country. Over the last few years we’ve been building a comprehensive base map of the entire globe—based on public and commercial data, imagery from every level (satellite, aerial and street level) and the collective knowledge of our millions of users.
Today, we’re taking another step forward with our Street View Trekker. You’ve seen our cars, trikes, snowmobiles and trolleys—but wheels only get you so far. There’s a whole wilderness out there that is only accessible by foot. Trekker solves that problem by enabling us to photograph beautiful places such as the Grand Canyon so anyone can explore them. All the equipment fits in this one backpack, and we’ve already taken it out on the slopes.
Luc Vincent, engineering director, taking the Street View Trekker for a trial run in Tahoe
Accuracy
The next attribute map makers obsess over is accuracy. We still have a way to go because the world is constantly changing—with new houses, cities and parks appearing all the time—it’s a never ending job. But by cross-checking the data we have, we can significantly improve the accuracy of our maps. Turns out our users are as passionate about the quality of Google Maps as we are, and they give us great feedback on where we can do better. We make thousands of edits a day based on user feedback through our Report a Problem tool and via Map Maker, which we launched in 2008. Today we’re announcing the expansion of Map Maker to South Africa and Egypt, and to 10 more countries in the next few weeks: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland.
Usability
The final element of the perfect map is usability. It’s hard to remember what digital maps were like before Google Maps went live in 2005, and the huge technological breakthroughs that transformed clicking on arrows and waiting, to simply dragging a map with a mouse and watching it render smoothly and quickly. Plus, we added one single search box. Today we have thousands of data sources that feed into our maps making them a rich and interactive experience on any device—from driving directions to transit and indoor maps to restaurant reviews.
People have been asking for the ability to use our maps offline on their mobile phones. So today we’re announcing that offline Google Maps for Android are coming in the next few weeks. Users will be able to take maps offline from more than 100 countries. This means that the next time you are on the subway, or don’t have a data connection, you can still use our maps.
The next dimension
An important next step in improving all of these areas—comprehensiveness, accuracy, and usability of our maps—is the ability to model the world in 3D. Since 2006, we’ve had textured 3D buildings in Google Earth, and today we are excited to announce that we will begin adding 3D models to entire metropolitan areas to Google Earth on mobile devices. This is possible thanks to a combination of our new imagery rendering techniques and computer vision that let us automatically create 3D cityscapes, complete with buildings, terrain and even landscaping, from 45-degree aerial imagery. By the end of the year we aim to have 3D coverage for metropolitan areas with a combined population of 300 million people.
I have been working on mapping technology most of my life. We’ve made more progress, more quickly as an industry than I ever imagined possible. And we expect innovation to speed-up even more over the next few years. While we may never create the perfect map … we’re going to get much, much closer than we are today.
Google Map Maker now available in South Africa and Egypt, and coming soon to more corners of the globe
To contact us Click HERE
From the wild grasslands of Kruger National Park to the the extraordinary pyramids of Giza, the world is ripe with wonders waiting to be explored. It’s time to share the beauty of your country by adding and updating the places you care about in Google Maps. We are excited to announce that Google Map Maker is now available for South Africa and Egypt.
With Google Map Maker, you can contribute your local knowledge to make a more detailed and comprehensive map of the changing world around us. Begin in your neighborhood and try adding the building footprints for all the restaurants along the beach, updating the one way street that just recently became a two-way, or mapping the local stadium before heading off to a game. Once approved, your contributions will appear on Google Maps, Google Earth and Google Maps for mobile, accurately reflecting your real-life neighborhood.
Giza Zoo near Cairo University comes to life in Google Maps.
Is your local park already on the map? You can also create the outline of the nearby lake and tennis courts, add important details about your favorite historic sites, or map the walking paths through the public gardens. Help tourists explore your town by editing road details so visitors can find their way to all the premier destinations. Join with other local mappers and use your local expertise to review one another’s contributions to the map.
