Calgary Stampede on Google Maps - Updated

Calgary Stampede Maps & Directions

If you are heading to the Calgary Stampede and you want to know what's where and where's what and how to get there then you need to check out this Google Map.

The main venues for the Stampede are coloured on the map so you can quickly see where the main events are taking place. The red map markers also indicate venues for the Stampede and include links to view the full schedule of events.

Hat-tip: @darron

Calgary Stampede - FlapJackFinder

Apparently during the Calgary Stampede it is traditional to give out free flapjacks for breakfast. Thanks to this Google Map you can now find all the establishments giving away free breakfasts in Calgary during the Stampede - and that's a lot of flapjacks.

The map can be searched by date and by distance. You can click on the 'Today's Flapjacks' link to view the locations where you can get free flapjacks today.

The map also features a very cool hand-drawn style border. Happy eating folks!

Live Bus Tracking

If you've left your horse at home you can still get around Calgary thanks to this live bus tracking map.

Using the map you can view all the bus and C-Train routes in the city. When you select a route you can view all the stops on the route and also see the location of all the buses as they are tracked in real-time.

Calgary Mapped
Whilst in Calgary you can always find the nearest points of interest thanks to this Calgary Google Maps mashup.

The map lets you select from a number of categories to view restaurants, galleries, hotels etc in the city.

Visit Calgary

Calgary's official tourism website has a great Google Map to help you find places to stay, places to eat, places to shop and places to play.

Hat-tip: Mapperz

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New York Named Buildings on Google Maps

Tektonomastics

Tektonomastics haven't just created a Google Map they have created a whole new branch of onomatology (the study of the history and origin of proper names). 'Tekto' is Greek for buildings, so 'Tektonomastics' is the study of building names.

Combine Tektonomastics with geography and you get a Google Map showing the location of buildings with proper names. By taking photographs and mapping the locations of the named buildings in New York, Tektonomastics hope to help these neglected building names live once more.


My only problem with tektonomastics is that they don't appear to have a taxonomy. I suggest they introduce a tagging system for their mapped buildings. Buildings on the map could be tagged by those named after 'people' (with a sub-category of presidents), those buildings named after geographical places) etc.

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Twitter and Driving Directions

Raste Pe -On Your Way

This a basic but interesting Google Maps mashup. The map uses the Google Maps API driving directions with the Twitter API to give driving directions with Twitter messages along your route.

The driving directions are presented in the normal manner, with the length and time of the journey and numbered directions. The Twitter messages along the route are shown with red map markers. If you click on a marker you can read the message and view who it was posted by.

I guess this could be very useful if it was combined with traffic information to give you real-time news along a route that you about to drive.

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The Victorian Bushfires on Google Maps

Black Saturday

The bushfires of 7 February 2009 were the worst in Australia's history. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has created an amazing Google Map to tell the stories of the Victorian bushfires by those that actually experienced it.

ABC has collected hundreds of accounts of the day and the fire's aftermath from residents of the fire-affected communities, volunteer fire fighters, journalists, politicians, tourists and others. This Google Map allows users to browse these stories, videos and photographs by location and by time.

The timeline allows you to browse the submitted stories on the map by time. The initial view allows you to select any range of time from the 7th and 8th Feb 2009. If you select the next button you can also select a time range from the days, weeks and months after the fires.

All the multi-media content can be viewed directly from selecting the markers shown on the map.

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The World's History on Google Maps

World History

World History is a user contributed history site. The site features a Google Maps based historical browser that lets you explore the World's history by timeline and by location.

Users of the site can add historical information and World History has also aggregated historical data from sites like Wikipedia. It is possible to search the map by location, date and by category. The categories are 'people', 'places', 'events' and 'artifacts'.

The results of a search are displayed on the map. If you open an information window you can read the historical entry directly from the map.

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Top 5 Video Game Maps

Sacred Maps

Ancaria is a magical continent populated by various races of dark elf, wood elf and vampires. Luckily teams of cartographers have now traversed and mapped the vast desert and lava-ridden plains in the south and the mountains of the north.

