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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Democratising Data with Google Maps

USA
District of Columbia CapStat Mapping Application

Washington D.C. created CapStat to provide real-time access to the District’s operational data. CapStat was designed for data-sharing among local government departments and to give other local agencies and D.C. residents access to many District data sets. Part of that design includes the CapStat Mapping Application

This application, built on Google Maps, was designed to allow citizens access to Government data and provide a tool for quick mapping by location and time. The map allows anyone to choose an area in Washington D.C. and see all Crime Incidents, Service Requests, Public Space Permits, Building Permits and Schools.

As well as providing this Google Maps of the city's data CapStat have released a Citywide Data Warehouse, which uses RSS feeds to release data from 150 sources, ranging from crimes to pothole reports. Anyone can use this data to create their own Google Map mashups. CapStat also have an examples page highlighting the mashups that have been created with data from the site.

Recycle Torrance

The City of Torrance, California has created this great Google Map showing the city's recycling centers. The centers are divided into a number of categories; Automotive, Computer/Electronics, Containers and Paper, Cosmetic and Health, Household Cleaners, Lawn and Garden, Miscellaneous and Paint and Related.

SafeRoadMaps

Researchers in the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (CERS) have integrated data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System to map every reported traffic accident in the US. Using the map anyone in the United States can view the roads with the most fatal crashes in their neighborhood.

Users can filter a search of their area by age and determine whether speeding, drinking or not wearing a seat belt was a factor in the fatality. It is also possible to use the Google Map to determine which states have aggressive driving laws, license suspension laws and seat belt enforcement laws.

FortiusOne
FortiusOne have received the Federal Geographic Data Committee's (FGDC) National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Cooperative Agreements Program Award to geo-enable the US government's tabular data. The GeoCommons Platform will be utilized to create geospatial datasets automatically from tabular government data containing location-based references.

The grant dedicated to geo-enabling tabular data was awarded to FortiusOne to create a shared public web service that will make the geo-enablement of abundant government data simple and intuitive. The resulting service will allow for greater data discovery, exchange, analysis and visualization of geographic data.

Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Sacramento
Rep. Doris Matsui has posted an interactive Google Map on her website to highlight the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 at work in Sacramento. Doris Matui says,

"I have posted a running list of programs and projects that have received funding from the stimulus package on my website, and a Google Map showing where the federal money is going throughout the Sacramento area.

The website will continue to be updated as new recovery funds awarded to the district are released in the coming weeks and months".

UK (Rewired State)
In the UK Rewired State recently held a National Hack The Government Day. 80 developers created working projects from public sector information and presented the results to government officials and the media. Some of the projects used the Google Maps API to show how government data could be more easily accessible to the general public.

Active Places Reloaded

This is a reworking of Active Places, a website from Sport England. The Sport England site is quite poorly designed and is very hard to use. Active Places Reloaded scraped the data and showed how easy it is to make that data more freely available through an interface that uses the Google Maps API.

Basically in three hours the developers of Active Places Reloaded created a much better website, with accessibility and mobile support, than one that cost the government over £5m to build.

Cycling Collisions in the UK
This very simple Google Map shows the locations of cycle collisions in the UK. It is possible to view data on a Google Map for three years, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Previous Government Data Posts

• Government Spending on Google Maps
• UK Government Data Winners
• Free Our Data - How to do it well
• Free Our Data
  

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Create Your Own Street View Plus

earthmine
earthmine is a company that I've been keeping an eye on for a while. They are a street-level 3D mapping company that collect and produce Street View type panoramic images. However, whereas Street View panoramas are really just still images, earthmine panoramas are far more sophisticated and contain 3D data and GIS. This means that the images can contain interactive points of information, can include three dimensional measurements and can be used for 3d modelling.

Take a look at the video below to get a better idea of what earthmine panoramas are:



eathmine Collection and Project Partners
Yesterday, earthmine announced two new partner programs designed to support customer data collection needs.

