Yandex Maps (Russian: Яндекс Карты, romanized: Yandeks Karty) is a Russian[1] web mapping service developed by Yandex. The service provides detailed maps of the whole world[citation needed], directions and estimated times of arrival for driving, walking, cycling, kick scooter, and public transportation navigation. It includes a search, information about traffic jams, routing and street panoramas. The service was launched in 2004.[2]

Yandex.Maps

Type of site
Web mapping
Available inMultilingual
OwnerYandex
Created byYandex
URLyandex.com/maps/
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional, included with a Yandex account
Launched27 August 2004; 20 years ago (2004-08-27)
Current statusActive, developing
Written inC++ (back-end), JavaScript, XML, Ajax (UI)

Yandex Maps is the most popular cartographic service in Russia. It has about 11.5 million users in Russia per month, and over 20 million worldwide.[3][4][5][6]

Features

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The service initially had maps only of Russia and Ukraine, but now includes world maps.[2] Detailed maps were initially provided for Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Kyiv. Originally, the program could not be used to search for addresses but only establishments.[7]

Maps are available in four versions: maps, satellite images, satellite images with captions, and legend (hybrid).

Users can measure distance and get directions by dragging between spots on a map.[8] The search is available by both geographical objects (addresses, streets, cities, regions and countries) and by organizations. The illumination of the district, city or region is available after searching the organization on the site.

Yandex Maps has a mobile application for iOS, Android and Windows phones.[8]

Street view

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Car shooting panoramas for Yandex Maps

On Yandex Maps it is possible to view street panoramas. There are street views even of Pripyat and Chernobyl.[9][10] In 2016 a "street view" of Everest was photographed.[11]

Map editor

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Users can make new data on the map with the help of the Yandex Map editor. In geographies where it is hard to find providers of good map data, user contributions could be used to increase map quality. Any registered Yandex user can edit the map through a simple web editor pending edit moderation.[12]

In the editor there are five special modes for drawing objects:

  • Scaling and rotation - to rotate objects around their axis and reduce / increase the size.
  • Angle alignment - makes it easy to draw objects with most corners straight.
  • Rounding corners - simplifies the drawing of roads and rivers, rounding their corners.
  • Adhesion - the boundaries of the contours of objects of the same category are joined in one line.
  • Cutting - helps draw buildings with adjacent borders, as well as high-rise buildings

The editing interface also allows for additional data to be added to certain categories of objects, such as the height of buildings, the direction of traffic at the roads, hours of operation, phone numbers etc.

Yandex Traffic

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Yandex Traffic is a feature on Yandex Maps that displays traffic conditions in real time on major roads and highways. It can be viewed at the Yandex Maps website, or via the app.

Yandex Traffic works by analyzing the GPS-determined locations transmitted to Yandex by a large number of mobile phone users. By calculating the speed of users along a length of road, Yandex is able to generate a live traffic map. It processes the incoming raw data about mobile phone device locations, and then excludes anomalies such as a postal vehicle that makes frequent stops. When a threshold of users in a particular area is noted, the overlay along roads and highways on the map changes color.[13][14]

Criticism

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "8 Best Alternative to Google Maps - Classic old Map - GIS MAP INFO". Igismap.com. 30 May 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b Privat, Ludovic. "GPS phones generate traffic information in Russia". Gpsbusinessnews.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  3. ^ ""Яндекс" запустил георекламу". Comments.ru. 26 January 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  4. ^ "Реклама на Яндекс.Карты.ru". Mediaplanerist.ru. Archived from the original on 13 November 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Пользователи «Яндекса» могут редактировать карты | SEMSOCIAL". semsocial.ru. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Панорамные снимки еще десяти городов России опубликованы на "Яндекс.Картах"". 1prime.ru. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Yandex — History — History of Yandex". Yandex. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  8. ^ a b c "9 Map Apps Alternative to Google Maps". Bettertechtips.com. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  9. ^ "Яндекс.Карты обновили панорамы Припяти и Чернобыля". Popmech.ru. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  10. ^ "New, Chernobyl panoramas on Yandex.Mapsmaptd". Maptd.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  11. ^ "Unique panoramas of Everest appeared on Yandex.Maps . They were made during an expedition 7 Summits Club!". 7 Summits Club. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  12. ^ "Yandex launches in Armenia first in the world localized map editor". Telecom.arka.am. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  13. ^ In, Lee (31 March 2016). Encyclopedia of E-Commerce Development, Implementation, and Management. IGI Global. ISBN 9781466697881. Retrieved 27 October 2017 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ "Афиша Город: Кто составляет карты "Яндекс.Пробок" – Архив". Gorod.afisha.ru. 7 November 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  15. ^ Rankyweb (7 April 2016). "Yandex.Maps Review - DownloadMaps.org". Downloadmaps.org. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
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