Google Map Maker warmly welcomes South Africa and Egypt mappers to the team of citizen cartographers from across the globe as they continue to build the world map. We’ll continue our expansion over the next month to the following countries as well: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland.
Stay tuned for additional announcements with the Google Maps page on Google Plus, learn more on the Map Maker YouTube Channel, and get started mapping today!
From the wild grasslands of Kruger National Park to the the extraordinary pyramids of Giza, the world is ripe with wonders waiting to be explored. It’s time to share the beauty of your country by adding and updating the places you care about in Google Maps. We are excited to announce that Google Map Maker is now available for South Africa and Egypt.
With Google Map Maker, you can contribute your local knowledge to make a more detailed and comprehensive map of the changing world around us. Begin in your neighborhood and try adding the building footprints for all the restaurants along the beach, updating the one way street that just recently became a two-way, or mapping the local stadium before heading off to a game. Once approved, your contributions will appear on Google Maps, Google Earth and Google Maps for mobile, accurately reflecting your real-life neighborhood.
Is your local park already on the map? You can also create the outline of the nearby lake and tennis courts, add important details about your favorite historic sites, or map the walking paths through the public gardens. Help tourists explore your town by editing road details so visitors can find their way to all the premier destinations. Join with other local mappers and use your local expertise to review one another’s contributions to the map.
Google Map Maker warmly welcomes South Africa and Egypt mappers to the team of citizen cartographers from across the globe as they continue to build the world map. We’ll continue our expansion over the next month to the following countries as well: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland.
Stay tuned for additional announcements with the Google Maps page on Google Plus, learn more on the Map Maker YouTube Channel, and get started mapping today!
Introducing Google Maps Coordinate: Organize teams on the move
To contact us Click HERE
(Cross-posted on the Official Google Enterprise Blog)
Imagine you are a call center operator at an electric utility company. A call comes in reporting a downed powerline in one of the northern suburbs of your city, and an entire neighborhood is without power. You need to quickly dispatch one of your line repairers to the site, which is almost an hour away. To save time and get the power back up quickly, you want to know which line repairers are already in the area and send them the relevant information about the job.
That’s where Google Maps Coordinate comes in, a new tool designed to improve communication between businesses and their employees in the field. As the number of mobile employees continues to grow, so does the need for a location sharing solution that works in real-time. Research firm IDC estimates that there will be over 1.3 billion mobile workers by 2015 (37.2% of the total workforce)*. Google Maps Coordinate combines the power of Google’s mapping technologies with modern smartphones to help organizations assign jobs and deploy staff more efficiently.
When a business signs up for Google Maps Coordinate, they get access to the Google Maps Coordinate web and mobile apps.
Employees in the field download the mobile app to their phone and then can:
Any business can sign up for Google Maps Coordinate. Google Maps Coordinate is built to work seamlessly with the entire Google Enterprise Maps and Earth experience, and it comes with an API that can integrate with any of your existing systems.
Contact our sales team or a Google Enterprise Maps and Earth reseller if you’re interested in signing up for Google Maps Coordinate. Share your Google Maps Coordinate use cases and feedback on our Enterprise G+ page.
*IDC, Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2011-2015 Forecast, Doc #232073, December 2011
Posted by Daniel Chu, Senior Product Manager
Imagine you are a call center operator at an electric utility company. A call comes in reporting a downed powerline in one of the northern suburbs of your city, and an entire neighborhood is without power. You need to quickly dispatch one of your line repairers to the site, which is almost an hour away. To save time and get the power back up quickly, you want to know which line repairers are already in the area and send them the relevant information about the job.
That’s where Google Maps Coordinate comes in, a new tool designed to improve communication between businesses and their employees in the field. As the number of mobile employees continues to grow, so does the need for a location sharing solution that works in real-time. Research firm IDC estimates that there will be over 1.3 billion mobile workers by 2015 (37.2% of the total workforce)*. Google Maps Coordinate combines the power of Google’s mapping technologies with modern smartphones to help organizations assign jobs and deploy staff more efficiently.
