Just in time for spring, Google is helping you enjoy the great outdoors by adding bike trails to Maps.

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Bike fitted with street level imagery cameras to visit five locations in the U.S.

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Suggestions run the gamut from competitors to simply next-door establishments.

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Over 100,000 business have been selected as “Favorite Places in Google.” Over 9,000 cities and towns in all 50 U.S. states are included. The businesses are being sent decals they can place in their storefront windows. The decals include a barcode, known as a QR code, that can be scanned by smartphones, including iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry.

When the QR code is scanned, it will take the user directly to the business’s Place Page on Google Maps. There you can get coupons, read reviews and star it for future reference.

To use it, you’ll need an application on your phone that can scan QR codes.

Image by Google

Recently, Google Maps launched Navigation, a robust GPS system for Android. But it only came out for Android 2.0, meaning it could only be used on the brand spankin’ new Motorola Droid from Verizon.

Good news for Android 1.6 users. You’ll get to use Navigation for your Turkey Day travels this week.

Simply update Google Maps from the Android Market to gain access to turn-by-turn directions, search by voice and to find coffee along that traffic-packed route you find yourself on this extended holiday weekend.

Google is giving local businesses the ability to make their coupons available to mobile devices.

Accessing Coupons

You can find coupons on the recently launched Place Pages, which are accessed by searching Google Maps.

Offering Coupons

If you already have a printable coupon available, you can simply select an option to make those coupons available on mobile devices. Printable coupons were added to the Google Local Business Center a few years back.

Happy deal-making.

The Google Earth and Maps Team has been hard at work unloading a bunch of updates. First up, Street View images for the state of Hawaii have been added. Now, all 50 states have Street View.

Additionally, Street View imagery has been added to 5 cities in Mexico, “huge swathes” of Spain, and 30 towns in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, new updates have come to Latitude. You can now track the history of where you’ve been. This history is not made available to your friends.

But speaking of your friends, you can now get alerts when they’re nearby (and using Latitude, of course). This will keep you from having to check Latitude constantly to see if anyone is nearby.

What do you think of these Google Maps updates? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Last month, Yahoo! and Google launched a couple of contests (separately), and this week both are announcing the finalists.

First up, Yahoo! is looking for a new Yodel, and they received 21,000 entries. They’ve narrowed it down to three contestants each for the US, UK and India. Click on the links below to view the finalists’ entries and cast your vote:

US

Tiffany Jo from Arizona
Carlo from Arizona
Christopher from Oklahoma

UK

Katherine
Hajar
James

India

Nishant
Ankitaa
Ayesha

Meanwhile, Google launched a contest to see where the new Street View vehicle, Google Trike would go. They received 25,000 suggestions, 44% of which were college campuses. Below are the finalists for the various categories. You can cast your vote at Google.com/trike.

University Campuses
Arizona State University
Michigan State University
Princeton University
Rochester Intitute of Technology
Stanford University

Parks & Trails
Boulder Creek Bike Path, CO
Capital Crescent Trail, MD/DC
Centennial Trail, WA
Schuylkill River Trail, PA
Stevens Creek Trail, CA

Pedestrian Malls
Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston, MA
Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
Pier 39, San Francisco, CA

Landmarks
Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, CA
Central Park, NY
Millenium Park, Chicago, IL
Kennedy Space Center, FL
National Mall, DC

Theme Parks & Zoos
Bronx Zoo, NY
Busch Gardens, VA
Detroit Zoo, MI
Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL
San Diego Zoo, CA
Universal Studios, FL

Google has added to their Street View transportation fleet: a tricycle. Dubbed “Google Trike,” the pimped out pedaling three-wheel bike goes where cars just can’t. Or shouldn’t, anyway.

The idea was conceived by Dan Ratner, a mechanical engineer/mountain biking enthusiast at the Mountain View, CA search giant. Ratner has already photographed LEGOLAND and the Arastradero Open Preserve.

There’s a lot of land to cover out there, and Google is taking nominations for the next place in the U.S. to be photographed with Google Trike. Simply go to http://www.google.com/trike to make your nomination for one of the following categories:

• Parks & Trails
• University Campuses
• Pedestrian Malls (e.g., outdoor shopping areas, boardwalks)
• Theme Parks & Zoos
• Landmarks
• Sports Venues (e.g., golf courses, racing tracks, stadium grounds)

Nominations are open until October 28. Google will select a winner in each category and then open the finalists up to voting by the public.

Oh, you wanted to see what the Google Trike looks like? Check out this vid:

Hasbro, the makers of Monopoly, have launched a contest where you can design a 3D building for their new interactive version of the popular board game: Monopoly City Streets.

But you’ll have to hurry. The deadline for the contest is next Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 11:59pm EST.

You’ll need to use Google SketchUp to design your building and then upload it to the Google 3D Warehouse to enter. Learn more about the contest rules here.

Monopoly City Streets, which launched earlier this month, uses Google Maps for its interactive game.