Friday Fun on Google Maps

The Wire in Street View

'Paddy' has put together a nice collection of Street View images of locations in Baltimore from the hit TV series The Wire. You can also download this kml from the Google Earth Community and view some of the filming locations in Google Earth.

WalkJogRun.net
Adam Howitt, of WalkJogRun.net, recently appeared on lifestyle show Better. In the video below Adam talks a little about the original idea behind the map and how you can use the apllication to improve your fitness.


GeoMaker
GeoMaker creates microformats and maps from geographical information embedded in texts. The output from GeoMaker can be a Yahoo Map or a geo-microformat that can be used with the Google Maps API.

The site comes with an API that can produce results in json, kml or csv formats. There is also a lol format to the API, which outputs a latitude and a lolitude from any data entered, e.g.

HAS A LOL-CATION:
CAN HAS WOEID: 2347563
HAS A NAME: California, US
HAS A DISCRIPSHUN: California
I'M IN YOUR LATITUDE: 37.2718
I'M IN YOUR LOLITUDE: -119.27

Google Maps Tracks Down Stolen iPhone

Kevin Miller explains on his blog how he used Google Maps to track down his stolen iPhone. Kevin used Apple's MobileMe application, which uses Google Maps to help you locate a lost or stolen phone.

With the aid of MobileMe and a friend's laptop Kevin was able to track down the thief whilst he was waiting at a bus-stop.

________________