Geospatial Revolution: Episode Three Released

Once again, right on time, Penn State Public Broadcasting has released Episode Three of their excellent "Geospatial Revolution" project.

If you've missed either of the first two episodes, I strongly suggest you go back and watch them. Episode One covered a wide overview of "how" and "why" questions regarding geospatial technologies, and Episode Two dug into more specific examples including the City of Portland and the well-known shipping company UPS.

Episode Three covers a variety of safety and war-related topics, such as:

• "Mapping the Road to Peace"
• "Waging Modern War"
• "Serving and Protecting"
• "Staying Safe"

You can watch each segment individually on their site, or watch the full 15 minute video below:

Better Facebook Places with Google Maps

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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Labels: Facebook

New Street View Imagery Released

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

How to Create a Real-Time Google Map

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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Labels: retail, shopping, Styled Maps

Location Based Stories on Google Maps

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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Labels: News Maps, Sound Maps

Google Map of France's Diplomatic Blunders

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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Labels: France

Coral Reefs at Threat Google Map

Global Reefs Map

The World's Resources Institute has produced a Google Map to highlight coral reefs around the world that are currently under threat.

The coral reefs are classified by estimated present threat from local human activities, according to the Reefs at Risk Revisited local threat index. The index classifies the threat by looking at overfishing and destructive fishing, coastal development, watershed-based pollution, and marine-based pollution and damage.

A KML of the data is also available to view in Google Earth.

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Labels: environment

View Your Facebook Friends on Google Maps

Where My Friends Be

Where My Friends Be is a nice Google Maps app to visualise the locations of all your Facebook friends. To create a map you just need to connect your Facebook account and in a matter of seconds you are presented with a Google Map showing the geographical distribution of your social network.

Friends Density on Facebook

Friends Density is another nice way to visualise the geographical distribution of your Facebook friends, this time in the form of a heatmap.

Once you sign up to the app in Facebook you can view your friends on a Google Map. You can even read your friends' latest status updates directly from the map.

International Women’s Day 2011

Join me on the Bridge

March 8th will be the centenary of International Women’s Day. To celebrate the occasion people will be coming together on bridges all over the world, from the Millennium Bridge in London, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, to the Grand Barriere Bridge joining Rwanda and Congo.

Google is collaborating with Women for Women International on their 'Join me on the Bridge' campaign. Part of this collaboration includes this Google Map to help you find a bridge event near you, register, or create your own bridge event.

Via: Google LatLong

Plotting Road Accidents with Google Maps

Norway's Killing Roads

Bergens Tidende have mapped the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s database of road accidents. They have used Google Maps to plot 11,440 accidents to help give an overview of the extent and causes of Norwegian road accidents.

Each map marker contains details about the accident, i.e. time of day, type of vehicle, age of persons injured etc. Beneath the map are a large number of filters that allow you to create your own assemblies.

It is possible to view the data by year, time of day and by age. It is also possible to filter the results by the day of the week, speed limit, types of road and a number of other factors.

Via: patrickcain.ca