When a business signs up for Google Maps Coordinate, they get access to the Google Maps Coordinate web and mobile apps.
Employees in the field download the mobile app to their phone and then can:
- Share real-time location. Google Maps Coordinate is built on Google’s mapping and geolocation infrastructure so the app will send an accurate location, even if you’re indoors (Google Maps Coordinate integrates with Google Indoor Maps).
- Record data. Mobile teams often need to collect information while out in the field. Google Maps Coordinate allows the admin to customize the fields that the mobile team needs to capture and collect – from measurements to client contact details – directly in the app.
- Create teams. Add team members to a Google Maps Coordinate team and see their locations in the Google Maps Coordinate web and mobile app. For example, our electric utility company might create a special team for home electricians and another for line repairers.
- Manage jobs. Easily create jobs, precisely locate the job, assign the job to the nearest team member and notify them instantly. The next time there is a downed powerline, the operator at the utility company will have no problem identifying the closest team member and assigning them to investigate the issue.
- View past jobs and locations. Get the hard data needed to make strong business decisions. With Google Maps Coordinate, businesses can easily visualize the locations of all their jobs and teams, including current and past jobs. Businesses can assess where they should be assigning or hiring more workers and how to optimally place their teams.
Any business can sign up for Google Maps Coordinate. Google Maps Coordinate is built to work seamlessly with the entire Google Enterprise Maps and Earth experience, and it comes with an API that can integrate with any of your existing systems.
Contact our sales team or a Google Enterprise Maps and Earth reseller if you’re interested in signing up for Google Maps Coordinate. Share your Google Maps Coordinate use cases and feedback on our Enterprise G+ page.
*IDC, Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2011-2015 Forecast, Doc #232073, December 2011
Posted by Daniel Chu, Senior Product Manager
Towards Crowdsourcing Forest Monitoring: lessons from SAD powered by Google Earth Engine
To contact us Click HERE
Editor's note: Throughout this week we'll be publishing a series of blog posts about our activities at Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. This guest post is from Google Earth Engine partner Carlos Souza of Imazon.
In the last seven years Brazil has reduced deforestation considerably, and forest monitoring has been a key part of this effort. Imazon, a Brazilian NGO working to promote sustainable development in the Amazon, has developed a forest monitoring system called SAD, and has been working with Google to integrate Google Earth Engine into our work. We’re now ready to share our progress and to take the next step in our efforts to crowdsource forest monitoring in Brazil and, potentially, the rest of the world.
First a bit about Imazon and our work. SAD is an acronym, in Portuguese, for Sistema de Alerta de Desmatamento, or Deforestation Alert System. This system detects and measures deforestation and forest degradation in Brazil by analyzing MODIS satellite imagery. The idea is to track deforestation in the same way the government tracks inflation, making it a regularly updated indicator of the overall health of the country.
SAD analysis is quite complex, involving a great deal of satellite data. The end result of the analysis is a ratio of soil, photosynthetic vegetation, and non-photosyntheic vegetation for each pixel in a MODIS image covering the Brazilian Amazon. SAD tracks and reports deforestation and forest degradation on a monthly basis by calculating changes in this ratio for satellite images acquired at different times. We provide this map, along with deforestation alerts, to key authorities working to fight illegal deforestation in the Amazon.
This past weekend at Google’s “From the Ground to the Cloud” event at Rio+20 we proudly announced the next step in the evolution of SAD: SAD-EE, powered by Google Earth Engine. Starting in July, Imazon's monthly deforestation reports -- which includes deforestation happening while we are here at Rio+20 -- will be generated by SAD-EE.
SAD-EE improves Imazon’s forest monitoring program in several ways:
Editor's note: Throughout this week we'll be publishing a series of blog posts about our activities at Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. This guest post is from Google Earth Engine partner Carlos Souza of Imazon.
