Free Relief Maps for Google Maps

Maps-For-Free

Maps-For-Free has produced a nice Google Maps application that lets you view a number of relief map layers.

Not only can you use the application to view the relief maps you can add them to your own Google Maps. Maps-For-Free offers free relief maps and other additional layers which can easily be integrated into your own Google Map projects. 

A drop-down menu at the top of the map lets the user select from a number of relief map layers, including forest areas, swampland, tundra and many more. The application also includes a nice snapshot tool that allows you to define an area of the map and grab a still image. 

The Sunday Best of Google Maps

Room 77

Room 77 uses Google Earth to show you the view from hotel rooms across America. That in itself is enough to make it one of my favorite maps of the week. However Room 77 also includes an excellent ranking system for hotel rooms based on individual preferences for view, floor, distance from elevator and connecting rooms.

Crazy Boat: The Curse of the Trash Vortex

Two really great Google Maps games make it into my Sunday Best this week. Crazy Boat impressed me greatly with their use of map styles with the Google Static Maps API. The game is fun to play as well! 

Street View Zombie Apocalypse

This isn't the first zombie game I've seen that uses Street View. But it is probably the best. Great and intense zombie avoiding fun on Facebook.

Rain Alarm

If you are putting the washing out on the clothes-line then you might want to turn on Rain Alarm. Leave Rain Alarm on in the background and get a warning when it is about to rain.

Find a Yoga Teacher on Google Maps

iheartmyyogi

iheartmyyogi allows you to search for yoga teachers throughout the world from a Google Map.

It is possible to select a country from a drop-down menu, enter your postcode and select which yoga styles you are interested in learning. The results are then shown on a Google Map in a radius from your selected location.

When you view the details of a teacher you can click on the teacher's location and then view the driving directions from your home or office. If you register as a teacher, you can set your location by entering your address. iheartmyyogi will geocode your address and allows you to fine tune the location directly from the map.

Finding the Best Hotels with Google Maps

The Best City Hotels in the World

Last the week The Guardian published a Google Map mapping the newspaper's travel videos, called Video Breaks Around the World. This week they have created a Google Map highlighting the best city hotels in the world.

So far the paper has mapped out the best hotels in 32 cities across the world, 'hand-picked by locals and experts from San Francisco to Beijing'. The Guardian says it has plans to add more cities to the map in the future.

You can select to view a city's hotels from the drop-down menu in the map sidebar. If you then click on the individual hotel markers you can read The Guardian's review.

When Zombies Attack in Street View

Street View Zombie Apocalypse

Here's the plan, we take the car. Go to Mum's. Kill Phil, grab Liz, go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over ...

Zombies have taken over the world and, unlike in the movies, they seem to be able to run really fast. To survive you will need to outpace the converging hoardes of the undead in Google Maps Street View.

As you run around the streets in Street View you can view the approaching zombies in the inset Google Map. To stay alive you will need to outsmart them and avoid becoming trapped.

Oh, and if you want to pretend you are in Shaun of the Dead, try playing the game outside the location of The Winchester pub in the film (39 Monson Road, New Cross, London, England).

Also See

• PacMap from AppBrain - Play Pacman on real streets with this Android app.
• Zombie Outbreak Simulator - a Google Maps zombie game

Via: Street View Funny

A Room with a View on Google Maps

Room 77

Room 77 can help you book the hotel room with the best view. Using some pretty smart algorithms Room 77 is able to show you the view from different hotel rooms using images captured from Google Earth.

Using Room 77 you can check out the views from rooms in hotels in a number of US cities and in London. To show you the view Room 77 calculates the latitude, longitude, altitude and orientation of the room and shows you the view as seen in Google Earth. User submitted photos are also shown where available.

Room 77 uses Google Maps with an overlay of the hotel to allow you to see the view from different rooms within each hotel. The overlays allow you to select different room numbers and even allow you to select different floors in each hotel.

Room 77 even has its own ranking system for hotel rooms based on your individual preferences for view, floor, distance from elevator and connecting rooms. Each room is then shown on the Google Map with a color-coded match percentage indicating: "strong match" (green), "fair match" (yellow) and "weak match" (red).

Via: ReadWriteWeb

Google Maps Friday Fun

Google's satellite imagery update in London last week includes this amazing shot of an aircraft flying over Russell Square.

Via: Mapping London

Aus Hadeln left a comment to say he had also found this image of a plane approaching Heathrow in west London.

 

Travelling east along the same flight path, approaching Heathrow, I found this plane.



Where is Christchurch? The Map Game

The tragic news from Christchurch this week has ensured that everyone knows the location of New Zealand's second largest city. Or do they?

The Map Game asks you to find locations on a Google Map. Well actually not on the map, as that would be too easy, but on Google Maps satellite view. So do you know where Christchurch is?

Once you have found Christchurch you can donate to the New Zealand Red Cross at:

http://www.redcross.org.nz/donateOR

Artinfo - Google Maps Art

Artist Ben Joyce's paintings are inspired by the interesting satellite views he finds on Google Maps and Google Earth. Google liked his work so much that they recently asked him to show his work at their offices at Mountain View.

Artinfo have a nice slide show of Ben's work.

Mapping the Libyan Protests

Two Google Maps of the Libyan protests have been receiving a lot of press in the last few days.

Twitter user @Arasmus has put together a Google My Map called 
Mapping Violence Against Pro-Democracy Protests in Libya.

 

The map has been created by compiling reports from trusted accounts on Twitter. Arasmus says that each posting on the map is considered carefully before it is mapped. 

Arasmus seems to be working very hard to keep the map up-to-date and has been assiduously adding the latest news to the map for over a week now. 

Mibazaar's Middle East Protest Map lets you view the latest Twitter messages from the Middle East.



The map animates between the latest messages to be posted to Twitter from the Middle East. It is possible to view Tweets from the entire region or to select to view only Tweets from Bahrain, Egypt, Libya or Iran.

The Tweets are displayed at geotagged locations on the map at an interval of 5 seconds so the map provides an impressive means to view real-time updates across Libya.

National Broadband Maps

In the US The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has released a National Broadband Map.



The map allows users to search broadband availability across the United States and compare real download speeds to advertised broadband performance. Users can also search by address to find the broadband providers in their area.

Inspired by the US National Broadband Map SurveyMapper has decided to ask UK internet users what their fastest broadband speed test reading has been.



So far the survey has received 13 thousand responses, the results of which can be viewed on a Google Map. In the UK you can also use Broadband StreetStats. This Google Map allows you to compare broadband speed and providers at your address. The map shows individual speed tests in your area undertaken by individuals on Top10.com.

New Zealand's National Broadband Map uses Google Maps to present broadband supply and demand data.



Using the map it is possible to search for demand points and view the network suppliers throughout New Zealand.

In Canada, Industry Canada uses Google Maps to show which internet service providers are available. Users can search the map by address and view the available broadband providers. If the data is incomplete for a particular address users can complete a short form to add information to the map.

Travel Suggestions with Google Maps

Wanderfly

Wanderfly is a new travel suggestion site. Tell Wanderfly where you are leaving from, how much money you have and the sorts of activities you are interested in and it recommends travel destinations based on your preferences.

Wanderfly will recommend flights and hotels. It will also recommend places to see and visit based on your activity preferences. Google Maps is used to show the location of each of your recommendations.