A Google Maps Hangover Cure

HMSG Spiral Map

You might want to save this sound map for tomorrow when you are a little hungover. The Hudson Mohawk Sound Gate Spiral Map is a virtual walk around the Capital District of New York featuring sound and video. And it could just be the perfect ambient mood shift that you will need after your exertions tonight on New Year's Eve.

For the project one minute videos and sound recordings were made at a number of locations. Each recording is synced to the relevant location on a Google Map. Once the application has loaded all you need to do is press play. You can then sit back and watch and listen as you are taken on a spiral path through New York's Capital District.

Sublime!

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New Year's Mashups on Google Maps

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Map Clock
Use this Google Map to find out whereabouts in the world it is midnight right now. This ingenious Google Map has an embedded clock that changes to show the time in the current map view.

The map sidebar includes some quick links to find the time in cities around the world.

World Webcams
Times Square Live Streaming Cam
This live streaming webcam of Times Square has a lot of different views, so you should catch all of the midnight action.

Nasdaq Times Square Live Streaming Cam (Windows Media Player link)
This live streaming webcam is centred on the Nasdaq Market Site Tower on Times Square.

Sydney Harbour Bridge
This live streaming cam of Sydney Harbour should catch the Sydney Harbour Bridge fireworks.

Grand Place, Brussels Live Streaming Cam
This streaming webcam has a great view of the Grand Place in Brussels.

Google Maps Mashups to help you ring in the New Year:

• World Weather
• World Sunrise Times & World Times
  
• World Daylight Map
• World Webcams
• New York City webcams
• Taxi Fare Calculator (US/Canada)
• Stay Up Maps (US)
• World Live Music Map
• World Transit Mashups

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Google Earth Flight Simulator

GE Flight Simulator (0.4)

GE Flight Simulator is a very realistic flight simulation game that uses the Google Earth plugin.

Using the simulation you can fly anywhere in the world. The simulation uses Google Maps to display and help you navigate to over 30,000 airports around the world. To view the map in flight just click the "show map" button in the option bar.

If you click on any of the displayed airports you can choose to fly from or fly to the selected airport. In "Aeronautical" mode, the map also shows a layer of airspace areas. This overlay has been generated using DAFIF data.

You can also view the map of the 30,000 airports on its own here.

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Regifting with Google Maps

Gift A Stranger

Here is the perfect application to get rid of all those unwanted Christmas presents and to partake in a random of act of kindness at the same time. Gift A Stranger uses Google Maps to produce a random address that you can then use to send a gift.

To send a gift to a random stranger simply click 'send gift'. Gift a Stranger then gives you a random address somewhere in the world that you can then use to send your gift.

You can also browse the map to view the locations of gifts sent by other users. If you click on any of the map markers the map zooms to the chosen location and displays a picture of the gift that was sent to this location.

911 on Google Maps

Incident1

Incident1 uses Google Maps to plot police, fire, and emergency incidents from around the nation. The map shows the most recent incidents for your area.

Incident1 shows data from multiple agencies on one map, and it lets you search by zip code and region.

Gothamist NYC Incident Map

The Gothamist uses Google Maps to plot the locations of crimes, fires, accidents and other incidents in New York City. Think of it as police scanner chat.. mapped. Map pins include police, fire and 'exclamation point signs'.

IncidentLog

If you live in New England you can view the latest New England incidents on this Google Map. You can search the map by state, city or street name.

Seattle 911 Calls

This site uses live data publicly available on the Seattle Fire Dept. web site to show Seattle 911 calls live on Google Maps.

Fire Incident Map
The City of Nanaimo have integrated their Fire Incident Report with Google Maps. This allows the citizens of Nanaimo (or anyone else) to query the city’s Fire Incident Report and see the results on a map. The map shows the location of incidents and the apparatus that the fire deployment deployed.

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OpenTripPlanner Portland

A trip planner with a difference

"A trip planner helps you figure out how best to get where you want to go. A multi-modal trip planner lets you plan routes using multiple "modes," for example, on foot, bike, train, bus, or some combination thereof. A good multi-modal trip planner allows you to easily tailor your trip to your preferences, for example by eliminating transfers, walking a more scenic path, or only riding buses with bike storage."

What is OpenTripPlanner?

OpenTripPlanner is an open source multi-modal trip planner. It brings together work from a number of existing open source projects, including Graphserver, OneBusAway, and FivePoints, and aims to be easy-to-use, flexible, reliable, and fast.


Planning a trip is very straightforward - right click to create start point and right click to add destination.

Lots of Options - like Transit only - with changes includes - clearly laid-out.


