This is great news for simple location encoding formats: Google announced today native support for GeoRSS in the Google Maps API.
So to view a GeoRSS flavored feed in Google maps just type the URL into the Google Maps search field or add it as query parameter like this.
What’s next? Maybe GeoRSS feeds getting indexed for searches within Google Earth? Just imagine for a moment the amount of content you could access out of Google Earth…
Well, I didn’t jump on the Twitter bandwagon – the last days my feed reader was quite cluttered with blog posts starting with t and ending in witter – but the twittervision map mashup nicely demonstrates visualization of rapidly changing geotagged content.
As far as I can tell, after having a quick look at the Twitter API, the map solely relies on geocoding services. There is only a <location> element containing place names in the Twitter data stream, no GeoRSS or any other geotagging method has been applied yet.
If you have been on 24th of June 2005 taking a sunbath somewhere here in Vienna, there is a good chance that you can find yourself now in the online city map: today the city of Vienna added new aerial imagery to it, all taken on that one sunny day and providing a resultion of approx. 0.5m.
Still, the usability of the online city map could need some improvements too…
The recently launched Austrian public transport directions search named Scotty (german only) has been slightly updated (via Interaction Blog):
By clicking the buttons Karte right next to the search form fields, a map will open where users are able to pinpoint their start and end addresses. So no need to enter the addresses any longer, keep your hand on the mouse and ask Scotty by clicking on maps.
I prefer that method a lot over entering addresses and then getting options of possible addresses because of misspellings or double street and place names.
There is still some potential for usability improvement left: it would be easier to merge the currently two necessary steps into a single one by showing only one map where users can pinpoint both, start and end point. And of course, a bit more fancy AJAX mapping would be nice in 2007 too…
I’m pretty proud that a map we did before the Christmas holidays appeared today in an Austrian newspaper. It wasn’t a big deal at all, just collecting data from eligible federal states and visualize it in a single image. More interesting was the sensible political aspect of the content. The map basically shows the allocation of 680 mill. EUR regional aid across Austrian municipalities. So it means a lot for regional development if a municipality is colored or not.
However, the certainly talented designer of the newspaper deleted the legend, changed some colors, reduced the source information and therefore added a questionable 3D effect. Actually there is not so much left of our map…
Today I had some time to have a closer look at Platial’s recently released MapKit.
Basically it’s a fantastic collaborative mapping tool for your website where you or your visitors can mark, describe, comment and share places. MapKit’s integration is pretty straight-forward: just provide some information about the map and the website where you plan to embed it and within a few minutes everything is up and running and your mapping tool is online. Great!
The map shown in MapKit is linked back to your Platial account. So you can control the map content out of your Platial account, or make it public in Platial and let other Platial users participate through Platial’s interface.
One drawback I noticed already at my MapKit registration was that localhost isn’t a valid MapKit domain name. So in order to get a quick view on MapKit I had to go through a edit-upload-test workflow, which is ok for a quick view, but impossible if you plan to do some more development. I usually work and test things on my local machine before putting them online, and I guess I’m not the only one who does so.
Another point is that you can only add places by addresses. Since my region isn’t covered by Google’s geocoder it’s impossible to create a single place through MapKit. So I have to login to Platial and add my places to the MapKit there, then they’ll show up. I wish I could pinpoint places in MapKit the same way I can in Platial.
Finally, some more design options would be nice. For instance if I set the map width to 100% I get a cinema scope map, which looks a bit strange. It’s clear, and proven by myspace, that too much design liberty for users isn’t recommendable either. But some more options like defining map-height or maybe title color and background would be appreciated.
As much as I appreciate the recently updated European roads in Yahoo! maps, and therefore also in the Flickr map, I hardly use the built-in geotagging feature of Flickr.
If you want to geotag an entire photo set it works great. Once you’ve opened up the map organizer you can easily drag & drop all photos onto the map. But if you upload just a single photo and want to geotag it, the loc.alize bookmarklet gets the job easier and faster done.
In Flickr you need to go through Organize > wait > Map > wait > select photo > drag to location. It’s one click too much and therefore takes too long. The usability of loc.alize is much more convenient, it allows you to access the map and assign the location directly in the photo page: loc.alize > wait > select location > save.
Considering the amount of geotagged photos in Flickr I’m maybe wrong and most user’s are happily geotagging with the help of Flickr’s map. On the other hand you read the default loc.alize link “See where this picture was taken.” quite a lot under Flickr photos…
Christmas is coming and I just came across the first neat present idea: a Moleskine City notebook (via TecnoMaps). It features pages for notes, POI archive pages and a city map.
After trying a lot different methods of getting my meeting notes organized I finally found this tiny black Moleskine books. I tried using a PDA, without luck, syncing back to the PC is fine, but taking handwritten notes on these devices is just a pain. Writing all notes by hand and retyping them later on the PC requires, without a secretary, too much time and discipline. Ah yes, and I’m probably too lazy to carry the laptop with me all the time and document meetings immediately.
Moleskine notebooks are just great. I have virtually all notes always with me, can quickly look up notes taken in other related meetings or add any thought at any time. It’s tiny, light-weighted and fits in every pocket. The size is probably the secret of Moleskine’s continuing success.
A Moleskine notebook in combination with a calendar featured cell phone is all I need to be perfectly organized. Finally!
The GPS tracklog blog has created a GPS data search as a custom search engine based on Google’s Co-op platform, aimed to bundle resources of free available GPS maps, POIs, etc.
If you happen to know a source which should be included, head over and let Rich know. Once all listed GPS resources got indexed by Google this customized search will be pretty useful.
Never ever try accessing Flugfeld Aspern from the southern side.
Today I wanted to get to the old runways, I’ve never been there before and I know this area only from above, from maps, development plans and Google Earth. From above things appear easier than they actually are. A rectangular settlement and street structure is supposed to be easy for orientation and mind maps. Very misleading and probably the reason why I left the map at home because it’s seems so easy to go there.
No way! I simply couldn’t find a way to the old rollways. All the fences and hedges in this area destroy any sense for direction. At a certain point I even found myself going in circles!
Maybe I should’ve placed a waypoint on my GPS before I left for Flugfeld Aspern.
However, next time I’ll try from the northern side, put the map in my bag and mark some spots on the GPS before leaving.