It is possible to become either an earthmine Collection Partner or an earthmine Project Partner. The Collection Partner Program is designed for partners who wish to own and operate earthmine equipment, and the Project Partner Program is designed for companies that want to utilize the earthmine platform but need to have control over where and when data is collected.

"The data collection capability of the new hardware system will change how people think about when and where to use mobile 3D mapping,” said Anthony Fassero, co-founder and co-CEO of earthmine. “The hardware makes it possible to map entire cities and metropolitan areas in the matter of days, at a cost that makes it difficult to justify sending out ground crews. Our Collection and Project Partners are not only impressing potential customers with a much more visual product, they are able to remain competitive in the bidding process. People are naturally drawn to the panoramic imagery, but it’s the accurate 3D data and GIS connectivity that changes the customer’s thinking from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘need to have."

Google Map API developers should also be excited that earthmine have an API program. Currently there is Beta access to the Direct Data and Flash Viewer APIs. I think it is still possible to Apply for the Beta and I think that the API program may be opened up to everyone later this year.

Geotourism on Google Maps

Crown of the Continent

The Crown of the Continent Geotourism Council is a regional network of communities and government agencies working together in the region that includes and surrounds Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in southwestern Alberta, southeastern British Columbia, and northwestern Montana.

The purpose of the project is to promote geotourism, or tourism that helps protect wild places. Central to the Crown of the Continent website is a custom National Geographic map that is delivered through the Google Maps API and a large number of other Google Maps promoting the region.

There are separate Google Maps for, Campgrounds, Communities, Eating and Drinking Establishments, Festivals, Events and Farmers Markets, Gallery and Performing Arts, Historical Sites and Museums, Lakes and Rivers, Lodging, Park and Wilderness, Scenic Drives, Trails and Hikes, Unique Shopping, Visitor Centers and Web Cams.

All in all I would say this is a pretty essential site for anyone planning to visit the Crown of the Continent region.

Via: Mapperz

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A Map With a License to Kill

007 Bond Global Missions

This Google Earth plug-in map has been produced in order to help promote the release of the Quantum of Solace film on DVD. One of the features of the Bond movies has always been the wonderful use of worldwide locations and this map lets you explore those locations on Google Earth whilst watching video clips from the actual Bond films.

Each location comes with a brief description of the action from the relevant film illustrated with photographs and in many cases with video clips from the actual film.

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Create Your Own Street View Tour

Mashed World Street Tours
Mashed World Street Tours is a new website that lets you create your own tours using Google Maps and Google Maps Street View imagery. Once you have created a tour you are then able to embed the tour in your own website or blog.

Here is a tour I created in about five minutes using Mashed World:



The tours work best when you embed them as a full-screen but I think you can see how exciting they are even from this tour that I have had to squeeze down to fit into this post.

Mashed World Street Tours has a very intuitive and easy to use interface. As I've already mentioned it took me just five minutes to complete this tour of Rome.

Give it a go, create your own Mashed World tour and amaze your friends with the wonders of Google Maps Street View.

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Best Google Map of Amersfoort Ever

Amersfoort 750 op de Kaart
I have been waiting for a while for someone to create a Google Map of a painting from custom tiles and to use markers to illustrate the picture. That is just one of the features of this amazing map of Amersfoort.

Here is a video of the map's use of custom tiles to illustrate a painting and a quick look at some of the other features of the map:


Amersfoort 750 from Keir Clarke on Vimeo.

The Amersfoort 750 map makes use of the collection of the town's Museum Flehite to illustrate the history of Amersfoort. The map shows the location of buildings in the town of historical interest. It is also possible to view a number of historical maps using the Google Maps interface to observe how the town has developed over the centuries.
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Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour
Earth Hour 2009 takes place on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm – local time.



Earth Hour is the World Wildlife Fund's global initiative where individuals, businesses and governments turn off their lights for one hour to show their support for action on climate change.

The World Wildlife Fund's Climate Projects Map shows some of the work currently being taken by the WWF to measure and fight climate change around the world.

