Gorgeous Map of the Week Award

Web 2.0 Summuit: Points of Control

A special one off Gorgeous Map of the Week Award has to go to this map produced for the Web 2.0 Summit. The map was produced following discussions between Tim O'Reilly and John Battele about the efforts being taken by the major "Internet companies to stake out points of control that will give them competitive advantage in the years to come".

John Battelle has provided a great description of what the map represents.

The map itself uses custom map tiles, custom map controls and custom map markers. All three have been beautifully realised and create a really effective overall design for the map.

The map also includes a great comment system. Users can click on the map and contribute to the discussion by using their Twitter log-ins. This is great way to effectively organise comment discussions spatially around particular areas of 'points of control'.

Hat-tip: Street View Funny

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Rent an iTowel with the help of Google Maps

SnapGoods

Soon there will be two kinds of people: those who use towels, and those who use iTowels. However forking out $299 on the latest GPS & Wi-Fi enabled iTowel may not be the life-changing moisture absorbing experience that it promises to be.

If like me you are always suckered in to buying the latest gadgets only to mostly end up disappointed and suffering from consumer fatigue then you should give SnapGoods a try. SnapGoods lets you borrow gadgets and gear from other SnapGoods members. It is a great way to try out a product for a small price before forking out half your annual salary on something that a few days later is consigned to the cupboard of broken promises and dreams.

SnapGoods is a website that facilitates the sharing and renting of stuff from SnapGoods members and local businesses. At the moment the site seems to be only operating in New York but has plans to take over the world expand to other areas.

SnapGoods uses Google Maps to show the location of stuff that is available to borrow. The map does all it needs to do; it displays goods for rent and it allows you to search for stuff by location. If you like the look of something on the map you can click through to get further details and to arrange a transaction.


Note: The iTowel and the 'Cupboard of Broken Promises and Dreams' are both trademarks of Google Maps Mania.

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Oakland's Life Expectancy on Google Maps

Bay Area Life Expectancy Map

If you live in Walnut Creek in Oakland you are likely to live 16 years longer than if you live in Sobrante Park. This glaring disparity is highlighted by the Oakland Tribune in its series of articles, and accompanying Google Map, looking at the life expectancy of people living in the Bay Area.

The map allows you to view life expectancy in Oakland and also view the neighborhoods' different cancer death rates, heart disease death rates and child asthma hospitalization. The red shaded areas on the map are the areas with the lowest life expectancy.

The map also includes links to articles and videos by the Oakland Tribune about people who live in the different Oakland neighborhoods.

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New York's Worst Landlords Mapped

NYC's Worst Landlords Watchlist

I wish this Google Map had been around when I was still renting. It is one of the best examples of open data I have seen, allowing New Yorkers to check if a landlord has housing code violations before renting.

New York's Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has launched a campaign, called Watchlist, to identify, track, and hold accountable New York City’s most irresponsible landlords. The campaign includes a searchable database and a Google Map of landlords' outstanding housing code violations identified by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Users can search the map by landlord name or by borough. Users can also use the map to report additional violations by a landlord or to report the resolving of a violation.

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Third World America on Google Maps

Third World America

The Huffington Post have created a Google Map to record the experiences of Americans hit by the current economic downturn. The map is obviously also being used as a bit of a marketing tool for Arianna Huffington's new book, 'Third World America'.

The map shows the areas hardest hit by home foreclosure, unemployment and bankruptcy. Users can also submit their own stories, pictures or video of how they have personally been affected by the financial crisis.

The map itself is a very simple My Map, which I can't help feeling is a bit of a shame. The map contains really important stories that need and deserve to be told. I just wish that the Huffington Post had taken a little more time and care with the presentation of these stories.

However I guess if anyone wanted to present this in a more elegant way they could just use the georss or the KML of the My Map.

Hat-tip: Mibazaar

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First Google Map with Facebook Places

Nearby Friends

Nearby Friends is a Google Maps based Facebook application that utilises the new Facebook Places check-in facility. The application allows you to view all your friends check-ins on one Google Map.

Nearby Places doesn't just show your friends' latest check-ins it also allows you to visualise their entire check-in history. If you click on any of your friends' thumbnail pictures displayed on the Google Map you can choose an option to view their 'Check-in History'.

When you select to view the check-in history of a friend you are presented with a Google Map showing all their check-ins. Each check-in is represented by a profile picture. The larger the picture the more recent the check-in. Each individual check-in is also connected to the next check-in with a polyline. Therefore you can click on the largest profile picture and track your friend's check-ins backwards all the way to the womb (well maybe not that far).