In the last seven years Brazil has reduced deforestation considerably, and forest monitoring has been a key part of this effort. Imazon, a Brazilian NGO working to promote sustainable development in the Amazon, has developed a forest monitoring system called SAD, and has been working with Google to integrate Google Earth Engine into our work. We’re now ready to share our progress and to take the next step in our efforts to crowdsource forest monitoring in Brazil and, potentially, the rest of the world.
First a bit about Imazon and our work. SAD is an acronym, in Portuguese, for Sistema de Alerta de Desmatamento, or Deforestation Alert System. This system detects and measures deforestation and forest degradation in Brazil by analyzing MODIS satellite imagery. The idea is to track deforestation in the same way the government tracks inflation, making it a regularly updated indicator of the overall health of the country.
SAD analysis is quite complex, involving a great deal of satellite data. The end result of the analysis is a ratio of soil, photosynthetic vegetation, and non-photosyntheic vegetation for each pixel in a MODIS image covering the Brazilian Amazon. SAD tracks and reports deforestation and forest degradation on a monthly basis by calculating changes in this ratio for satellite images acquired at different times. We provide this map, along with deforestation alerts, to key authorities working to fight illegal deforestation in the Amazon.
This past weekend at Google’s “From the Ground to the Cloud” event at Rio+20 we proudly announced the next step in the evolution of SAD: SAD-EE, powered by Google Earth Engine. Starting in July, Imazon's monthly deforestation reports -- which includes deforestation happening while we are here at Rio+20 -- will be generated by SAD-EE.
SAD-EE improves Imazon’s forest monitoring program in several ways:
- We can now access and process the data using Google’s cloud, which dramatically changes how we work. For instance, during the testing phase of using SAD-EE we reduced the amount of time we spend downloading and managing the very large data sets of MODIS images by 50%, and analysis in the cloud is much faster than on our desktop computers. Getting this information to the authorities faster can be translated into several hectares of forests saved each month
- SAD-EE is integrated with the Internet, mobile phone and computer tablet technologies, making it easier for local organizations to access it.
- The system can be used outside Brazil, allowing other tropical forest countries to monitor their forests. Indeed, there is now a project to make this happen through a partnership with Google and the World Resources Institute, via the Global Forest Watch Program.
For me, the most exciting aspect of SAD-EE is that the system demonstrates the potential for Google Earth Engine to become a multi-sensor, multi-algorithm, multi-technology, crowdsourcing environmental monitoring platform. As Google Earth Engine evolves, it is allowing scientists and remote sensing users to share their knowledge and tools and enabling large groups of people to track and report changes in our planet.
SAD-EE's reporting tool
Where the roads aren't - and why it matters
To contact us Click HERE
Editor's note: Last week we published a series of blog posts about our activities at Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The final post below is by Rebecca Moore, manager of the Google Earth Outreach team.
We were excited to unveil at the Rio+20 Conference the initial fruits of a unique collaboration with a member of the European Parliament and the Society for Conservation Biology: a global, interactive map of the world’s “Roadless Areas.”
The project came about when we were approached by MEP Kriton Arsenis, the European Parliament's Rapporteur on forests. He explained that, while most people using Google Maps want to know which roads will get them from point A to point B, the same information is useful for conservationists who want to know where roads aren’t. In his words:
Start with where the Roads are
We started by taking all the road data (plus rail and navigable waterways) in Google Maps today, and importing that into our Google Earth Engine platform for analysis. For example, here is what the road network in Australia looks like when zoomed out to country-scale:
Then figure out where the roads aren't
Based upon advice from Kriton Arsenis and his project collaborators in the Society for Conservation Biology, we decided to define a “Roadless Area” (for the purposes of this prototype map) as any area of land more than ten kilometers from the nearest road. Using the global-scale spatial-analytic capabilities of Google Earth Engine, we then generated this raster map, such that every pixel in the map is color-coded based on distance from the nearest road. Every pixel colored green is at least 10km from the nearest road, and therefore considered part of a Roadless Area. For example:
Or consider the island of Madagascar, home to some of the most unique species on Earth:
From these maps it becomes more apparent how the simple construction of new roads can fragment and disturb habitats, potentially driving threatened species closer to extinction.