Nighttime Map

This map uses the Google Maps API to show NASA'a 128 megapixel night time satellite image. It shows the amazing amount of light pollution worldwide. It also highlights the disproportionate amount of energy used by the US and Europe compared to the rest of the world.

Hopefully these lights will all be flickering off at 8.30pm tonight.

Map Clock

If you want to know where in the world it is 8.30 pm then you can use this Google Map. This ingenious Google Map has an embedded clock that changes to show the time in the current map view.

The map sidebar includes some quick links to find the time in cities around the world.

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Real-Time Plane Tracking on Google Maps

Flyrader.nu

This is an awesome map of real-time flights over Sweden. The map shows live the positions of all planes over the country. It is even possible to adjust the time between position updates on the map, the choice is between 10, 30 and 60 seconds.

It is possible to click on any of the plane markers and view details about the plane and flight and see it's route trail on the map. The trail of the plane is coloured to reflect the plane's altitude at each point of its journey. The information given about each individual plane is model, airline, latitude and longitude, altitude, speed, orientation and which airport it took off at and where it is landing.

Other Flight Tracking Maps

• GMaps Flight Tracker - inbound flight maps to some busy U.S. airports: Atlanta, Boston, JFK New York, Los Angeles and Chicago
• North American flight tracker! - works for most commercial flights originating and arriving in the United States and/or Canada
• Radar - tracking flights over Sweden

Boat Tracking Maps

• MarineTraffic.com - a Google Map showing real-time information about ship movements throughout the world.
• Hi-Def San Francisco -real-time ship tracking in the San Francisco Bay
• Hurtigruten - Scandinavian ship tracking
• Isle of Wight Live Ship Tracking - live tracking of ships around the Isle of Wight
  

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Formula 1 Season Google Maps

Silverstone Grand Prix Simulator
This weekend sees the start of the 2009 Formula 1 season with the Australian Grand Prix from Albert Park. To celebrate the start of the new race season I have created a kml of the Albert Park track.

http://somekmls.googlepages.com/Australia.kml

You can view the kml in Google Earth but more impressively you can use the amazing Silverstone Simulator Google Earth plug-in created by The KMZ website. To view Albert Park in the simulator you need to

1. Cut and paste the kml above into the box that says, "KML/KMZ containing Path"
2. Press the 'Initialise' button
3. Enter a speed into the Speed box
4. Press 'Start'

Here's some grainy video of what you should see:


Australian Formula 1 Circuit from Keir Clarke on Vimeo.

Albert Park in Street View

It is also possible to tour the Albert Park circuit in Street View. I used Map Channels excellent Dual Maps creator to produce a Street View map of the circuit. Dual Maps lets you view Street View alongside Microsoft Maps Bird's Eye view so is a pretty amazing way of taking a virtual tour of the circuit.

Glotter 2009 FIA Formula One Race Calendar
Glotter has created a Google Map of the eighteen race tracks around the world hosting Formula One races this year. If you want to know more about each race the site also includes links to the website of each racetrack.

Glotter provides the option of embedding their map in your own website or blog through cutting and pasting a small piece of code. It even has a Google Gadget of the map.

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Google Maps Friday Fun

Dicktopping
The story of the 18-year-old who painted a 60 foot penis on the roof of his parents' house for the benefit of Google Maps has been picked up by most of the world's media. The story even seems to have created a new verb - 'Dicktopping'.

Dicktopping (verb) - 1. to paint a penis on top of a house or car roof for the benefit of Google Maps.

Google Sightseeing have been documenting the trend for a while.

Street View Time-lapse
Flickr user JoeLaz has created this very cool Street View time-lapse movie of the drive over the Golden Gate Bridge.


How Norwegians View the Rest of Europe

This map was produced by a Norwegian newspaper to expose the stereotypical views Norwegians hold about other Europeans. The idea behind the campaign is that if you buy the newspaper you will get a more balanced view of Europe.

Despite being in Norwegian most of the stereotypes are easy to understand.

