The Orbitz hotel shopping path just became a little metasearch-like.

Orbitz added a bunch of tools — Google Maps with real-time room rates, and filters and sliders based on star ratings, reviewer scores, amenities and hotel chains – which enable consumers to view the initial search results and then to do comparison shopping for other hotels.

The tools resemble some you’d find on a metasearch website and represent a twist for an online travel agency.

In fact, Orbitz says it “is the first major online travel website to enable detailed side-by-side property comparison upfront on the initial hotel search results page.”

The big difference, however, is that consumers will be doing all of their comparison shopping on Orbitz and not, as with metasearch, on a variety of supplier websites.

So, when you search for hotels in Cleveland, Ohio, Orbitz serves up its traditional display of search results, but then in the left navigation pane, you’ll find Google Maps with hotel pricing and all of the sliders and filtering tools. It looks like this:

When enlarged, the map offers satellite and terrain views.

In the Cleveland hotel search example, if you don’t like the initial search results or want to comparison shop, one way of doing so would be to click on $89 on the Google Map, and you will see a box with information about the Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Davenport. Here it is:

Notice that you see the base room rate, the total price including “taxes and fees,” the reviewer score, links to more hotel details and a Google Street View of the property. When you click the Select button, you begin the booking process for that property.

The introduction of comparison shopping tools in initial hotel search results represents another leading move for Orbitz in its hotel search experience.

Orbitz was the first online travel agency in the U.S. to introduce Hotel TotalPrice in initial hotel search results, and to offer Hotel Price Assurance.

The jury is out, however, on what these series of new tools will mean for the Orbitz hotel business and whether they will translate into concrete gains.

Rand McNally has been in the maps business for 156 years and has catered to truckers, RV enthusiasts and bikers, but it just quietly relaunched as a sleek online travel-planning website.

The effort is headed up by a couple of travel industry veterans. Jeff DeKorte, formerly general manager of AOL Travel, is Rand McNally’s senior vice president of travel and digital media, and John Peters, the ex-president and CEO of Tripology, is Rand McNally’s  vice president and general manager of digital strategy and travel.

Here’s an image of the RandMcNally.com homepage before the redesign, with its emphasis on maps and directions, truck navigation and cruise deals:

And, here’s what the new homepage looks like:

All of the prior elements are still there, but there is a greater emphasis on destination imagery and trip-planning help from Tripology, which takes center stage.

Rand McNally acquired Tripology, which funnels consumer leads to travel agents, in March.

Peters, citing Rand McNally’s 1.3 million or so monthly unique visitors and the tight integration of the lead-generation site into Rand McNally.com, says: “From Tripology’s standpoint, this is everything I could have hoped for.”

A centerpiece of the redesigned Rand McNally is its Travel Guides, which feature user-generated content in the form of what DeKorte refers to as “semiprofessonal videos” from Tripfilms.

Check out this YouTube video, which appears on Rand McNally.com, when you search for Chicago destination information. The video’s noncorporate, local-expert feel about “Uptown Chicago” is a refreshing touch.

Each destination on RandMcNally.com has Tripfilms videos, and information about things to do, hotels, restaurants, nightlife and, of course, maps.

Every city also gives prominence to Tripology as an option for planning your trip.

For simpler trip-planning exercises, users can click on the hotels tab and access booking engines from Orbitz, Priceline, Hotwire, Booking.com, getaroom.com and DealBase.

That advertising effort comes via a Rand McNally partnership with the  Travel Ad Network.

Rand McNally officials say they are not trying to compete with the much larger Google Maps or MapQuest.

Instead, DeKorte and Peters say they don’t think any other travel-planning site has Rand McNally’s combination of assets — destination content, video travel guides, maps and directions, Tripology for travel agent connections, and travel advice from the Rand McNally editorial staff.

Peters says the relaunch of Rand McNally.com is just the beginning.

“This is the first of many good things to come like mobile apps, additional social media initiatives, exciting strategic partnerships and more in the very near future,” Peters says.

The company’s challenge, however, is to transform a brand that’s been known for its road atlases and trucker services into one that consumers will recognize as a hip, online travel-planning service.

TLabs Showcase focus on startups featuring US-based day trip planning and content site DayZipping.

Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?

DayZipping is a site that helps user find and share day trips. Our core team consists of the following four individuals:

• Webb Brown, CEO, background in software development and investment banking. Most recently worked for a SunTrust Robinson Humphrey investment banking coverage group.
• Paul Godfrey, CTO, over 12 years of web development experience. Previously a senior web designer for a leading foodservice provider.
• Emily Brown , CMO, approximately ten years in the advertising industry. Previously represented Martha Stewart and National Geographic.
• Dan Cho, social media consultant, five years of experience in the digital advertising industry

What financial support did you have to launch the business?