Sacred is an action role-playing game for Microsoft Windows. Using Google Maps and some custom map tiles someone has created two Google Maps mashups of the game world.

The Google Maps API v2 Map of Ancaria includes map markers showing the locations of employees in the game. The new Google Maps API v3 Map of Anacaria shows the locations of all the game dungeons.

Hat-tip: Mapperz

The Elder Scrolls Maps

Fans of the The Elder Scrolls game series will love these two Google Maps:

• Shivering Isles Map
• Cyrodil Map

The maps show the locations of camps, caves, cities and many other game elements.

Grand Theft Auto Google Map

IGN entertainment have created this Google Map of Liberty City for Grand Theft Auto.

IGN have used image tiles from the static GTA IV Liberty City map to create an interactive map using the Google Maps API. The map includes a large number of selectable layers organised into different categories; Points Of Interest, Restaurants, Shopping, Services, Entertainment and Nightlife, Emergency Services, Missions, Items, Vehicles, Secrets, Multiplayer and NPCs.

Registered users of the site are able to add markers to the map by right clicking on the map and logging in. This should mean that the map will become more and more detailed over time.


World of Warcraft Map

This Google Map created for World of Warcraft includes quick links to common locations and options to show the locations of herbs, treasure, ore and other game elements.

Viwogeo

Viwogeo is an interesting idea to let you explore Second Life locations via a Google Map. Many of the locations on Second Life are recreations of real world places and Viwogeo makes use of this fact to geo-tag these Second Life locations on a Google Map.

Clicking on one of the map markers opens an information window with links to that location on Gridaverse (see below) and a link that will teleport you straight to the location on Second Life.

Via: Ogle Earth

Gridaverse

Gridaverse is a set of interactive maps that use the Google Maps API to present maps of Second Life.

Using the maps it is possible to search for sims, land for sale and easily create GVURLs (a link that will transport you to a location on Second Life).

Apparently there are a lot more features coming soon, including GPS and short GVURLs, with the ultimate goal of creating a search engine for all the different Metaverses on Second Life.

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Create Your Own Twitter Map

The Google Geo Developers Blog has just published links to a number of articles on developing with Google Maps:

• Fun with MVC Objects
• Geocoding Strategies
• Using Google Sites to Host Your KML
• Developing for Mobile Devices

So far I have only managed to browse through the Fun with MVC Objects article. The article is a step by step guide to creating an adjustable radius tool. You can see the tool in use on this great Twitter Map.



Basically the Twitter Map uses the radius tool to let the user define the region within which they wish to search. The article has other suggestions about how you might use the tool.

I'm sure the other articles are just as good and just as useful.

Via: Google Geo Developers Blog

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Wage Negotiations with Google Maps

Mitt Mått

During the next year a new period of negotiations for a collective wage agreement will take place in Sweden. This Google Map from Almega, a Swedish employers' organisation is designed to raise the debate about wages and how people think work should be valued.

Anybody can share their opinions and experiences of wage negotiations with the website and they will appear on the map. Users can also take a simple test which will show which of four criteria – experience, development, engagement or achievement – is valued the most. Users can also share stories about the wage negotiation process.

Each test result and story is added as a marker on the map depending on where the user lives. There is also the possibility of commenting on other user's test results or stories.

The map is the creation of StoryLabs and Sthlm Connection. Sthlm Connection are writing a series of posts on how they created the map. There are three tutorials, the first of which is Creative Google Maps I: Taking control of the location.

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The Tour de France Real-Time Tracking

Follow Team HTC

Last week I reported that Google and the HTC/Columbia Professional Cycling team were releasing a Tour de France API. The API allows you to grab real-time data of the nine riders from Team HTC - Columbia and see their exact locations and real-time telemetry data.

Google have put together an example Google Map of what you can create with the data. The Google Map shows the real-time location of all nine riders. You can select any of the nine riders and track them individually on the map. You can also view real-time speed, power, cadence and heart rate.