Via: microformats.dk

Cool Textures from Google Maps

Website Upsidestudio this week posted an article about some cool patterns that they had found whilst browsing Google Maps. It is a nice collection of pretty satellite views.

Street View of the Week

The rising levels of illiteracy in the UK never fails to surprise me.

Custom Maps With the Google Maps API

Cartifact Maps
Cartifact Maps, a visually enhanced environment for custom maps, has launched today. This beta release of Cartifact Maps focuses on Los Angeles, as an example of how Cartifact Maps can be used to create stunning maps of any location.

The site uses custom map tiles of Los Angeles and includes a number of exciting features, such as historic maps that can be accessed through a very sexy lens tool, a buildings search engine and local search.

But don't take my word for it watch the introduction video below.



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Huge Environmental Google Map

Earth Knowledge

Earth Knowledge is an environment news portal for Google Maps that was first featured on Google Maps Mania in May 2008. It draws in news feeds about the Earth from a large number of sources and plots the information on a map.

This week the website is introducing a number of new features:

Internet-browser-based Map Tool - displays a full-screen view of the earth geo-tagged with breaking news stories from the world’s best scientific and environmental research and news agencies

Social networking and blogging capability - now Earth Knowledge users can start their own blog to comment on the day’s Earth news and can participate in discussions on cutting-edge topics such as climate change, moderated by scientists and experts working in that field.

Earth Knowledge has also completed a 5 minute news segment with “Our Planet” which will air on CNN Headline News in Boston on Thursday March 26th, and in New York on Saturday March 28th, and other dates and times regionally and nationally this year.

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Amnesty International Google Map

Map of Executions

Two days ago Amnesty International published their annual report of executions. French mapping site I-spirit has created a Google Map of the number of executions carried out by different countries.

In 2008 more than 2,300 people were executed by their own governments. China is responsible for 1,718 of those executions. The USA is a long way behind, but with 37 executions is by far and away the leading executor in the western world.

Other Human Rights Maps

Music Torture Map - the UK human rights organization, Reprieve, mapped a number of YouTube videos of groups and artists whose music has been misused by torturers around the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp

Ushahidi - a website that is trying to document and report human rights abuses in Kenya.

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StaticMap - Wrapper for the Google Maps API

StaticMap

StaticMap screenshot - for a demo use link below

Taylan Pince has created a very cool layer around the Google Maps API that lets you create a static map with a button that when pressed will load an interactive map. The advantage of this method is that a static map will load far more quickly than an interactive map. However with the 'Launch Interactive Map' button users can load the interactive map if they want these features.

StaticMap Demo

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Updates for UMapper

UMapper

One of my favourite third party map creation tools Umapper have unveiled a number of new features:

Routing Tool
A new Routing tool makes it easier than ever to draw complex, multi-point routes. In a matter of seconds you can map your walk/drive without manually tracing each step. Once a route is created, it can be unlocked for further editing.

New Map Styles from CloudMade
UMapper have added seven cool new map styles from CloudMade that let you create a custom look for your map.

UMapper in Drupal
UMapper is now available as a module for Drupal! This is a great addition to the UMapper API library.

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GIS on Google Maps

Geowebdeveloper Map

This Google Map is an entry in the ESRI Mashup Challenge. It is based on the Ext Framework, the Google Maps API and the ArcGIS JavaScript Extension for Google Maps API. The map is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Only License so you can download the files and create your own ArcGIS map.

Download URL, Documentation URL

Via: Mapperz

GrafSchafter Atlas

Graftchafter Atlas is a GIS portal for the towns of Bentheim, Bad Bentheim and Nordhorn in Germany.

The maps include a wealth of information about the towns. This information includes tourist information, bicycle paths, Lower Saxony Environment Management: water quality, construction, building plans and small business information, Lower Saxony Environment Management: soil, contaminated land and noise.

GIS Map Grids on Google Maps

This is a simple Google Map based GIS application with three selectable live GIS layers. Clicking on an area of interest on the map will query the live GIS layers and return the layer name along with the id of the GIS feature selected.