Our business was initially seeded by our founding partners. However, we quickly acquired capital commitments from a group of angel investors to support our growth.

What problem are you trying to solve?

We are trying to help people that have a short period of time in a city that they are unfamiliar with.

Currently, people are likely to call or email friends that know the area.

Our experience has been that this leads to forgotten details, inaccurate directions, and valuable information that is quickly lost. DayZipping attempts to solve all three of these problems.

Describe the business, core products and services?

By using Google Maps technology, our site allows users to geographically search for daytrips.

The social aspect of our site lets users see which activities in the area their friends recommend.

Who are your key customers and users at launch?

At launch, we had approximately 400 test users. These users are located across the United States with approximately 75% between the ages of 25-34.

We were in discussions with the North Carolina Department of Tourism along with numerous regional companies to provide services to our users.

Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?

Yes, we had 30 users in our initial focus group. These users ranged in aged from 24 to 60 years old and were spread across the eastern United States.

What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?

Our revenue modal is to provide local discounts and promotions.

Additionally, our discussions so far have shown us that departments of tourism and commerce are interested in sponsoring the site.

Our business model is to remain agile by building our services around an active community of users that provide the majority of our content.

We have been able to appeal to these users by providing lesser known travel ideas and the prospect of future discounts.

SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?

Strengths:

• Agile, versatile skillset, experienced core team.

Weaknesses:

• Limited resources.

Opportunities:

• Many adventure travellers looking for a universal option for planning short trips.

Threats:

• Other geotagging sites focusing more and more on trips.

Who advised you your idea isn’t going to be successful and why didn’t you listen to them?

Several initial users believed that other travel sites could provide a lot of the information that we were hoping to communicate.

Even if this was the case, we believe that by focusing specifically on day trips without providing excessive travel services brings value to our user.

Also, we feel that our Ajax development makes a much more fluid user experience compared to other sites in the industry.

What is your success metric 12 months from now?

Our success metric is unique monthly visits. By focusing on creating a valuable and entertaining user experience, we hope our user traffic will continue to see rapid growth.

TLabs Showcase is part of the wider TLabs project from Tnooz.

Common complaints (apart from privacy) about the new Streetview-style functionality on online map platforms are difficulties with definition and scrolling.

So, some clever folk at Microsoft have taken a look at the problem and come up with Street Slide.

The system combines the best aspects of the immersive feel of map bubbles (the technical term for individual, 360-degree location capture) with an overview provided by a strip-type browsing.

Engineers ran tests with users to see what they thought of the new system. The user experience was “greatly enhanced” by Street Slide and (all credit to Microsoft for saying so) found to be an improvement on similar functionality from its existing Bing maps system and that of arch rival Google.

Here’s a clip:

Google began rolling out Google Maps with hotel search and pricing to all U.S. users, a process that will be complete in the “next couple of weeks,” a spokesperson says.

If some travel companies are scared about the impact of Google’s proposed acquisition of ITA Software, then check out Google Maps with hotel search and pricing.

The content is so compelling and comprehensive that some consumers undoubtedly will feel there’s little reason to search anywhere else.

The beta, which began in March with a percentage of Google users in the U.S., is being expanded to all U.S. users and features the same limited limited number of advertisers — including Expedia, hotels.com, Priceline, Booking.com and Travelocity, for example.

The Google spokesperson termed the wider rollout an “experiment” and indicated it’s too soon to tell whether international markets will get the product, as well.

“We’re still collecting the data,” the spokesperson says.

Here’s an example of what Google Maps with hotel search and pricing looks like:

When I did a search on Google Maps for Baltimore, Md., hotels, Tremont Suite Hotels was displayed first in the search results in the left-hand column with a room rate of $163 per night through a sponsored link from Priceline, and a buck more through sponsored links from hotels.com and Expedia.com. The hotel website itself was also listed as an Owner Site, but was displayed in a lower position than the advertisers’ listings and with no room rate shown.

Clicking on the “more info” link next to Tremont Suite Hotels delivers a treasure trove of useful information about the property — details about hotel pricing and amenities; user reviews about the rooms, service and location from Priceline; user reviews about the value of the hotel experience and dining from TripAdvisor; a map; Google Street View; hotel photos labeled “from the owner;” additional photos from TV trip, HotelGuide.com and Panoramio; Nearby Places You Might Like, and other features.