Ubilabs - Tour de France 2010

Don't forget you can also track the riders in real-time using Ubilabs Tour de France Google Map. This year the map works with the iPhone, Android phones and the iPad, so now you can get race updates where ever you are.

Via: Official Google Blog

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Toronto Google Maps Mashup Round-up

Toronto Star: Map of the Week - Car Ownership

This week's Toronto Star Google Maps mashup is a map that shows car ownership in the Greater Toronto Area (although the title of the map, 'GTA Car Ownership Map', did make me wonder if it was a map of people who owned stolen cars).

The map is a heat map of car ownership as a percentage of households, using data from the 2006 census. The Map of the Week blog has an interesting analysis of the data. The analysis show a correlation between car ownership and income. The map also show some correlation between good public transportation links and low car ownership.

Rent Compass

Rent Compass can help you find properties to rent in Toronto and other Canadian cities.

You can search for properties by price, property type and by location. The results of your search are handily displayed on a Google Map. The map uses different map markers to show whether the properties are houses for rent or apartments.

If you click on the 'more details' link in a property's map marker a lightbox style window opens with the full details. If you want to be able to search for rental properties whilst on the move Rent Compass is also available for the iPhone.

Bring My Own Wine
This Google Maps mashup shows the location of bring your own wine restaurants in Toronto.

If you click on a map marker you can get the address of the restaurant and the corkage fee. The restaurants are also listed under the map.

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Australian Art Projects on Google Maps

Arts on the Map

The Australia Council for the Arts is currently funding nearly 200 companies in Australia. Arts on the Map provides a Google Maps and Google Earth browser plug-in portal to explore the different projects.

To explore the map you first select the type of art project you wish to explore and then the region of Australia that you are interested in. The relevant art projects for your search are displayed on the map with red kangaroo map markers.

An innovative feature of the map is the 'tour' feature. If you select the tour option the map will animate through your search results one by one.

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New York Stories on Google Maps

Mr Beller's Neighborhood

Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood is a local 'magazine with a map' in and about New York City. The magazine publishes reports, personal essays, urban sketches or any piece of writing that might illuminate a corner of life in the Big Apple and, thanks to Google Maps, you can browse the magazine by location.

The Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood map uses clustered map markers to show you the location of stories, reports and essays published on the site. You can pan the map and zoom in on any location to find contributions from local neighborhood's in New York. Alternatively, you can use the drop-down menu to zoom in quickly on a particular area.

If you click on any of the map markers you can read the story's headline, a brief snippet and the story's tags. There is of course also a link to read the article in full.

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Find a Tennis Court with Google Maps

Tennisopia

Wimbledon is over for another year. However that's no reason for you to hang up your racket. Tennisopia is a Google Maps mashup that can help you find a tennis court in your vicinity.

At the moment Tennisopia has mapped a few major cities in Canada but has plans to expand its coverage. To find a local tennis court you just need to enter your address and the results are displayed on the map. The map markers indicate whether the court is public, a club, a school or in a condo / apartment block.

If you click on a map marker you can get driving directions and you can view further details about the court.

Also See

• TennisMaps Tennis courts throughout the USA
• Berlin Tennis Map - Tennis courts in Berlin
• Look into NYC - can help you find courts and other local facilities in New York
• Pickup Game - Map of basketball courts, tennis courts, softball/baseball fields, golf courses, pool halls & bowling alleys in US
  

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Add a Google Map to Your Realty Listings

PeekaCity

PeekaCity sells itself as a local search solution for real-estate agents. It is a community mapping tool for real estate agents wishing to show-case their neighborhood selling points, such as nearby schools, grocery stores, transportation and parks.

Real estate agents can pay a subscription to PeekaCity to embed the map in their own websites. Normal users however can search the map for free. If you enter your address or zipcode then PeekaCity will return a Google Map showing your location.

For each location you can select to view local businesses and amenities on the map from a number of categories. It is also possible to set the distance within which you wish to search.