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A Google Maps Based Music Video

The Wilderness Downtown

This impressive Google Chrome experiment combines video, Google Maps and Google Street View and choreographed multiple windows to help demonstrate what is possible with HTML5. The experiment is an interactive interpretation of Arcade Fire's song "We Used To Wait" and was built entirely with the latest open web technologies, including HTML5 video, audio, and canvas.

The Google Map tiles used in the experiment are rendered, zoomed, and rotated in a scripted 3D environment. Animated sprites are composited directly over Google Maps satellite and Street Views. The animated sprites include flocking birds and animated trees.

The Google Maps API is also used for fetching dynamic routes to user chosen destinations and checking Street View content at points along the route. With so much going on the experiment is very processor intensive. It took about ten minutes to load on my desktop but the wait was definitely worth it.

Hat-tip: Street View Funny

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Murder Maps

MurderMap

The Murder Map project aims to create the first ever comprehensive picture of homicide in London. On its completion, the developers say it will contain details of every murder and manslaughter committed in London from the crimes of Jack the Ripper to the present day.

At the moment the map seems to show murders in the UK capital just for 2010. You can filter the results shown on the Google Map of homicides by murder weapon.

All Murders Washington DC 2005-2009

Burgersub.org have a number of Google Maps that visualise murders in Washington DC and Baltimore. The maps include this Google Map of all Washington DC murders from 2005 and 2009.

Baltimore Sun - Baltimore Homicides

The Baltimore Sun has a Homicides Map that allows you to view all murders in Baltimore since 2007. The map allows you to refine the results by date, location, gender, race and cause of death.

New Orleans Murder Map
Shows homicides in the city in 2009.

LA Times Homicide Report

The LA Times uses Google Maps to show murders in Los Angeles. You can search the map by year, address or by name.

New York Times Homicide Map
The New York Times Homicide Map show murders in the Big Apple by year. The map includes a number of search options to refine the data by race, age, sex, murder weapon and locality.

Orlando-Area Murder Map 2010
This map from the Orlando Sentinel shows the locations of homicides committed this year.

Homicides in San Francisco 2007-2009
Google Map of San Francisco murders from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Birmingham, Alabama Murder Map
2009 murders in Birmingham visualised on Google Maps.

Drab i Danmark 2010
This map uses the SIMILE time-line with Google Maps to show murders in Denmark.

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Escalator Down at Metro Station

TBD.com: Map of WMATA Problems

TBD.com have used the Ushahidi Google Maps reporting system to create a map of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority problems. The map allows TBD.com's readers to see at a glance where there are current problems on Washiongton's transit system.

Using Ushahidi's reporting system allows TBD.com to crowdsource current problems on the WMATA. Users are able to report problems by directly submitting a report, tweeting an alert with hashtag #tbdwmata or by emailing an alert.

Submitted problems on WMATA will automatically appear on the Google Map. The reports are also listed under the map in chronological order.

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Real Time Google Maps Collaboration

Multi-User Google Maps Collaboration

The next time someone phones you and tells you that they are lost and they don't know how to get to you then just point them to this Android application. The application allows users to simultaneously open and work on the same Google Map. It is a great tool for two or more people to share directions in real-time.

To collaborate on a Google Map a user just has to start their own map room and send a link to whomever they want to work with. Once two or more people are logged into the room users can use 'whiteboard' tools to draw on the map or add text. Whenever one of the room members interacts with the map all the other users will see the action in real time on their phone screens.

The application comes with built in camera support so it is possible to video conference your map sharing as well. If you haven't got an Android mobile phone don't worry as the application is also available from your desktop. If you haven't got any friends you also don't have to worry as you can test the application by just opening it up in two separate browser windows.

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New Orleans Mapped: Post Katrina

Five years ago New Orleans was devastated by floods caused by Hurricane Katrina. It was one of America's worst ever natural disasters.

Whilst some areas, such as the French Quarter have recovered and other areas are being rebuilt, some areas, like the New Orleans East area are still almost completely abandoned. The New Orleans East area used to have a population of more than 100,000 it now has a population of around 7,000.

Back in 2005 Nova created a New Orleans Flood Map that allows you to view an overlay of the flood over your home town. The map now looks very basic but it is still an effective way to visualise the sheer scope of the floods.



If you zoom in on your part of the U.S. you can see the overlay superimposed on your home. The blue overlay only shows flooding in New Orleans proper. Additional flooding occurred in other suburbs.

