A walk-through of the new Disney imagery

The new imagery update earlier this month was quite impressive, cover a wide variety of areas around the world.

One of the updated areas was Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. We've discussed Disney before because of their incredible 3D models, and now the folks at ClubD23.com have written a great overview of what can be found in the new imagery.

This particular batch of imagery was captured on May 2 of this year, a rather busy day at the parks...

If you're a fan of Disney World, you'll want to read the full article on ClubD23. Among the things they discovered:

• An overview of Fantasyland Construction.
• Construction on Hacienda de San Angel
• A line of trees were cut so Monorail pilots can see the other Monorail across the way
• Construction of the massive Golden Oaks million dollar homes
• Flower and Garden Festival in full swing

It's a neat look at the new imagery and a fun way to see what's coming in the future at Disney World.

Tracking a Ship Made of Bottles

Plastiki

The Plastiki is a 60-foot catamaran made out of 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles.

In March The Plastiki set off from San Francisco with a six-man crew to sail across the Pacific Ocean. The expedition plans to visit several sites of ecological importance before reaching its destination in Sydney, Australia.

You can track the progress of The Plastiki via the Plastiki Control Centre. The control Centre uses Google Maps to show the real-time position of The Plastiki. The map also displays the number of days of the voyage and the number of nautical miles travelled.

The Control Centre also contains information about the current weather, the boat's speed and its current latitude and longitude.

Hat-tip: Living Geography

Find a Class with Google Maps

TeachStreet

TeachStreet is an an easy way for teachers, schools, and students to connect and find one another. The site lets learners find classes that are right for them and in their neighbourhood. The aim is to help people find experts in their own neighbourhoods who can teach them face-to-face.

It is possible to search the TeachStreet listings by subject and by location. So, for example, it is possible to search for yoga lessons in New York. The results of a search are then displayed in list form and on a Google Map.

It is possible to refine your search results by distance and price. TeachStreet also allows users to rate and review listings so learners can see what other people think of a teacher / instructor / class before signing up to a class.

The Fight Between Twilight & Hogwarts

Ask500People

It had to happen really. Less than a week after finding one Google Maps based surveying tool (SurveyMapper) I quickly stumble upen another.

Ask500People lets you easily set up on an online poll. Each poll created on the site gets its own Google Map so you can see the location of where people have voted. The map markers are colour-coded so you can tell at a glance which way people have voted around the world.

SurveyMapper is a more advanced real-time geographic survey and polling tool, with more options for serious data analysis of a poll's results. Ask500People is aimed more at quick fun polls rather than serious surveys but it does have some serious features, such as the option of embedding a poll and it does come with a serious API.

The Fjords of Norway on Google Maps

Geirangerfjord and Ålesund From the Air

Norway's official tourism website Visit Norway has created a beautiful tour of the Geirangerfjord and Ålesund area. The tour features a number of 360 degree panoramic images that can be navigated via a Google Map.

Geirangerfjord is a UNESCO-protected fjord surrounded by majestic, snow-covered mountain peaks, wild waterfalls and lush, green vegetation. Thanks to Visit Norway you can now experience the fjord from a bird's eye perspective via a number of panoramic images.

The experience is rather like navigating with Street View, only from the air. You can navigate from one panoramic image to the next and you can use the inset Google Map to navigate to other images. Only, instead of the usual grimy city streets of Street View, here you get to fly above one of the most beautiful locations on Earth.

In the unlikely event that you tire of viewing Geirangerfjord, you should check out one of the other panoramic tours created by Visit Norway. You can fly over the pretty city of Ålesund, you can experience the Trollstigen Mountain Roadand you can also climb the Trollveggen Mountain Wall.

Stop, Question & Frisk on Google Maps

The New York Times - Map of Police Stops

The New York Times has created another amazing Google Maps visualisation. This time the map has been created to help illustrate The New York Times' investigations into the city's 'Stop, Question and Frisk' policy.

The police's stop, question and frisk tactic has been criticised by some civil libertarians who have argued that it is targeted disproportionately at minorities. For example, the number of times the police have used stop, question and frisk in eight square blocks of Brownsville equals one stop a year for every one of the 14,000 residents. 

The police argue that the policy has been an important tool in the reduction of crime in New York. Deputy Inspector Juanita Holmes says, "I don’t know what too many stops are. The stops conducted by us are to address the crime, or the quality-of-life issues." 

The New York Times map shows the number of times stop, questions and frisk was used throughout the city in 2009. The map works as an effective heat map showing areas of the city where the tactic is used most often. 

New York Cancer Rates on Google Maps

Map Cancer

This Google Maps shows New York Male Lung Cancer Rates by Zip Code. The map uses coloured polygons to show if each zipcode area is above or below the projected rate of lung cancer. 

Green areas on the map show locations with cancer rates lower than the projected rate. Yellow and red areas indicate higher than expected rates. If you roll your mouse over any of the zipcode polygons you can view how far the area deviates from the average.

The map includes a search engine so that you can quickly find a zipcode area. Next to the map nearby zipcode areas are also displayed in list form, with the areas with higher than expected cancer rates at the top. 

Google Maps is a Typewriter

Google Maps Typewriter

If Ohio is a Piano then there's no reason why Google Maps can't be a typewriter.

This Google Maps mashup uses alphabetical glyphs found on Google Maps to create a cartographic typewriter. Just type a word into the search box and press return. You will then be shown a link on Twitter that leads to your chosen word, written using glyphs found in the satellite imagery on Google Maps.

The site also has an interesting CAPTCHA experiment using letters found on Google Maps.

My ambition now is to get two rooms of monkeys, one banging away on Google Maps Typewriter and the other on Ohio is a Piano. I think I'll have Shakespeare and Beethoven beat in no time.

Also See

• GeoGreeting.com
• Google Maps Typography
• Google Maps Alphabet UK