Lonely Planet innovates using Google Maps

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I'm a big fan of Lonely Planet. I used their series of guidebooks during an 11 country around-the-world trip I took with my wife in 2002. I'm also all about great travel maps mashups and it turns out Lonely Planet is the first of the big travel guides to embrace Google Maps online. Not only are they using it to mash up their own content, they're also facilitating the process for Lonely Planet users to do some maps mashing of their own! Check it out:

LPmaps is a new initiative from the Lonely Planet Labs that sees Google Maps integrated into many areas of the Lonely Planet TV website. Use a Google Map to find user-uploaded video clips , search and locate specific video clips you view on the site. The video finder includes a nifty navigation ribbon to search by specific continent and country! LPmaps also gives travelers the chance to mash up LPmaps (Google Maps) with Lonely Planet content and embed it on their own travel blog, start page (Google Personalized Start, Netvibes etc..) or website. Very cool stuff!

Here is an excerpt from the LPmaps page:

We’re really excited about all the ways we can help travellers connect with one another and build their community. LPmaps is another way that we are helping travellers create and share their travel ideas and experiences.

What can I do with LPmaps and how do I use it?

We've mashed-up Lonely Planet content and Google maps to create LPmaps (check it out at lonelyplanet.tv) and now, we want to share LPmaps with you. Here are the things you can do:

• create your own map and embed it into your website or blog using the widget builder
• let your imagination run wild; mashup your own content and functionality with LPmaps
• put a map on your blog or website; go find a good map on lonelyplanet.tv and follow the menu to widgetbox, Google Gadgets or Netvibes

The power of the Google Maps API developer community played a large role in this project as Google Maps geo developer Ken Hoetmer's skills were recruited by LonelyPlanet.com to work up LPmaps. Ken's previous Google Maps projects include DIY Google Maps site QuikMaps and birding mashup GeoBirds (all previously reviewed on Google Maps Mania) - Great work Ken, and hats off to Lonely Planet for being travel web visionaries! :)

Related:
Cool Google Maps Travel Mashups
Category Listing: Travel & Tourism