New Orleans Repopulation Map

162,115 households received mail in June 2010, in New Orleans, compared to 203,457 in June 2005. The U.S. Census Bureau's methods for estimating population can't keep up with the extraordinary situation post-Katrina so looking at residential addresses actively receiving mail is one way that population can be estimated.

This map from the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center shows residential addresses actively receiving mail by census block in New Orleans. The mailing list data represents the number of residential addresses per block where the mailman knows someone picks up the mail.

The map shows the population density in June 2010, the darker the shade the higher the density. If you zoom in on a block you can see the June 2005 households compared to the most recent figures.

New Orleans Redevelopment Authority

The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority are using Google Maps to help show the condition of properties in New Orleans.

The Authority's Project Search lets you search for projects and current Requests for Proposals in its database. If you search for a New Orleans neighborhood you are presented with a list of properties. If you click on the 'more details' link next to a property you can view photographs of the property and view its location on a static Google Map.

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More Open Government with Google Maps

Iconomical is a web design company that specialises in data visualisation. The company have produced two excellent Google Maps to help visualise UK Government data.

Research Funding Explorer

The UK's Department for Business Innovation and Skill has produced a great Google Maps time-line to show research funding in the country over the last ten years.

If you press play on the time-line (below the map) you can view an animated visualisation of where in the UK investment has been made. As the animation plays a heat map is generated on the Google Map and a bar chart besides the map is also animated.

London Gazette - Pollution Prevention & Control

The London Gazette is the UK's official newspaper of record for recording and disseminating official, regulatory and legal information. Iconomical have produced a data visualisation tool that lets users browse the paper's Pollution Prevention & Control notices.

The visualisation shows all notices for 2008 and 2009. The papers are shown stacked in a time-line beside a Google Map. When you select a paper from the stack you can view the same notice on a Google Map to help find the location of applicants and where notices were issued.

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World Wide Store Locator on Google Maps

Vitra

The Swiss furniture manufacturer Vitra has a global dealer network so it is important that customers around the world can quickly find the dealer that is best for them. Vitra has therefore used Google Maps to create a store locator service to enable customers to find their local Vitra dealer.

It is possible to search the map for a Vitra dealer by entering a street, city or zip code. It is also possible to refine the results displayed on the map by type of Vitra dealer. If you click on a dealer's map marker you can get the dealer's full address, a breakdown of Vitra products offered and driving directions.

The Vitra Google Map was developed with the WEISSWO Pinpoint location finder.

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Google Maps Bike Route Reporting System

Meldsysteem Bewegwijzering Fietsroutenetwerken

This Google Maps Mashup wins the Longest Name of the Year Award. Luckily it also qualifies for the award for most useful Google Maps Mashup for Dutch Cyclists.

Meldsysteem Bewegwijzering Fietsroutenetwerken is a Google Maps based system for reporting problems on bicycle routes in the Netherlands. The map uses shape files from the Landelijk Fietsplaform (National Bicycle Platform) to automatically determine where a report should be sent. When a user makes a report the right maintenance authority will get the report. The authority can also use the system to report when/if the reported problem will be fixed.

It is possible for any website or blog to embed the system using an embeddable widget.

The reporting system was created using GeoStart a product of SWIS.

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Finding Wall Mural Art with Google Maps

Mural Locator

The Mural Locator helps people locate murals around the world. The site contains a growing database of locations, photos, and documentation about murals and provides a handy Google Map so that you can quickly and easily find murals near your location.

The map uses marker clustering so you can tell at a glance how many murals are listed at a particular location. As you zoom in on the map individual murals are indicated with their own individual markers.

If you click on a map marker you can view a photograph of the mural and click through to get further details, such as the address and a description of the mural. If you know of a mural that isn't already listed you can submit its location by completing a short form.

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Using Google Base with Google Maps

The Big Property List

Google Maps offers the option to search for real estate in a number of countries now. The data for properties shown on Google Maps actually comes from Google Base. This of course means that anyone can set up their own website to also access these real estate listings using the Google Base API. That is exactly what The Big Property List have done.

One of the major criticisms of Google Maps' real estate option is that users actually want to view property listings in a list format. The Big Property List have tackled this criticism head-on by creating a familiar portal style listings interface for real estate in the UK.

The home page of the site includes a map so that users can quickly click on the region that they want to search. The properties for that region are then shown in a familiar list style. It is possible to refine the search by type of property, price range and number of bedrooms.

