Hacks & Mashups

What Happened to Neogeography?
Sean Connin asks what happened to neogeography, a concept that seemed all the rage not so long ago; his answer: that “neogeography” — i.e., web-based mapping tools — has gotten confused and conflated with GIS, which used to be neogeography’s antithesis. Via geoparadigm….   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 3:52 PM
Categories: GIS, Hacks & Mashups
Platial Shuts Down
Platial is shutting down; the site may go dark as early as tomorrow. Instructions on exporting data hosted by Platial have been posted, but the data will be archived at Geocommons. Di-Ann Eisnor explains: We are retiring the site because we just can’t afford to keep it up any longer….   Read more →
Posted on Monday, March 1, 2010 at 10:53 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Industry News
Geotagging Art
Geocoded Art geotags public-domain paintings of identifiable locations. The site requires that “a) the image is a recognizable depiction of [a] specific location (not just ‘Tuscan countryside’); and b) the image be in the public domain,” but does not include ridiculously familiar landmarks. This is a nice thing to have…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, February 1, 2010 at 10:15 AM
Categories: Art, Geotagging, Hacks & Mashups
GeoVation
GeoVation encourages people to create “great ideas based on geography,” which is to say, map mashups. There are two competitions: one for ideas, more than 100 of which have been posted so far; and one for ventures, which involves prize money. The competitions are backed by the Ordnance Survey and…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Free Google Maps Icons
Nico Mollet writes to tell us about his project: hundreds of free icons, colour-coded by category, to be used as placemarkers in Google Maps (API or My Maps). Previously: Custom Icons for Google Maps….   Read more →
Posted on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 11:54 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
3D Perspective Maps, Camera Trajectories Come to the Google Maps Flash API
Speaking of Google Maps APIs, the Google Maps API for Flash now has three-dimensional perspective maps. “We’ve taken the regular API, added pitch and yaw, borrowed the look-around control from Google Earth, and thrown in some nifty camera trajectory support,” says Mike Jones on the Google Geo Developers Blog. That…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Guides to Adding Google Maps to a Website
Google has produced two guides on how to add Google Maps to a website: the quick version, which shows you how to embed a simple map, search results or My Maps; and the advanced version, which links to the documentation for the various APIs. Via googlemaps….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Data Errors Skew LA Crime Map
An article in today’s Los Angeles Times uses a geocoding error in the LAPD’s crime map mashup to illustrate the perils of map data error. In the case of the LAPD’s map, crimes at addresses that could not be parsed defaulted to the centre of the city, giving that particular…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, April 5, 2009 at 7:34 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Mapping Errors
Red River Rising
Google LatLong points to a couple of resources for residents of the Fargo-Moorehead area affected by the flooding of the Red River: this My Map, put together by the owner of several Fargo-area radio stations (see above), and this Google Earth layer released by Google itself. Though the exact…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Categories: Current Events, Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Satellite & Aerial
Silverlight: ArcGIS API, Virtual Earth Map Control, WorldWide Telescope
A flurry of announcements last week related to Silverlight, Microsoft’s rich media browser plugin. Some will be of interest largely to geospatial professionals or web developers, like the public beta of the ArcGIS API for Silverlight or the Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control. Me, I’m delighted to see that Microsoft…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 3:06 PM
Categories: Astronomy, GIS, Hacks & Mashups
A Third-Party API for Heat Maps in Google Maps
GeoChalkboard looks at the HeatMapAPI, a third-party API (it costs money at higher usage rates) for creating heat maps in Google Maps….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, March 13, 2009 at 7:50 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Latitude vs. GMap-Track
Stefan Geens of Ogle Earth compares Google Latitude with GMap-Track, a service he’s been using on his site. “Letting your mobile phone update your location at all times can be useful among close-knit groups of trusted friends in urban settings looking for the next place to congregate. Google Latitude is…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, March 9, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Categories: Geolocation Services, Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps API E-Book, GeoChalkboard Blog
Eric Pimpler of the GeoChalkboard blog (which I was not aware of prior to this) has posted the the fifth revision of Mashup Mania with Google Maps, a free 52-page e-book on the Google Maps API; direct link to the PDF. Via AnyGeo….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, February 27, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Categories: Blogs, Books, Hacks & Mashups
How Maps Help and Hurt
An even-handed article on Spiegel Online looks at how Google Maps can be used to help or even save people (e.g., providing information on Australia’s bushfires) to how it can be used to hurt people (e.g., displaying sensitive personal information or information that could be used in wartime). “Here, the…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 3:09 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Mapping Australia’s Bushfires
NASA imagery of the bushfires in the Australian state of Victoria can be found here (from which I took the above image) and here. See also Universe Today. Imagery from NASA’s MODIS imagery is apparently being updated twice daily. This imagery has been incorporated into Google’s response to the…   Read more →
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Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 8:16 AM
Categories: Current Events, Hacks & Mashups, Satellite & Aerial
The ‘Map-Making Renaissance’
Another look at the “renaissance in map-making that is rapidly changing how we use and combine maps and data,” driven by GIS and GPS and freely accessible mapping tools, this time from the Toronto Star….   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
A U.S. Presidential Election Mashup
Kaitlin Duck Sherwood has a nice mashup of the 2008 U.S. presidential election results with demographic and other data. Choropleths galore! Via Google Maps Mania….   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 8:11 PM
Categories: Electoral Maps, Hacks & Mashups
The Rise of User-Generated Mapping
“The public often saw the end product of the map creation process, but was largely limited to scribbling on paper when it came to creating maps of its own. Beginning in 2005, this paradigm turned upside down.” Sean Gorman’s article is a great summary of all the happenings in user-generated…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, January 2, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Making Heat Maps with Virtual Earth
On the Virtual Earth evangelist blog, Chris Pendleton has a post pointing to several articles on creating thematic and heat maps with Virtual Earth….   Read more →
Posted on Monday, December 15, 2008 at 9:21 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Real Estate Site Finds Google Maps 385% Faster
At the end of its two-year contract with Microsoft, real estate brokerage site Redfin went from a mix of Virtual Earth and Google Maps to Google Maps only. The reason? Google Maps renders pushpins a lot faster than VE, and a lot faster than it used to. “We did an…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, December 15, 2008 at 8:43 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Tiny Geo-coder
Tiny Geo-coder is a basic online app for determining the latitude and longitude of a location, with a simple API and practical uses for web development. Via Free Geography Tools….   Read more →
Posted on Monday, December 8, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Earth Browser Plug-in Now Mac Compatible
What’s this? The Google Earth browser plug-in now works on Mac browsers (Safari 3.1, Firefox 3.0)? Now I’ll (finally) be able to view certain Web sites properly. Digital Earth Blog, Google Earth Blog. The combined Intel/PowerPC download is apparently 47 megabytes. Will report back anon. Previously: Google Earth in a…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 9:23 PM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Macintosh
MapTube
I should have mentioned MapTube long ago; Andrew Hudson-Smith wrote to me about it in May: MapTube, the new mapping site from the guys at Digital Urban and CASA at University College London to view, overlay, mix and match choropleth maps, now includes a free creation tool. Google Map…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, September 22, 2008 at 6:11 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, London
NFL TV Distribution Maps Redux
The NFL TV Distribution Maps site, which we’ve seen before, has been publishing maps of TV coverage for each NFL season since 2005. This year, though, they’ve switched to a Google Maps interface, which is actually an improvement, cartographically speaking, from the MS Paint-style maps that were used in…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, September 4, 2008 at 8:17 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Miscellany
More Olympics Maps
Heat maps of the Olympic medals, using Google Spreadsheets’s map widget: this one generates a map from a live results feed; Google Maps Mania creates a few using static medal numbers for the top 15, but divides the results by GDP and population. There’s a lot of potential for mapping…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Olympics
