When I got back from a holiday in Israel this summer I was puzzled that there were no street level maps available on Google. I mailed TeleAtlas and Navteq to ask why they did not have coverage of Israel (starting to think it might be a political thing) only to discover that the primary driver for mapping was demand from PND manufacturers, maybe Israeli drivers don’t need sat nav.
Not sure when things changed but stumbled on pretty good street level mapping for Israel (less detailed for Gaza and West Bank but good satelite imagery) on Google this morning. The mapping comes not from TA or Navteq but from an Israeli company MAPA GISrael who have been around for a few years now. Presumably Google got fed up waiting for TA. Microsoft still only have overview mapping.
Without any comment on who is most wrong in the current conflict (because no one is right) here is a mashup showing the landing sites of the rockets but to date I have not been able to find any showing the bombing of Gaza, I guess people have slightly more pressing concerns than posting maps. We were on a beach within range of the longest range rockets less than 6 months ago – scary!
Hopefully there will be some more positive themes in this region to mashup in the near future.
