Google Maps Mobile and KML
Published by Mike August 18th, 2006 in KML, User ExperienceThose of you with unlimited data transfer on a supported phone will definitely want to be keeping track of Google Maps Mobile.
It’s particularly cool that GMM now supports a very limited KML. You only get the first nine points in the file, but it does let you see them.
Update: These are screenshots of Google’s online emulator. As is pointed out below, the newest version of Maps Mobile allows up to 255 points, a substantial jump.
The nine-points limitation is a frustrating one, but here—more than ever—it’s important to be bandwidth cautious. Hopefully, the KML support on Mobile will be expanded so that the server component does a greater portion of the workload; it would be great if it could just make a “zoom bubble”, indicating that further points exist in a more detailed view of the region. We discuss techniques for accomplishing this in the book, but it’s particularly critical with such limited bandwidth and screen real-estate.
As the popularity of KML increases, I fully expect sites such as Geocaching.com to begin offering KML feeds for region-based searches—imagine being able to point your phone browser to a 500kb feed and just have Google splice out the tiny portion of it relevant to your present location.
(HT: Jeff, GMapsMania)
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If you download the new version 1.3.1 from http://google.com/gmm , you can view up to 255 placemarks. The 1-9 limitation only applies to older versions.
Ah, thanks for the heads-up, Adam. Unfortunately data is devilishly expensive on my phone, so the report wasn’t based on a first-hand experience.