Link Roundup: Early July Edition
Off camping for a few days; here are a few links to tide you over: Roger Hart’s very good blog, GeoCarta, has moved to a new address and a new platform. The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center’s map collection is moving to new map cabinets; I’d be interested in seeing…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 6:44 PM
Categories: Blogs, Books, GIS, Hacks & Mashups, Industry News, Libraries, Triangulations (Links)
More Google News: Banned in Minnesota; New Developer Blog
Two more recent Google-related items: North Oaks, a rather xenophobic town in Minnesota — the streets are privately owned — has asked Google to remove it from Street View; Google has complied with the town’s request. Google’s gotten into trouble for its cameras trespassing on private property; the twist here…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 4:06 PM
Categories: Blogs, Censorship, Security & Privacy, Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Google Earth in a Web Browser
Google has announced a new plug-in and API that will allow Google Earth to be run from within a browser, once the plug-in has been downloaded. Windows-only so far (but most browsers on Windows), so I can’t add to what others have said about it: Google Earth Blog, O’Reilly Radar,…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:11 PM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps API for Flash
The Google Maps API now has a Flash version, alongside its regular JavaScript and static versions. On the Google Maps API blog, Mike Jones writes: So, what do I like about the API for Flash? Smoothness and speed are a big part of it. We’ve designed it so that Flash…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 7:43 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Yahoo’s Internet Location Platform
Yahoo’s announcement of its Internet Location Platform will be of great interest to web developers and programmers interested in geolocating data, but completely abstruse to everyone else. The platform uses something called Where on Earth ID (WOEID), a numerical tag that is associated with a given location; it can be…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 7:19 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
OpenStreetMap Adds Export Feature
OpenStreetMap adds an export feature that, as you might expect, goes beyond embedding a map on your site: Want a static map for your blog, without having to spend hours fiddling with JavaScript? No problem - just export in PNG or JPEG. Want a map for a book? PDF or…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 7:35 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Géoportail API
Géoportail, the mapping site of France’s Institut géographique national, is getting an API this month, Renaud Euvrard reports (in French). Two APIs, actually — regular and pro versions — with a 3D API slated for the summer. (Géoportail’s coverage is limited to France and its overseas territories and departments.)…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 7:40 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
A List Apart: ‘Take Control of Your Maps’
On A List Apart, an online magazine about web design by and for web designers (who can be an obsessively exacting lot), Paul Smith has an article about going beyond the Google Maps API (or presumably others) for a site’s embedded maps: Ask yourself this question: why would you, as…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 7:25 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Contour Lines and Other Stories: A Google Roundup
Contour lines have been added to Google Maps’s terrain map layer, which adds its their usefulness (especially, for example, in a mountain context). But it has some way to go before it’s a suitable replacement for a topo map; Chad notes that a lot of other details are not…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, April 4, 2008 at 9:31 AM
Categories: Blogs, Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Mass Transit, Online Maps, Topo Maps & Trails
New Jersey State Atlas
I learned about the New Jersey State Atlas, a Google Maps mashup of New Jersey state data, on MetaFilter Projects, where its creater, John J. Reiser, posted it. Here’s how he introduced it: Originally a product of “hey, what can I do with Google Maps and mapserver?” the site…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 at 8:47 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
‘A New Golden Age of Cartography’
“A new golden age of cartography has suddenly dawned, everywhere. We can all be map-makers now, navigating across a landscape of ideas that the cartographers of the past could never have imagined,” writes Ben Macintyre in his Times column. “Where maps once described mountains, forests and rivers, now they depict…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 10:12 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps Astronomy Mashups?
Mike Pegg notes that despite the fact that it’s been a few months since the Google Maps API supported Moon, Mars and Sky, “we have not been inundated with Google Maps mash-ups that have taken advantage of these new astronomical features.” He gives some examples. As for me, I can…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 3:50 PM
Categories: Astronomy, Hacks & Mashups
MapQuest Platform: Free Edition
MapQuest has relaunched its mapping APIs, calling them the MapQuest Platform: Free Edition. I’m not exactly sure how this works: MapQuest has had a free API along with commercial partnerships; I don’t know if this is meant to replace both, or is simply a newer, better iteration of existing free…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 3:38 PM
Categories: Blogs, Hacks & Mashups
‘The New Cartographers’
In These Times has a wide-ranging article on “the new cartographers” — i.e., the popular use of new mapping technologies. For some, mapping has become a vibrant new language—a way to interpret the world, find like-minded folks and make fresh, sometimes radical, perspectives visible. For others, maps portend threats to…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 8:21 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Static Maps API
Google has released a “static maps” API: using an image URL, you can generate a map image without using JavaScript, which can be useful in certain circumstances where slow page loads, or JavaScript compatibility, are an issue. Documentation here. Note that the usage limit of 1,000 per day is per…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 5:53 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Swiss Trains in Real Time
Centred on Zürich, this site provides real-time positions of Swiss trains — the icons freaking move — based on their schedules. “The current view is based on the Swiss train timetable, and does not yet show the actual GPS-positions of the trains. But, as Swiss trains are almost always…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, February 18, 2008 at 5:40 PM
Categories: Cities, Hacks & Mashups, Railroads
Early Google Maps Hack Retired
The end of an era. Adrian Holovaty’s chicagocrime.org, one of the original Google Maps hacks that predated the release of the official API and that was frequently held up in the media as practically the archetype of the mapping hack, is being retired. It’s been a fun ride. When I…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, February 2, 2008 at 3:50 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Sky Updated, API Supports Astronomy Layers
I still find the Google Sky interface less appealing than some dedicated planetarium software I’ve tried, but I’m still interested in the most recent updates, including, among other things, imagery from space-based telescopes and imagery layers from 17th-century celestial maps. (Were these orthorectified? The Cassini overlay is surprisingly close;…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 9:56 AM
Categories: Astronomy, Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups
Our Dumb World Online
Catholicgauze points out that some content from The Onion’s Our Dumb World (reviewed here) is being put online, a bit more each week, both as a Google Maps mashup and a Google Earth layer; brief bullet-point-sized excerpts in each case. Previously: Review: Our Dumb World; Our Dumb World: The Onion’s…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 7:43 AM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups
Custom Icons for Google Maps
Custom icons for Google Maps. Ostensibly just fun, but this can be quite practical. The standard set of icons is useful but limited: imagine, for example, adding a set of map symbols from another source….   Read more →
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Posted on Monday, September 24, 2007 at 8:50 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Yahoo MapMixer
Also announced last week, a beta release (of course) of Yahoo’s MapMixer tool, which allows you to overlay an image atop of Yahoo’s mapping engine. It seems analagous to Microsoft’s MapCruncher, which was released last year. Yahoo! Local and Maps Blog: [A]nyone who has a map in .jpeg, .gif,…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 8:44 PM
Categories: Georeferencing, Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps Now Embeddable in Web Pages
Google Maps are now embeddable as HTML in blog posts and other web pages. (If you’re familiar with embedded YouTube videos, it works exactly the same way.) This includes map layers (such as My Maps or a KML file). Which is to say that putting map data — any…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 7:55 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps: Ad Layer, Geocoding, Rush Hour Traffic
A few items about Google Maps, some of which of interest to developers, others to everyone. An ad layer for Google Maps (see previous entry) is described as “ready for early testers”; at some point it will be unleashed for real (Digital Earth Blog, Mapperz). Geocoding — i.e., the ability…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, August 1, 2007 at 9:02 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Traffic Conditions
