Google announced today that has provided mapping (via the Google Maps API) for a couple of highway safety initiatives around the use of cell phones in vehicles.

The first such initiative is Oprah’s "No Phone Zone", which lets users make a pledge under three different options: no texting, no texting plus handsfree calling only, and no phone use at all while driving. These pledges are then mapped in near real-time using the API, so others can see where and when these pledges were made.

The second initiative is about educating people about state policies related to phone use on the road. There is another map in which users can click on a state to see restrictions on texting, handsfree, and handheld phone use. Users can then click through for more details from the Governors Highway Safety Association, or even contact a state Governor’s office directly.

"Mobile communication has revolutionized the way we live, but unfortunately, irresponsible use has also made the roads more dangerous," says Jesse Friedman, a Google Product Marketing Manager. "In 2008, nearly 6000 people lost their lives in the US and more than half a million people were injured in police-reported crashes during which some form of driver distraction was reported — and according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, cell phone use was a major contributor to that."

I’ll go out on a limb and say Google does not want you to view these maps on your phone while you’re driving. Oprah’s site has more info about the No Phone Zone initiative.

Last week Google changed the Local Business Center to Google Places, and along with that change came some new features for local businesses. We looked at those here.

Among those changes was the addition of Google’s tag advertising. For $25 a month, businesses (in certain cities) can use Tags to highlight their listings on Google.com and Google Maps. These are yellow markers that let you promote important aspects of your business. They can be used for things like coupons, photos, and other select features.  They don’t affect the rank of search results, but they give customers more information and may prove beneficial.

Google promised that while the offering was starting out in a limited number of cities, that number would be expanding. The expansion process is underway. Google has now announced the addition of 11 new cities.

The new cities are: San Jose, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Washington DC, San Diego, Seattle, Boulder, Chicago, San Francisco and Mountain View.

"You’ll notice that we’ve added Mountain View, CA to the list of cities participating in the trial," says Product Manager Shalini Agarwal. "Because we are still tweaking the product a bit, we thought we’d make it available in our hometown so we can get quick feedback as we work on new features."

Businesses in the available cities can sign up for Tags from their Google Places accounts.

In a couple weeks, Google says it will launch a new tag type: "post to your Place Page". This will be a freeform text field that will let business owners highlight custom messages announcing sales or events.

The company did not indicate when more cities will become available, but I would expect the feature to make regular expansions in the not-too-distant future.

Every now and then we publish the favorite mobile apps or sites of the ReadWriteWeb staff. The last time we did this was November 2009, however with our Mobile Summit just around the corner we wanted to give you an updated list. We’re all early adopters of mobile technology here at ReadWriteWeb, so have a scan of our favorite apps and see what catches your eye.

We’d also love to know your current favorites, because that’s a great way to keep our finger on the pulse. Please note your favorite mobile apps or sites in the comments.

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Join us at the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7, in Mountain View, CA, to discuss the hottest mobile apps and the latest mobile trends. If you’re in town for the Web 2.0 Expo that week, our Mobile Summit is the day after. We’d love to see you there! Register here.

Richard MacManus (iPhone)

• ReadWriteWeb iPhone App (of course)
• Diamedic
• Evernote
• Insight (Basecamp app)
• Google Voice
• Google Reader
• Shazam
• Facebook
• Tweetie
• Woopra
• Flicks (movies)
• Art
• Words With Friends
• WorldMate
• NYTimes
• The Onion

Marshall Kirkpatrick

• Facebook
• Portland Business Journal
• Cinch
• Gowalla
• Tweetie
• NYT
• WSJ
• Rachel Maddow
• Yelp
• Pandora
• SimpleMindX (mind mapping)
• AroundMe
• Instapaper
• Shazam
• AppsFire
• BaseBall ’10
• Etsy Addict
• Newser
• Crop For Free
• The Guardian
• Plancast
• Mobile Safari

  Mobile web apps: Techmeme, MediaGazer, Quora, EveryBlock

Sarah Perez

iPhone:

• Google Reader (web app)
• Facebook
• WeatherBug
• Flashlight
• Tweetie
• Brizzly
• TweetDeck
• Siri
• Flickr
• Bump
• Phone Flicks
• Pandora
• Foursquare (why am I doing this?)
• WhiteNoise (baby app)
• Instapaper
• NYT
• Yelp
• Google Maps
• Amazon
• Babies R Us
• Notifications
• iScrobble

iPad:

• Google Reader (web app)
• NYT
• BBC
• NPR
• USA Today
• Netflix
• AP News
• ABC Player
• Instapaper
• Pandora
• Twitterific
• StreamToMe
• Facebook (web shortcut! no app!)
• Desktop
• iMahjong

Frederic Lardinois

• Instapaper
• Reeder
• Gowalla
• Tweetie
• WorldMate
• Boxcar
• PicPosterous
• NYTimes

Mike Melanson (iPhone)

• Facebook
• Tweetdeck
• Evernote
• Public Radio
• Gowalla
• Google Maps
• Boxcar
• MapMyRide (when I’m out riding)
• Pandora
• ReadItLater

Alex Williams

• Pandora
• Twitdroid
• Facebook
• Google Maps
• The Hangover ("for weekend mindless laughs with the teenage son.")

Chris Cameron

• Social: Foursquare, Tweetie, Facebook.
• Games: Words With Friends & Charadium.
• Photography: AutoStitch, TiltShiftGen & ColorSplash.
• Other: TripIt & Chipotle.

  And the RWW app of course!! (Actually I use it every day to share my stories on Twitter/Facebook easily).

Audrey Watters

I like mobile apps that allow me to move easily between iphone and laptop, so Evernote and RememberTheMilk.

Also Marvel and ComiXology’s comics apps. And the Kindle app for when I need words to go with my picture books.

Abraham Hyatt

Goodreads, Stanza, Thompson Reuters, ReadItLater, NYT, Echofon, CameraPlus, Words With Friends, RWW, Pandora

Sean Ammirati

Twitterific, RWW App, Encamp, Kindle, Zipcar App

Elyssa Pallai

Where’s Wally – entertainment for children of every age.

Jared Smith ("The Lone Blackberrier")

• Twitter for BlackBerry official app–direct message push via the BlackBerry system is an awful nice touch
• Seesmic for BlackBerry–fills a big gap in the official Twitter client by letting me support multiple accounts; probably the program that’s easiest on my resources aside from the official client
• MyKite–still my go-to to check in on Brightkite on BlackBerry
• Rowmote (I use it on an iPod touch)–extremely inexpensive and powerful alternative to the Apple Remote for controlling a Mac.
• RadarScope (on iPod touch)–still the best mobile radar viewer on any platform.

See also: POLL: Which Location-Based Mobile App Do You Use Now?

Discuss

So rarely do I install an actual application on my computer these days, when I run across a download dialog I have to consider whether or not I’ll actually open the program or if it will just clutter up my desktop and start menu. Such is the reason, silly as it may be, I have yet to install Google Earth onto my netbook.

As of yesterday, my Google Earth-less days are over, as Google has released its all-encompassing 3D view of the earth as a browser plugin, making sure I never have to stray far from my workaday path to peruse Peru or browse Belize.

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The install comes as an approximately 19 megabyte download that adds right onto your browser and brings Google Earth straight into the place your likely used to looking at maps the most – Google Maps.

Now, along the top of your Google Map, you will see a button next to Map and Satellite for Earth. Immediately, we noticed that Google Earth zooms in further and clearer than the Satellite view, at least out in the countryside, where the satellite view is often less detailed. And switching between views is quick and seemless. Some of the overlays that are available in Satellite view however, such as bicycling directions, were not available in Earth view.

Not only is Google Earth now more easily accessible (not to say it was hard before, as it had more than 600 million downloads) but now it can be embedded into other websites as well, using the Google Earth API. The Earth plugin is currently available and supported on most browsers for Mac and PC.

Discuss

Ready or not, another integration of Google’s products has occurred.  Now, when Google Maps users go looking for a terrain view, they won’t find it; instead, a new option that essentially functions as a link to Google Earth is at the ready.

People who don’t already have Google Earth installed will in fact be unable to proceed until they download a browser plugin, and it’s almost certain that this change will disappoint some folks.  A 3D pan-and-zoom experience is likely to be seen as overkill (and a resource hog) if all that’s needed is a rough idea of how some land rises and falls.