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Google Map of Every Eurovision Song Video

Eurovision Song Contest Map

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition in which European countries try to outdo each other by producing the most toe-curling, awful song of the year. The competition was introduced after World War II so that instead of killing each other with bombs European countries could assault their neighbours with cheesy pop songs.

Soren Johannessen, of microformats.dk, decided it was unfair that only Europeans should be punished each year by the Eurovision Contest so he has produced this Google Map featuring videos of each country's entry to this year's competition.

Amongst my favourites are the Serbian entry from Don King's illigitimate son, the singing medieval knight of Bulgaria and the song by Rod Stewart's 70's haircut from Belarus. However the clear cut winner has to be the Armenian entry, which I think is called "Jumping up in a Jan Jan." I haven't stopped jumping in a Jan, Jan since I heard it.

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US Google Maps Mashup Round-Up (3/09)

EDUPursuit

EDUPursuit is a very useful Google Map that lets you search for prospective colleges within a defined distance of any zip code. The database contains over four thousand colleges and universities nationwide.

To search the database users enter their zip code, a distance within which they wish to search, whether they want private, public (or both), whether they want rural, town or suburb (or any) and the size of institution they would like. The results are then shown on a Google Map. This is an invaluable tool for anyone currently searching for a university.

PadMapper

PadMapper is a full-screen Google Map mashup of Craiglist apartment rentals. It is possible to filter the results by price, number of bedrooms / bathrooms and by keyword. The resulting apartments are then shown on the map.

Parkscore

This Google Map uses 'Park Deficit Analysis' to calculate the number of publicly accessible park and open space acres per 1,000 people within each U.S. Census block group in California.

It is possible to search the map by address. A heat map of the location is then produced showing public parks and the number of acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. It is also possible to view local points of interest, such as libraries, gyms and restaurants.

The Angler's Atlas
The Angler's Atlas has produced Google Maps of fishing spots in each of the states. Zooming in on an area will load the lake markers. If you click on a map marker an information window opens with a link to that lake's page on Angler's Atlas.

Conner Outdoors Directory of Hunting
This is a map of Hunting Outfitters. The map is very easy to search. Users select their state and then define the type of game they are interested in and the relevant results are loaded onto a Google Map.

IMustEat
This website lets you search an area for restaurants. It is possible to refine the search by type of cuisine you are interested in. From the individual results if you click on the 'driving directions' option a Google Map loads that lets you get directions to the restaurant from any starting point.

Handymanweb
Handymanweb is a map that shows local computer wizards, gardeners, cleaning ladies, builders, plumbers etc. Zoom in on the map and the local handymen for that area are loaded onto the map.

Wilmington MPO
Annual traffic counts in Wilmington are shown on this Google Map. An average of three weekday traffic counts are shown. The WMPO uses tube counters, which use air pressure within a rubber tube to activate a counter box placed by the edge of the roadway. The average data from that count is then shown on the map.

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Drawing Patterns on Google Maps

Globalmove.us
This hypnotic map site uses animated markers to create a number of Google Map artworks. The video below gives you a little taster of the large number of animations on the site.


Globalmove from Keir Clarke on Vimeo.


The site uses Google Maps, Google Maps for Mars and the Google Earth plug-in for the different animations.

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Twitter & Google Maps Meet Up App

Tmeet.me

This is a really easy and quick to use Google Maps mashup that will send a Twitter message with a link to a Google Map location. You can use the application to send a Tweet about where you want to meet, where you are now or tell someone where you have been.

To send a link you just click on a Google Map or use the search box to find a location. When you have clicked on the map an information window appears where you can type your Twitter message or choose from a number of pre-written messages, such as "Do you want to meet here?" or "I am here now" etc.

When you have finished simply press the 'tmeet this place' button and your Twitter home page loads with your message already written and a link to your location on Google Maps. It's that simple!