Here’s a look at just some of the content.

And, oh yes, you can book rooms fairly easily on the partner websites — and it looks like conversion rates should be attractive.

When you click on the $163 room rate displayed next to Tremont Suite Hotels, you’ll see that Priceline offers the rate at $144 plus $19 in “taxes and fees,” a discount of $1 off the same $144 room rate and $20 in “taxes and fees” that Expedia and hotels.com offers for the same property.

Click on the Priceline sponsored link and the user gets a deep link into Priceline.com. The landing page looks like this:

Unlike the transition from some hotel-search referral sites to supplier or intermediary sites, in the above Google-to-Priceline handoff, you are immediately ready to select your room and enter your name and credit card details.

No more searching required. Just book the room and ca-ching [cash register sound].

Search Engine Land reported July 15 that Google Maps with hotel search and pricing would be introduced to more U.S. users.

But the Google spokesperson says the feature is being introduced to all U.S. users.

“We’re making it more visible,” the spokesperson says.

Hoteliers and intermediaries offering hotel rooms will undoubtedly take a look.

And oh, by the way, lest we not get too far removed from ITA Software-Google paranoia, flight specialist ITA Software has been investigating hotel search and pricing for a couple of years and now has staff dedicated to it.

Google may come to consider that ITA Software hotel work very handy.

Google’s placement of hotel rates right in the middle of Google Maps? What’s all the fuss about?

Since the news broke several months ago that Google Maps was testing hotel search and pricing and also was in talks to acquire flight-search maven ITA Software, there has been fear — and some loathing — about what it all would mean for the travel industry.

Speaking on a panel at the ATME 2010 conference in Boston June 15, Rob Torres, Google’s head of travel, sought to downplay the angst about the hotel search and pricing initiative, labeling it an “experiment.”

Torres said hotel search and pricing on Google Maps has been rolled out to just 10% of Google users.

Should metasearch companies like Kayak and Bing Travel or online travel agencies such as Expedia and Priceline fear a Google push into hotel search and pricing?

Torres pooh-poohed the notion, saying Google is not trying to displace anyone, but merely wants to add relevancy to hotel searches.

He added that hotel search and pricing doesn’t impact hotels’ page rank.

This morning, Torres provided me with some more information about what Google sees as the value provided by hotel search and pricing on Google Maps.

Torres says:

“Google Maps is often one of the first stops travelers make to find and compare hotels.  Just recently, we started experimenting with a new feature, visible to a small portion of users (about 10%), to help make that process even easier by showing specific prices for selected hotel listings. With this feature, when you search for hotels on Google Maps you’ll be able to enter the dates you plan to stay and see real prices on selected listings.

“You can click on the price to see a list of advertisers who have provided pricing information for that hotel.  By showing you this relevant hotel rate information directly in the Google Maps results panel we hope to make this aspect of your trip planning more speedy and efficient — so you can get where you’re going and enjoy your travel destination.

“User benefit: Users receive up to date pricing information for their search on Google Maps. The prices listed do not impact the natural organic ranking of the listings on the page. Users are able to customize their search by providing their check in date as well as the number of nights they plan to stay.

“Advertiser benefit: Partners are able to receive highly qualified leads from Google Maps.

“Partners do not pay for their prices to be listed and only pay when a user clicks on their price link.”

Not everyone is so sure, though, about Google’s ultimate intentions with this “trip planning” assist.

In fact, eight months before Google started playing around with hotel search and pricing, Kayak CEO Steve Hafner predicted Google would do just that and concluded it would be an open question as to what Kayak’s role might be in this new travel ecosystem if Google dove into hotel search and pricing in earnest.

And, when you couple hotel search and pricing with a possible acquisition of ITA Software to enhance Google flight search and event search with Needlebase, then it’s no wonder — despite Torres’ protests to the contrary — that travel advertisers and key players are concerned.

Forrester Research analyst Henry Harteveldt, who delivered a keynote address at the ATME conference, argued that Google is taking a cautious approach to hotel search and pricing, and interpreted Torres’ remarks to mean that the rollout is limited “and not definitive.”

The scope and Google’s true intentions, however, are multimillion dollar (or euro) questions.

I’ve heard one insider say even if Google would acquire ITA Software, don’t look for Google to go full-throttle into travel metasearch.

But, there are many skeptics who believe that Google will not stuff hotel search and pricing back into the bottle.

