Brightness & Contrast for Google Maps

GoogleMapsBW

This map uses the Google Maps API for Flash to create a number of controls that allows the user to adjust the brightness, contrast and saturation of Google Maps.

It is a great idea to give control over the look of the map tiles to the user. My thinking is that this could easily be emulated using the Google Maps API V3 Styled Maps options.

So who's up to the challenge?

Restoring Sanity to Google Maps

RideToRally.com

If you are planning to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity or its counterpart theMarch to Keep Fear Alive then you should check out this ride sharing Google Map created for those offering or looking for a ride to Washington on Saturday, October 30.

RidetoRally allows anyone who wants to offer or get a lift the opportunity to put themselves on the map. After completing a short form, giving your location and contact details, your offer or request will be added to the map.

The map includes buttons to view only markers from those offering rides or those seeking rides.

Three decades of watching life recover at Mt. St. Helens

Each year since the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, NASA has captured imagery of the areausing one of their Landsat satellites. Over the course of those 30 years, you can watch how the earth slowly reclaims the land that was destroyed in the eruption.

You can view all of the images on their site, read about how the area was affected by the blast, and see how it's beginning to recover:

Not surprisingly, the first noticeable recovery (late 1980s) takes place in the northwestern quadrant of the blast zone, farthest from the volcano. It is another decade (late 1990s) before the terrain east of Spirit Lake is considerably greener. By the end of the series, the only area (beyond the slopes of the mountain itself) that remains conspicuously bare at the scale of these images is the Pumice Plain.

If you want to see the imagery inside of Google Earth, you can use this KMZ file (27MB),

AED's on Google Maps

Hjartstartarregistret

Here is a great idea from Sweden - a Google Map showing the location of automated external defibrillators in the country. If someone suffers a cardiac arrest the sooner they have access to an AED the greater the chance they have of surviving. Therefore knowing where the nearest defibrillator is kept is of vital importance.

The map allows anyone to enter a Swedish address and view the location of all the nearest defibrillators. So, for example, Swedish citizens can access the map to find where the nearest defibrillators are to their place of work.

If you click on any of the map markers the full address is given, as is the exact place where the defibrillator is stored, e.g. reception. Companies or organisations that have a defibrillator that isn't already listed can register its location by completing a short form.

Your Personal Android Tour Guide

GeoReader

This Android phone application acts as your personal tour guide and tells you about nearby points of interest as you drive or walk by. The GeoReader app uses the GPS location technology on your phone to identify nearby points of interest and uses the phone’s text to speech capability to enable you to listen to what has been written about the location.

GeoReader allows users to add their own 'Talking Points' to the map. Users can add a message and assign it to a location using Google Maps. Then when another user enters the area the text will be spoken out to them on their Android phone.

Currently the app has over 111,000 points of interest, covering roadside markers, historical bridges. The app has lots of information for states such as Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Oregon, Michigan. It includes Pennsylvania's entire historical roadside marker collection and lots of other points of interest in the rest of the USA and Canada.

The crowdsourcing features of GeoReader should ensure that the rest of the world soon has much more coverage.