For Developers

• Plans true multi-modal trips combining walking, biking and transit
• Plans wheelchair accessible trips
• Plans depart by/arrive by trips
• Takes road type, bike lane, and elevation data into account when planning bike trips
• Show elevation maps for bike trips
• Imports data from GTFS, shapefiles, OpenStreetMap, and the National Elevation Dataset
• Plans trips in about 100ms in a moderate sized city
• Exposes a RESTful API (XML and JSON), which other apps or front-ends can build on

Try the OpenTripPlanner for Portland
http://maps5.trimet.org/otp/

wiki for developers
http://opentripplanner.org/wiki

More great models from Andy Dell

Back in August, we showed you some of the great 3D models that Andy Dell was creating in Hounslow, and more recently we showed you some of the great 3D models found on the grounds of the Hampton Court Palace in London.

As it turns out, Andy has been building a lot of other models in that same area of London. The models aren't yet in Google Earth, but they're all available in the 3D Warehouse. As you can see below, the buildings look excellent and are very well built.

Here's some of what he has been working on:

Hampton Court Main Gates -- 3D Warehouse -- KML

Bushy Park Entrance -- 3D Warehouse -- KML

King Arms Hotel -- 3D Warehouse -- KML

Liongate Hotel -- 3D Warehouse -- KML

Along with those models, he's done a good bit of work in nearby Thorpe Park. He's built a variety of buildings in the park:

And even some of the rides!

You can view all of those items in this collection in the 3D Warehouse.

Great work, Andy!

George Clooney's Eye on Sudan

Satellite Sentinel Project

A joint project by the U.N.'s Operational Satellite Applications Programme, Harvard University and the Enough Project hopes to stop the tensions between South and North Sudan developing into war.

Inspired by an idea by George Clooney and John Prendergast the project is buying satellite imagery to monitor troop movements in the region. George Clooney says that using satellite imagery,

"We can witness in near real-time and put all parties on notice that if they commit war crimes, we will all be watching, and pressuring policymakers to take action."

The Satellite Sentinel Project has developed a mapping system which will combine satellite imagery analysis and field reports with Google Maps to help deter the resumption of war between North and South Sudan.

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Defeating Snowmageddon with Google Maps

Mapping the Storm Clean-up

New York radio station WNYC has created a Google Map for listeners to share whether their streets have been snow ploughed or not. The resulting map shows at a glance which streets have been ploughed and which are still unploughed.

The purple map markers indicate streets and neighborhoods that have been ploughed and the white markers show roads still covered by snow. You can contribute to the information displayed on the map by texting PLOW to 30644.

Snowmageddon Cleanup - New York

Ryan Ozimek, of PICnet, has used the crowdsourcing mapping tool Ushahidi to create two maps to help clean-up after the US snow storms.

Snowmageddon Cleanup - New York and Snowmageddon Cleanup - Bostonboth allow anyone to report problems, offer help or find help to problems created by the recent snow.

So if you willing to help your fellow neighbor dig out a car, shovel a sidewalk or salt a driveway you can advertise your services on these Google Maps. Conversely if you need a little help with your snow clean-up you can ask for your neigbors' help but adding a report to the relevant map.

Via: ReadWriteWeb

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Instant Street View Postcards

ShowMyStreet

This handy Google Maps application is just what you need if you want to share the Street View image of a location with your friends.

ShowMyStreet uses instant search to portray the Street View of a typed location. Like Google's Instant Search ShowMyStreet predicts as you type to show you the Street View of the current best guess. For example, if you want the Street View of Mission Street in San Francisco, the suggested locations go through a few permutations (e.g. Mission Viejo) until ShowMyStreet guesses correctly at 'Mission S'.

Once you have the correct Street View you can then share the location via Twitter and Facebook or e-mail the short URL. If a Street View isn't available for your current location you can share the satellite image of the location instead.

I can see myself using this map quite a bit from my mobile phone to share the Street View of my current location with friends.

Also See

Google Maps - From 0 to Instant - a Google Map with instant search.

View Facebook Checkins with Google Maps

CheckinSpy

CheckinSpy lets you view your friends Facebook check-ins on Google Maps.

The application allows Facebook users to view their own check-ins and those made by their Facebook friends directly on a Google Map. You can select to view your own check-ins from the menu bar at the top of the map. Alternatively you can view all your friends or select an individual friend's check-ins.

All recent check-ins are displayed on the map with orange map markers. If you click on the marker you can view the date of the check-in and view the location with Street View.

Simulate Forest Fires with Google Maps

ForeFire

The French national research agency CNRS have used Google Maps to create an impressive forest fire simulator.