Via: Everything Twitter

Previously Featured Twitter Maps

• TwitterVision - real time map of Twitter messages. Messages are mapped to the profile locations of members.
• Bail Out Chatter on Twitter - the latest Twitter comments about the bail out
• Barnabu Twitter Snow - Google Earth Browser weather map using #UKsnow updates
• Create Your Own Twitter Map - a great article on how to create your own Twitter Map by Tony Hirst
• Twitters - a Twitter map which shows the plotted Twitter members in a sidebar beside the map
• Hot Trends and Twitter - who is Twittering about Google's Hot Trends
• Twitter Spy - real-time Twitters on a Google Map
• Hot Trends and Twitter -Map of Twitter messages that mentions any of the current Google hot trends
• Schmap GeoTweeter for iPhone - automatically include a 'schmap.me' link when Twittering from your iPhone
  

Short URL Services for Google Map Locations

• Mapof.it - provides a really simple way to get a map or a route without first visiting Google Maps
• Plazz.me - Enter your address into a search box and create a short url for Twitter.
• UseAMap.com - Zoom to a location and choose your url
• LookLeap - Add this bookmarklet to your browser. Click the bookmarklet when you want to create a small url

Google Map of Mount Redoubt Eruption

Mount Redoubt in the Google Earth Plugin

According to the Alaska Volcano Observatory Mt. Redoubt volcano erupted late Monday and early Tuesday in "four large explosions," sending an ash plume an estimated 9 miles into the air.

When you want to view large geological features like mountains and volcanoes the Google Earth browser plug-in really comes into its own. I quickly created this plug-in map this morning which lets you explore the Mount Redoubt in 3D. I have also marked some of the towns to the north east of the volcano, where the National Weather Service has issued an ash fall warning.

World Volcano Browser
A Google Map showing over 1550 volcanoes around the world. It is also possible to view the latest earthquake reports from USGS on the map. To view Mount Redoubt zoom into the area to the west of Anchorage and press the 'Load all in view' button.

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Google Map of the World's Billionaires

I-Spirit Billionaires Map

According to Forbes there are 794 dollar billionaires in the world. French mapping site I-Spirit has produced a Google Map showing the location of each of them. It is possible to filter the 794 billionaires by age or country.

One of the most glaring facts this map reveals is the north/south divide in the world's wealth. Of the 794 billionaires only 40 of them seem to live south of the equator.

The I-Spirit map comes with an option to embed the map in your own website or blog.

Dutch Street View Gallery

Streetview Nederland

Sticking with our recent Google Maps Street View obsession, here is a new Dutch website dedicated to mapping the best Street View images captured by the Google Street View car as it travelled around the Netherlands last summer. The views are organised by category and the categories include 'cars', 'funny', 'animals' and 'buildings'.

Streetview Nederland is unique amongst the Street View gallery sites that I have seen in that, as well as organising the Street Views by category, it is also possible to browse the views by Google Map. So if you live in Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Groningen you can zoom in on your house and search through the submitted views nearest you.

All the Street Views open in the Google Maps information windows. Under the view are two buttons which you can use to either vote up or vote down the featured view.

Via: Mapperz
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Street View Plus

Street View & Bird's Eye View

Mapperz has created a map that features Google Maps Street View alongside Virtual Earth. This really is a great way to tour some of Google Maps recently added Street View imagery in the UK and the Netherlands.

The map was created with Map Channels Dual Maps tool which lets anyone create their own Street View and Virtual Earth mash-up of anywhere that has Google Maps Street View. The resulting map can then be embedded in a website or blog.

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Art Portfolio on Google Maps

Kalle Hagman

Graphic designer Kalle Hagman has created a Google Map of his art work. He has replaced the Google Map tiles with a collage of his own graphic designs to create an interactive portfolio.

When the page first loads the map is zoomed in on an image of Kalle's business card. The user can then use the Google Maps navigation tools to zoom in and examine in close up any of Kalle's featured work.

You can use CASA's Image Cutter or the Automatic Tile Cutter to create your own collages with Google Maps. You could also add map markers to a collage. For example Kalle could have included map markers on his collage that when opened included details about the artwork featured.

