The exact error I'm seeing in an IE popup dialog is:
"Unable to download staticmap from maps.google.com. Unable to open this Internet site. The requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found"
This error seems only to happen with these circumstances:
1) From within an embedded IE control or via launching IE from .NET code using "System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(sURL)" and,
2) URL is a staticmap. (eg: "http://maps.google.com/maps/api/staticmap?center=Brooklyn+Bridge,New+York,NY&zoom=14&size=512x512&sensor=false")
In the embedded WebBrowser case, if I click past the error an error page shows in the control. On this error page, a "refresh page" link, when clicked, loads the map as expected.
And never happens in these circumstances:
1) the same URL is manually loaded directly in IE address bar
2) the same URL is loaded in Chrome
I'm suspicious -- though have not confirmed -- that it may be connected specifically to IE8.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.