The Amateur Mapping Revolution
Map hacks have been around for a couple of years, but the real revolution in online mapping is much more recent — and involves the ability of amateurs, rather than programmers, to create maps using online tools. That’s the argument in this article in yesterday’s New York Times: [T]he Web…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, July 28, 2007 at 8:27 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
The Million Marker Map
One of my favourite web writers ever, Maciej Ceglowski, announces “an experimental set of Flash and JavaScripts add-ons to the Google Maps API” that allows for the presentation of very large datasets — the Million Marker Map: One challenge we’ve faced is finding a way to display the 27,000 restaurants…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 9:37 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
More About Mapplets
Google’s Mapplets, announced at the end of May, is coming along nicely: it’s now fully integrated into the “My Maps” tab of Google Maps, and you can save Mapplet content to a personal map. Google LatLong, Google Maps API Blog; see also Google Earth Blog, Google Maps Mania. Mapplets, you…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 10:23 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps: UK Geocoder, Palm OS Application
I’m working on a big post on Google Maps on the iPhone today — or, more precisely, on the reaction to Google Maps on the iPhone — and I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to finish it. In the meantime, here are a couple of Google…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, July 9, 2007 at 10:36 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Mobile Devices
More About My Maps, KML and Mashups
Darren McEntee writes, about my post about using Google My Maps KML in mashups, Can you please add a small piece of info in regards how to add a KML file to Google My Maps? I have tracked some past trips of mine via GPS, and saved a few KML…   Read more →
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Posted on Friday, July 6, 2007 at 7:29 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Questions
Shaded Relief in Virtual Earth, Google Maps
A nice touch. In its most recent update, Microsoft Virtual Earth added shaded relief to its road maps. This is something Google Maps lacks, but Google Karten notes that the map tiles from the Shaded Relief world map (see previous entry) can be added as a layer in your mashup;…   Read more →
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Posted on Thursday, July 5, 2007 at 4:24 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
A Google Maps Roundup
About a month’s worth of links related to Google Maps from my increasingly preposterous queue. Because the news wasn’t all about Street View. The imagery update announced in early June for Google Earth was applied to Google Maps only a week later. More cities have transit data. Expanded coverage of…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, July 2, 2007 at 9:18 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Wired’s July Issue: Google Maps and the Hyperlocal Future
Google Maps Is Changing the Way We See the World, from Wired’s July issue, is a far-reaching state-of-the-topic article that looks at Google’s mapmaking ventures and the tremendous amount of amateur mapmaking it’s stimulated. Covers all the bases. Noteworthy: “Today, the number of mashed-up Google Maps exceeds 50,000. (Google Maps…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 at 1:30 PM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Miscellaneous Google Things
Mashup makers take note: the Google Maps API now supports driving directions. Google has gone and bought photo-geotagging site Panoramio. At a Developer Day talk, Google’s plans for integrating AdSense into its map products. (Disclaimer: I make money from AdSense.) Have a look at the car that takes most of…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 8:43 PM
Categories: Geotagging, Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
MapQuest ActionScript API
Also announced at Where 2.0: an ActionScript API from MapQuest. (ActionScript is the scripting language used in Flash applications.)…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 6:40 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Mapplets
Google’s been busy today. They also announced a developer preview of Mapplets, which to me seems like a mashup in reverse: instead of importing Google’s maps to data on your web site, data on your web site is imported into the Google Maps interface. Or, perhaps more simply: mini-applications or…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 6:34 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Finally Gets a Map Blog
Yahoo and Microsoft have had mapping blogs for a while, but not Google — at least not until today, when the Google Lat Long Blog, which covers Maps, Earth, Local and the mapping API, made its debut. Now where’s the MapQuest blog? Via Ogle Earth….   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 8:00 PM
Categories: Blogs, Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Yahoo Pipes Adds GeoData
Pipes is a relatively new Yahoo service that allows users to do all sorts of things with feeds, though I haven’t yet had an opportunity to try it. It has now added geodata support, which means that RSS feeds containing coordinate data can be plotted on a map or exported…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 8:34 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Virtual Earth API Version 5.0
Version 5.0 of the Virtual Earth API went live today; features include new and/or improved shape layer classes and customizable keyboard and mouse events. Mashups will need to upgrade to the new API to use the new features….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 9:05 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Maps and Wikis
A couple of extensions that allow wiki developers to add Google Maps to their wiki installations — at least, insofar as I can figure it, if they’re using MediaWiki: Extension: Google Maps and Google Maps Widget. Oddly enough, I’ve been thinking about a wiki project idea (that may or may…   Read more →
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Posted on Sunday, April 15, 2007 at 10:17 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google’s My Maps: A Roundup
O’Reilly Radar notes the fact that the maps are not only shareable, but searchable. Free GeoTools tests the accuracy of position markers generated in My Maps when they’re imported, as KML, into Google Earth: the test location was off by about 10 metres. There’s been a bit of consternation, apparently,…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, April 6, 2007 at 7:12 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Google’s My Maps: KML Can Be Used in Mashups
Something about Google’s My Maps thing that they don’t mention in the user guide: the fact that these maps are available in KML means not only that they can be viewed in Google Earth, but also that they can also be accessed via the Google Maps API, now that the…   Read more →
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Posted on Friday, April 6, 2007 at 6:09 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
GeoRSS, KML Added to Google Maps API
GeoRSS and KML support has been added to the Google Maps API, which should have a major impact on how map mashups acquire their data. Since GeoRSS appears to be trivial to add to RSS feeds (Flickr can outputs GeoRSS in RSS feeds of geotagged photos, for example), this means…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 at 8:30 PM
Categories: Geotagging, Hacks & Mashups
Mashups and Businesses
An article about the proliferation of map mashups does not sound exactly groundbreaking in 2007, but this piece from Information Week looks at how businesses are integrating map APIs into their web offerings. Via Anything Geospatial….   Read more →
Posted on Monday, March 19, 2007 at 8:55 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Detroit Through the Years
I can’t see it because I’m on a Mac and this is a Virtual Earth mashup, but Detroit Through the Years, which displays aerial views of Detroit from 1949 to the present, sounds like a fascinating project. Let me know how it looks, would you? Via Live Maps/Virtual Earth….   Read more →
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Posted on Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 5:57 PM
Categories: Cities, Hacks & Mashups, Satellite & Aerial
Yahoo! Maps Mashups
Webmapper notes the availability of the first book about the Yahoo mapping APIs, Yahoo! Maps Mashups. “It was about time, especially as the Google Maps API is covered in quite a few books already,” writes Edward. The book’s author, Charles Freedman, talks about the book on the Yahoo! Developer…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 9:45 AM
Categories: Books, Hacks & Mashups
The Other Shaded Relief Site
The Shaded Relief world map should not be confused with Tom Patterson’s Shaded Relief site (previously); instead, it’s a Google Maps mashup with a custom layer. “We have created a custom layer using SRTM30+ and SRTM90 DEMs and used VMAP0 sea, lake and river overlay to create a shaded relief…   Read more →
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Posted on Sunday, January 21, 2007 at 6:30 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
EWG U.S. Mining Database
There has been an explosion in mining claims lately; the Environmental Working Group’s U.S. Mining Database uses the Google Maps API to show active mines and claims on federal lands in the western United States. (There’s also a Google Earth option.) My, there are a lot of them. Using satellite…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, December 17, 2006 at 7:04 PM
Categories: Energy & Resources, Environment, Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Satellite & Aerial
