2011 NCAA Championship on Google Maps

Google College Basketball Tournament Map

Google has created a Google Map of the 14 arenas used for the 2011 NCAA Basketball Championship. The map includes all the schools involved, the schedules and the venues.

Also included is a distance tool so you can measure how far each school has to travel. There is even an option to switch on the Google Earth browser and view all 14 arenas in 3D.

If that isn't enough for you the map also contains a little game that lets you shoot some hoops yourself.



Via: Official Google Blog

New Satellite Images of Japan

Both The New York Times and ABC News have published before and after satellite imagery of the destruction caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Both visualisations use new imagery captured by the GeoEye satellite.

Google are working to provide this data directly to response organizations on the ground to aid their efforts.


From ABC News


From the NYT


You can donate to the Japanese Red Cross Society here. You can also donate to the Japanese Red Cross with Google Checkout at the Google Crisis Responsewebsite. 

Google Map Showing 100 Years of Cinema

100 Years of Set Locations

Do you ever wonder what films have been shot in your neighborhood? Well, with BoxOfficeQuant's new Google Map you can find all the movies that have been shot on location near your home.

The map displays the top 2,000 films from 1910-2010 according to IMDB. The location of sets used in each film was also obtained from IMDB. In total the map shows 9,736 locations from the 2,000 films.

The map uses Google Fusion Tables. It is a shame that BoxOfficeQuant didn't add the heat map option provided by Fusion Tables as it would be quite interesting to view the world's hot-spots for movie sets.

BoxOfficeQuant were even kind enough to respond to my wish to view a heat map of the locations used in the films.

Google Map of the World's Richest

Forbes Board
The Mapize team has created a nice visualisation of the Forbes Rich List.



As you can see the visualisation includes a fully interactive Google Map showing the location of the world's billionaires. You can filter the map to show the richest and the 'poorest' billionaires.

Google Maps Mania's Sunday Best

Marissa Mayer of Google this week revealed that 40% of Google Maps views were now on mobile devices. She also said that Google Maps mobile users had grown from 100 million in August 2010 to about 150 million mobile users.

With such an exponential growth of Google Maps users on mobile devices it is no surprise that Google Maps developers want to tap into that market.

This week's round-up of the best maps featured on Google Maps Mania once again is dominated by apps for the iPhone and Android phones. However I'm pleased to say we can start off with at least one desktop map.

Gramfeed

Gramfeed uses the Instagram API to present the best photos from Instagram and allows users to view their photos, a time-line of those they follow, read comments on photos and Tweet about photos and much, much more.

OpenSignalMaps

OpenSignalMaps is a great source for data about cell phone towers, cell phone signal strength readings, and Wi-Fi access points around the world. OpenSignalsMaps uses Google Maps to allow you to view the mobile signal strength for any location and view the locations of nearby towers for your carrier.

You can access OpenSignalMaps from your desktop but you should really download the app to your smart phone and help contribute to the collection of the data.

ToothTag

ToothTag is an app for Android phones that includes a number of very useful location services.

Using ToothTag it is possible to tag things and locations and receive notifications based on your proximity. For example you can tag where you have parked your car so that you can find it again without any problems. The application can also automatically check you in to a number of location based services, such as Foursquare or even alert you when friends are nearby.

Mobnotes

Mobnotes lets you share your location with friends, share your favourite places, search for venues around you and view other people in your vicinity. The application is available from the desktop and as an iPhone and Android app.

Earthquake Pictures & Videos Mapped

NYT - Japanese Earthquake Map

This Google Map from the New York Times displays photographs of the havoc caused by yesterday's earthquake and tsunami. The map also contains information about locations affected by the quake.

YouTube Videos of the Japan Earthquake

Mibazaar has created a Google Map of geotagged YouTube videos of the Japanese earthquake. It is possible to view the videos from the map.

