Plant Hardiness on Google Maps

PlantMaps

This Google Map displays the current USDA plant zone hardiness zones. Hardiness zones are helpful in deciding which trees and plants will survive in a particular area.

There are detailed interactive zone maps for each US state, for example this map of California.

It is possible to search zones by zipcode and view zones down to the sub zone level. By entering your zipcode you can also get first/last freeze, heat zones, drought conditions and annual climatology for your area.

You can also embed the zip to zone search in your website using the PlantMaps widget at Hardiness Zone Zipcode Search Widget

Facilmap.org Beta

Facilmap.org Beta is an OpenLayers-based slippy map that aims to combine useful geographical information, renderings and tools of different projects into one reusable and extend-able map.



Facilmap.org Beta

Some available layers (there are more)

• Mapnik
• Osmarender
• OpenCycleMap
• Minutely Mapnik
• OpenStreetBrowser
• Hike & Bike Map
• OpenPisteMap
• ÖPNV-Karte
• MapSurfer Roads
• MapSurfer Topographic
• Ordnance Survey OS Streetview (UK only)

More information on this project:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/FacilMap

Source and Credit to Candid Dauth:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Candid%20Dauth/diary/12723

Map
http://beta.facilmap.org

Skateboarding with Google Maps

Longboarding and Skateboarding Map

Here is a great map to help skateboarders find the best places to skate in their neighborhood. Edmonton longboard and skateboard shop Local 124 has created this worldwide Longboarding and Skateboarding Map of crowdsourced skating routes.

Anyone can add a route to this Google Map of skating spots and the map can be searched by location and by category. If you click on a map marker you can read details about the spot, rate it and leave comments.

A map sidebar lists the latest routes added to the map and it is also possible to view the locations of upcoming sessions and races on the map.

Also See

• Skatespotter - Skatepark locator map
• Skatemap - Google Map of European skateparks.

Playing GeoGames in Google Earth

We've seen a lot of games built on top of Google Earth over the past few years, including some great ones such as GE War, Ships, Helicopters and the Apollo 11 Moon Lander.

Today we have a new game from CyberCity3D, who last month showed off a slick new map for Vixen's L.A. Happy Hours. This latest game is part of their new site: GeoGames3D.com.

The scavenger hunt-style game itself isn't too exciting, but it's very well crafted. You use a variety of clues to search around the city for prize boxes. As long as you're comfortable with the Google Earth controls, moving around to find the clues can be a fun little adventure. They also include "lifelines" to fly you there automatically if you get stuck.

The great part is that they're offering real prizes to those that win, including some $5 Starbucks and Subway gift cards. They're not huge prizes, but they're a fun little reward for spending a few minutes playing a game!

Head out to GeoGames3D.com and try their first game, titled "Globe Quest". Be on the look out for more games coming from them soon, and you can join their Facebook Page to stay in the loop when new games are released.

The Police Memorial Map

US Law Enforcement Memorial (2010)

Mibazaar has created a Google Map to commemorate US Law Enforcement Officers killed whilst serving the public.

The map shows where each Law Enforcement Officer killed in 2010 was based. You can also access information about each officer from the map sidebar where the data is sorted by state.

The data for the US Law Enforcement Memorial map comes from the Officer Down Memorial Page.

Spotting Hotties with Google Maps

Floxx

If you spot someone you fancy then why not share your joy with the rest of the world?

Floxx is a location based anonymous microblogging social network that lets you post both a location and description of an attractive person you have spotted. Each post is placed on a Google Map.

It is possible to search the map for hotties spotted by others in any university, city or search by post/zip code. If you don't like maps you can view all the latest posts in a 'feed view' similar to your Twitter stream.

Each post on Floxx can be commented on or shared on Facebook.

Via: TechCrunch Europe

Also See

You Were Cute - See someone cute today? - Tell them with this Google Map

Plane and Ship Tracking with Google Maps

Pinkfroot - Plane Finder

Pinkfroot's real time plane tracking Google Map is now available as an iPhone, iPad, iPod or Android phone app.

The apps, as well as the desktop map, allow you to view the real-time position of aeroplanes throughout the world live on a Google Map. You can click on any of the planes shown on the map to view it's track alongside information such as the plane's speed, course and altitude.

Pinkfroot - Ship Finder

When you get bored tracking aircraft in real-time check out Pinkfroot's real-time Google Map of ship positions.

Ship Finder provides real-time information aabout ships across the globe. You can view detailed information about each ship on the map and even view photos of many of the ships displayed.