Google Earth is definitely a more entertaining product than a simple terrain view, however, and people who weren’t aware of Google Earth or just weren’t in the habit of using it may appreciate the update.

Also, it’s fair to say that the average computer of 2010 should be more capable of handling Google Earth than the average computer of 2005 (the year Google Earth launched).

All in all, Google has at least brought its product line closer together and succeeded in upping the eye candy factor of Google Maps.  Traditionalists can still enjoy the same old "Map," "Satellite," and "Traffic" overhead views, as well.

Earlier today, reports indicated that Google Maps Navigation (an Internet-connected GPS nav system) would become available on the iPhone, and while some people viewed this a nice peace offering, others thought Google was damaging its mobile business.  Only it turns out even more cynicism was appropriate, as no such move is guaranteed to occur.

Yes, sorry iPhone owners, but Google hasn’t decided to forfeit one of Android’s advantages.  The company’s instead asserting that a corporate representative was misquoted, and although it might allow Apple devices to use Google Maps Navigation at some point, no promises were made.

"We did not say we would bring it to iPhone, we said to date we’ve had it on Android and that in the future it may come to other platforms but did not confirm this will be coming to iPhone at all," a spokesperson told Daniel Ionescu.

So it looks like the introduction of Google Maps Navigation in the UK and Ireland that occurred on Wednesday will be about the only big news on this front this week.

We’ll definitely keep an ear out with regards to what those "other platforms" are, though, since that issue still hasn’t been clarified.

Ready or not, Google Maps fans, here Google Buzz comes.  Following all other sorts of product integrations, Google’s now made it possible to combine its Google Buzz layer of data with the desktop version of Google Maps.

This really does make for a significant trend.  In just the past month or so, we’ve discussed a Buzz widget for Android, the integration of Buzz with Google Apps, the blending of Buzz and Gmail for mobile, and a tie-in with Blogger.

Of course, whether these steps are entirely welcome may be a different story, considering that the majority of Buzz users appear to be bots and an international group of data protection authorities is still protesting Google’s rollout of the service.

We’ll leave all that alone for the time being, though, and move on to the most recent development.  A post on the LatLong Blog explained it by stating, "We’ve received a lot of requests to make the Google Buzz layer available on desktop Google Maps, and today we’re doing just that."

The post then continued, "To view the Google Buzz layer from your computer, go to Google Maps in your web browser and select Buzz from the More… menu in the top right corner of the map.  Find an interesting area like your neighborhood and select any available icon to see what’s going on there.  In the post’s window, click on the name to see the author’s public profile, the timestamp to comment on the post, or the place to see it in Maps."

The list of suggestions that pops up whenever you enter text into the Google search bar has just been added to Google Maps, Google announced today.

The feature, which has been in testing in Germany, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, has been added to 10 more domains in 8 additional languages and should make searching for places that much easier.

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As usual with Google these days, the search and the suggested search terms are tailored to your location. The example given in Google’s blog post is “Mandela”, which in San Francisco comes up with a number of geographically relevant results and in London comes up with a completely different set of results.

The search suggestion will be available beginning today in China, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, United States and the United Kingdom.

Discuss

Facebook made some of the biggest news of the week with the anouncements from its developer conference, as far as online business goes, but Google had some significant news about local search that may have taken a backseat, but should not be ignored.

The Google Local Business Center is now called Google Places, as the company aims to rebrand the product around the Place Pages it introduced last fall. Place Pages are the pages for business listings that are found in Google local searches. They contain relevant information about a business from various places on the web, such as reviews and images, as well as other info the business puts up after claiming their listing.

Is Google’s rebranded local business center a step in the right direction? Tell us what you think.

Google Places, the company says, is "just the beginning of what’s to come from our efforts to make Google more local."

New features that come along with the name change include:

1. Service areas - Businesses who travel can show the geographic areas that they cover. Those without a storefront can make their address private.

2. Advertising with Tags – For 25 bucks a month, businesses (in certain cities) can use Tags to highlight their listings on Google.com and Google Maps. These are yellow markers that let you promote important aspects of your business. They can be used for thins like coupons, photos, and other select features.  They don’t affect the rank of search results, but they give customers more information and may prove beneficial. You can expect Google to increase the number of cities where this option is available.

