+1 Your Favorite Maps

Google has added the +1 button for Google Maps. If you find a custom map that you really like you can now share it with your friends by clicking the +1 button. By clicking the +1 button you are also helping to rate and promote the custom map.



You can find the +1 button underneath the map description on custom maps. Any custom maps that you have created yourself or that you have found and saved can be viewed by clicking the 'My places' tab.



Via: Google LatLong



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Maps of the Nashville Flood

Tennessee Department of Transport: Smartmap

The Tennessee Department of Transport's Smartmap uses Google Maps to show weather-related road conditions, construction/incidents, camera images and message signs for the state.

If you zoom in on Nashville and select the 'Road Condition' option you can view the currently flooded roads and Nashville road closures.

Tennessean.com - Flooding Incidents Map

Nashville newspaper the Tennessean.com has created a Google Map to show incidents of the Nashville flood. The map shows the locations of shelters, missing person reports, fatalities and public transit cancellations.

Staff of the Tennessean.com are working to keep the map up-to-date.

NOAA: Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service

You can view near real-time data for the Cumberland River in Nashville with the National Weather Service's Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service. At the time of writing the NOAA shows the river level at nearly 51 feet (the major flood stage is from 45ft) and a flood warning is in place.

The site includes a Google Map showing the location of the gauge reading. If you click on the 'upstream gauge' or 'downstream gauge' links you can navigate to other gauge measurements of the river.

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Google Maps Finds Location of Pipe Bomb

PDXBoom Map

At about 8pm Sunday night in Portland, Oregon a large explosion was heard by many people. Geo-developer Reid Beels quickly set up a Google My Map so that people who heard the explosion could show their locations.

Using the open collaboration setting in Google My Maps he allowed people to add coloured map markers to the map to say whether they heard the explosion or not. Red markers meant they 'heard a loud boom, windows or building shook', blue markers that they 'heard it, but no further detail', yellow indicates it was 'heard with no shaking' and green indicates the explosion was not heard.

The clustering of the markers soon suggested that the explosion originated near Sellwood Bridge. Using the map the police were able to pinpoint the location of the explosion and discover that it was caused by a detonated pipe bomb.

Via: ReadWriteWeb

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Analysing the Content of Google Maps

Floatingsheep.org
I can't believe I haven't heard of this blog before but I'm delighted that it has finally come to my attention. Floatingsheep.org is dedicated to mapping and analysing user generated Google Map placemarks. The results of this analysis provides a fascinating insight into the socio-political make-up of places.

The blog has a series of interesting posts examining what Google Maps users are adding and where. For example this post compares the number of book stores and churches added to Google Maps across the USA.



The analysis finds that, for the most part, the relative prevalence of book stores occurs in and around the big cities and the eastern seaboard. Whereas suburban areas surrounding large population centres show a near-universal favouritism for churches.

Another great example is this look at User Created Geographies of Religion, which looks at religious references in user-created content on Google Maps around the world.

There are a number of other interesting analysis of user-created content on Google Maps. I strongly recommend you visit floatingsheep.org if you have a few hours to kill.

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A Virtual Protest on Google Maps

Taksim

In Turkey a number of websites, such as YouTube, are banned. To protest this web censorship Taksim are organising a virtual protest via Google Maps.

The site uses an embedded Google My Map, which anyone can add themselves to by using the 'edit' button. Users are encouraged to add themselves at Taksim Square in Istanbul. When the protesters achieve the target number, the plan is to walk to Parliament House in Ankara, pixel by pixel.

Via: Read Write Web

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Google Maps Launches in Kenya

Google Maps Kenya

Google have today released Google Maps for Kenya. Detailed maps of many Kenyan towns including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Nakuru are now accessible at http://maps.google.co.ke/ or through Google Maps for mobile.

Google Maps for Kenya already has a number of My Maps of user-generated content, as well as thousands of business listings for the wider Nairobi area.

The My Maps include, Julie's Favorite Places, by talk show host Julie Gichuru, Humphrey's Favorite places by Humphrey Kayange, Kenya Rugby 7's team captain and Wangari's Eco-spots by Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

Via: Official Google Africa Blog: Google Maps launches in Kenya

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March Madness Google Map

March Madness 2009

Adam Hughes, of Google, has produced this Google Maps My Map of the locations of this year's 13 tournament venues in the NCAA. In addition it is possible to see the locations of the 65 tournament teams' campuses.

Each map marker includes a link to the website of the team.