Finally we decided to try running this “Roadless Area” algorithm at global-scale:
Large roadless areas are readily apparent such as the Amazon and Indonesian rainforests, Canadian boreal forest and Sahara desert.
Caveats and Next Steps
The road data used to produce these maps inevitably contains inaccuracies and omissions. The good news is that Google already has a tool, Google Map Maker, that can be used by anyone to submit new or corrected map data, and in fact this tool is already being used in partnership with the United Nations to support global emergency response. We look forward to continued development of this prototype, which can help to turn the abstract concept of “Roadless Areas” into something quite concrete and, we hope, useful to policymakers, scientists and communities around the world. To explore these Roadless Area maps yourself, visit the Google Earth Engine Map Gallery.
Posted by Rebecca Moore, Manager, Google Earth Outreach and Google Earth Engine
Editor's note: Last week we published a series of blog posts about our activities at Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The final post below is by Rebecca Moore, manager of the Google Earth Outreach team.
We were excited to unveil at the Rio+20 Conference the initial fruits of a unique collaboration with a member of the European Parliament and the Society for Conservation Biology: a global, interactive map of the world’s “Roadless Areas.”
The project came about when we were approached by MEP Kriton Arsenis, the European Parliament's Rapporteur on forests. He explained that, while most people using Google Maps want to know which roads will get them from point A to point B, the same information is useful for conservationists who want to know where roads aren’t. In his words:
The concept of "roadless areas" is a well-established conservation measure coming from conservation biologists from all around the globe. The idea is that roads in most parts of the world lead to the unmanageable private access to the natural resources of an area, most often leading to ecosystem degradation and without the consent of the local and indigenous communities. Keeping an area roadless means that the specific territory is shielded against such exogenous pressures, thus sustaining its ecosystem services at the maximum possible level. An important tool which will drive environmental, development as well as global climate change policy forward will be the Google development of an interactive satellite map of the world's roadless areas.We were intrigued by Kriton’s idea, so we decided to give it a try.
Start with where the Roads are
We started by taking all the road data (plus rail and navigable waterways) in Google Maps today, and importing that into our Google Earth Engine platform for analysis. For example, here is what the road network in Australia looks like when zoomed out to country-scale:
Then figure out where the roads aren't
Based upon advice from Kriton Arsenis and his project collaborators in the Society for Conservation Biology, we decided to define a “Roadless Area” (for the purposes of this prototype map) as any area of land more than ten kilometers from the nearest road. Using the global-scale spatial-analytic capabilities of Google Earth Engine, we then generated this raster map, such that every pixel in the map is color-coded based on distance from the nearest road. Every pixel colored green is at least 10km from the nearest road, and therefore considered part of a Roadless Area. For example:
Or consider the island of Madagascar, home to some of the most unique species on Earth:
From these maps it becomes more apparent how the simple construction of new roads can fragment and disturb habitats, potentially driving threatened species closer to extinction.
Finally we decided to try running this “Roadless Area” algorithm at global-scale:
Large roadless areas are readily apparent such as the Amazon and Indonesian rainforests, Canadian boreal forest and Sahara desert.
Caveats and Next Steps
The road data used to produce these maps inevitably contains inaccuracies and omissions. The good news is that Google already has a tool, Google Map Maker, that can be used by anyone to submit new or corrected map data, and in fact this tool is already being used in partnership with the United Nations to support global emergency response. We look forward to continued development of this prototype, which can help to turn the abstract concept of “Roadless Areas” into something quite concrete and, we hope, useful to policymakers, scientists and communities around the world. To explore these Roadless Area maps yourself, visit the Google Earth Engine Map Gallery.
Posted by Rebecca Moore, Manager, Google Earth Outreach and Google Earth Engine
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