Toronto Transit Map
Torontoist calls this transit map of Toronto “the best map ever in the history of anything.” What it looks like to me is the TTC transit map superimposed on a Google Maps interface. Not that that isn’t impressive in and of itself, but the streets, etc. are part of…   Read more →
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Posted on Friday, December 15, 2006 at 9:51 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Mass Transit, Toronto
Ask MetaFilter Roundup
Recent map- and GPS-related questions on Ask MetaFilter (they even come with answers): Why haven’t GPS prices dropped as much as other electronics? The consensus seems to be that the GPS electronics cost next to nothing; the price point is being maintained by adding features like colour screens and maps….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, December 15, 2006 at 8:18 AM
Categories: GPS, Hacks & Mashups
London: A Life in Maps — Now Open and Online
The British Library exhibition, “London: A Life in Maps,” is now open, both in real life and online. The virtual exhibition that Peter Barber referred to is now online as part of the overall London: A Life in Maps web site. Interesting to see that it presents the maps through…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, November 26, 2006 at 4:03 PM
Categories: Antique Maps, Hacks & Mashups, London, London: A Life in Maps
ACME Mapper
ACME Mapper started out as a front end for TerraServer; it’s now a Google Maps mashup that adds TerraServer data (including USGS topo maps) and NEXRAD weather radar data as additional layers — though these added layers are U.S.-only. Via Catholicgauze….   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, November 23, 2006 at 6:17 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Topo Maps & Trails, Weather & Climate
Google Earth Data in Google Maps Redux
You could previously view Google Earth KML files in Google Maps, but, the Google Maps API Blog reports, you can now do a few more things with KML/KMZ files (e.g., image overlays) within the Google Maps interface….   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at 10:33 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Hacking Google Maps and Google Earth: Excerpt
ExtremeTech has published a sample chapter of its book, Hacking Google Maps and Google Earth by Martin C. Brown. The excerpt deals with customizing the map output for a community site (e.g., icons and markers, loading data in from XML), and is heavy on the code. Via All Points Blog….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, November 17, 2006 at 10:45 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Top Ten Non-Google Map Mashups
From Lifehacker, a top-ten list of map mashups that aren’t based on Google Maps. Thanks to Joel Riggs for the link….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, November 3, 2006 at 2:54 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
MapKit
Platial has introduced MapKit, which integrates their service, built atop the Google Maps API, into your web page or blog (though there seem to be issues with certain blogging engines, including WordPress and Blogger). It looks profoundly easy to set up, and, once integrated, it can include reader-submitted pushpins,…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, November 3, 2006 at 9:15 AM
Categories: Blogs, Hacks & Mashups
Firefox Mapping Extensions
Mapz: A GIS Librarian takes a look at some mapping-related Firefox extensions: All Your Maps Are Belong to Us, which converts URLs for other mapping sites to Google Maps; GMiF, which embeds a Google Map on a Flickr photo page if the photo is geotagged; and Get Directions from Google…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, November 2, 2006 at 8:34 AM
Categories: Geotagging, Hacks & Mashups, Software
Zoomatron
Zoomatron uses MapCruncher to overlay nautical charts on top of the Virtual Earth interface. Massachusetts and Washington states. The method reminds me of what Skyvector.com did with aeronautical charts. Via Windows Live Local/Virtual Earth. See previous entries: MapCruncher Update; MapCruncher….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, October 27, 2006 at 10:02 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Nautical
Seattle 911 Mashup Falls to Security Concerns
The API is only one half of a map mashup; the other half is the data being plotted on the map. In many cases, mashup makers do not own the data they’re mapping, but are using public (or at least publicly available) sources. This means that the data source’s availability…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 8:26 PM
Categories: Censorship, Security & Privacy, Hacks & Mashups
Two Books About Google Maps Mashups
Two books about programming with the Google Maps API are coming early next year, Google Karten reports: Beginning Google Maps Applications with Rails and Ajax, in the same series as the previously mentioned book about PHP and Ajax, and by the same authors; and Google Maps Mashups, which looks…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 6:12 AM
Categories: Books, Hacks & Mashups
New York City Subway Smell Map
Gawker’s New York City Subway Smell Map, a Google Maps mashup with attitude: “Created from reports sent in by Gawker readers, the map displays particular smells — horrific and sublime — encountered throughout New York’s subway stations.” And you thought the Gawker Stalker map was something. Via MetaFilter….   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 6:34 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Mass Transit, New York
Yahoo! Updates Mapping API
Yahoo! has updated its AJAX mapping API to version 3.4; among other things, it now includes polylines and a traffic data layer….   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, September 24, 2006 at 4:24 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
UN Atlas Presented via Google Maps
The UN Environment Programme’s atlas, One Planet, Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment, was announced in June 2005 and has been available as a free download since at least last February. (You can always buy the book, of course.) Now it’s available in online, with a Google Maps-based interface…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 9:25 AM
Categories: Books, Environment, Hacks & Mashups, Satellite & Aerial
Google Maps API Update
On the Google Maps API Blog, an explanation of recent performance and imagery upgrades to the API. The improved imagery was noticed on Google Maps proper last week; this post includes a list of the areas that got those imagery upgrades….   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, September 16, 2006 at 10:07 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
MapCruncher Update
MapCruncher, the Virtual Earth tool that allows you to integrate your map or image into their mapping system, is now natively supported by the API, the developers report. See previous entries: Live Local/Virtual Earth Update; MapCruncher….   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 7:38 AM
Categories: Georeferencing, Hacks & Mashups
Mapping Regions in Google Maps
One drawback to Google Maps — and presumably to the other mapping services — is that while it’s easy to map points and lines (“polylines”), mapping regions (“polygons”) is something altogether different. And that makes it rather difficult to do species range maps or choropleth maps in a map mashup…   Read more →
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Posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 at 7:53 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax
Books about Google’s mapping services continue to appear. Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax is a new book about producing web applications using the Google Maps API and your data, whether your data is small and simple or big and complicated. It looks like the book scales…   Read more →
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Posted on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 at 3:14 PM
Categories: Blogs, Books, Hacks & Mashups
Thota on Virtual Earth APIs
Chandu Thota reports that he has an article on the Virtual Earth APIs in the September issue of MSDN Magazine: “In this article, I’ll highlight some of the most salient features of the Virtual Earth APIs and show you how to build rich, powerful mapping and local search apps.”…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, August 9, 2006 at 10:48 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
DigitalGlobe Imagery Exclusive to Google
Ben has posted an e-mail exchange to the Geowanking mailing list that confirms that, according to a DigitalGlobe representative, “Google has signed an exclusive agreement with us to display our full-resolution imagery on the web,” which means that Google Maps and Earth are the only way to access their sub-10-metre…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 at 5:54 PM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Satellite & Aerial
Ordnance Survey Maps Mashup
This page overlays out-of-copyright Ordnance Survey maps (circa 1925 to 1945) on the Google Maps interface. Via Map GIS News Blog Etc. Etc. See previous entry: Ordnance Survey Overlays on Multimap Aerial Photos….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, July 28, 2006 at 8:14 AM
Categories: Antique Maps, Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps API Update; GZoom
Revision 2.59 of the Google Maps API adds four new features, including speed improvements, custom cursors, and an accuracy attribute for the geocoder, the Google Maps API Official Blog reports. Meanwhile, Andre Louis writes to tell us about his project, GZoom, a third-party add-on that “lets you zoom in on…   Read more →
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Posted on Friday, July 21, 2006 at 7:41 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
An Israel-Lebanon Roundup