Via: Google LatLong: Mapping the Madness returns

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Google Maps Adds User Content

Google have today announced that higher quality user generated content in Google My Maps and in kml's will be added to Google search results in Google Maps.



This is good news for map developers. If your content shows up in Google Maps search results it will obviously drive significant traffic to your maps. This page tells you how you can submit your kml's to Google.

Via: Google LatLong: Will It Blend? Yes!

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Cleaning up Australia, One Map at a Time

Clean Up the World

Clean Up the World is a global campaign that inspires communities to clean up, fix up and conserve the environment. Held in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme, it mobilises an estimated 35 million people across 120 countries.

This last weekend 630,000 volunteers joined together in Australia to take part in Clean Up Australia Day. They collected nearly 8,300 tons of trash. Clean Up the World encourages its participants to use My Maps to chart their activities,and this year Clean Up the World chairman Ian Kiernan AO visited several clean up sites and added photos and text to a My Map along the way with the new My Maps editor for Android using the HTC Dream phone.

You can see the resulting Clean Up Australia Day 2009 Google My Map here.

Via: Google LatLong: Cleaning up Australia, one map at a time

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My Map of Amsterdam Plane Crash

Fairly soon after the crash of the Turkish Airlines Flight on landing at Amsterdam's Schiphol international airport this My Map of the crash was one of the biggest retweets on Twitter.


View Larger Map

I wasn't going to link to the map because I didn't think it added much to the news of the crash. However the map has now been picked up by a number of websites.

If you are interested at looking at the statistics about a My Map just click on the comments link on the main Google Maps page (enlarged map). The statistics about the Schiphol map are available here.

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Texas House Speaker Google Map

Texas State House Speaker Map

This Google Map from Texas Watchdog shows the declared candidates for Texas state House speaker, including the incumbent speaker, Tom Craddick, and his challengers from both parties.

The map was created using Google My Maps so can be viewed directly in Google Maps or embedded in the Texas Watchdog website. Each candidate is represented on the map by a colored marker, red or blue, depending on their party.

The information window for each candidate contains links to further information about the candidate.

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Referencing Multiple My Maps

goKML.net
Barry Hunter of nearby.org.uk has created a way of creating a link to multiple My Maps at the same time. With Google’s My Maps feature you can display multiple maps at once simply by ticking the boxes of a number of My Maps. However the ‘Link to this Map’ feature only ever links to one of those maps. Therefore it has not previously been possible to send a link to a group of maps to someone.

Barry's tool allows you to enter the KML links for a number of My Maps and produce a single KML which will load all My Maps into Google Earth or Google Maps. As an example, I threw together some random My Maps for London (Blue Plaques, some videos, the My Map for I Feel Romantic) and created this single KML. The KML can be opened in Google Earth or you can right click and cut and paste the link into the search box in Google Maps.

I think this is a great innovation. It is now possible to mix up a whole range of My Maps of an area and create a link to send to your friends. Barry whilst creating this new service also noticed that Google My Maps now come with RSS Feeds.



This is another useful facility from Google Maps. It will be particularly useful for My Maps that are open to collaboration as the feed can be used to update you when additions are made to a map. As an example here is the feed to the I Feel Naughty (NYC) MyMap.

Via: Ogle Earth (Stefan Geens is currently using goKML.net's multiple My Map link creator to map his current trip of Sweden).

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Map Your Moods on Google Maps

I love this mash-up so much, I wish there was a way of mapping my love. Oh wait, there is and via these very mood maps.



I Feel London and I Feel NYC are community sharing maps for London and New York but with two simple but inspired differences.

The first difference is that users don't get one map to tag their favourite places. No - users get a set of maps; 'naughty', 'romantic', 'sophisticated', 'chilled', 'energetic' and 'hungover'.

Do you see the idea? You tag your favourite places depending on your mood.

Maybe you have a favourite diner that you like to visit for a quiet Sunday breakfast when you're feeling slightly the worse for wear from the night before. Well why not share it with the world on the 'hungover' map? Perhaps you know the perfect spot by the river to watch the sunset with a loved one - that is what the 'romantic' map is for!

The second difference is that both I Feel London and I Feel NYC are Google My Maps. This means that anyone can take the code for any of the maps from the Google Maps page and embed them on their own blog or website.

The only problem I can see with this idea is that Andy Whitlock, the creator of I Feel London and I Feel NYC, will have to respond to every invite request to the maps personally. I asked Andy how he would cope if he was suddenly inundated with thousands of requests. Luckily he seemed only too happy to try.

