maps of world

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Hunch - A Local Recommendation Engine

Hunch is a personal recommendations website. Answer 10 questions and Hunch believes it can offer you great recommendations on thousands of topics. Hunch's recommendations are based on the collective answers of the entire Hunch community. The site claims that every time Hunch is used the hunches get better.

Hunch has now launched Hunch - Local, a Google Maps based suggestion tool to help you find restaurants, stores, museums, hotels and nightlife. After you share your location with Hunch Local you will be shown local recommendations in your vicinity. You can choose which category of recommendations you want to view from a drop down menu.

It is also possible to refine the places shown on the map with a 'popular' slider control. This allows you to view the most popular venues or the most unique (the least popular?). Each suggestion comes with a link to read more about the venue on Yelp, foursquare or on Hunch itself.

Tracking Your Package with Google Maps

TrackingNumber.org

I've just tracked a package sent to me in London from California. The package took five days to wing it's way from Sunnyvale to my house in London. Having ordered something exciting over the Internet it is easy to get a little impatient waiting for the package to arrive but there is something reassuring about being able to check your package's location on Google Maps.

Trackingnumber.org is a tracking service for all the major courier services. Using the service you can track the location of a sent package on Google Maps. The service currently works for packages sent by FedEx, UPS, TNT and DHL.

To track a package you just have to enter the package's tracking number. You are then presented with a Google Map that shows the current location of your package. Beside the map the tracking record for your package is also displayed, showing all the stages in your package's journey.

Google Earth 1.1 Released for Android

Roughly seven months after it was first introduced, Google Earth for Android has just received a major update to version 1.1.

The big update in this version is underwater bathymetry!This feature was first introduced on the desktop in Google Earth 5, but this is the first time that the bathymetry feature has become available on a mobile phone. It also includes a new "Explore the Ocean" layer that features photos and videos which share stories from the sea.

If your phone is running Android 2.2 (Froyo), there are even more goodies in this release:

• "Move to SD" is enabled, to free up some space in your internal memory.
• Some of the "Explore the Ocean" items have Flash videos in them, which can be viewed directly in the app thanks to Flash 10.1 being available on your device.
• Two-finger "look around" mode, similar to the iPhone. This has been my biggest issue with the Android version of Google Earth, as the iPhone version was much easier to use. It was apparently a firmware issue, since this only works on Froyo, but I'm glad to see it was finally added. This makes it much easier to browse around the globe. As suggested on Ogle Earth a while ago, simply turn the phone sideways and use both thumbs on the screen. It works great!

For more information about this release, please visit the Google Lat Long Blog.

If your phone is on Android 2.1 or higher, go download/update Google Earth right now. This is a superb update, and it's well worth your time to get it. While you're there, grab a copy of the free Google Earth Blog app so you can keep up with the latest GEB news on the go!

California Parks, Fishing & Boating Map

CaliforniaView.org

California View is a Google Map that displays California State Parks, fishing spots, and boating facilities. The points of interest for the map are taken from Data.ca.gov.

What I really like about this Google Map is the simple but effective user interface. On first visiting California View you are presented with a search box to enter your location. Once you have selected a location you are presented with a full screen map and a menu to select whether you want to view state parks, fishing spots and boating facilities on the map.

I suspect that the design was chosen so that the site works well on mobile applications but the simplicity of the user interface is something that a lot of map mashups could learn from.

Find Mall & Airport Maps via Google Maps

Point Inside

Screenshot shows Inside Maps website not the app itself

Have you ever been frustrated that Google Maps doesn't have indoor maps for shopping malls and airports? If so then you need to download (for free) Inside Maps for your iPhone or Android phone.

When you open Inside Maps on your mobile phone you are presented with a Google Map with markers showing the Inside Maps available for malls and airports near your current location. If you select one of the markers you can then download the Inside Map for the chosen mall or airport.

All the maps are produced by Inside Maps themselves and are interactive and searchable.

Monday, August 23, 2010

The Hottest Events in Town on Google Maps

Hotlist

The Hotlist is a website that can show you the trending locations in your vicinity.

Hotlist uses Google Maps to show you upcoming events in your area and in your social network. The application shows you the venues that are generating the most buzz on social networks and can show you which events your friends are attending.

It is possible to connect to Hotlist with a Facebook account to see what your Facebook friends are up to. As of today Hotlist is also using the new Facebook Places API. This should ensure that you can now more easily find out what hot events your friends will be attending.

Via: Read Write Web

Google Mobile App for iPhone gets pushy

Ever missed an appointment or important email because you were away from your desk? Now Google Mobile App can help with push notifications from your Google account to your iPhone -- an icon badge shows you’ve got new mail in Gmail, and Google Calendar event reminders appear right on your home screen.

We’ve also added spiffy features to get you information faster -- when looking for flight info, weather, stock quotes or currency conversion you’ll see answers before you even hit ‘Search’.

You can get the update from the App Store by searching for ‘Google Mobile App’.

If you have any questions or comments, or if you want to learn more, please visit our help center.

The LA Times on Google Maps

The Los Angeles Times is becoming a prolific user of Google Maps. Here are just some examples of how the paper has used the Google Maps API to help illustrate news stories and give their readers access to local data.

Mapping L.A.'s Neighborhoods

The LA Times’ neighborhood map of Los Angeles County is a Google Maps interface to individual maps and statistics for 158 cities and unincorporated places and 114 neighborhoods within the city of Los Angeles.

The map allows readers to click on one of the highlighted regions on the map and then select an individual neighborhood. Once you have selected a neighborhood you can view information about schools, income, demographics and news from the area.

LA Magnet Test Scores

A Google Map created to compare the test scores of Los Angeles' magnet schools with other magnet schools and to their host schools.

L.A. Farmers Markets
A Google Map guide to Southern California farmers markets. It is possible to browse the markets by location and by the day of the week.

Where the Westside Starts
The Westside has no official defined border. Therefore the LA Times decided to ask its readers how they define the Westside.

The Times then produced two Google Maps; one to show The Times' definition of the Westside's geographical boundary and one to show the readers' ideas.