A black-and-white graphic from the Globe and Mail (direct link to image). A map-intensive Flash presentation from the Guardian. A Google Earth layer (KMZ format) showing the attacks on both sides — now, of course, it can be viewed through Google Maps, like this. Via Cartography, Google Maps Mania…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 9:00 PM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Israel-Lebanon Conflict
Mumbai Bomb Blasts
A few web pages place the locations of yesterday’s bomb blasts in Mumbai, India (which you may know as Bombay) on Google Maps: there is this one (via Matt) and “>this one (via Ogle Earth); the latter is a KML (Google Earth) file viewed through Google Maps. There is also…   Read more →
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Posted on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 at 8:28 AM
Categories: Current Events, Hacks & Mashups
Map Mashups: ‘The Fool’s Gold of Web 2.0’
On ZDNet, Phil Wainewright dismisses “Web 2.0” mashups — especially map mashups — as “fool’s gold”: they don’t integrate any data that wasn’t semantically easy to integrate in the first place (i.e., it’s not exactly rocket science to put geotagged data on a map), and they don’t make any money…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, July 7, 2006 at 10:37 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
SXSW Audio: How to Make the Most of Maps
Via Daring Fireball, I stumble across a page of podcasts from the SXSW Interactive conference from last March, and notice that one of them is from a session about maps called “How to Make the Most of Maps.” The description: “Map hackers discuss how to get started on hacking, the…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 10:01 PM
Categories: Conferences, Hacks & Mashups, Podcasts & Audio
MTMaps
The MTGoogleMaps Movable Type plugin (now at version 4.0) has some competition, kind of: MTMaps, now at version 0.6, which also uses Google Maps. Developer Patrick Calahan writes, “MTMaps is different from other map plugins in that it associates map coordinates with each blog entry. This in turn makes it…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 at 8:52 PM
Categories: Blogs, Hacks & Mashups
Google Roundup: Geo Developer Day Recap; Geotagging in Picasa
A look back on Google’s Geo Developer Day on Monday, with some additional links on the subject. For summaries of the event, look at these reports from MacWorld and Search Engine Watch. The Google Maps API Blog discusses the new geocoding feature. On Geography 2.0, Alan Glennon takes a…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at 10:29 AM
Categories: Conferences, Geotagging, Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups
Yahoo! Local and Maps Blog
The folks behind Yahoo! Local and Maps now have a blog. In their most recent post, they announce they’re lifting restrictions on commercial uses of the mapping API….   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, June 13, 2006 at 9:45 PM
Categories: Blogs, Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps Update: KML, Geocoder, Enterprise
Also from Google’s Geo Developer Day. In addition to the new version of Google Earth and upgraded imagery for Google Earth (coming soon to Google Maps), an entry in Google’s official blog announces the following major new features of Google Maps: You can now view Google Earth KML files directly…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, June 12, 2006 at 5:39 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
A Microsoft Roundup
Jeff Thurston thinks that MapCruncher (see previous entry) is “innovative”: “It would be interesting to see ‘artistic’ mapping using MapCruncher — personal mind maps, etched drawings, action/reaction layers and other kinds of unique maps created with this product. In other words, maps ‘out side of the traditional box’ — more…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, May 28, 2006 at 6:47 PM
Categories: Georeferencing, Hacks & Mashups
Major Windows Live Local Update
Windows Live Local got a major update today; see the official blog for an overview of what they call “the biggest release yet of Windows Live Local.” The update includes real-time traffic data (the TechCrunch post covering the launch has an example and comparison with Yahoo!’s service) and, according to…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 10:11 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps, Satellite & Aerial
MapCruncher
MapCruncher is this new thing from Microsoft Research that uses the Virtual Earth API (I guess it’s Virtual Earth for the technology, Windows Live Local for the online mapping site) to integrate your own maps into their system: Once you get familar with the tool, it will take you about…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 9:45 PM
Categories: Georeferencing, Hacks & Mashups
ASCII Maps
Probably the strangest Google Maps hack I’ve yet seen: ASCII Maps, which renders maps in coloured text characters. Weird, and possibly neat, but really quite useless. Crashes in Safari. Via O’Reilly Radar….   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 at 7:28 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Neogeography
I must confess that I haven’t yet taken a very close look at Platial.com, a web site built on the Google Maps API (see previous entry), so it was only via this National Geographic News article about mashups that featured the site that I first became aware of a neologism…   Read more →
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Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 8:14 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
CNet: Monetizing Map Mashups
A story on CNet about companies building their businesses around map mashups by Elinor Mills: “The main reason for caution is the very thing that makes mashups so popular — they’re fairly easy to create, and it’s not that difficult for someone to duplicate the more successful ones. On top…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 at 8:21 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps Mania Turns One
Congratulations to Google Maps Mania on its first anniversary. I’ve given up trying to keep track of all the hacks and mashups — my present policy is to blog about them generally, and include any mashups when talking about a general topic, but for the most part I won’t link…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 at 7:52 AM
Categories: Blogs, Hacks & Mashups
Gmaps 101
GISuser.com has posted the first part of a three-part series on the Google Maps API, specifically on version 2. The first part is an introduction which thankfully doesn’t appear to assume too much prior knowledge; parts two and three will go into further detail and AJAX and geocoding, respectively. Via…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 at 8:19 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Schuyler Looks at the APIs
On the Mapping Hacks blog, Schuyler Erle takes a look at the “big three” online mapping APIs: “The big three — Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Virtual Earth — have basically converged, and their map display APIs look more or less alike, implementation details aside.” He makes a particularly interesting point…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, April 8, 2006 at 8:22 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Camera with GPS, GPS with Camera
More geotagging coverage. Tim’s page covers the steps involved in taking photos from a GPS-compatible digital camera (in this case, the droolworthy Nikon D200) and placing them on a Google Map; with source code (via Google Maps Mania). On the other hand, sure, you could add GPS to a camera,…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at 10:46 AM
Categories: GPS, Geotagging, Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps: API Update, Advertising Appears
It’s been in development for a while, but version 2 of the Google Maps API was officially released today. Besides technical improvements such as a smaller JavaScript codebase, Google has lifted the page view limits and has promised 90 days’ warning before their advertising starts appearing in Google Maps mashups….   Read more →
Posted on Monday, April 3, 2006 at 5:21 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Triangulations: March 27
Jeff Thurston’s contribution to the debate over free geodata looks at the question of scale: if you want geospatial data to be free and updated regularly, consider the huge amount of territory that has to be mapped. Wired’s piece, Map Mashups Get Personal, looks at Platial, a service that…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 at 11:03 AM
Categories: Blogs, Books, GIS, GPS, Hacks & Mashups, Topo Maps & Trails, Triangulations (Links)
Triangulations: March 15
Boing Boing reports that the archive of silly Tube maps (previously mentioned here) has gotten into a spot of legal trouble and has been taken offline. As a followup on this question, have a look at Stefan’s post about configuring topo overlays from GPS Visualizer from within Google Earth…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 at 9:06 AM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Mass Transit, Topo Maps & Trails, Triangulations (Links)
Triangulations: March 13
The Batch Geocoding Blog has a comparison of the Google, MapQuest and Yahoo! mapping APIs; it’s a quick outline of what the author sees as the pros and cons of each. Via Very Spatial. Alex Stengel says MapMemo 2.5 is now out; see previous entries about MapMemo’s previous releases…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 at 10:00 AM
Categories: Blogs, Collecting, Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Macintosh, Satellite & Aerial, Triangulations (Links)
Triangulations: March 10
(I’m going to try calling these link roundups “Triangulations” and see how that goes.) Via GPS Tracklog, the difference between Garmin’s and Magellan’s topo maps. The National Geographic Society is planning a “mega-map” of the Sonoran Desert region. “It will zero in on 200 to 300 special sites nominated by…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 at 6:36 AM
Categories: Environment, GPS, Hacks & Mashups, Macintosh, Topo Maps & Trails, Triangulations (Links)
Question: Topo Maps in Google Earth?
