When you visit maps.google.com, you might have already noticed the New lab icon that is up in the top-right of the browser.  For those that haven’t, here it is!

  Rather than taking you to a different page or tab like Gmail lab does, the Google Maps Labs opens in its own in-page window.  It’s a pop-up, but it isn’t a pop-up.  Anyhow, here you can enable many of the groovy features that Labs has to offer.  We’ll look at the list of these below.

  Some of the new Google Maps features that are really groovy.

Google Maps Aerial ViewDistance measurement toolDrag & ZoomWhere in the world game? (fun)LatLng TooltipLatLng MarkerWhat’s Around Here?

  Some of them are not.

Back to beta (seriously?)Rotatable mapsSmart Zoom (could be useful, just isn’t there yet)

  When you’re finished enabling or disabling Labs, Google will remind you with a pop-up if you forget to save changes.

  If something with Labs goes wrong, you can always disable all of the features by following the no labs link: http://maps.google.com/maps?ftr=0.  Have fun! Comment

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