The Maps of Amsterdam

 
The Planning Department of the City of Amsterdam has created a number of interesting Google Maps, all of which can be found in the Interactieve Kaarten section of their website.

The maps cover a range of subjects that will be of interest to local citizens, including housing, green spaces, climate and building use. For example the Woningwaarde Map plots the cost of housing in the city. Using a heat map overlay this map shows the average cost of housing throughout the city.

Another interesting map is the Niet-Woonfuncties Map which shows the blueprint of all non-residential properties in the city. On the map each non-residential property is shaded to show whether the property is used for business, retail, leisure etc.

There are a lot of other maps to explore on the site and all the data used in the maps is also available at Open GEO-Data. 

Where Do I Vote?

 
If you want to know where to vote then you should check out the Voter Information section of the Google Politics and Elections website. 

Here you can find a Polling Place Lookup tool that will tell where you should vote. If you enter your address your polling place will be shown on a small Google Map alongside the full postal address and the hours of opening. You can also click on the 'get directions' link to get the full directions from your home to your polling place.

#NYCGAS on Google Maps

 
Justmap.it has created a crowd-sourced Google Map to help New Yorkers and Long Islanders find gas stations that are currently selling gas.

The map shows the latest Twitter messages that include #NYCGAS. The messages can contain information about whether a gas station currently has gas and the length and duration of queues.


Gas Station is a crowd-sourced Google Map showing operating gas stations and gas availability in New York and New Jersey.

The map uses red markers to indicate gas stations that have sold out of gas and green markers to show those that are open. If you click on a marker you can get more information, where available, on likely waiting times and when gas might be available.

To contribute information to the map post a Tweet with information about a gas station including '@IMSOCIO2012' in the message.

The Google Crisis Map for NYC now includes a public transit map showing open subway lines, MTA replacement shuttle buses and road work and traffic advisories.The map also shows open and closed gas stations, pharmacies and restaurants. The map also includes a layer that shows open and closed food stores in New Jersey. 

Can Twitter Predict the Election?

In this presidential election voters have taken to social media like never before. Is it possible then to try and analyse social media engagement to predict the winner of tomorrow's election?

 
The Twitter Political Engagement Map is a real-time guide to the current political temperature, state by state. The map shows Tweets from @BarackObama and @MittRomney organized by engagement on Twitter.

The Tweets from each candidate are represented by a bar and the size indicates engagement on that Tweet. If you select a Tweet's bar you can view a heat map of engagement state by state on the accompanying map.

 
Whilst Twitter's own map shows how people are responding to the candidate's own Tweets theObama vs Romney Tweet Battle shows how many people are Tweeting "Obama" or "Romney".

The map includes a real-time count of Tweets mentioning each candidate. It is also possible to view a heat map showing where each candidate is being Tweeted about the most.

 
The Bing Elections Center has taken another approach to analysing social media political messages. Their social media analysis attempts to actually gauge the positive and negative feelings about each candidate in social media posts.

Bing have asked a number of questions, such as 'How do people feel about the candidates?', and analysed Tweets to gauge the current mood of the electorate.

Bulgarian Real Estate on Google Maps

Cheap Bulgarian House

If you are looking for property in Bulgaria then Cheap Bulgarian House is a good place to start.

The site uses Google Maps to display a large number of properties for sale or rent in Bulgaria. It is possible to search the map by price range, by type of property, by location and by the size of the property you want.

Properties from Bulgaria
This Google Maps mashup shows properties for sale or rent in the major Bulgarian towns.

The map sidebar provides quick links to view properties in specific towns. Underneath the map it is possible to select which types of property you wish to view.

Each information window includes a photo of the property and a link to more details.

Varna Plan

Varna Plan is a Google Maps mash-up for the Varna area in Bulgaria. Thanks to the map's impressive area polygon selection search engine it is possible to view an incredible amount of data about Varna on the map.

The map displays commercial, rental and residential property for sale in Varna. It is also possible to view from a large selection of tourist related layers.

Building Outlines in More Cities

Google have today added 3D buildings to Google Maps in more cities around the world. The new cities include London, Paris, Barcelona, Stockholm, Singapore, Lisbon, Boulder, and 11 major cities in South Africa.

In Google Maps the 3D buildings look pretty cool but they really only come to life on Google Maps for mobile. On Google Maps for mobile you can rotate, tilt, and zoom in and out on the buildings.

My guess is that at some point soon Google will look to implement the rotate and tilt views in Google Maps for the desktop. 

The rotating buildings obviously make more sense on mobile maps where the orientation of the map can rotate to reflect your view. However this would be a great feature to be able to access via the Google Maps API. I could see this being a popular tool with many map developers.

Via: Google LatLong

Boston's Elastic Boundaries on Google Maps

Like many big cities Boston has very fluid neighborhood boundaries. Two people living next door to each other can often have very different ideas of which district they live in. 

To try and clear up some of the confusion around Boston's boundaries Boston.com has created a Google Map that shows the different boundaries used by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, by the police, by the city and those determined by zip code.

Using the map you can drag the map pin around to view the different district boundaries at different locations.

Exploring Boston's Tangled Boundaries

View Cell Phone Coverage on Google Maps

Sensorly

Sensorly provides community powered mobile phone coverage maps. It is currently mapping 76 networks across the world. If you download either the Android or iPhone app you can also become a part of the crowd supplying data to these phone coverage maps.

You can use the Sensorly Google Maps to view how good network coverage is in a given location, for both WiFi and mobile phone networks. You can navigate to your part of the world by using the links beneath the map. You can also find the relevant map for your network from the tabbed buttons at the top of the map.

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.

Using the map you can search by location and view a heat map of the signal strength for each of the carriers available in your area. You can select to view the data of individual carriers and quickly see how their local coverage compares. It is also possible to view the cell tower locations for each of your local mobile phone service providers.

The data for the map is collected from users of the OpenSignalsMaps Android application. Data from the downloaded apps is stripped of any identifying information.

Root Metrics

Root Metrics allows you to compare the signal strength of different mobile phone carriers at different locations in the United States. You can search a Google Map by zip code or address to find the strength of coverage at any location.

The Root Metrics Google Map allows you to compare the signal strength of different mobile phone carriers. The map shows you each carrier's aggregate grade and the carrier's voice and data strength.

The Root Metrics iPhone app allows you to view the data from your mobile phone. Users of the app also contribute to the accuracy of the data shown. Data from downloaded apps is collected anonymously to track each carrier's performance.

A Google Map of Solar Power Installations

Cooler Planet: Solar Energy Installation Map

Cooler Planet has created an animated time-line with Google Maps to show the progress of solar installations in California from 1999 through to 2011.

Using data from Go Solar California Statistics the map lets you view time-lines of 'total installs', 'total watts', 'watts per install' and 'total carbon saved'. It is fascinating using the map to view how solar power installations have blossomed in California over the last decade.

Searching Gets Easier on Google Maps

Google Maps now lets you search with 'descriptive terms'. Google describes 'descriptive terms as "the phrases which are most frequently used to describe ... places".

So, for example, if I want to find a pub that has quiz nights I can just type in 'quiz night' into the search bar on Google Maps. I will then be shown all the places that have 'quiz night' mentioned in reviews and other information gathered about the venue.



Other descriptive terms that I can imagine myself using a lot are 'great coffee', 'free wifi', 'free delivery' and 'live music'.

I'm sure I'll be using this new feature a lot!