Localley
Localley is a tool that broadens the functionality of Facebook Places by letting you check-in to places using a date and time in the future. It also allows you to view your check-in history on a Google Map, visualise your friends' latest check-ins and view the people who are checked in around you.
Localley's future check-in service lets you share your plans with your Facebook friends and even invite them to join you. For example, you can tell your friends where you will be tonight and when.
Localley really does seem to add some great extra functionality to Facebook Places. The site is currently in Beta. Hopefully some detailed instructions of use will be added to the site before a full launch. At the moment it is quite hard to work out some of the site's functionality.
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The Google Street View trike has taken to the gravel paths again. Google have released some new Street View imagery for some select locations where that Street View car just can't go.
Google LatLong report that Street View is now available at the Château de Chenonceaux in Civray-de-Touraine, France, in the National Botanic Gardensin Dublin and in the gardens at the San Diego Art Institute, as well as several spots in Balboa Park in San Diego, California.
Via: Google LatLong
Best Buy - Live Mobile Scan Map
Best Buy place QR codes on all their products. When a customer uses the Best Buy app, or any other QR code scanner, they are shown the product details for the product they have scanned. The Best Buy - Live Mobile Scan Map uses Google Maps to show the latest real-time scans of products in stores across the US.
The map uses the recently launched App Engine Channel API to update the map in real-time. The Google App Engine Blog has a good guest post by the developer explaining how the app was created. You can also play with a working demo on the channel-map-demo project on GitHub.
The map itself animates between the latest scans in Best Buy stores and makes good use of the Google Maps API styled maps functions to create a distinctive look for the app.
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Broadcastr
Broadcastr has created iPhone and Android applications that allow users to record geotagged audio stories. The recorded stories can then be browsed on a Google Map on the Broadcastr website.
Using the apps users can post audio restaurant reviews, oral histories, guided walks or any other sound recording. The Google Map on Broadcastr provides a great means to browse the submitted recordings. It is possible to browse the postings by location or by category.
If you click on a map marker you can listen to the recording directly from the map. It is possible to create a playlist from your favourite users or from featured recordings and the map will automatically play the entire playlist.
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La Carte des Echecs Diplomatiques
French political party Parti Socialiste have used Google Maps to produce a map highlighting the 'diplomatic mistakes' made by French president Nicolas Sarkozy and his government.
The map seems to have been inspired by the recent resignation of Michèle Alliot-Marie from her position as Foreign Minister. However the PS claim that "the failure of French diplomacy for the past five years is not only due to the blunders and mistakes of Michèle Alliot-Marie."
If you click on the map markers on the map you can read about the 'blunders and mistakes' of French diplomacy around the world. Obviously supporters of the UMP may not agree with the views expressed on this map.
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