Street View Added to ParkatmyHouse

ParkatmyHouse.com

ParkatmyHouse.com, the UK's largest on-line parking space marketplace has implemented Street View technology to allow drivers to view a parking space before they rent it.

ParkatmyHouse.com enables home and business owners to rent out their unused parking spaces to drivers that need somewhere to park. ParkatmyHouse.com say that some parking space owners are regularly earning £100 - £200 per month. To view the Street View of a parking space just press the tab above the Google Map showing the space's location.

Here is an example of a parking space, with the option to see it in Street View, near St Pancras, London.

Other UK Sites Using Street View

• Find A Property -Real estate site that includes a link to properties in Street View
• Entcal - live events directory with Street Views of venues
• Tate Gallery Mapplet - The Tate have used Street View to help explore locations depicted in a special selection of their artworks
• UK Street View Gallery - Some of the UK's top tourist attractions, as seen in Street View
  

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Baps Are Bakin on Google Maps

If you can't get your album cover into the NME Street View Cover Art list (see post below) you could actually get Google to photograph you as you are shooting your video and then get the image added to Street View.

That's what happened to the UK girl group ElectricDolls. They were shooting the video for their song 'Baps R Bakin' when the Google Street View car drove by.

Here they are, as caught by Google, shooting their video (and pleasing some onlooking builders).



And here is the resulting video:



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Street View Musical Tour Of London

Google Maps UK increased its traffic by 41% yesterday. This was the busiest ever day for Google Maps in the UK. The US Google Maps site also received an 84% increase in visits.

The popularity of Google Maps Street View can be harnessed by other websites by using the Google Maps API. Earlier this month Google Maps Mania looked at two sites that had increased traffic by adding Street View to their Google Maps coverage in a post called Using Street View to Provide Added Value.

The New Musical Express in the UK has obviously realised the value of Street View as it has quickly produced an article looking at some of the Street Views of famous album covers.

A Musical Tour of London

The NME Street View tour takes in the famous road crossing in Abbey Road (The Beatles), as well as album covers for Oasis, Bowie, the Rolling Stones and a few others.

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Dutch Website Using Street View

Yesterday I had a quick look at some of the UK websites that have quickly added the new Street View imagery to their masp. Today it is the turn of the Dutch.

I Amsterdam

The official Amsterdam tourist website has added the option to view Street View imagery on their Explore the City Google Map. At the moment they have only added a few map markers to the map, which you can click to view the Street View at that spot. I assume they will eventually add a layer so that it is possible to see the Street View for the whole city.

Funda

Dutch real estate website Funda has added Street View to its Google Maps in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Groningen. Funda's Google Maps are very professionally designed, with custom map markers and clustering of markers. The addition of Street View to the maps should make Funda the number one destination for anyone looking for a house in the Netherlands.

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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 Friday Fun

Here's Wally

Google Sightseeing seem to have been the first to find Wally. Yesterday Google announced that they had hidden Wally somewhere in the Street View coverage of the UK and Google Sightseeing have found him in Putney High Street of all places.

Kamikaze Flying Shark

Last summer Oxford in the UK was attacked by kamikaze flying shark who terrorised the city by dive-bombing the homes of innocent citizens. When I tried to warn the world no-one would listen. Luckily for me Google Street View now has photographic evidence!

Canadian Street View

Any impatient Canadians who are fed up that Canada was once again overlooked in this week's Google Maps Street View update can take heart from the fact that MapJack have released their version of Street View for the country.

The service is very similar to Google Street View. Users navigate around a Google Map and move from one interactive 360 panoramic photograph to the next in a large sequence. The imagery is available on the Canpages website and the cities covered are Vancouver, Whistler and Squamish in British Columbia.

Via: Mapperz

Google Maps Related Crime Doesn't Pay
A thief in the UK used Google Earth to search the roofs of churches and schools to find lead roof tiles that he could then steal. A friend of the thief said, "He could tell the lead roofs apart on Google Earth, as they were slightly darker than normal."