I truly think Andy's concept for these maps is brilliant, I just hope he doesn't start cursing me the next time he opens his in-box.

Andy Whitlock also runs a blog now in colour, where he explains the concept behind 'I Feel ...' a little better than I can.

Update: It seems I missed a trick her. As Andy points out in the comments once someone has been invited they can then invite others. That should make the job easier.

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Google Map of Wisconsin Road Closures

WisDOT Road Closures due to Flooding

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation's State Traffic Operations Center and Emergency Operation Center have created a Google My Map showing road closures due to flooding. Apparently the map has had over 1.4 million visitors and received more than 300 comments. Many of the comments are from residents leaving additional information about road closures.

The WisDOT map is just the latest example of how collaborative mapping can help communities in times of trouble or emergency. In October last year KPBS Online created a fire map of wildfires in San Diego County that included up-to-date news on the spread of the fires and the location of evacuated areas. In the video below staff at KPBS talk about how their fire map was quickly adopted by the community (skip to 6.51 for the San Diego fire map part).



Via: Google LatLong: Map of Wisconsin road closures

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New ways to discover your world on Google Maps!

Recent My Maps Viewer

Twittervision and Flickrvision have taken the Google Maps mashup world by storm. The new My Maps Viewer works the same way by showing you very recent My Maps that Google users have created. Sit back and watch the cool maps go by! Google's Jess Lee tells you more about the viewer in this Google Lat Long blog post. If you're looking for the most popular My Maps for any location or zoom level on Google Maps, be sure to also add the Browse Popular Maps mapplet!

Browse geo-located Wikipedia, YouTube and Panoramio content!

One the things I love about My Maps is this ability I have to add different types of content to my current map view. Three layers that are mainstays for me are the Wikipedia, YouTube and Panoramio mapplets. Click the "Save to My Maps" link on each of them to add them to your own list of mapplets. Toggling them on allows you to zoom to anywhere on the planet to learn, watch and view content for that very location! This same content is also presented to you if you run a search from Google Maps as well! For even more location based context add the Wikimapia mapplet as well! Can you say.. super-tourist? :)

View Places of Interest for your current Google Maps view:

Looking to plan an evening out? Add the Places of Interest layer/mapplet to your Google Maps view to toggle up to 5 different categories. For the above example I've planned the perfect "full" night out in the great city of Toronto, Canada using 4 categories: Japanese dining, Bars and Clubs, Coffee Shops and of course: Pharmacies! :) This mapplet has endless uses: real estate searching to find nearby amenities, traveling to a new city or just learning more about the community you live in! :) [via]

Searching on Google Maps continues to evolve with new innovations and user features constantly being added! Here is a sample:

• Refine by user ratings and neighborhoods
• New search options on Google Maps
• User-created content is searchable from Google Maps

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New ways to embed, search & maintain your maps!

Embed a panoramic Google Maps Street View! - Hot on the heels of a 6 city Google Maps Street View update comes the launch of "embeddable panoramas". Now you can embed a panoramic image from street view in the same way you can embed a Google Map! Here's a sample view from just outside the arena of the greatest hockey team in the NHL: :)


View Larger Map

Comments, ratings and top links added for My Maps:

This Google LatLong Blog post introduces some awesome new features for My Maps (Google's easy maps creation tools). If you're busy creating maps in the My Maps tab on Google Maps you are being rewarded with ways to learn more about the visitation of the map you've built and what people think! Follow the directions contained on this post to find out how many views your map has received, what the overall rating of the map is and who is linking to it. I've long maintained that the Google Maps mashup craze is creating a new chapter in the history of the web where the map is the web page. These tools help you, the "mapmaster" to take control, gain feedback on your work and be inspired to make your map even better! :)

Confessions of a (Google Maps) search box - Learn about new Google content that has been added to Google Maps search: Panoramio pics, YouTube vids and Google Book Search pages

For more Google Maps updates, click "Google Maps" below..
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Discover popular user-created Google Maps

Google launched My Maps on April 5th/07 and since that time Google Maps users have been busy building and sharing Google Maps mashups with this easy-to-use service (found within the My Maps tab on Google Maps). Google is now making it easy for you to discover these user-created maps which are relevant to where you are exploring on Google Maps. The Browse Popular Maps mapplet is available for you to add to your own My Maps tab in Google Maps. Once added you will be given a list of maps that will appear in the left margin as you move the map around to different places all around the world. Zoom into London to discover maps like the Low-budget guide to London or London 4 Kids. Zoom to San Francisco and an interesting movie map showing real locations of the famous car chase from the movie "Bullitt" are revealed. Maps that you find via this method can also be added to your own collection of My Maps or embedded into your blog or website to share with others! I've also been having fun using this mapplet to view maps for the place I live now and where I grew up. It's amazing just how many folks out there have been making maps! :)
[Via Doug Ricket @ The Google LatLong Blog]