Google Maps on Google Shared Spaces

Google Shared Spaces
Google Shared Spaces is a Google Labs project that allows you to easily create a shareable space with a collaborative gadget and a chat box. There are already a number of collaborative gadgets that you can use in Shared Spaces, including games like Soduku and a number of Google Maps based gadgets.

TravelWithMe

TravelWithMe allows groups of people to plan trips together in real time. Once you open TravelWithMe you can start planning a trip by simply grabbing locations and dropping them in your itinerary.

The map includes a calendar that allows you to add a date to each destination. If you share your TravelWithMe map with others you can plan a trip collaboratively.

Map Gadget
Map Gadget lets you collaborate on a map of placemarks, paths, and shapes with other participants. Using the map you can draw shapes on Google Maps or you can just share locations or draw paths.

Map Cluster Gadget
The Map Cluster Gadget lets you create a Google Map to share locations. Everyone who opens the gadget can add their location to the map and also see where everyone else is from. This map is a great way for a website to create a map of readers' locations.

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The Year 2010 in Google Earth

Google Earth had another fantastic year in 2010 in terms of new features along with an amazing amount of content! The amount of new content Google has added in a single year is almost too large to comprehend. We wish we had detailed statistics on just how big it is, but Google doesn't usually release their content statistics. New imagery released during the year covered millions of square miles across all seven continents. And, not just current imagery, but in some cases multiple instances for different years going back several decades.

Also in 2010 we saw the release of Google Earth 6 and it's many great new features, tons of new 3D buildings released covering nearly every major city in the world, Street View was greatly expanded world-wide, SketchUp got some excellent new features, and dozens of applications using the Google Earth plugin were released.

Read the full entry to see our most popular posts and tips on Google Earth from each month in 2010.

January
In late January, we speculated on whether or not Google would release a special version ofGoogle Earth for the iPad. The official Google Earth iPad release came in June and users loved it!

February
In February, the world watched the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and Google provided a wealth of tools to help provide additional information. Our post about the Games provided links to 3D models, Street View imagery and a variety of other interactive tools.

February was also the month where details were released on the horrible earthquake in Chile, and Google helped facilitate assistance by releasing imagery as quickly as possible. However, the first aerial imagery of the disaster came from Japanese astronaut Soichi Naguchi, and the photos were viewed many thousands of times by our readers.

March
In March, the big story was our post on the great games you can play inside of Google Earth. The number of games available to play using Google Earth technology continues to increase.

April
The big story in April was the volcano in Iceland that was causing flooding and delayed thousands of flights in Europe. NASA and GeoEye released imagery of the volcano, and it proved to be a very popular post.

May
Paul van Dinther from PlanetInAction has build some cool applications, but his most popular (at least on our site) is likely the "Drive the A-Team Van" game that he created to help promote the movie. It had nice controls, built-in collision detection, and allowed you to unlock special video clips from the upcoming A-Team movie.

June
June saw the final release of Google Earth 5.2, which offered some great new features such as tracks and elevation profiles.

July
July's hottest story was the imagery update they pushed out on July 4. It was a substantial update, covering a variety of cities around the world.

August
August was a similar story to July, with the big imagery update on August 10 capturing the "most popular post" title for the month. It was another large update for Google Earth, with tons more cities getting some fresh imagery.

September
The annual Burning Man event is growing more popular each year, and a special GeoEye-captured image of the event was a very popular item in September.

October
Our most popular post in October was Frank's announcement that his kite photos from Manihi were now available in Google Earth. The imagery he captures from the kite is quite amazing, and it's neat to see that imagery end up as part of the base layer in Google Earth.

November
The big news in November of the release of Google Earth 6. It brought out a handful of awesome new features and continues to raise the bar for what's possible with this program. Some of the new features included 3D trees, tighter integration with Steet View and an improved historical imagery system. Much of this was made possible by the slick new ground-level view, which allows you to browse around as if walking or driving on the ground.

December
Not surprisingly, the NORAD Santa tracker was by far our most popular post in December. People love it, and Google helps add more fun features to it every year.

Garage Sales on Google Maps

Salecator

Salecator is a Google Map mashup from New Zealand that displays upcoming garage sales.

It is possible to select garage sales from the map sidebar or by clicking on a map marker. If you click on a marker the address, date and time of the sale is displayed. It is also possible to view the Street View for each sale.

All listings displayed on the map are validated by date and expired listings are not shown. You can list a garage sale on the map by logging in with a Facebook account.

Also See

Weekend Treasure - thousands of US garage and yard sales on Google Maps. The site maps sales from dozens of online sources, including newspapers and Craigslist.

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