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Find a House in Ireland with Google Maps

MyHome.ie

MyHome.ie is a nicely designed Google Maps mashup to display property for sale in Ireland.

You can search the map for property by location, price, type of property and by the number of bedrooms. The returned results are then displayed on the map. If you click on a property's map marker you can view a photo and a brief description. The information window also contains a link to view the full details of the property.

MyHome.ie also allows you to search for rental and commercial property in Ireland. There is even a function to view overseas property, which shows properties on the market mainly in the south of France and northern Spain.

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Secure Zone Location Sharing

SpotWalla

SpotWalla is a location sharing service with some excellent privacy settings to ensure that you only share your personal data with those that you have given permission.

SpotWalla users can share their location information via trips and / or location pages. Tracks of your trips can be shared on their own Google Map and can be embedded on your own website or blog. Location pages allow multiple users to share their last known location on a single Google Map.

The SpotWalla home page features links to the most popular tracks created with the service. You can also choose to view the most recent and the most active tracks.

With SpotWalla you can define secure zones in which your location will never be displayed. You can set-up secure zones for your home, your place of work or any other location. Once you have defined a secure zone your location will not be shared when you enter those areas.

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Welcome to Plymouth with Google Maps

Plymouth 3D

Google Maps is such a great tool for promoting towns and cities I'm surprised there aren't more sites like 3D Plymouth. 3D Plymouth is a Google Maps based guide to the picturesque town of Plymouth, Michigan.

Plymouth 3D uses the Google Earth browser plug-in to allow you to explore the town in glorious 3D. If you don't like the 3D option you can select Google Maps to view all the information with a normal map view.

And what a lot of information there is.

Plymouth 3D can show you the location of any store in the town. If you need a hair cut, select 'Barber' and you can view the location of all the town's barbers, or maybe you fancy an icecream, if so just select 'Candies & Ice Cream'. There is in fact over 40 categories of store to choose from.

If you have finished your shopping then Plymouth 3D can even help you find some entertainment. The 'Locate Events' section can show you the location of upcoming entertainment and sporting events in the town.

There are also options to view the weather, local traffic, road closures, schools, Street View and local property for sale. There are so many options with this map that I'm sure I've even missed a few.

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Egyptian Property on Google Maps

Makanoo

Have you ever fancied an adobe des-res with a scenic view of the Giza Pyramids?

Well Makanoo might not be able to help with you with that but it can help you find a property to buy or rent elsewhere in Egypt. Makanoo uses Google Maps to help you find properties by location, type of property and price.

To search for a property just choose your location and price range and Makanoo will return the results on a Google Map. If you click on any of the returned map markers you can view photos of the property and find contact details to buy the property.

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Cheap Beds for the Night on Google Maps

Prooms

If you are jetting off somewhere this summer and need somewhere cheap to stay or, if you want to stay somewhere a little less impersonal than a hotel, you should consider renting a room in someone's house.

Prooms is a website that allows anyone to rent out a bed (or even a couch or a whole apartment) to paying guests and allows travellers to search for available accommodation. Anyone can post a bed on the site and anyone can take them up on the offer. The listings include private rooms, entire apartments or even just a couch.

The listed beds/rooms include a Google Map showing its location and details about cost and the neighbourhood the accommodation is located in.

Google Maps is also used to show the locations of accommodation when you carry out a search. So, for example, if you search for accommodation in San Francisco for a particular week the places that have rooms available are shown on a handy Google Map.

Also See

Airbnb

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Tour de France Maps

Ubilabs - Tour de France 2010

Yay! Ubilabs have once again produced a Tour de France live Google Maps mashup. This year the map even has a little extra styling thanks to Google Maps API v3 Styled Map options.

At the moment you can use the map to view the routes of all the tour's stages. Once the race is under way you will also be able to see real-time data from selected teams.

This year Ubilabs have also focused on making the map compatible with mobile phones. So you will be pleased to hear that the map works with the iPhone, Android phones and the iPad.

Cycling News Tour de France Map

Cycling News have also produced a Google Map showing the routes of each stage of the Tour De France.