More new content to add to your My Maps tab in Google Maps:

• eBay + Craigslist Search
• eBay Motors USA Map Search
• Real-time USGS Earthquake Mapplet [More info]
• New 7 Wonders of the World [More info]

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Embed your Google My Maps into your blog or website

Last week the Sydney Morning Herald's Stephen Hutchen broke the news that an embeddable map feature was coming soon to Google Maps. This feature has just been launched on Google Maps and lets you to embed your Google My Maps or geo searches in your own website or blog! Here is how the feature works: Once you are logged into Google Maps click the My Maps tab and then click on one of your My Maps in the list (or create one). At the top right hand corner of the page, click "Link to this page":



You'll notice a new option in this dialog: "Paste HTML to embed in website". You can either copy this code and tweak things like width and height values to fit in your post or web page or click the "Customize and preview embedded map" link for more options. Here is what you'll see:



I mentioned above that this also works for grabbing geo search results and embedding these in the same fashion. Run a search on Google Maps and you'll notice the link to this page feature will also allow you to take search results for local business queries or user created maps for a location and embed this as a map on your blog/website.

This is a great feature to add the Google My Maps you create directly to your blog posts or webpages. Think of it as syndicating your My Maps mashups!

Official Google Lat Long Blog post:
YouTube-style Embeddable Maps

Sydney Morning Herald covers feature addition with an embedded My Map:
Google launches embeddable map feature

Google Press Center:
Google announces a simple new way to embed Google Maps

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Make Google Maps your own with cool new content

Google Maps used to be all about local search, driving directions and satellite map viewing but in recent months all of that has changed with the new My Maps tab. Behind that tab lies a world of map making and Google Maps viewing fun just waiting to be had. I'm getting pretty hooked on content that I'm adding to My Maps to make looking around my community and entire country more interesting. Mapplets are compact Google Maps mashups that you can view right from within Google Maps. Since I'm a webcam junkie, I've added a webcams mapplet. To stay current on weather conditions I've added David Schorr's weather mapplet and one of the most interesting is the Panoramio photo mapplet that displays an instant photo montage as I zoom in to different places around the world. Adding this content is pretty easy. Just log in with your Google account, click the My Maps tab, then the "Add Content" link. Browse for Mapplets that look interesting, add them to Google Maps and have some fun! For some visual step by step instructions on how to customize Google Maps, check out this YouTube video..

More Mapplets to have some fun with:

Mix up a mega photo-video mashup of your own:

• Flickr & Panoramio geotagged photos
• Recently Uploaded YouTube Videos
• Picasa Web Albums Photos
• Geograph British Isles

Hotel Searching:

• Booking.com
• Hotels.com
• Orbitz.com

Tools:

• Sea Level Rise Visualization
• Long Distance Measure
• Area Calculator
• Elevation Contours
• Path Profiler (very cool)

Around the world:

• USGS Real-time Earthquakes
• USGS Recent Volcano Activity
• UK Nestoria Property Search
• Washington DC Metro Map - (Blog post)
• Western Australia Petrol Prices
• World Hang Gliding (Blog post)

Check out my first post for more cool Mapplets to add to your own My Maps tab!
If you're a Google Maps mashup creator get started with Mapplets here..

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BBC's Interactive Google My Map of Flood Areas

BBC Berkshire in the UK has made extensive use of Google My Maps to communicate with area residents about the current flood situation in that region. Berkshire Floods 2007 is a page that tells you how to use this Google My Map to view, watch and listen to BBC reports from correspondents in the area. The My Map embeds YouTube videos, links off to BBC Radio audio clips and describes the status in specific areas. This "NewsMap" example highlights how quickly a news organization could mobilize a Google Map of an affected area to integrate aspects of their content to provide both a public service and create a way to distribute their stories. My Maps can be found on Google Maps on the tab labeled My Maps. (More info here..)

Related: Sky News "England Under Water" Google Maps mashup - Makes use of the Google Maps API to create a full scale mashup that gets integrated directly into the Sky News website.

[Via Mapperz]

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