Japan Earthquake Photos

Google Earth Outreach have released this Google Map where anyone can share their photographs of the earthquake. The map has only just been created so, at the time of writing, no photographs have yet been added.

CNN - Earthquake Impact Map

CNN has put together a number of video reports, photos and stories about the Japanese earthquake on this Google Map.

Japan Earthquake Maps - Part Two

Google Crisis Response Map

The Google Crisis Response team has produced a Google Map to show the locations of shelters in Japan and the evacuation area around the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The map also includes layers to show the epicentre of the earthquake and the location of the tectonic plates.

CNN - Earthquake Impact Map

CNN has put together a number of video reports, photos and stories about the Japanese earthquake on this Google Map.

National Data Buoy Center Map

The NDBC uses Google Maps to show buoys in 'event' mode. Using the map you can view the measurements of water height for the last 5 days.

Using the map you can view the effect of yesterday's tsunami across the Pacific Ocean.

Earthquake Tweet Map

Mibazaar has rolled out his Tweet response map for the Japan Earthquake. The map allows you to view the latest real-time news from Japan as posted to Twitter. The map shows the latest Tweets concerned with the earthquake.

Seismic Activity in the Last 7 Days

This Google Maps from MapLarge shows seismic activity over the last 7 days. The map markers are color-coded and sized to reflect the strength of activity at different locations.

Also See

Japan Earthquake Maps

HTML5 Styling of Google Maps

Sparkgeo - Where Are You Demo

Sparkgeo has created a nice demo of an animated HTML5 radial gradient placed on top of a Google Map. The HTML5 canvas radial gradient adds a nice effect to the map and helps to focus the eye of the user on a particular location. However this won't work unless the user has a modern web browser (Internet Explorer users are likely to be disappointed).

Sparkgeo has even been kind enough to provide a tutorial on how the effect is created. Sparkgeo has also produced a tutorial on how to add labels to your map using the makerWithLabel.js extension, created by Gary Little, which can be found in the Google Maps Utility Library

To provide another demonstration of the gradient effect I've added it to this map of the London Blitz.

Japanese Earthquake Maps

A massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake has hit off the north-east coast of Japan causing a tsunami that has caused extensive damage. The earthquake struck about 250 miles from Tokyo and there have been powerful aftershocks.


Map from Earthquakes in the Last Week

Google has released a Person Finder for Japan. Using the application it is possible to search for information or add information for someone who may have been affected by the earthquake.

This Google Map shows the locations of impromptu shelters set-up to help with food, drink and blankets etc.


Temporary Shelters Map

The USGS has created a Google Gadget that allows you to view near real-time earthquake information. The gadget uses the Google Earth browser plug-in to show worldwide seismic hotspots.


Map from Real-time Earthquakes

In the USA the National Weather Service Forecast Office has issued a tsunami warning for the west coast of America.


NWSFO tsunami warning for the San Francisco / Monterey Bay area

Fusion Friday

Newspapers in particular seem to have embraced Fusion Tables as the data backend for Google Maps. 

In the UK The Guardian seems very keen on Fusion Tables, especially on its Data Blog. The Guardian's Data Blog is a great source for data and the paper itself often creates Google Maps of the data.

A good example is this Google Map showing the carbon emissions for public buildings in England and Wales. The energy performance of more than 40,000 schools, hospitals and government departments are shown on the map.


The Carbon Footprint of Public Sector Buildings

In the USA The LA Times and The Texas Tribune have both used Fusion Tables to create maps to report on the 2010 Census.

The LA Times has produced a Google Map to show the 2010 census counts by California’s congressional districts. The map shows how many residents the 53 congressional districts are above or below the target 702,905 population.


2010 Census Counts by California’s Congressional Districts

The Texas Tribune, on the other hand, has created this Google Map to visualise the Texas population by race and Hispanic origin. The map displays the totals for each district, with darker colours representing higher rates of total population growth by race or Hispanic origin. 


Texas Population By Race, Hispanic Origin