Today, we’re adding a weather layer on Google Maps that displays current temps and conditions around the globe, and will hopefully make travel and activity planning easier. To add the weather layer, hover over the widget in the upper right corner of Google Maps and select the weather layer from the list of options. When zoomed out, you’ll see a map with current weather conditions from U.S. Naval Research Lab. And, if you look closely, you can also tell if it’s day or night around the world by sun and moon icons.
Enabling the weather layer also gives you an instant weather report for friends and family living around the world. For example, it looks like my family in London isn’t experiencing the best summer weather right now:
pawas
4:55 pm on Aug 18, 2011 (gmt 0)
Excellent Feature.
Tonearm
6:54 pm on Aug 18, 2011 (gmt 0)
Evil! Just kidding. This will be great.
hoosierdraft
7:16 pm on Aug 18, 2011 (gmt 0)
Like Maps isn't slow enough already.
httpwebwitch
7:18 pm on Aug 18, 2011 (gmt 0)
Presuming that the weather data is current, this is a great addition. LOVE it.
Tonearm
7:29 pm on Aug 18, 2011 (gmt 0)
I'd like to see forecasts integrated in the future.
ChanandlerBong
9:36 pm on Aug 18, 2011 (gmt 0)
just click on the symbols and you get a 4-5 day forecast.
wheel
9:40 pm on Aug 18, 2011 (gmt 0)
Evil! Just kidding. This will be great.
Left unsaid: Evil! Just kidding. (not really kidding). This will be great.
johnnie
4:53 am on Aug 19, 2011 (gmt 0)
Now all we need is an ion cannon button
tibiritabara
6:58 am on Aug 19, 2011 (gmt 0)
great ! congratulations...
Lynque
3:05 pm on Aug 19, 2011 (gmt 0)
Hmph, Based on the Traffic link found in the same menu I assume the weather is current as well... Great for planning road trips!
loner
8:43 am on Aug 20, 2011 (gmt 0)
Scrapers.
Seb7
9:33 pm on Aug 21, 2011 (gmt 0)
I just hope its accurate. Too many of these things show out-of-date information.
anshul
6:45 am on Aug 23, 2011 (gmt 0)
Excellent addition. They can provide living condition as well besides geography and weather. I use wikitravel often.
astupidname
8:44 am on Aug 23, 2011 (gmt 0)
Google has had a secret weather api [blog.programmableweb.com] available unofficially for some time now. Actually, to me the new 'weather layer' seems a bit too busy for me, don't always need all that data. I checked the google maps javascript api but could not find any new documentation for it yet. I would like to see the possibility of being able to control via code what's in the weather layer or integrating it into normal layers without needing to select a 'weather layer'. In order to do such, the unofficial weather api linked to above may make more sense for a developer outputting static or dynamic maps and not wanting/needing every city's data showing all of the time.