Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Creating a Heat Map with the Flash API

Earthquake Heat Map

There are a lot of Google Maps mashups that use USGS data to show recent earthquakes on a global map. Earthquake Heat Map is an earthquake map that stands out from the crowd because of its very cool heat map visualisation of the USGS earthquake data.

Using the map it is possible to view global heat maps for earthquakes over 2.5 magnitude in the last day, for the last week or earthquakes of over magnitude 5 in the last week.

If you like the map then you will also be interested in the tutorial Creating Map Overlays with the Google Maps API for Flash. The tutorial helps explain how to create an overlay for Google Maps using the Google Maps for Flash API.

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Mapping the Blitz

Historypin - The Blitz Collection

Seventy Years ago tonight Germany began the Blitz, a sustained bombing campaign against Britain. By the end of May 1941 more than a million homes were destroyed or damaged in London alone and over 43,000 civilians were killed. 

Historypin, the historical photo mapping platform, has today launched a themed collection of photographs taken during the German bombing campaign. Historypin superimposes historical photographs upon the corresponding view, as seen today, in Street View. 

Its impossible not to be moved by these historical photographs. Viewing the Blitz photos alongside the current view brings an added poignancy to this visual record of the destruction caused by the Blitz. 

This themed collection from Historypin is the first of a new series of collections and the site hopes to release more topical themes in the future.

50 Best Blogs for Geography Geeks


Geography appeals to a wide audience due to the fact that it both influences and is influenced by a staggering number of subjects. History, politics, earth sciences, anthropology, archaeology, social sciences, technology and myriad other disciplines all contribute to geography as a cohesive whole. Unsurprisingly, the internet overflows with blogs that analyze the topic and its close relationship with every other discipline imaginable. Readers pining to learn everything they can have plenty of free, wonderfully diverse resources available to quell their thirst for information. Peruse everything they have to offer – and don’t forget to check out the contributions of other blogs who sadly did not end up on this list, likely due to a slower update schedule. Just because they didn’t end up here doesn’t mean that they don’t have anything valuable to offer!

"Online Engineering Degree is an nonprofit online resource created to explain to students their options and some of the advantages and disadvantages of getting an online engineering degree. It was our opinion that existing sites which attempted to explain to students the reality of obtaining your engineering degree online were typically for-profit and thus biased and less trustworthy.
This website is owned and maintained by Edgar Diaz and Samantha Rhodes, engineering professionals who both obtained their engineering degrees online. While we both have day jobs, we each make significant time for this website and for answering student emails each week, so if you have any comments or questions, please seehttp://www.onlineengineeringdegree.org"
Full List of the Best 50 Blogs:
Explore the world through one of the essential resources on the subject of all things geographic – from cartography to culture, everything gets covered by National Geographic.
About.com’s Geography Portal, hosted by Matt Rosenberg, writes about a nice, broad range of relevant topics suitable for general audiences.
Geography extends beyond the cartographic, as this fantastic must-bookmark illustrates with its excellent writings on the people who make up the places.
Fans of geography interested in the specifics of cities will love crawling through Aaron M. Renn’s musings on urban areas throughout the world.
On the other side of the geographic coin lay The Rural Blog, where readers can trace the trends and ideas that shape those particular corners of the United States.
Watch as people, cities and movements ebb and flow throughout the world with this very cool, very informative blog.
From the straight-laced to the esoteric, Geographic Travels has plenty of great maps and images to illustrate the true diversity of the discipline.
Geography buffs who enjoy drawing up their own maps of natural landmarks, cultural phenomena and more will love learning the latest ideas and strategies. A year went by without updates, but they seem to be back into the groove of things.
Independent mappers in search of a few gratis technologies to indulge their passion need to bookmark Free Geography Tools and follow the latest and greatest developments.
Even those without an overwhelming geekiness towards geography still love tooling around with Google Earth…and those that do probably enjoy following what’s going down with the application.
Stefan Geens analyzes how “Google Earth and other neogeographical tools” come to impact the perceptions of professionals, amateurs and hobbyists alike.
The official blog of Directions Media, All Points Blog posts about geography as it relates to politics, economics and other subjects.
Follow Mapperz for news and reviews of online mapping and GIS programs, discovering the best ones to suit certain needs.
This community and accompanying blog serves as an excellent online forum for geography geeks to band together and discuss their love of geospatial technology – and more!
Jonathan Crowe writes about all the ins and outs of maps and mapping technologies in a manner that general audiences can understand.
Digital Urban wants its followers to learn everything they can about the development of cities – their architecture, culture, politics, economics and (obviously) geography.
Cartography lovers interested in perusing the weird and wonderful corners of their hobby (or profession!) need to drop by Strange Maps for some educational fun.
Most of the content available through Net World Directory’s Geography blog tends to emphasize the environmental facets of the discipline.
The developers behind both Google Maps and Google Earth band together to offer an excellent resource for geography aficionados who enjoy reading about their hobby with a generous shot of technology.
This absolutely amazing blog discusses geography through a foodie’s filter, facilitating talks about how the 2 fields have come to greatly impact one another.
Read World Geography Blog for global news and views about the immensely intimate relationship between people and places.
Fans of what Bing Maps has to offer may want to keep up with what the developers have been doing to make it the best application it can possible be.
The GIS service Maponics blogs about its latest endeavors and what they can provide the geography community.
24 AnyGeo
Anything and everything of interest to geospatial technology fanatics can be found right here at this incredibly popular and informative blog.
National Geographic and other related institutions and publications band together to promote relevant educational initiatives in order to narrow the gulfs between different peoples.
Dive into the most fascinating corners of current geospatial technologies with one of the most in-depth online resources on the topic.
Between the blog, videos and podcast, VerySpatial has plenty to please fans of all things geography – though mainly emphasizing the latest news and views regarding geospatial technology.
World University Service of Canada hopes to bring together students from all over the planet as a means of broadening horizons and strengthening understanding between vastly different cultures.
WeoGeo’s James Fee keeps his readers updated on the diverse news and views from across the rapidly growing GIS industry.
Planetizen’s Interchange blog caters to geography geeks curious about urban development and the various issues that come with it.
These ardent fans of Google Maps hope to share their love of pushing the application to its fullest potential with fellow geography and geospatial technology buffs.
Ruminations on landscapes both natural and constructed comprise the content of Terrain.org and its associated blog.
Archaeology and GIS technologies collide in one incredibly interesting resource that focuses mainly on goings-on in the United Kingdom.
Google Sightseeing is not affiliated with the eponymous corporation, but it does showcase a love of their applications by using it to take viewers on digital tours around the world.
Steven Feldman loves himself some geography, keeping an excellent blog that concentrates on how GIS technologies have forever changed the way people perceive the world around them.
China-based Fulbright fellow Daniel Michaeli may not update as often as other bloggers on this list, but his blog remains a must-read for anyone fascinated by Asian geopolitics.
In both English and Italian, Florian Pantazi writes about the geopolitical climate of the European Union.
A rotating band of contributors aggregate the best of the best geospatial postings from around the internet.
Stop by GeoData Policy for detailed news on geospatial technology, geopolitics and social issues and impacts.
Geography geeks who enjoy studying European geopolitics and defense strategies may find this blog an incredibly engaging resource.
Geospatial professional Adam Estrada uses his blog to share everything he learns about the industry while going about his day-to-day doings.
Geography’s impact on food and foodie culture is undeniable (as is the reverse!), and anyone who enjoys both will find this blog a wonderful treat. Be sure to check out the recipes, too!
The rich history of geography and cartography comes alive through amazing imagery and detailed writings – anyone wanting to trace the origins of today’s geospatial technologies should stop by the excellent Geographicus immediately.
Explore the wacky world continent by continent in search of esoteric, obscure people, places and things that make Earth what it is today.
Climate – and all the scientific and political factors surrounding it – has everything to do with geography.
Bill Dollins dishes on geography, with particular attention paid to the latest developments and opinions regarding GIS technologies.
The Discovery Channel posts up the latest news on the natural world blog-style, covering myriad topics of interest to geography fanatics of all ages and skill levels – including earth sciences, history, anthropology, paleontology and much more.
For geography fans interested in learning more about anything and everything about climate – particularly politics and science – Climate Progress makes for an essential read.
The New York Times’ official blog regarding the environment and natural resources greatly appeals to those who enjoy studying their geography through a green lens.
Source:
Many thanks to Samantha Rhodes from Online Engineering Degree.

