Free mashup service map a list grabs addresses directly from a Google Spreadsheet in your account and plots them out over a customised Google Map. While it certainly isn't the only web-based data-mapping tool, the combination of its easy grabbing from GDocs and its step-by-step creation wizard make plotting out the best pizza joints in town, the wedding party members who haven't RSVP'd, or any other data seriously simple. Your maps update automatically with the spreadsheet and can be shared publicly, and the maps can be exported to KML (for Google Earth fun) and texted or shared by email. A cool tool for those of us without the skills to directly patch into Google Maps.

It's easy to gain the impression that Google is all-knowing, but in fact there are still significant gaps in its coverage. Netizens looking to find more information on conflict-ridden Georgia soon discovered, for instance, that Google Maps information on the country is pretty much non-existent. As Google Maps product manager Dave Barth explains on the Official Google Blog:

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One of the core promises Google has made about its new Street View service is that individual identities are protected, with faces blurred and compromising details removed. If you're unconvinced, here's some evidence of sorts: a shot near Kings Cross station in Sydney featuring a completely blurred man with no shirt on. His conversational partner isn't quite so anonymous (though not easily identified), but topless sunbathers clearly have nothing to fear. [Thanks Kaan!]

As millions of Australians waste time at work checking out everywhere they've lived on the newly launched Australia implementation of Google Maps' Street View, community rating site StreetAdvisor has wasted no time in adding the feature to its service. It's not immediately obvious, but if you locate a neighbourhood that StreetAdvisor has already rated and click on 'Browse Map', you'll get access to the Street View rendition alongside user comments on that area's pluses or minuses. [StreetAdvisor]

Street View, Google's useful/controversial feature with drive-by photography of streets in major cities, is now live in Australia after several months of (presumably) tedious filming. Look for an address in Google Maps and if the area has been recorded, click on the Street View button for a panorama of where you're trying to get to, or where you live -- this is the new ego search). Google has used reportedly blurring technology to ensure faces aren't visible, though we haven't encountered any examples yet. But despite the honks from privacy advocates, this is a very useful feature when you're trying to find an unfamiliar location -- visual cues can really help. [Thanks Andrew S!]

After making a few small tweaks to its interface yesterday, Google Maps also updated the options for printed directions. The new version lets you toggle between text only, map view, or street view for each step of your directions, giving you more details when you need them and fewer when you don't. Granted, using Google Maps mobile on your mobile phone can save a lot of paper, but printing maps is still very common for people without data plans. Either way, the added control—like having the option to embed a street view of your destination—is a welcome update to what used to be a frustrating feature.

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iPhone/iPod touch only: Free application Here I Am uses your location-aware iPhone to pinpoint your position and share your whereabouts with a link to a Google Map. It's a very simple application, but the concept—that you can quickly email your location to any contact to help them find you—is very helpful. Just fire it up, let it locate you within a reasonable level of accuracy, and when you're happy with it, hit the email button. Straightforward but effective. Here I Am is freeware, requires an iPhone or iPod touch running the 2.0 software.

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Google Maps wants to help you get where you're going on foot with a new option to switch your step-by-step driving directions to walking directions. The main difference between walking and driving directions appears to be time estimates, with Google estimating your walking pace at about 19 minutes per mile. The walking directions appear to deviate from driving directions at times, though from trying it in my neighbourhood I can't pinpoint why it's changing for the walking route. The other main difference is the ominous warning that I should "use caution when walking in unfamiliar areas." Thanks for the dose of fear, Google. (I guess the same doesn't apply to driving?) We'd heard some users were seeing walking directions rolled out a few weeks ago, but it looks like Google has recently unveiled the feature to all users (and yep, it works for Australia too).

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Reader Chimera says that you can use the iPhone 2.0 software's built-in screenshot-taking ability to save images of Google Maps to your device before you leave the house (and the fast Wi-Fi connection) for directions at-the-ready. This technique is especially handy for iPod touch owners, and would work with any handheld device with maps and and screengrab capabilities.

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Twittervision shows real-time posts from Twitter users around the world on a Google Maps interface, providing odd insights from all corners of the globe. You can get added to the site by following 'twittervision' on Twitter itself, and use simple location codes to change where your tweet appears. We haven't managed to think of a productive use for this yet, but it's an interesting way of identifying new Twitter users who might be worth following. (Thanks Clinton!) [Twittervision]