Google Maps Valentine Cards

Map Your Valentine

Tell someone that you love them with Google Maps.

Map Your Valentine is a valentine card creator that allows you to send a card to a loved one with your chosen map view or Street View from Google Maps.

Using the card generator you can choose your map view, write a message and then enter the e-mail address of your special loved one. You can use the map view from anywhere on Earth (how about the Taj Mahal or the Egyptian pyramids?) or you can select a Street View where available (for example, the Eiffel Tower or Buckingham Palace).

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Monetize Your Google Maps

Google Maps developers can now monetize Google Maps API v3 maps with Google Ads.

The new Maps Ad Unit overlays relevant AdSense ads on a map. Developers can control where on the map the ads are placed, and the ads shown are based on the current map location.

To get more help implementing the new Maps Ad Unit view the Google Maps API v3 documentation. The documentation includes a good example that allows you to view the different AdSense units at different positions on a Google Map.

Via: Google Geo Developers Blog

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A Google Map Solar Energy Calculator

Solar Energy Calculator

This Google Map from the UC San Diego allows you to calculate the monthly and annual solar energy impinging upon a 1 m² tilted plane in San Diego. At the moment the map only works for San Diego addresses but support for additional regions will be available soon.

To work out the solar energy of an area just click on the desired location on the map and enter the panel tilt and panel azimuth into the form. The map will then calculate solar energy incident per square meter at that location and show the results for each month.

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Your Trash on a Google Map

VanTrash

If you live in Vancouver you now have no excuse for forgetting to put out your trash for collection. The city have developed this Google Maps mashup to inform residents about when their trash will be collected.

The map shows the regions for the city's trash pick-ups. If you click on a region you can then download the pick-up dates to your Google calendar or to Outlook. It is also possible to set up Twitter or email reminders informing you to put your trash out the night before the collection is due.

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A Great Google Maps Store Locator

The euroShell Card Truck Network

The euroShell Card Truck Network is a great example of how to do a store locator map extremely well.

Shell have used Google Maps to display the locations of their gas stations throughout Europe. Nothing new there. However Shell have allowed the user to filter the map by a number of options to ensure that the customer can always find the services that they require. The filters include shops, restaurants, showers and guarded parking.

The map also includes options to plan a route and to download the created maps or GPS files.

Aerial imagery of the protests in Egypt

GeoEye has just released some high-resolution imagery of the protests in Egypt, taken over Tahrir Square in Cairo on January 29.

GeoEye does a great job of capturing fresh imagery from a variety of noteworthy events throughout the world. In the past, they've provided imagery from Burning Man 2010, the volcano in Iceland last April and President Obama's inauguration two years ago.

5 Great Ad Campaigns + Maps

The Google Maps API has always been a great way to visualize data, but recently more and more advertising agencies are realizing the potential that the Maps API has for creative and engaging product campaigns.

Whether it’s automobiles, zombie trains, a blockbuster action movie, a board game, or even a bathroom cleaning product, there’s a map application for that product and it is changing the face of interactive advertising.

Domestos Flush Tracker

Domestos is a brand of bleach sold in the UK, South Africa, and Poland. As an advertising campaign for this bathroom product, Domestos created a “Flush Tracker” that lets you track where your flush goes after it leaves your house and enters the local sewer system. The animated line on the map simulates the speed at which refuse moves the through sewer system.

A-Team - Drive the A-Team Van

Nothing is more iconic of the A-Team than Mr. T’s van. Using the Earth API, users can drive Mr. T’s van through 3D models of 15 international cities. This implementation was seamlessly embedded into a YouTube landing page for the movie, where users can watch special movie clips that are unlocked by completing certain driving stunts.

Virgin Trains - Don’t Go Zombie...

From Virgin Trains, “The streets have been taken over by frustrated car-driving zombies who need to be saved. They have to get to the comfort of a Virgin Train and only you can help them with your special ticket machine. Follow the Map to get to your destination, saving zombies on the way.”

Alfa Romeo - Virtual Ownership

Using the Street View API, users can plug in their address and virtually place an Alfa Romeo Giulietta in their driveway. The size, color, and positioning of the vehicle can also be manipulated, creating the perfect postcard to share on Facebook, Twitter, or email to a friend.

Monopoly City Streets

Although no longer live, this highly addictive, global Google Maps version of Monopoly will always be remembered as a great advertising campaign. Users could buy any street in the world and build hotels, houses, stadiums, castles and skyscrapers (to name a few). Fortunately, this truly unique idea was well documented and you can view demos of the game on YouTube: http://goo.gl/p0aEh and http://goo.gl/uXx4k

NZ Topgraphic Overlays on Google Maps

New Zealand Topographic Map

If you are a keen New Zealand walker, angler, hunter, or other outdoor pursuit enthusiast you’re likely to already be familiar with the official LINZ ‘NZTopo’ Topographic Map Series, traditionally purchased as printed paper maps. These topo maps have now been made even easier to use and access through New Zealand Topographic Map.

Overlaying the official LINZ topo maps on top of Google Maps provides a level of topographic detail simply not available through Google Maps alone. Both the Topo250 and Topo50 map series are made available for New Zealand, Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands.

Place name searching allows hard-to-find streams, peaks, huts, and other land features to be tracked down easily. If you want to share a location with a friend you can even add a map pin and label to the map, then send a link. More advanced users can add their own KML overlay they’ve created in Google Earth. You can even embed mini topo maps in your own website or blog.

For access to topo maps while on-the-road a mobile version of the service is available for iPhones, Android devices and other smart-phones. If available, the devices built-in GPS capabilities can even be used by the service to pin-point your current location on the map.

The Swiss Alps Street View Competition

This winter the Street View snowmobile is taking to the Swiss Alps.

In order to decide which ski resorts will be visited by the Street View snowmobile Google are holding a vote with MySwitzerland.com . Voters can choose between 30 resorts and the winners will soon appear on Google Maps.

You can view precious Street View imagery captured by the Google snowmobile in Canada at the Dave Murray Downhill, from the top of the 7th Heaven Chairlift on Blackcomb, and from the peak of Whistler.

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Friday Fun with Google Maps

Street View Art

Photographer Michael Wolf is currently exhibiting at the Peurs sur la Ville exhibition at the Monnaie de Paris. His exhibition consists of a series of images collected from Google Street View.

Google API Periodic Table

I love this periodic table of all the Google API's. Not only does it look neat, it is pretty useful as well. Geo developers will be mostly interested in the blue API's, which are all geo related.

More Fun With Google Reviews

Google Maps in the UK is displaying a restaurant at the Houses of Parliament called the 'Cameron David' (David Cameron is the British Prime Minister). If you click on the icon there are a number of reviews. For example this handy guide on how to find the (non-existent) restaurant,

"Difficult to find. For those struggling to find David Cameron, walk towards Thatcher then take a sharp right."

Street View Hunting

Google Sightseeing have been Street View hunting and managed to bag this impressive looking reindeer in Norway.

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