Soccer fans visiting South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup can look to Google Maps to check out the country’s tourist attactions, if that is their goal.

In a blog post today, Google says FIFA and South African Tourism are using Google Maps to provide Street View, 3D views, Earth Views and other details about host cities, stadiums and area tourist attractions.

Here’s a Google Map of the Tshwane/Pretoria area:

Click on Loftus Versfeld Stadium, one of the oldest in South Africa, and you can drill down to a Street View like this:

And there is a link also to get more information from FIFA about the stadium.

The map lists only two tourist attractions in Tshwane/Pretoria, the Pretoria Art Museum and Voortrekker Monument.

For each there are links to South African Tourism for more information.

Here’s some editorial from South African Tourism about Voortrekker Monument, and alongside it are links to a travel directory, where visitors can find information about the Lalibela Game Reserve, for instance, and fill out a form requesting more information about a stay.

While some of the Earth Views are spectacular, overall the maps mashup isn’t all that inspiring from a tourism perspective.

But, then again, fans visiting South Africa for the World Cup probably have plenty of on-field distractions to keep them busy.

Perhaps the one element of the pre-trip service that is so important but so many travel websites struggle to get right is around weather information.

Step forward IsItSunshine, a wonderfully simple and easy-to-use website that streams weather data from around the world onto a Google Map.

Users select a location and weather results are displayed on a toolbar at the bottom of the site – weather symbols are also positioned over the location on the map.

The data can be toggled to include information for the following ten days covering wind, temperature, cloudiness, pressure, precipitation and humidity.

The site is so unobtrusive and non-commercial that it is difficult to work out who created it and where the weather data is coming from, although CultureSlurp says a Swedish developer Magnus Ottosson is the man behind the site.

Ottosson has made the Google Map and weather symbols element of the service also available via embedded code.

Weather from isitsunshine.com

UPDATE:

Ottosson responds to an email.

The site is a global version of a Swedish system he put together using free data from a Norwegian service called YR.no.

IsItSunshine looks at the language of the browser and translates search queries and results into the correct dialect. Ottosson says he has invested 500 hours into the project so far and it is still only a hobby.

There will be an iPhone app version “before the summer is over”, he says.

As the volcanic ash drama spread across Europe, some unlikely web celebrities emerged as passengers and curious onlookers to the crisis scrambled to visualise its impact.

Step forward the wonderfully garage band feel of flight data and map mashups such as RadarVirtuel, FlightRadar24 and Casper.

The trio are probably three of the best known websites in Europe that combine aircraft movement data from air traffic control or private receivers with a Google Map.

During any normal day sites such as these would be the preserve of aircraft fanatics and the curious.

But with a volcanic ash cloud looming overhead in Europe and thousands of flights being cancelled, stranding passengers around the world, suddenly a map showing which aircraft would dare to go near the no-fly zone or were the last in a particular region, suddenly became enormously popular.

FlightRadar24 in particular was singled out a number of times in the mainstream media to demonstrate the impact of the cloud on air services.

Casper, a Netherlands-based service which launched in 2009 to track flights in and out of Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, says its traffic increased ten-fold during the crisis.

RadarVirtuel, which also plotted a shadow on its map to indicate the location of the ash cloud based on meteorological reports, comments that it needed another two extra servers to cope with the sudden demand.

The third site of the trio, FlightRadar24, also need to quickly plugged in additional servers to add some much needed capacity. It says around 100,000 people were on the site when the first flight returned to Heathrow on Tuesday 20 April.

Concur integrated Google Maps into its travel and expense solution for business travelers to help them manage their mileage.

The integration, part of a release of several new features for Concur Travel & Expense, is designed to enable road warriors and corporations to enhance their management of mileage expenses. Among the tool’s new features:

• Users can select start, end and waypoints on a Google Map for each mileage expense.
• Commute distances can be subtracted from the mileage expense.
• Audit rules point to whether the mileage has been edited to exceed the amount calculated, and whether the commute distance has been deducted.
• Users can access a Most Recently Used list to retrieve stored locations.A per-car configuration can also be used.

Concur also rolled out a series of new airline-ancillary fee expense types, along with dashboards and reports to help corporations process the torrent of new optional services, from bag fees and upgrades to lounge access and onboard meals.

To ensure business travelers adhere to corporate travel policies, the new airline-ancillary fee reporting tool enables organizations to define their own audit rules.

Concur also introduced a Best Practices Dashboard, which measures current client configurations for Concur Travel & Expense against best practices in control & compliance, as well as mobility, the company says.