3. Business photo shoots – Businesses (again, in certain cities) can request a free photo shoot from Google to have the interior of their business photographed and added to their Place Page. We’ve seen Google do this in the past. Now we know what they’re doing (learn more here). You can upload your own photos as well.

4. Customized QR Codes – Google is providing customized QR codes from the Google Places Dashboard. The code will take customers to your place page, and can be used on business cards and other marketing materials. Customers can scan them with their smartphones.

5. More Favorite Places - Remember Google’s "Favorite Places" program in which the company sent brick and mortars window decals with QR codes? They’re sending them out to 50,000 more businesses in the U.S.

Google also gives businesses using Google Places info they haven’t been able to see in the past, like who’s searching for them, how they’re finding them, and where they’re coming from. This is through the dashboard, as explained in the following clip:

"One out of five searches on Google are related to location, and we want to make sure that businesses are able to be found and put their best foot forward," says Google Maps, Earth, and Local VP John Hanke.

The standard rules still apply to Google Places. Every listing must have a mailing address and there can’t be more than one listing per physical location. Even doctors with multiple practices and services that cover multiple towns shouldn’t have two listings. Google recommends in these cases that businesses use the description or categories to explain the different services offered. Google’s quality guidelines can be found here, and may be helpful to businesses with questions about their listings.

Back when Google first launched Place Pages, we asked if Google would eliminate the need for small business websites(at least brick and mortars). As Google improves this and Facebook continues to provide more opportunities for businesses, I’ll pose the question once again. To be clear, I’m not ready to give up on the website yet, but with the tools that are becoming available to businesses, do you think it is imperative to have a website these days? Share your thoughts.

Google recently launched Suggest for Google Maps in several countries, and has now expanded the availability of the feature to ten more domains. The feature has also gotten some improvements.

The suggestions in Google Maps now include more information like the address of the business or the district that a place is in. "This extra information helps you find and select the exact business or location you’re seeking," say Engineer Steffen Meschkat and Product Manager Peter Lidwell.

"As a team based in our Zürich office, we understand the importance of getting information that is locally relevant," the pair says. "We’ve built this knowledge into Suggest for Google Maps so that you get the most useful suggestions depending on where you’re zoomed into on the map. For example, if you search for ‘Mandela’ in San Francisco, you’ll see items such as Mandela High School and businesses in nearby Oakland."

Those who are signed into their Google accounts and have their web history enabled can also see their personalized suggestions, based on past searches.

The suggestions feature is currently available to Google Maps users in China, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, United States, and the United Kingdom. Google says it’s looking to expand it worldwide soon.

If you want to map a locale or score some directions but want to avoid driving into a pole, you can now use your pipes. Google Maps now recognizes Search by Voice on Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones.

Google introduced Search by Voice in 2008 and has been rolling that functionality out into different parts of the Googlesphere since. Now Google Maps 4.1 comes with voice search.

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The categories of search that Maps will now recognize vocally includes the full spectrum of search fields already enabled for mobile.

• business name
• business category
• city, state
• ZIP code
• postal address
• intersection, city, state
• airport code
• latitude longitude

Hands-free it is not, however. To start the search you still need to open Google Maps and hit “call” prior to making your search.

The install is available on qualifying phones at m.google.com/maps.

An interesting aspect of the language settings the ability to select not just your language but, if it’s English, the accent you use. I wonder if this functionality will be available to Spanish-speakers or whether the different accents within Yue Chinese will eventually be recognized.

Discuss

People who – deep breath – live in the UK or Ireland, don’t like to get lost, can tolerate beta software, and own a new-ish Android phone are in luck.  An unfinished version of Google Maps Navigation has been made available in the UK and Ireland for Android devices 1.6 and higher.

Google’s idea here is to simplify the task of driving around.  A post on the Google Mobile Blog explained, "Like other satnav devices, Navigation includes 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance, and automatic rerouting.  But because Google Maps Navigation is connected to the Internet, it also features powerful functionality you can’t get from other satnav services, including the most up to date map, business, and traffic data, access to satellite and street views, and of course, search."