The thief was sentenced to an eight-month suspended jail sentence and 100 hours of community service.

Via: Cnet

KartenQuiz

This German language quiz is good fun. There are ten locations that you must try and identify on a Google Map (satellite view only). To play click on the map and then click on the name of the town you are guessing.

Find a Weekend Getaway on Google Maps

Weekend Getaways
From Saturday, CNN, HLN and CNN Airport Network will be broadcasting "Weekend Getaway" travel segments. It is series highlighting weekend breaks that are available in the US.

The featured Weekend Getaways, are also available online, alongside many others, and the website includes 400 itineraries from 11 cities. The site uses Google Maps to showcase the getaways and has produced a seamless Flash interface to help users search the 400 breaks for the one that meets their individual demands.

Here is a quick screencast of the Weekend Getaways website, which demonstrates how easy it is to search for your ideal weekend break:


Weekend Getaway Screencast from Keir Clarke on Vimeo.

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UK Websites Adding Street View

Find A Property

Unsurprisingly Real Estate websites are often the first to add Street View when it becomes available. In the UK real estate website Find A Property seem to be one of the first websites off the mark in adding Street View support for their properties for sale.

After searching for a property Find A Property now includes a link to see the building on Google Maps and the option to view it in Street View.

Entcal

Entcal, the live events directory, was actually the first website I noticed to include the option to view Street Views in the UK. Last night they began to offer users the option to view Street Views of venues in their comprehensive events listings.

Entcal doesn't just add the static Street View but includes an auto-panning version of the view that automatically rotates through the whole 360 degrees.

Tate Gallery Mapplet

The Tate have used Street View to help explore locations depicted in a special selection of their artworks. The mapplet tries to show the same view as depicted in the paintings. Part of the idea behind the mapplet is to explore how urban and rural environments have changed.

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UK Street View

Update: As well as releasing Street View in the UK and the Netherlands a few more towns in France and Italy seem to have received Street View coverage.

UK Street View Gallery

This one is a work in progress. I'm going to spend today adding UK Street View finds to this UK Street View Gallery. If you find any views that I have missed then just add a comment to this post.

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Google Street View - Who's Spying on Who?

Google have revealed that they have hidden the cartoon character Wally from the Where's Wally books somewhere in the UK Street View coverage.

David Hassall hasn't found Wally but he did find the Street View Car.


I love this. David Hassall took a photograph of the Street View car as it took a picture of him. The picture above is the shot that the Street View car got. The image below is the shot that David took.


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Google Map of AIG Campaign Contributions

AIG Campaign Contributions
This map from Mibazaar shows the top 100 recipients of campaign contributions from the American insurance company AIG (number 1 is Barack Obama). Despite having to be bailed out by the government the company has paid out about $165 million as bonuses to its executives.

The top 100 recipients are listed in the map sidebar. Opening up an information window reveals the levels of support the politician received from the insurance company.



Twitter Map of the AIG Outrage
Mibazaar has also produced this Google Maps mashup with Twitter to show what the American people think about the payment of bonuses to AIG (they don't seem to like it).

The latest Tweets mentioning AIG are shown in the map sidebar and tagged on the map at the location of the Twitter member. The messages are divided into two. At the top right of the map are buttons to view Tweets from the Eastern US and the Western US.

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Westminster Bridge on Street View

The View from Westminster Bridge

To celebrate the release of Street View in the UK I quickly threw together this tour of the views from Westminster Bridge.

Using the buttons below the Street View it is possible to pan around and view the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and County Hall. Hopefully this is the first of many mashups featuring Street View in the UK.

Drive Through Bristol

Seconds after posting the above I found this Street View drive through Bristol created by Mapperz. The mashup adds Street View to Google Driving Directions so you can visualise the route before setting out in your car. I haven't played the route all the way through but I'm hoping there is a view of the Clifton Bridge somewhere on the drive.

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