The Google Earth COM API is being phased out

One of the neat things included as part of SketchUp 8 was the new way that it pulled in imagery from Google Earth. Rather than using the Google Earth COM API, as it had for years (Frank covered it in 2006), it pulls in imagery via Google Maps which results in color imagery instead of the black and white that you're used to.
While the color imagery is certainly a great feature, it appears there is another reason for the change as well -- Google is eliminating the COM API.
Instead, Google is encouraging developers to take advantage of the powerful JavaScript APIthat was released in 2008 along side the Google Earth Plug-in. This allowed for a wide variety of applications, like the popular "monster milktruck!" demo.
monster-milktruck.jpg
It's worth noting that current and all past versions of Google Earth (5.2 and earlier) will continue to support the COM API, but future versions will not.
If you're a developer, what do you think of this news? Have you moved on to the JavaScript API already and this is a non-event? Or does this have you scrambling to make sure your app will work with future versions of Google Earth?

Boulder Fire on Google Maps

Boulder Fire Tweet Map

Project EPIC (Empowering the Public with Information in Crisis) has created a Google Map to show tweet reports from the Boulder fire. The map is a great example of how Twitter and Google Maps can be used in an emergency to help crowd-source important information in near real-time.

EPIC are automatically collecting and mapping tweets that include the hashtags #boulderfire, #boulder or #4MileFire. The tweets also need to include latitude and longitudes and a hashtag for categorisation, #fire, #evac, #shelter, #closed, #offer, #need, #road. These categorisation tags are used to color-code the map markers. 

Sting: Saviour of the Universe

Earth Destroyers

Will you look at that - Sting really is the saviour of the universe.

Enter a band name into Earth Destroyers and it will show you how eco-friendly the band's touring schedule is. Earth Destroyers calculates the total distance travelled from the first to the last gig on a band's tour. If an artist has an average inter-show distance of greater than a 1,000 km it is branded an 'Earth Destroyer'. If an artist averages less than 1,000 km it wins the accolade of 'Earth Saver'.

The application also displays a Google Map of the artist's tour so you can see just how inefficient the tour is. The event data for the map and the app comes from Bandsintown.