Xuland
Xuland is a Google Maps based social network that lets you share comments, pictures and links with those around you and search for venues, events and deals around your location.
Using Xuland you can comment on any location. If you like the comments of other Xuland users you can choose to 'follow' them. Xuland also has plans to offer comment badges soon to reward you for adding your thoughts.
You can also view nearby venues from Yelp, view deals for local venues from third party sites such as Groupon, and search for local events from Eventful.
How Manhattan’s Grid Grew
In 1811, John Randel created a proposed street grid of Manhattan. The New York Times has created a Google Map that allows you to compare Randel's map to modern-day Manhattan.
The map also includes an 1836 map of the farms of Manhattan, a map of street openings since 1642 and historic census data. Each of the maps is supplemented by a transparency slider that allows you to view the modern map underneath.
The map of street openings since 1642 allows you to visualise the growth of Manhattan. If you use the time-line control you can watch the spread of Mahattan from just a few streets to the present urban sprawl.
Japan Radiation Maximum by Prefecture
The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, warned today that the situation remains 'very serious' at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Many Japanese citizens are therefore obviously worried about radiation levels.
This TargetMap creation uses Google Maps to show the real-time radiation levels by prefecture. The data comes from the the System for Prediction of Environment Emergency Dose Information(SPEEDI). The results shown are the maximum values recorded in the latest update.
RDTN.org Japanese Radiation Levels
RTDN have created a Google Map of radiation level readings in Japan with data from Pachube and Marian Steinbach.
Each marker on the map displays the radiation level and the time of the reading. RTDN are also looking for people to submit their own accurate readings to the map, which you can do via a short form.
To provide context for these map you should also check out O'Reilly Radar'sOpen Street Map visualisations of radiation levels in Japan. The O'Reilly maps compare two days of recent radiation data with the normal radiation levels in Japan.