And Google Maps Navigation offers voice search, too, perhaps making the tool safer to use than some alternatives.

Of course, this rollout isn’t exactly huge.  However, the release of something in the UK has often represented the start of a domino effect, with Google offering it in several other countries soon after.

We’ll see what happens.  At any rate, there’s at least a certain segment of the population that should appreciate this development, and Google’s shown it remains interested in the mobile market.

The Google Local Business Center is now called Google Places, as the company aims to rebrand the product around the Place Pages it introduced last fall. Place Pages are the pages for business listings that are found in Google local searches. They contain relevant information about a business from various places on the web, such as reviews and images, as well as other info the business puts up after claiming their listing.

Is Google’s rebranded local business center a step in the right direction? Tell us what you think.

Google Places, the company says, is "just the beginning of what’s to come from our efforts to make Google more local."

New features that come along with the name change include:

1. Service areas - Businesses who travel can show the geographic areas that they cover. Those without a storefront can make their address private.

2. Advertising with Tags – For 25 bucks a month, businesses (in certain cities) can use Tags to highlight their listings on Google.com and Google Maps. These are yellow markers that let you promote important aspects of your business. They can be used for thins like coupons, photos, and other select features.  They don’t affect the rank of search results, but they give customers more information and may prove beneficial. You can expect Google to increase the number of cities where this option is available.

3. Business photo shoots – Businesses (again, in certain cities) can request a free photo shoot from Google to have the interior of their business photographed and added to their Place Page. We’ve seen Google do this in the past. Now we know what they’re doing (learn more here). You can upload your own photos as well.

4. Customized QR Codes – Google is providing customized QR codes from the Google Places Dashboard. The code will take customers to your place page, and can be used on business cards and other marketing materials. Customers can scan them with their smartphones.

5. More Favorite Places - Remember Google’s "Favorite Places" program in which the company sent brick and mortars window decals with QR codes? They’re sending them out to 50,000 more businesses in the U.S.

Google also gives businesses using Google Places info they haven’t been able to see in the past, like who’s searching for them, how they’re finding them, and where they’re coming from. This is through the dashboard, as explained in the following clip:

"One out of five searches on Google are related to location, and we want to make sure that businesses are able to be found and put their best foot forward," says Google Maps, Earth, and Local VP John Hanke.

The standard rules still apply to Google Places. Every listing must have a mailing address and there can’t be more than one listing per physical location. Even doctors with multiple practices and services that cover multiple towns shouldn’t have two listings. Google recommends in these cases that businesses use the description or categories to explain the different services offered. Google’s quality guidelines can be found here, and may be helpful to businesses with questions about their listings.

Back when Google first launched Place Pages, we asked if Google would eliminate the need for small business websites(at least brick and mortars). As Google improves this and Facebook continues to provide more opportunities for businesses, I’ll pose the question once again. To be clear, I’m not ready to give up on the website yet, but with the tools that are becoming available to businesses, do you think it is imperative to have a website these days? Share your thoughts.

Two months ago, Xerox sued Google and Yahoo for patent infringement, and the two defendants haven’t responded by pulling out their checkbooks.  They’ve instead taken the interesting (though not unexpected) step of making counterclaims.

Apparently Google and Yahoo are willing to accept either of a couple explanations for why they’re not guilty of infringement.  Reuters reported, "In filings in Delaware federal court on Thursday, the defendants sought declarations that they did not infringe the two patents at issue, or variantly that the patents are invalid and thus cannot be enforced by Xerox."

That’s a rather interesting approach, but one that’s hard to argue with.  It’ll allow Google and Yahoo’s lawyers to look for loopholes even as they claim that the patents are too broad (one covers generating queries based on keyword searches, while the other relates to updating pages based on user reviews).

Also, even if the tactic seems a little unrefined, a whole lot of products – including AdSense, AdWords, Google Maps, Google Video, YouTube, the Yahoo Publisher Network, Yahoo Search Marketing, Yahoo Shopping, and the Y!Q Contextual Search tool – might be affected by the outcome of this case, so it’s natural that Google and Yahoo would explore all possibilities.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on how these cases progress, although there’s no reason to believe that the matter will be resolved in the near future.