Report Local Problems with Google Maps

Neat Streets

Australian website Neat Streets allows anyone to report community problems which are then passed on to the appropriate authorities. The application works in both Australia and New Zealand.

You can download a Neat Streets application for the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android based phones. With the apps you can take pictures and submit community problems directly from your smartphone. The latest submitted photos and problems are displayed on a Google Map on the Neat Streets website home page.

Using Neat Streets you can report road obstructions, vandalism, potholes, fallen trees, abandoned trolleys, litter, and graffiti. Neat Streets then automatically forwards the reports to the appropriate authority based on the GPS location

Also See

• SeeClickFix - US site for citizens to report local problems
• FixMyStreet - UK site, allows citizens to report local problems. All problems are then passed onto local government
• Verbeterdebuurt - Dutch local problems reporting site
• Gerecht Geht Anders - German local problem reporting website

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Visualise GPS Tracks with Google Maps

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs is a great application that allows you to view your GPS tracks using Google Maps and the Google Earth browser plug-in.

Using Breadcrumbs you can create map based visualisations of your GPS tracks and include geotagged photographs and videos. The application includes automatic geotagging of your photos and videos and an easy to use editing tool that enables you to correct GPS points. It is also possible to add information and markers to illustrate interesting points on your tracks.

Completed tracks can be shared via a Breadcrumbs public page for each track and through direct integration with Facebook.

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Google Maps Tutorials

Geocodezip - Using the Google Maps API v3

Geocodezip has put together a great list of examples and tutorials for creating Google Maps with V3 of the Google Maps API (and V2).

The examples range from the very simple (for example adding coloured map markers to a map) to more complex examples (such as animated driving directions). The list includes a number of examples of ways to use driving directions, polygons, polylines and create custom information windows.

If you are interested in or involved in creating Google Maps mashups then this long list of Google Maps examples and tutorials will undoubtedly prove very useful.

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Mapping the Recovery Act

Signs of a Failed Stimulus

The website for Republican Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform are using Google Maps to show the location of billboards that display where money has been spent as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The Republican members of the committee claim that $192 million stimulus dollars are being spent on these signs. If you click on any of the map markers you can view the submitted sign. Strangely information about the number of jobs created by the projects behind each sign is missing from the map.

USDA ARRA Projects Map

The USDA ARRA Projects Google Map shows the locations of United States Department of Agriculture projects funded by the American Recovery Act of 2009.

Is is possible to search the map by location, by agency or by funding amount. The map also includes some cool navigation tools, such as mouse-over state overlays and marker clustering. There is even the option to add your own comments on how your tax dollars are being spent.

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Mapplets to transition out of Google Maps

Earlier this year we announced the deprecation of Google Mapplets. As part of the deprecation plan for Mapplets we will shortly be switching from rendering Mapplets within Google Maps, to rendering them on a dedicated Mapplets page:

http://maps.google.com/maps/mapplets?moduleurl=http://www.google.com/ig/modules/geoscratchpad.xml

In conjunction with this transition the Google Maps Directory will be closed, and links to Mapplets will be removed from the My Maps tab in Google Maps.

Bookmarks for existing Mapplets will continue to work. They will be automatically redirected to the new Mapplets page for the relevant Mapplet. The Mapplets page also has the minimum necessary UI elements so that it is better suited to embedding in third party sites using an iframe.

However because the Mapplets page is not part of the Google Maps application, Mapplets will no longer have access to Google Maps user profiles, which means that User Preferences will no longer be stored between sessions. Users accessing Mapplets will now always see the default behaviour when the Mapplet first loads.

The above changes will be made on or shortly after Wednesday December 8th 2010. If your web site recommends one or more Mapplets by linking to the Directory we recommend that you update your site to link directly to the Mapplets page, or embed the relevant Mapplets page in your site, as soon as possible.

Mapplets to transition out of Google Maps

Earlier this year we announced the deprecation of Google Mapplets. As part of the deprecation plan for Mapplets we will shortly be switching from rendering Mapplets within Google Maps, to rendering them on a dedicated Mapplets page:

http://maps.google.com/maps/mapplets?moduleurl=http://www.google.com/ig/modules/geoscratchpad.xml

In conjunction with this transition the Google Maps Directory will be closed, and links to Mapplets will be removed from the My Maps tab in Google Maps.

Bookmarks for existing Mapplets will continue to work. They will be automatically redirected to the new Mapplets page for the relevant Mapplet. The Mapplets page also has the minimum necessary UI elements so that it is better suited to embedding in third party sites using an iframe.

However because the Mapplets page is not part of the Google Maps application, Mapplets will no longer have access to Google Maps user profiles, which means that User Preferences will no longer be stored between sessions. Users accessing Mapplets will now always see the default behaviour when the Mapplet first loads.

The above changes will be made on or shortly after Wednesday December 8th 2010. If your web site recommends one or more Mapplets by linking to the Directory we recommend that you update your site to link directly to the Mapplets page, or embed the relevant Mapplets page in your site, as soon as possible.