When you click on a property you are then taken to a dedicated page containing the full property details and a Google Map showing the location of the property.

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Google Maps on Canvas

Wish You Were Here

Megan Scheminske is an artist based in Portland, OR. Megan has produced two series of minimalist paintings, 'Wish You Were Here' and 'You Are Here', that are inspired by Google Maps. Megan even has a Google Map with photographs of the paintings in the 'You Are Here' series showing the locations they depict.

The 'Wish You Were Here' project is six 12" x 12" paintings on canvas depicting compositions culled from Google Maps. Each "location" lies somewhere within the five boroughs of New York City. The locations for the paintings were chosen solely on the basis of their abstract aesthetics.

Also See

The Virtual Paintout

The Virtual Paintout is a blog that is encouraging the use of Google Street View as a resource for virtually travelling the world to find interesting locations and subjects to paint.

Each month a new city is chosen and artists can then use Google Street View to find a subject to paint.

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Create & Embed Your Own Google Map

Location Maps

Location Maps allows anyone to easily create and display a Google Map of a single location on their own website or blog. There is even an option to include a Street View with the embedded map. Location Maps are free to create and embed for either commercial or non-commercial use.

Location Maps are very easy to create but also have a large number of customisation options. Users can define the height and width of their embedded map, the type of map marker that is shown on the map and the initial map view (road, satellite, hybrid or terrain).

Once you have designed your map all you have to do to include it on your own website is cut & paste a small piece of code.

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What's Happening in Your City

StreetMavens

StreetMaven wants to help you connect with 'the real-time pulse of your city'. Using StreetMaven you can view photos, events and the real-time conversations in your area.

Once you have signed in and shared your location with StreetMaven you are presented with a Google Map of your location. Using the map you can view 'StreetTalk', Businesses, Events, Photos and other StreetMavens in your area.

StreetMaven is currently in Beta. It looks like there will be a lot of social networking features, a gaming element where you can earn badges and a feature to send messages to other users. With so much going on the site could definitely be enhanced by a FAQ page.

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Google Map of Virginia's ARRA Spending

ARRA.Virginia.Gov

The State of Virginia has created an official website using Google Maps to help show where and how it is spending federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

The site initially uses a static image of a Google Map overlaid with an image map. The image map contains links that allow you to click on a locality to view the State Government Award details for that region.

When you click on a locality on the map you are taken to a dedicated page for that locality. The dedicated page includes a Google Map and the details of how and where federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds are being spent.

Also See

• USDA ARRA Projects Map - American Recovery Act Google Map
• Canada's Economic Action Plan Map
• NSW Government Stimulus Snapshots Map - How the NSW local government (AUS) is spending stimulus funds

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Grindr - A Gay Location Based Service

Grindr

Grindr is a location based service for gay men. It is available for the iPhone and the Blackberry.

The application uses your current location to instantly connect you with other gay men in your area. When you launch Grindr you will be shown local guys (the closest appear first) and you can choose to view pictures, stats and their location on Google Maps.

Men who appear with a green dot are currently online and ready to chat. Those shown with a yellow star is a favorite and will always appear in your Grindr application.

Also See

• GayBarMaps
• ClubFly - Gay bar and club finder for the US
• GayScout - the international gay travel guide
• Seattle Gay Bars and Clubs - Google Maps Guide to gay Seattle

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Travel Warnings on Google Maps

UDBloggen

Sweden's Foreign Ministry has started a website of blogs by ministry employees. By hosting a number of personal blogs written by people working in the ministry the department hopes it will reach out to individuals and the media and keep them better informed about Swedish foreign policy. The hope is that the ministry's bloggers will lead to a more informal and faster communication of daily foreign policy work.

The new website includes a prominent Google Map of current content that is linked to a geographic area. The map shows the location of the ministry's bloggers who have recently posted,the location of embassies and any current advice about travelling to specific countries.

The content shown on the map can be refined by clicking on one of the tabs above the map. You can select to view the bloggers' posts, current travel advice or embassies. If you click on a map marker you are shown the title of the blog post, the date posted and a link to read the entry in full.

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Create a Travel Guide with Google Maps

Stay.com

Stay.com is a great way to create your very own printable travel guide.

Using Stay.com you can review hotels and points of interest at most of the world's top cities and tourist destination from the comfort of your desktop. You can view the hotels, restaurants, museums and bars listed on Stay.com on a Google Map to easily plan your travel itinerary. Each of the points of interest has a comprehensive review and attractive photographs.

