Live 2010 Olympics Torch Relay

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay

CTV are live streaming the Vancouver 2010 Olympic torch relay. Alongside the stream of the relay is a real-time Google Map which shows the current location of the torch bearer.



The torch will arrive in Vancouver for the start of the Olympics on February 12th. Using the official Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Route Google Maps mash-up it is possible to find out where and when you can go to watch the torch along its route.

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Google Map of NHL Players' Birthplaces

QuantHockey.com

This Google Maps mashup shows the birthplace of NHL players. Unsurprisingly the majority of NHL players seem to have been born in colder climates.

I'm not hugely surprised by the fact that no NHL players originate in Australia. What does surprise me (but I'm sure there's an historical reason) is the disproportionate number of players originating from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

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French Tourism Google Maps

Vacances Vues du Ciel

Vacances Vues du Ciel is a French hotel search site that lets you explore and compare prices of more than 100,000 hotels around the world. The site lets you search for hotels directly from a Google Map.

The map displays hotels, tourist destinations and photographs. Clicking on a destination opens an information window containing information and photographs of the location. Clicking on a hotel map marker also opens an information window with information and photographs and the option to book a room.

Evaway

From the same company that produced Vacances Vues du Ciel comes Evaway, a website that lets you create and share travel itineraries in a simple, fun and visual way.

You can use the site to search for travel itineraries anywhere in the world. For example, if you are heading to Paris for the weekend you can search for tours that have already been created for the French capital. The tours that have already been created for Paris include Paris by Night, Monuments and Art Galleries. Of course, if you don't find the tour you are after, you can easily create your own.

Each itinerary includes a Google Map, highlighting all the stops on the tour and photographs of each of the planned locations. It is also possible to search each itinerary for nearby hotels and places of interest and to give it a rating.

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Virtual Panorama Tours on Google Maps

360Cities.net Virtual Panorama Tours


360cities.net uses Google Maps to display locations in virtual interactive panorama tours. A virtual tour is an embeddable Immersive Tour Widget that you can create using the 360 Cities site. Then you can embed it easily into a web page just like you would a YouTube video.

You can explore any location on the map by clicking a map marker, which opens a spherical interactive panorama. Hotspots in the panorama allow you to move seamlessly to other locations. The virtual tour uses the Google Maps Flash API to display a small floor plan with nearby map markers and a radar view to give you an idea in which direction you are currently looking.

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A Google Maps Adventure Game

PVII

PVII is an adventure game built on top of the Google Maps API. The game is in a very early (alpha) stage of development but already shows huge promise.

In the game you are able to move around on Google Maps and interact with other players, with virtual players and with buildings and objects. As you move around in the game photographs of your current location on the map are also displayed in the game.

The game interactions are largely in Spanish but the game controls, 'walk', 'take' 'enter' and 'look at' are in English, so even if your Spanish is non-existent you should still be able to move around the map.

Here are some quick tips to help you explore the game world:

1. Logging in - just enter a name (less than 8 characters) and you will be taken to the game. If you want your progress saved however you will have to register.

2. Walking - you can only walk short distances so click on the map fairly near your game avatar to walk to that position. You can not walk through buildings so stick to the roads.

3. Entering buildings - you can only enter some buildings. The game instructions tell you when you are near a building that you can enter. The instructions point you in the direction of the building and tell you how far away it is. When you are in the right position click enter and then click on the building in the map.

4. Virtual Players - it is important to interact with the virtual players as they can give you objects that you will need later.

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Decorate Your House in Street View

Shelter - Bling Your House

UK housing charity Shelter have created this amazing Street View site that lets you decorate your house with some Christmas bling. Once you enter your postcode and find your house you can choose from a number of Christmas decorations to give your house that Christmas glow.

Once you have finished you can then share your creation via Facebook, Twitter or e-mail. The site has been created to remind you that no-one should be homeless at Christmas - so once you have created your decorated house please remember to give generously to Shelter.

Via: Mapperz & Street View Gallery

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Italian Google Maps Mashups Round-Up

Myopencity

Myopencity is a new italian Yelp/Qype competitor, that allows the user to easily browse Google Maps to find reviews, places, people and events. To discover what is happening in your town just drag and drop the map or search by town, category or tag.

The reviews and events are divided into a large number of categories, including restaurants/bars, cultural, sport and shopping. Each category has an individual map marker. Clicking on a marker opens an information window with information about the location and the option to give it a rating.


Bed & Breakfast in Termini Rome
This Google Maps mashup lets you find a B&B in Termini in Rome. The bed and breakfast establishments are shown on the map and also listed alphabetically in the map sidebar.

The site uses Street View so it is possible to view the exterior of the B&B and to take a virtual stroll around the immediate neighbourhood. Clicking on one of the markers opens an information window with the establishment's address and an e-mail address so that you can book a room.

New Moon Map

Italian newspaper la Repubblica has created this Google Maps mashup covering some of the locations in the movie New Moon. Part of the film is set in the picturesque Italian town of Volterra.

The map markers show some of the film's locations and include photographs and extracts from Stephenie Meyer's original novel.


More Italian Google Maps

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Copenhagen Climate Talks on Google Maps

Trouw.nl

Dutch national newspaper Trouw.nl have produced a number of Google Maps mashups. Visitors to the site can navigate news and reader's items for sale from one News Google Map and now Trouw have also produced a series of Google Maps to illustrate their coverage of the climate conference in Copenhagen.

The KlimaatKaart allows the user to read news articles about the conference and view a number of layers concerning the environment. The map also allows you to switch between the different layers.

This layer shows the temperature in 2100, this one shows the CO2 emissions per capita and this one wind energy production per country. The map also comes with a handy widget so you can embed the map in your own website.

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New Google Maps Flying Game

PlaneMap
PlaneMap is a great new flying game built with the Google Maps API. The game allows you to take off from one of over 500 airports around the world.

Once you have taken off your goal is to fly to the destination airport. As you fly your location is sporadically updated under the map, as is your fuel level and the distance left to your destination.

Check out the game in action in the video below,


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53,000 Hotels on One Google Map

RoomAtlas.com

RoomAtlas.com plots over 53 thousand hotels on Google Maps, with live pricing and availability. The map also includes TripAdvisor reviews, Google Street View, Wikipedia placemarks and hotel photographs.

It is possible to search the map by location, date, price range, star ratings and hotel amenities. The results are then shown on the map using prices within the map markers. It is therefore easy to select hotels you may be interested in at a glance.

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