Breaking News on Google Maps

With both Obama and McCain set to name their running mates any minute now it seems an appropriate time to look at some of the Google Maps mash-ups that attempt to show breaking news.

Maplandia

Maplandia has been geo-tagging the news with Google Maps since November 2005. Since its launch Maplandia has tagged more than 40,000 news items, connecting important events with specific locations on a Google Map. Now Maplandia have developed an interface to access this history.

With this update it is possible to browse world news on a Google Map for any day since January 2005. Furthermore Maplandia have created a separate news site for each country, so it is possible to browse the recent news history for any country you choose.

Finally, Maplandia also now offer the option to view the over three million locations listed on the site via the Google Earth browser plug-in.

Breaking News Map

The Breaking News Map is an interesting Twittervision style map built with the Google Flash Maps API. The map animates between different geo-tagged news items, which means you can just choose what area of news you wish to read and just sit back and watch.

The news stories can be selected by category, for example, business, politics, entertainment, science, sports, technology etc. You can select just one category or as many as you want. It is also possible to select the speed at which the map switches between different news stories and to pause a story if it catches your eye. The map even comes with a fast-forward button so you can just zap through the news that bores you.


For many, many more news maps check the Current Events links in the right hand post.
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