Using the simulator it is possible to select a location on the map as the centre of the fire simulation. Before running the simulator you can also adjust the wind speed and direction. The simulation itself takes lots of data into account, including fuel, roads and elevation.

Currently the data is only available for Corsica so the simulator will only work properly on this Mediterranean island.

Via: Google Earth Blog

Fixing incorrect information in Google Earth

We get a lot of emails from users that would like to report incorrect information. Perhaps a misspelled road name, incorrect building name, etc.

Fortunately, Google makes it very easy to report problems like that. You can read all of your options on this help page, but in most cases you'll simply want to use the "Report a Problem"link in Google Maps. The item will usually be corrected in Google Maps within a month, and then corrected in Google Earth at some point after that.

Here's a brief video showing how it works:

Have you ever reported a problem using this tool? I've submitted a handful from my town, and all were resolved within a few weeks.

Excellent updates to Brazil's "Christ the Redeemer" statue

GEB reader 'Peter' recently wrote to tell us about some updates he made to the "Christ the Redeemer" statue in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. It was already a great model in Google Earth, but now it's even more impressive.

The statue itself is largely unchanged, but the surrounding area is quite complete. It now includes the train cars up near the statue, an improved parking structure, individual umbrellas for guests to enjoy, and even some of the interior work inside the base of the statue.

As of today, the new model is not yet part of the base layer in Google Earth. However, you can download it from the 3D Warehouse here to see it for yourself.

Where Is Santa Claus? The 2010 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Google Earth

It’s Christmas Eve, and you know what that means. Santa Claus is busy delivering toys to boys and girls around the world. Where is Santa Claus right now? Below, our annual round up of ways to find Father Christmas, from tracking Santa on Google Earth to monitoring him from your iPhone.

NORAD’s Santa Tracking Monopoly

I’ve been writing about Santa tracking for five years now. Back in 2005, there were a variety of Santa tracking services out there. Since then, most of them have given up and simply point toNORAD Tracks Santa. That’s fine — NORAD does a great job.

NORAD is the joint US-Canadian missile tracking organization. But for more than 50 years, NORAD has also been tracking Kris Kringle due to a misprinted phone number. Since 2007, NORAD partnered formally with Google to produce an entire suite of Jolly St. Nick monitoring tools.

Below, a close-up of specific options from NORAD, with links to the English-language instructions. Need another language? Select from the NORAD site’s home page. After NORAD, I’ll also cover what alternatives remain.

NORAD’s Santa Map & Videos

Using high speed photography, along with fighter jets, satellites in orbit and radar installations to locate him, NORAD films Santa Claus as he passes over landmarks in countries around the world. A map shows where he’s been:

Above, you can see I snapped this image when Father Christmas was in Jakarta, Indonesia — as shown at the bottom of the screenshot.

If you click on Santa himself, you’ll see his current location:

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Click on any of the gift icons to read more about places he’s already been to:

Finally, select any of the video camera icons you’ll see over select cities, and you’ll be treated to Santa doing a fly-by of local landmarks:

There’s also a Videos page that lists videos of all places that Santa has visited so far:

A collection of videos can also be found on the NORAD Tracks Santa YouTube channel.

Call Or Email For Santa’s Location

I’m old school. I like the fact that NORAD still allows you to call by phone and talk to a real person about where Santa is. Be sure to wish the volunteer tracker a Merry Christmas! The phone numbers are:

Within US: (877) HI NORAD / (877) 446-6723 International: +1 (719) 556-5211 (Cost may be incurred) Hearing Impaired should contact their service provider.

You can also email noradtrackssanta@gmail.com to get an update. Personalized, even!

More information about calling or emailing for the location of Santa Claus, including hours of operation, are here.

Real-Time Santa Tracking Via Google Earth

In previous years, Google released a special file for Google Earth users, to track Santa. This year, it seems to be providing only a special plug-in that allows Google Earth viewing via your web browser. But, that’s pretty cool.

Visit this page with your web browser, and you’ll be prompted to install a plug-in. After that’s done, you’ll see Santa in real-time, as he flies above the earth:

I like how when he comes to a major city, suddenly he zips around delivering presents so fast that all you see is a series of red streaks.

By the way, Google Maps itself has gotten dressed up for the holidays, or at least the Street View “Pegman” has:

Santa Pegman Comes To Google Maps is our story that explains more about this.

Santa By Google Maps For Mobile

On the move? Google makes it possible to track Santa using your smartphone. If you haveGoogle Maps For Mobile (which is offered for Android, iPhone and BlackBerry), just do a search for “santa,” and his current location will be shown:

OK, it’s not the greatest presentation in the world, but it’s easy, and it works.