When you like a review of a point of interest you can simply add it to your own travel guide. When you have finished planning your visit and adding places to stay and visit you can then print out an attractive personal guide. The guide includes a Google Map with all the places added to your itinerary clearly marked.

As well as the map your points of interest are presented in list form, with attractive photographs and full details, such as address and telephone numbers.

Nile Guide

Nile Guide is a great trip planner and personal travel guide. The site lets you explore areas you might like to visit for hotels, restaurants and other points of interest and create your own personalised travel itinerary.

To start planning your trip with Nile Guide you just need to enter your destination. Nile Guide will then give you an overview of your destination and allow you to view Hotels, Things to Do, Restaurants, Nightlife and Events. The points of interest are even displayed on a Google Map.

To add a place you want to visit you just need to click on the 'Add to List' link and it will be added to your 'My Guide'. Once you have added a number of destinations to your travel itinerary you can then organise your guide. You can drag and drop your different picks on to different days of your trip and you can view the locations of your choices on a Google Map.

When you have completed your personal travel guide if you press 'Print my guide to go' Nile Guide will create a printable version of your very own travel itinerary.

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When Giant Animals Attack!

The world paid no attention to me when I warned that street view had conclusive proof that we were being invaded by UFO's. I think it will be a lot harder to dismiss my carefully researched evidence that we are now being attacked by monsters that have escaped from B-Movie horror film lots.


Attack of the Killer Bees


Empire of the Ants


Lobster Man from Mars


Invasion of the Grasshoppers


Planet of the Dinosaurs


Psycho Sheep of Butte


The Alligator People


Grizzly Attack!


The Swarm of the Ladybugs


Wild, Wild Horses

This evidence would not have proved possible without the ever vigilant sightings from Google Sightseeing and Street View Funny.

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Your Aural Travel Guide on Google Maps

Sound Tourism

Sound Tourism bills itself as 'A Travel Guide to Sonic Wonders'. The site claims that normal travel guides are dominated by the visual experience, describing beautiful vistas, eye-catching art and iconic architecture whilst ignoring the aural experience of places.

Sound Tourism has set out to address that gap by creating a map of locations around the world where you can hear great sounds. Sounds are shown on the map with categorised map markers. The colour of the marker reflects whether the location is 'worth a journey', 'worth a detour' or 'interesting'.

As well as the map view you can navigate to sounds by tag or load all the sounds from a particular location by selecting it from a drop down menu.

Via: Spatial Analysis

Other Sound Maps

• UK SoundMap - survey of UK sounds from the British Library
• Open Sound New Orleans - New Orleans sound map
• Tactical Sound Garden - Tactical Sound Garden has created 'sound gardens' in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, San Diego, CA and Zurich, Switzerland.
• Radio Aporee - Sounds recorded around the world and presented on a Google Map.
• Montreal Sound Map - Sounds from Montreal

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Real-Time Conversations on Google Maps

Qilroy

Qilroy (pronounced as in 'Kilroy was here') allows you to start and join social networking conversations anywhere in the world.

To start using Qilroy simply type in a location (or let Qilroy discover it for you). You will then be presented with a stream of Twitter and Facebook messages from your location. You can join in any of the conversations by signing in with your Twitter account, your facebook account or a Qilroy account.

As well as the real-time stream of the latest messages you can view nearby messages on a Google Map. Using the map you can zoom into a location and view the latest messages posted from people at that location.

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Street View Added to Building Maker

Google Builder Maker

Builder Maker is a Google Maps / Google Earth / Google Aerial Imagery interface to help you build 3D models for Google Earth. Now Google have also added Street View images to Google Builder Maker.

Google have added some very clever magic to Builder Maker that allows you to grab a Street View image, align it with your building and then use the image as the texture for the building. Check out the video below to see it in action:



Six new cities have also been added to Building Maker:

Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Florence, Italy
Vienna, Austria
Pittsburgh, PA, United States
Santa Cruz, CA, United States
Riverside, CA, United States

The cities in Builder Maker all have Google's oblique aerial imagery. It is therefore a pretty good guide to which cities will have aerial views soon added to Google Maps and the Google Maps API.

Here's a little something I put together to compare Bing Maps Birds Eye view with aerial view in Google Maps:

Bird's Eye View

The application places Bing Maps' Bird's Eye View side by side with Google Maps' aerial view.