If you click on any of the mapped stages you will find a link to Cycling News' preview of the stage.

Via: Mapperz

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Tour de France Google Maps Challenge

My Tracks Tour

The Tour de France starts tomorrow and if you are up for the challenge you can build your own Google Maps Mashup showing the real-time location of all 9 riders in the HTC/Columbia Professional Cycling team.

HTC/Columbia Professional Cycling team, HTC and SRM, have collaborated with Google to make available an API that will enable developers to build web applications that can display the location of all 9 riders on a Google Map along with their telemetry (power, heart rate, cadence, speed).

HTC has supplied the team with phones that read ANT+ wireless sensors. The phones running the Android App called My Tracks will read this data and transmit it to Google's Servers. Google's servers will then push out the data via a publicly available read only API.

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Street View Comes Indoors

Kerken Kijken met Street View

This Dutch website is the first example I've seen of someone making use of the new 'linksControl' in v3 of the Google Maps API. The linksControl lets map developers add or take away the arrow links in Street View. Kerken Kijken use the arrow links to create seamless links to their own panoramic images.

Kerken Kijken have a number of 360 degree panoramic images of the interiors of churches in Utrecht. They have created this Google Maps mashup to show the location of the panoramas and to integrate them with Street View.

The overall effect is very impressive. As you can see from the sceenshot below the added arrow links to Kerken Kijken's own panoramas are indistinguishable from the links to the adjacent Street Views.



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Learn About Your Flight with Google Maps

Hidden Journeys

Wouldn't it be great if, before taking a plane flight, you could look up the flight path and learn about all the places you will fly over on your journey? Well if you are travelling from London to Johannesburg, London to Delhi or London to Vancouver you now can.

Hidden Journeys, a project of the Royal Geographical Society, aims to enable air travellers to interact and engage with the parts of the world that can be seen from the air whilst on a plane journey. So far only three plane journeys have been mapped but more are on the way.

The website's aim is "to create a knowledgeable travelling population who can make the most of the aerial perspective whilst flying to better understand the world; to understand the depth and richness of the changing relationship between humans and their natural and built environment; and how the physical environment they can see from the air has changed, and continues to change over time."

Hidden Journeys uses Google Maps to show the flight path of the journey and to show the interesting things that can be seen from the plane on your journey. If you click on any of the map markers you will be shown detailed information and photographs of the selected location.

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Checking Water Quality with Google Maps

Water Atlas

This Water Atlas Google Map from the Hillsborough County and City of Tampa allows citizens to check water quality, hydrology, rainfall and weather data from the county's water stations.

The green map markers indicate stations with current data (anywhere from the last 60 seconds to the last 24 hours). The yellow markers show inactive stations (maybe because of maintenance or technical problems).

Depending on the type of water station selected you can view, daily rainfall, precipitation, water flow, elevation, temperature, velocity and conductance. Each information window also includes a link to view graphs of the stations recorded data for the last 24 hours, week and month.

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Spanish Real Estate on Google Maps

Zangoa

Spanish website Zangoa uses Google Maps as the main portal to holiday rental properties in Spain.

From the main map page you can select to view rental properties on the map by location, price and type of property. The returned map markers all contain links to the main page on the selected property.

On the property dedicated pages you can also choose to view another Google Map of the property, this time with local points of interest displayed on the map as well. The points of interest include local restaurants and sporting and cultural activities.


Other Spanish Real Estate Maps

• Fotocasa.es
• Locamio
• Nestoria

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EEC Funding on a Google Map

Europa Om De Hoek

Europa Om De Hoek is a Google Map showing the location of European Union funded projects in the Netherlands.

The map displays three categories of marker, City & Surroundings, People & Society and Knowledge and Innovation. If you pan or zoom the map the markers are updated automatically to reflect your current view.

You can also select to view projects by subject, by the amount of money invested, by location and by EU agency.

Also See

Sandbag Emissions Map - explore how the emissions trading system is operating in the European Union.

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