Evan Roberts asks, Why do you think Google hasn’t integrated USGS topographic quads as a layer in Google Earth? Not enough of a demand? Not relevant to its business model? Don’t want to step on the toes of GPS partners? I’ve seen examples of users’ attempts to overlay topo in…   Read more →
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Posted on Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 8:35 AM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Questions, Topo Maps & Trails
MapQuest (Finally) Has an API
MapQuest finally has an API: they’re calling it the OpenAPI, it’s in beta, it was announced yesterday at O’Reilly’s Emerging Tech Conference, and (naturally) it has a blog (via Spatially Adjusted). From what I gather — see Mapping Hacks and Ed Parsons — the trick for MapQuest — and this…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at 11:46 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Mapping the Winter Olympics
I’m not the most consistent of bloggers even at the best of times, but, depending on how things go, over the next two weeks posts to The Map Room might be a bit sporadic due to the demands of one of my other projects: DFL, the blog that celebrates last-place…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, February 12, 2006 at 9:48 PM
Categories: Cities, Hacks & Mashups, Olympics
Google Maps Hacks
Google Maps Hacks is now out and Directions has a review: “This book, started not long after Google Maps debuted last February, is dated. Google Maps is now known as Google Local. Throughout, we hear about how the software is beta and how the API was not released officially until…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, February 4, 2006 at 12:15 PM
Categories: Books, Hacks & Mashups
NPR on Google Maps Mashups
More radio news. Our friend Mike Pegg of Google Maps Mania was on NPR’s All Things Considered today, talking about Google Maps mashups, bien sûr; here’s the story page, from where you can listen to the audio. In referencing this story, Adena points out that there have been a lot…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2006 at 10:25 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Podcasts & Audio
Virtual Earth Dashboard Widget
A Virtual Earth Dashboard Widget for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, and a tutorial explaining how it was done. See previous entries: More Widgets; Houston Traffic Widget; Dashboard Widgets….   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, December 1, 2005 at 3:16 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Macintosh, Online Maps
Google Maps WordPress Plugins
The WordPress Geo plugin allows bloggers using WordPress to specify a default location for their blog and assign geographic coordinates to specific posts. Dylan Kuhn takes this one step further with his Geo Mashup plugin, which takes that geographic data and plots posts on a map using Google Maps. Dylan…   Read more →
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Posted on Monday, November 21, 2005 at 8:14 AM
Categories: Blogs, Hacks & Mashups
Yahoo! Directions on an iPod
iPods have been used for subway maps before (see previous entries: 1, 2, 3); now this site generates driving directions from Yahoo! Maps that can be exported to a photo-capable (i.e., colour-screen) iPod. Via Scoble….   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2005 at 3:01 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Mobile Devices, Online Maps, Roads
CNet on Mashups
As part of a series on new web technologies, CNet has a long article about mashups that, like previous articles from other news organizations, serves as both an introduction to and summary of the whole Google Maps (and Yahoo! Maps, to a lesser extent) phenomenon, with a sampling of some…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, November 18, 2005 at 8:57 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps: API Blog, Wayfaring
Google has launched a Google Maps API blog to keep developers better informed about changes to the API, plus, they say (because there’s only one post so far), tips and so forth. Via Google Maps Mania. But if the API is too much for you, you could always try a…   Read more →
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Posted on Wednesday, November 16, 2005 at 12:15 PM
Categories: Blogs, Hacks & Mashups
A Greasemonkey Script Combining Google Maps and Flickr
GMiF (“Google Maps in Flickr”) is a Greasemonkey script (a Firefox browser extension) that allows you to see your geotagged photos on Google Maps from within Flickr. Thanks to Noel for the link….   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 9:46 PM
Categories: Geotagging, Hacks & Mashups
Yahoo! Mapping APIs
Simon Willison takes a look at Yahoo’s various mapping APIs. It’s a good (if brief) overview. Via Daring Fireball Linked List. See previous entry: Yahoo! Maps Upgrade….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, November 4, 2005 at 11:04 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps Plugin for Movable Type
If you’re a blogger using Movable Type — which reminds me that I need to upgrade to version 3.2 at some point — you might be interested in the MTGoogleMaps plugin. It requires a Google Maps API key, naturally, but it’ll allow you to embed a map into a blog…   Read more →
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Posted on Thursday, November 3, 2005 at 10:27 AM
Categories: Blogs, Hacks & Mashups
Scoble on the Map Wars: We’re Doomed
Scoble says both Yahoo! Maps and Virtual Earth are doomed: “it’s not about maps, it’s about the advertising platform that Google has built. It’s not about prettiness, it’s about who has the most user generated content (I still hate that term)” (his emphasis). He argues that advertising opportunities and licencing…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, November 3, 2005 at 10:08 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Yahoo! Maps Upgrade
Breaking news: Yahoo! has upgraded its mapping service with a new, Flash-based beta version with substantial interface improvements. In the 15 seconds or so I’ve had to play with it, it works very well — the inset for zooming is a nice UI touch. Here’s Yahoo!’s feature list. Associated Press…   Read more →
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Posted on Thursday, November 3, 2005 at 8:34 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
More Yahoo! Maps Mashups
John Musser provides some examples of mashups using the Yahoo! Maps API from Yahoo!’s application gallery. Via All Points Blog. See previous entries: Yahoo! Maps API; Yahoo! Maps Hacks….   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, October 26, 2005 at 10:17 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
The New York Times on Mashups
Today’s New York Times has an article about mapping hacks and mashups (free registration required); it touches on the Google Maps API, naturally, but also mentions Yahoo!, Microsoft and the new Ning.com. Thanks to Joel Riggs for the link….   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, October 20, 2005 at 8:43 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Tracking Hurricane Wilma
Here we go again. Google Earth Blog has a collection of downloadable automated storm tracking tools (KMZ file). Google Maps Mania points to a couple of Google Maps based storm trackers. Spatially Adjusted links to ESRI’s existing hurricane viewer and the Geospatial One Stop Hurricane page. Many of the sites…   Read more →
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Posted on Wednesday, October 19, 2005 at 9:17 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Hurricanes 2005, Satellite & Aerial, Software, Weather & Climate
Virtual Earth Mobile
Here’s another Virtual Earth port/hack to an unexpected but welcome place: Virtual Earth for Windows Mobile — i.e. Pocket PCs and Windows-based smartphones. Via the Virtual Earth team blog and Spatially Adjusted. See previous entry: A Microsoft Roundup….   Read more →
Posted on Monday, October 17, 2005 at 7:20 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Mapping the Pakistani Earthquake
Speaking of Kathryn Cramer, she’s also put together a useful Google Maps mashup of earthquake data that allows us to see, quite precisely, where the quakes and aftershocks have hit in northern Pakistan. She notes: One interesting result I obtain from my Community Walk earthquake site is that a small…   Read more →
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Posted on Monday, October 10, 2005 at 2:11 PM
Categories: Current Events, Earthquakes, Hacks & Mashups
A Microsoft Roundup
In the past week or so, I’ve learned the following mapping news from Microsoft through map developer Chandu Thota’s blog: Overshadowed by the PDC stuff on Virtual Earth at the time, I guess, but version 4.0 of the MapPoint web service was released last month, and Chandu outlines the details…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, October 10, 2005 at 7:45 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps, Software
