For the past week I've been at a
trade show with my work here in
Dubai, UAE (hence the thin posting) This is my second time here. The first was last year at this time for the same event. Things have definitely changed in one year with even more high rise towers and double the number of construction cranes dotting the horizon. There's a boom in development here and it doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon. Take a look down below for my
trip photos and
videos..
Coincidentally, just as I was touching down here I was contacted by Hesham Amiri who informed me of the first known Dubai Google Maps mashup called
Map.Ocit.AE. Hesham describes it as
"..a site based on the Google Maps API targeted for residents and visitors of the Emirate of Dubai where users can add interesting markers, comments and bookmarks." And for even more Google Maps based information about Dubai be sure to check out the ever-essential travel resource:
Wikimapia (Dubai zoom-in).
I've been trying to get as much sightseeing in as possible in the evenings and I've had a fantastic time. I even made the trip to the Mall of the Emirates last evening to take some runs in the indoor ski hill called
Ski Dubai.. and it wasn't too bad! :) I've busy with my digital camera capturing everything I can and I have the following personal photos and clips if you're interested (check back in 2 or 3 days when I'll add more to this pool. Until then expect some time before my next post as I journey back to Canada. Explore some of the mashup and tools links along the right side of the blog.. Here are the pics and videos:
Flickr Photo Set: Dubai 06 - Here is
one great shot from Flickr user Trimpop that looks down
Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai. It shows the already present residential and business towers with the Burj Dubai being constructed off in the distance. This will be the tallest building in the world once complete.
(Here are my photos from last year)YouTube videos: Two clips showing the in-seat video channels that show live camera views out the front and belly of the Emirates flight I was on -
Taking off from Heathrow and a
landing in Dubai. And finally, here are some short video clips of the Ski Dubai facility:
Part 1,
Part 2, Part 3.
RiderTech shows you world ski/board resorts - Matt Savarino's RiderTech.com has joined forces with NWSnow.com to relaunch as a cool action sport mapping community just in time for the 2006 ski and boarding season. It's a great way to locate ski resorts (and other action sports venues) from around the world. To get started check out the world map, then drill down by continent. Select the "snow" toggle-item from the right side of the map to plot resorts and be sure to register and add resorts if you know the locations of them! There's also some other cool areas of the site to enjoy: snow video podcasts, local videos, photo galleries, webcams and more..
Skibonk worldwide ski & boarding mashup with YouTube vids - In the 'bonk' family of ever-popular Google Maps mashups SkiBonk greets the 2006 ski and boarding season with YouTube videos for many resorts. David Schorr has also come out with a new snow depth overlay feature which graphically displays snow depth and new snow for the entire US and
parts of Canada. Skibonk mashes up data from "SnoCountry, OnTheSnow, Weather Underground, the National Weather Service, and several other data feeds." Webcams, current conditions, heaps of weather info and tons of information for each resort is located on SkiBonk. Check things out en route with SkiBonk Mobile as well!