Santa By iPhone

After some exploration, I think the Santa Tracker 2010 from Talus Media is your best bet for the iPhone. It’s only $1, and it pinpoints your location (that yellow spot on the left), Santa’s location (the red dot on the right) and presents a countdown clock:

I especially like “The List” feature, which has a “naughty” and “nice” list. Using the main settings menu in the iPhone, you can add your kids to either list. I like to tease them and switch them around throughout the day.

Santa By Android & BlackBerry

I can’t link directly to Android applications because the online version of the Android Market makes it nearly impossible to find things there (no way to search, on a market backed by Google?). However, here’s a rundown on what you might try when searching through the market from your Android phone.

Santa Tracker Live from Active9.com brings the NORAD Santa Map I highlighted above into your Android phone. However, I found that the Flash videos didn’t work — and this using a Nexus S phone with the latest Android 2.3 software. The app is also very sluggish, but at least you can see Santa on it.

Santa Tracker from Value Apps simple draws a short line from wherever you are to a point indicating that Santa isn’t that far away. Handy if you’re trying to get the kids into bed earlier, especially since NORAD’s system is useless for building excitement that Santa is about to approach, for kids that are put to bed in the early event. With NORAD, it’s assumed Santa only approaches at midnight. Every year, I wish it offered a time-shifting ability. Anyway, the app is slow, buggy but free.

Santa Tracker Christmas is a $2 app from Onteca. It offers a pretty boring current location view. The past sightings are kind of need, with various images of Santa caught in flight in black and white. I wouldn’t recommend buying it, however.

Santa Spotter from Ogilvy Group is kind of neat, in that you swing your phone around toward the sky to spot Santa. Problem is, you never really seem to find him. You do have constellations that light up, which is pretty cool. And, it’s free. It kept crashing on my Nexus S. On my Samsung Fascinate running Android 2.1, it worked fine.

As for the BlackBerry, you might try Santa Tracker For BlackBerry. I haven’t used it, but CrackBerry has a review of this $3 app.

Other Santa Trackers

As I said when starting this article, most alternative Santa trackers out there just seem to point back to the NORAD site. This year, I found only one providing a worthwhile alternative experience,Santa T:

Nothing fancy — but I like how the single page view can give little kids the idea they are sitting at a radar control station. The time countdown is automatic. Santa T probably looks at your computer’s IP address to determine its time zone.

Santa Claus & Twitter

Got Twitter? Then you’ve got Santa tracking. NORAD provides update through Twitter via the@noradsanta account:

Santa Claus & Facebook

Yes, Santa is one of the 500 million people using Facebook! OK, actually, it’s NORAD again, providing updates through the NORAD Santa fan page:

Merry Christmas!

To everyone celebrating Christmas, here’s wishing you a great one.

Agenda posted for Search Marketing Expo - SMX West, March 8-10 in San Jose, CA. Lowest rates available until Jan. 8 - register today!

Happy Holidays Everyone

Pegman Decoration

Pegman, the Google Maps Street View character, has gone all festive. For the holidays Pegman has donned his Santa Claus hat.

On which note don't forget to track Santa Claus today with the NORAD Santa Tracker.



The Santa Tracker is now live and shows Santa's current position on a Google Map. This year NORAD have even added a Santa Cam to the map.

Track Santa's journey in Google Earth

By the time you read this, Santa will have already begun his journey around the world, starting around 2:00am EST today. His journey will be tracked using a variety of methods including satellites, radar and fighter jets.

You can view the main Santa tracker here, but read on for other ways to follow his journey throughout the day.

If you missed the chance to watch his journey last year, here is a highlight reel that Google has put together:

There are a lot of great ways to follow him on his journey, thanks to the folks at NORAD and some help from Google:

Watch his progress on Google Maps. Visit noradsanta.org to see a map of his location and his next scheduled stop.

• Watch him fly by using the Google Earth Plug-in. Visit the "Track in Google Earth" page to watch Santa fly by using the Google Earth Plug-in. Last year, I fired up this page on my netbook, placed it up on the mantle, and we kept a close eye on Santa all day long.

• Follow his progress on your phone. Search for [santa] in Google Maps for Mobile, or visitm.noradsanta.org from your phone to track his progress while you're on the go.

• Follow him on other services, such as his YouTube channel, Twitter account andFacebook Page.

As another fun bonus, Google has just added a Santa hat to "Pegman" (the Street View character) in Google Maps. He doesn't change the functionality of Google Maps at all, but just makes things a bit more festive!

Also, Google has built a variety of custom online holiday cards for you to send to your family and friends. You can see them all at googlemapsholidays.appspot.com. It uses a fun combination of winter images and Google Maps to create a fun card for you to send.