Hurricane Rita Update
Fantastic multidimensional satellite imagery of Hurricane Rita from NOAA; via Spatially Adjusted. Also, you can now track Hurricane Rita with Virtual Earth; via Scoble. On an organizational note, I’ve combined entries about Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita into a new Hurricanes 2005 category; links to the old Katrina category archives…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, September 22, 2005 at 8:28 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Hurricanes 2005, Satellite & Aerial, Weather & Climate
Forbes: Mapping the Web’s Future
Forbes has a big-picture introduction to Google Maps applications and the growing trend of geotagging as much information on the web as possible. Via Cartography….   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, September 21, 2005 at 2:00 PM
Categories: Geotagging, Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Oh No, Not Again: Tracking Hurricane Rita
There are several resources for keeping tabs on the next volley of tropical storms to hit the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. NOAA’s Storm Tracker page for Rita and Philippe has tracking maps and satellite photos. Google Earth users can download a live hurricane tracker that lists all…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2005 at 9:30 PM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Hurricanes 2005, Satellite & Aerial, Weather & Climate
Virtual Earth Roundup
Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference last week was the occasion for some Virtual Earth announcements. Directions got a heads-up prior to the conference; Andrew Coates has some notes from the Virtual Earth session, which covered using the API for commercial use (see previous entry) and upcoming features (due this fall: updated…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2005 at 2:03 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Coding the Google Maps API
About a month ago, our friend John Resig spent a week on Google Maps: “I’ve been working a number of contract jobs — all of which have centered around the usage of the Google Maps API, a powerful tool for programmers. As I’ve gone along, there have been a number…   Read more →
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Posted on Sunday, September 18, 2005 at 9:33 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
September 11 Digital Archive
To mark the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the September 11 Digital Archive has used the Google Maps API to create an interactive map of New York with photos (blue markers) and stories (red markers) from that day. Via Google Maps Mania….   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, September 11, 2005 at 3:47 PM
Categories: Current Events, Hacks & Mashups, New York
Virtual Earth API for Commercial Use
Virtual Earth hacks have either been few and far between or they just haven’t been getting any attention (see previous entry; the same could be said about Yahoo! hacks). I wonder whether the announcement that the Virtual Earth APIs are now available for commercial use will make a difference….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, September 9, 2005 at 8:50 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
More New Orleans Flood Maps
More flood maps of New Orleans (see this morning’s entry). Kathryn Cramer, whose blog has turned into an immense resource for Hurricane Katrina information, links to a Google Maps hack that shows the approximate water depth in flooded areas; because of the limitations of Google Maps, it’s a bit of…   Read more →
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Posted on Tuesday, September 6, 2005 at 9:23 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Hurricanes 2005, New Orleans, Weather & Climate
Google and Katrina
In addition to the Forbes article I mentioned yesterday, both the BBC and New York Times (free registration required) cover the use of Google Maps and Earth by ordinary users to collect and distribute information about the disaster — i.e., the “non-official” Google Earth overlays and Google Maps hacks (via…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, September 5, 2005 at 11:50 AM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Hurricanes 2005, Online Maps, Satellite & Aerial, Weather & Climate
Paris Metro as Google Maps Hack
I like what Jef’s done with this map of the Paris metro done with Google Maps. The lines are laid out as vectors, and it includes routing between two points, including line changes and estimated travel time. Via Google Maps Mania. See previous entries: Paris Metro; Paris Metro, 1937….   Read more →
Posted on Monday, August 22, 2005 at 10:04 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Mass Transit, Paris
Google Maps Hacking Roundup
The number of hacks and mashups of Google Maps prevents me from reporting on every single one of them properly, but I am paying attention, and will report on the more noteworthy ones, and on trends, when I can. The trouble is that there’s very little that can be said…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, August 21, 2005 at 10:58 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Hacking Virtual Earth
Rev Dan Catt says, “Even though Google get a lot of press for their API, I believe that Virtual Earth is far easier to code and gives you more hooks and feedback to use. … From a coding point of view in my humble opinion Virtual Earth is better. Google…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, August 21, 2005 at 5:05 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Flash Earth
Flash Earth presents Google Maps and Virtual Earth satellite imagery through a Flash application. Why a Flash application, you may ask? The creator, Paul Neave, explains why: [T]he interface is much smoother to use. You get a sense of location because you can zoom in and out without the display…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, August 17, 2005 at 6:30 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps, Satellite & Aerial
Google Maps Plugin for OS X Address Book
As I’ve mentioned before, there are several hacks out there to change the Mac OS X Address Book’s address-mapping feature from MapQuest to other mapping services. (See previous entries: Map Sites: Hints, Tips and Observations; More Address Book Hacks.) The latest is the Google Maps Plugin, which adds contextual menu…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, August 5, 2005 at 4:41 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Macintosh, Online Maps
Google and GPS on Nintendo
You’ve got to be kidding me: Google Maps and GPS on a Nintendo DS. Via Engadget. See previous entry: Google Maps on Mobile Devices….   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, August 4, 2005 at 9:37 AM
Categories: GPS, Hacks & Mashups, Mobile Devices
Blast Radius Map
This Google Maps hack is both informative and chilling: “HYDESim maps overpressure radii generated by a ground-level detonation; these radii are an indicator of structural damage to buildings.” In other words, it overlays the blast radius of a nuclear-grade explosion on a location displayed by Google Maps (it defaults to…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, August 1, 2005 at 9:57 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
A Google-Powered Map Game
I’ve posted those interactive geography games and quizzes before, and I’ve posted Google Maps-based sites before, but I think that Find the Landmark is the first map game that is powered by Google Maps (rather than Flash). Here’s how Geoff Menegay, who developed it, described it to me: A game…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, August 1, 2005 at 9:40 PM
Categories: Games & Quizzes, Hacks & Mashups
Geotagging Roundup
Geotagging comes in many flavours. First, let’s take a look at Tagzania, a web site where you can add keywords to specific geographic locations, and track that keyword via RSS. I’m not sure how scalable this concept is; imagine the chaos if every bar and lake on the planet are…   Read more →
Posted on Sunday, July 31, 2005 at 10:08 PM
Categories: Geotagging, Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Tracking Hacks
Just try and keep up with all the new Google Maps hacks. Come on, I dare you. I’m so far behind it’s ridiculous; Google Maps Mania, on the other hand, is doing a first-rate job. (It helps that they’re specialized; I’m trying to cover the whole gamut, and I have…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, July 29, 2005 at 11:54 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps Hacks of Live Events
Who says the data you mash up with Google Maps has to be static? Some of the best hacks are ones where the data is frequently updated, whether it’s daily or by the minute. For an example of the former, see this page tracking the biennial Transpac sailboat race between…   Read more →
