Get Your Blog on Google Maps

The Bobs

German broadcaster Deutsche Welle have a database of over 11,000 blogs from around the world, which they call the Blogopedia. All 11,000 of the blogs are geotagged on this Google Map. When you click on the markers on the map, information about the blog as well as a screenshot and link open in an information window.

Deutsche Welle are also asking for nominations for their sixth annual Deutsche Welle Blog Awards. Winners of the awards will be announced next year at the re:publica'10 blog and social media conference on April 15 in Berlin. Nominate your blog and you to can get yourself on the map.

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Blogger Adds Geotagging

Blogger has added geotagging to its new post editor in Blogger in Draft. In Blogger in Draft there is now an 'add a location' button that allows bloggers to add a location to their blog post. Clicking the button opens a small Google Map. To enter a location it is possible to just click on your location on the map or use a search box to find your location.

When the post is published a geotag is displayed below the blog post as a link, which will open up Google Maps (or not, it seems, if you are using the classic version of Blogger like me). The location is also included in the blog’s RSS and Atom feeds using GeoRSS

Map Your Blog has some great ideas on how you can use the new geotagging option to enhance your Blogger blog.

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In the middle of the map.. a blog!

The geoblog of a pedestrian in San Francisco..

This headline on a Digg article recently caught my eye:
Most Original Geoblog (Using Google Maps API) I've Ever Seen
With well over 700 diggs I decided to take a look... A large, urban, full screen satellite toggled view of Google Maps comes into view with a recognizable red pin marking a location in a residential neighborhood. The title tag reads: "contolini.com // the geoblog of a pedestrian in san francisco" Growing out from the pin is a large window containing an ordinary personal blog with titles like: "after work today", "garbanzo beans are the next chicken" and "if there's one thing I enjoy". The titles are posts from Chris Contolini's blog that are literally.. on a map!

The Digg entry explains:
"A modified Wordpress installation is forced inside a Google Maps info window. A small GPS Java app running on his phone places a marker at his current position, while transmitting the time, direction, and speed at which he was moving when he last updated. You can literally see everywhere he is throughout the day (assuming his cell phone is on)."

Don't expect an elaborate (or even interesting) blog. It's an ordinary and infrequent smattering of posts. What's interesting about this is that the entire blog he embeds into this map is location based. Not posts, not photos but the whole thing. As he moves, the map moves with him so the posts (while maybe not location specific) have location based context based to where he is. I think this is a really interesting concept for a blog and hopefully Chris keeps it going. As uninteresting as it is, I'm still interested. :)

For more "real-time" Google Maps mashups, click the label below..
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ONGMAP: Impressive Google Maps Mashup Tool

ONGMAP.com: Learn more about places on Google Maps

OnGMap is an insane Google Maps mega-mashup that will help you discover endless amounts of information about a specific location you are zoomed into on the map. The interface is available in Japanese with lots of data sources pulling from Japan (these are also viewable in English).

Start by zooming into any location on earth and here is what you'll be to plot on the map:

• Book Mashup - geo-names are matched with Amazon books!
• Weather, Photos, Wikipedia, UNESCO sites, videos, hotels, schools etc..
• Hotspots, Salons, Health/Medical facilities, restaurants
• General geo-data - Cities, towns, transportation
• Approximate address, coordinates, elevation and search key words of centered point
• Google News articles (right sidebar)
• Google Blog search (right sidebar)
• Many Japanese websites as well!

An impressive English/Japanese language user interface:

• Quick bookmarks to jump to: Continents, Countires, Cities, and Japanese prefectures (See: 01Move folder)
• Set views, go back to home map
• Switch to Microsoft Virtual Earth map view
• Share/Save map view to: Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Hatena
• Great menus that can be toggled and expanded
• Great user-customization
  

To take a look at the number of scripting languages, APIs, extensions, web services, feeds and websites that fuel OnGMap, click the white lego-brick icon on the top menu to reveal this massive list:


There has been a lot of great work that has gone into creating this mashup both from a data and UI perspective. The result is a fantastic user experience with great data sources! :)

It should also be noted that Google Maps itself features this same built-in user-created mashup capability. You can add content from a directory of Mapplets to your own My Maps tab to create a personalized Google Maps mashup. Add content and tools that are specific to where you live or are planning to travel to. Take a look at this post for more information. Google Maps geo search also facilitates this experience by letting you search for user-created Google Maps for a specific place on Google Maps. Read here for more information..

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