Via: Google LatLong

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LBS for Close Friends and Family Only

Neer

With so many popular location based services already established and with last week's launch of Facebook Places it is going to be increasingly hard for any new entrants to grab a slice of the location pie. To do so a start-up will have to offer something new and unique. Neer does!

I suspect that there are many potential users of location based services who have been put off signing up to the established players because of privacy concerns. There are lots of people who just don't want to share their location with the whole population. Neer is targeting those users by allowing them to set up their own private location sharing networks.

Neer lets users share their location with small, select groups of friends and family. It also allows users to select the places where friends can see their location. Neer uses Google Maps to help users define these shareable locations.

The application is available now for Android phones and an iPhone app is on the way.

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How Open Source is Your Country?

Open Source World Map

Redhat have created an Open Source Index, or OSI, based on research by the Georgia Institute of Technology. The index is a measure of the open source activity and environment in 75 countries.

The Open Source Activity Map shows how 75 countries rank in the OSI. Each country has been given a score based on its policies and practices in the fields of Government, Industry, and Community.

The 75 countries are coloured on the map according to how well they score. France, (coloured a rather fetching shade of burgundy) is the top ranked country overall for Open Source activity. Moldova (in a mustard shade) comes in 75th.

Rather appropriately the map itself uses the Google Maps API with OpenLayers (I'm sorry there is no prize for the first person to leave a comment suggesting that Open Street Map should have been used for the map).

Hattip: Mapperz

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Hunch - A Local Recommendation Engine

Hunch - Local Search

Hunch is a personal recommendations website. Answer 10 questions and Hunch believes it can offer you great recommendations on thousands of topics. Hunch's recommendations are based on the collective answers of the entire Hunch community. The site claims that every time Hunch is used the hunches get better.

Hunch has now launched Hunch - Local, a Google Maps based suggestion tool to help you find restaurants, stores, museums, hotels and nightlife. After you share your location with Hunch Local you will be shown local recommendations in your vicinity. You can choose which category of recommendations you want to view from a drop down menu.

It is also possible to refine the places shown on the map with a 'popular' slider control. This allows you to view the most popular venues or the most unique (the least popular?). Each suggestion comes with a link to read more about the venue on Yelp, foursquare or on Hunch itself.

Via: Mashable

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Tracking Your Package with Google Maps

TrackingNumber.org

I've just tracked a package sent to me in London from California. The package took five days to wing it's way from Sunnyvale to my house in London. Having ordered something exciting over the Internet it is easy to get a little impatient waiting for the package to arrive but there is something reassuring about being able to check your package's location on Google Maps.

Trackingnumber.org is a tracking service for all the major courier services. Using the service you can track the location of a sent package on Google Maps. The service currently works for packages sent by FedEx, UPS, TNT and DHL.

To track a package you just have to enter the package's tracking number. You are then presented with a Google Map that shows the current location of your package. Beside the map the tracking record for your package is also displayed, showing all the stages in your package's journey.

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California Parks, Fishing & Boating Map

CaliforniaView.org

California View is a Google Map that displays California State Parks, fishing spots, and boating facilities. The points of interest for the map are taken from Data.ca.gov.

What I really like about this Google Map is the simple but effective user interface. On first visiting California View you are presented with a search box to enter your location. Once you have selected a location you are presented with a full screen map and a menu to select whether you want to view state parks, fishing spots and boating facilities on the map.

I suspect that the design was chosen so that the site works well on mobile applications but the simplicity of the user interface is something that a lot of map mashups could learn from.

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Find Mall & Airport Maps via Google Maps

Point Inside

Screenshot shows Inside Maps website not the app itself

Have you ever been frustrated that Google Maps doesn't have indoor maps for shopping malls and airports? If so then you need to download (for free) Inside Maps for your iPhone or Android phone.

When you open Inside Maps on your mobile phone you are presented with a Google Map with markers showing the Inside Maps available for malls and airports near your current location. If you select one of the markers you can then download the Inside Map for the chosen mall or airport.

All the maps are produced by Inside Maps themselves and are interactive and searchable.


Via: CNET
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The Hottest Events in Town on Google Maps

Hotlist

The Hotlist is a website that can show you the trending locations in your vicinity.

Hotlist uses Google Maps to show you upcoming events in your area and in your social network. The application shows you the venues that are generating the most buzz on social networks and can show you which events your friends are attending.

It is possible to connect to Hotlist with a Facebook account to see what your Facebook friends are up to. As of today Hotlist is also using the new Facebook Places API. This should ensure that you can now more easily find out what hot events your friends will be attending.

Via: Read Write Web

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