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Posted on Friday, July 29, 2005 at 10:44 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Google Maps on Mobile Devices
Getting Google Maps onto mobile devices is a natural step: when we’re going somewhere, we tend not to leave our maps behind, after all. One project was a hack to get Google Maps running on Series 60 Nokia phones, combining the Nokia Python SDK and data from a Bluetooth GPS;…   Read more →
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Posted on Friday, July 29, 2005 at 9:23 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Mobile Devices, Online Maps, Software
Google Earth Roundup
I’m in the awkward position of having to write posts about Google Earth without so much as being able to download it — at least, not until their promised Mac version comes out. Until that hopefully-not-too-long-off day, I can only go by what other people say. For example, my dad…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 9:32 PM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Satellite & Aerial
Yahoo! Maps Hacks
As far as official mapping APIs are concerned, Yahoo! and Google announced theirs at roughly the same time. But, thanks to the unofficial hacks and a big lead in mindshare, Google Maps is getting all the attention. This isn’t something that Yahoo! is content to accept; they’ve launched a PR…   Read more →
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Posted on Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at 12:09 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps Tools
If you’re interested in building maps with the Google Maps API, you should be aware of the relevant Google Group. You might also find the Phoogle Maps PHP class useful: it does a lat/long lookup of a street address so that you don’t need to know the precise coordinates (via…   Read more →
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Posted on Monday, July 11, 2005 at 11:54 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps Hacks: WiFi Access Points
Computer geeks are the ones hacking Google Maps. Computer geeks like WiFi. No surprise, then, that several of the map hacks using the Google Maps API involve wireless hotspot locations. Maps of free WiFi access points are available for New York, Chicago (click for a suburb; buggy when I tried…   Read more →
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Posted on Monday, July 11, 2005 at 4:25 PM
Categories: Chicago, Hacks & Mashups, New York, Portland
Google Maps Hacks: Sex Offenders
It probably says something about our society that one of the most common Google Maps API hacks is to plot the addresses of registered sex offenders from public databases. Recent hacks include pages for Georgia, Chicago, Lawton, Oklahoma and Utah. Via Google Maps Mania: 1, 2, 3. See previous entries:…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, July 11, 2005 at 4:05 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps Transparencies
It seems that every time I step away from the computer, I come back to several new mapping hacks using the Google Maps API (see previous entry). I’ve got some backlog to work through, suffice to say. But first I want to point to one that impresses me a lot:…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, July 11, 2005 at 3:57 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Mapping Hacks Reviewed
Not that I haven’t mentioned Mapping Hacks enough already (see previous entries: Mapping Hacks, Mapping Hacks Now Out), but you might be interested in this pretty thorough review over on Blogcritics….   Read more →
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Posted on Wednesday, July 6, 2005 at 11:36 PM
Categories: Books, Hacks & Mashups
Wired: Map Hacks on Crack
Today’s Wired News article, Map Hacks on Crack, covers the announcements of, rules for, and reactions to the Google and Yahoo! Maps APIs. “Both companies are hoping the new mapping APIs, or application programming interfaces, will excite developers, help the companies find new employees and, perhaps most importantly, result in…   Read more →
Posted on Saturday, July 2, 2005 at 1:28 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Boston Globe Coverage of Google Maps API
The Boston Globe’s Peter Howe has a story on the Google Maps API release (see previous entry), with a quote from yours truly….   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2005 at 8:10 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Google Maps API; More Google Links
Google has released an API for embedding Google Maps in your own web pages via JavaScript. Hacking Google Maps has just gone legit — not that Google seems to have had much complaint with the majority of the hacks out there. The main stipulation seems to be that the web…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2005 at 3:39 PM
Categories: Google Earth, Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Mapping Hacks Now Out
Mapping Hacks (see previous entry) is finally shipping after some delays; Directions has a review. The book went to press too soon to take account of all the Google Maps hacks that have sprung up in the meantime, so they’ve announced that they’re providing a bonus chapter as a downloadable…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, June 22, 2005 at 10:50 PM
Categories: Books, Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps Meets the U.S. Census
The mother of all mash-ups, perhaps: gCensus combines Google Maps with data from the 2000 U.S. Census — down to the block level. Via Boing Boing….   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, June 21, 2005 at 8:21 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Mid-June Google Maps Roundup
Some more hacks, news and commentary about Google Maps that I’ve been saving up for another one of these roundup posts: Google Maps hacking gets mentioned on CNN (via Google Maps Mania). Google has deployed a 3D mapping truck in San Francisco, with the goal of having a three-dimensional framework…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 4:46 PM
Categories: Geotagging, Hacks & Mashups, Online Maps
Google Shuts Down Map Hack
Sooner or later it had to happen: a Google Maps hack crossing a previously unknown line and Google putting a stop to the fun. Google’s been pretty good about hacks in general (see previous entries: 1, 2), but they’ve informed the people behind Google Maps Wallpapers (see previous entry) that…   Read more →
Posted on Thursday, June 9, 2005 at 12:58 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Google Maps Wallpapers
Google Maps Wallpapers is another hack (see previous entry) allowing you to build wallpapers — think posters or desktop backgrounds — from Google Maps satellite images. Via MAKE: Blog….   Read more →
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Posted on Sunday, June 5, 2005 at 3:09 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Satellite & Aerial
Google Maps Hacking Resources
A trio of tools for Google Maps hacking: the Unofficial Google Maps Embedding How-To seems to supercede the GMaps-Standalone hack I linked to earlier (via Google Maps Mania); Noah’s Google Maps Hack for Large Maps allows you to make poster-sized maps from Google Maps tiles (thanks Noah); and gMapTrack, which…   Read more →
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Posted on Thursday, June 2, 2005 at 10:58 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
British Google Maps Mashups
O’Reilly Radar has a post about some very neat British Google Maps mashups that use data from BBC Backstage, including one for travel advisories, Sport Map (for teams and news about them), and this one, which links to images from traffic cameras in central London….   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2005 at 8:24 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Adding Google Maps Directions
Matt Round offers a simple hack for adding Google Maps directions to a web site. Useful if, say, you have a business or institution with a physical presence and you need to provide directions; the user supplies a zip or postal code, Google Maps does the rest. Presumably the destination…   Read more →
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Posted on Saturday, May 28, 2005 at 9:55 AM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups
Mixing GPS Data and Orthographic Images with Perl
Tony has written up a Perl script to take the data from his GPS watch and overlaid it on orthographic imagery from the USGS. These are ridiculously huge and detailed files, but the end result is an extremely precise map of his run. Via MAKE: Blog….   Read more →
Posted on Friday, May 27, 2005 at 11:12 AM
Categories: GPS, Hacks & Mashups, Satellite & Aerial

Note: Entries from 2003 were not categorized and will not appear in the category archives. Please consult the monthly archives.