Where is it safe to travel?

The Travel Map is a useful tool for anyone who is planning to travel abroad. The interactive map provides travel advice and vaccine recommendations for countries around the world. It can also tell you about the prevalence of different vaccine-preventable diseases across the globe.

The Travel Map is very simple to use. Countries are colored on the map by how safe they are to visit.  If you select a country on the map you can view more information on the level of caution you need in travelling to that country. The map sidebar also provides information on the type of vaccines you might need and the prevalence of vaccine-preventable diseases in the chosen country.

If you select the 'Disease Prevalence' tab in the map sidebar you can view choropleth maps showing the prevalence of a number of diseases around the world. Choose a disease from the list of vaccine-preventable diseases and you can see a visualization of how prevalent that disease is in all the world's countries.


If you are worried about traveling abroad then you might also want to refer to International SOS's map of the travel risks in every country of the world. Their Travel Risk Map provides an overview of the travel risks in each country for medical, security and road safety.

Countries are colored on the Travel Risk Map to show the International SOS assessment of the travel risks in these three categories. The map therefore provides a very basic guide as to where it is safe to travel in the world. You should also check your government's latest travel advice as well. Many governments provide useful advice for their citizens planning to travel abroad. For example the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office provides up-to-date Foreign Travel Advice.

The Queen's Travel Scratch Map

I've visited 10 countries. Which is 3.4% of the countries in the world. If you are interested in which countries I've been to then you can visit my personal travel scratch pad.

However, rather than looking at my travel map, you can have far more fun creating your own map of all the countries that you have seen. Scratch the World is a fun little interactive map which you can use to boast about all the places you have visited around the world. Just click on all the countries you have been to and Scratch the World will mark them off, work out the total number of countries you have been to and tell you what percentage of the world's countries you have visited.

You can even get a unique URL which you can use to share with your friends when you want to boast about your global travels.

Mind you, no matter how much of the world you have seen, the Queen's travel map is still much better than yours. After all she has visited hundreds more countries than you (if I had my own plane, train, and ocean liner I would have also have visited more countries than you).

The Travels of Queen Elizabeth II is an interactive map of every country the Queen has visited since 1953. In total the Queen has visited 110 countries. This is 43% of the countries featured on Scratch the World. Therefore there are still quite a few countries for the Queen to visit.

If you are in anyway interested in the global travels of the Queen then you can use her travel map to view all the countries she has visited by decade and by type of visit (state or commonwealth visit (royal beach holiday is missing from the available options)).

Where Tourists in Spain Spend their Money

The Spanish banking group BBVA has teamed up with Vizzuality to map out how tourists spend their money in Spain. The Footprints of Spain’s tourists in Summer 2014 map uses anonymized credit card transaction data to show when and where tourists in Spain spend their holiday money.

The visualization includes an animated heat-map which shows the volume of spending across Spain over time. I guess the map therefore also provides a fairly accurate guide as to the most popular tourist destinations in Spain.

A small inset map allows you to select from a number of cities and regions to view a top 5 list of countries. Tourists from these countries spend the most money at the selected destination. Another mapped visualization allows you to select a country to see where tourists from that country most visit in Spain. It also appears to show their movements around the country.

If you select the 'trends' tab you can also see how tourists from each country spend their money. This section allows you to select a category, such as hotels, bars & restaurants, transportation etc, and view a chart of which country's tourists spend the most in that category. You can also select an individual country to view a breakdown of how tourists from that country spend their money. For example, tourists from the USA spend 28% of their holiday money in restaurants while in Spain.

Create a Beautiful Google Map Travel Blog

A custom built Google Map is a great way to share your travel experiences with friends and family. If you want a simple travel map you can use Google Maps Engine to easily post reports and photos from your trips, which you can then share with the whole world.

However, while Google Maps Engine is a very easy way to create a map, sometimes your travels deserve something a little more beautiful. That's where Maptia comes in. Maptia is a new way to share your travels combining your personal reports, photos and Google Maps.

A Maptia story map consists of a Google Map followed by a series of all your travel posts. Each of the posts includes a little map marker that when clicked automatically opens a Google Map displaying the location and your photos from the location.

Maptia is not the first Google Maps travel blog / diary that we have ever seen but it certainly among the most beautiful. The site currently includes a number of featured stories, including one showcasing some of the amazing photos of the Earth taken by Commander Chris Hadfield from the International Space Station.

Travel Blogs in Google Maps

The Big Blog Map is a Google Map of travel blogs from around the world. The site takes the best travel blogs and geotags them based on the locations discussed.

The map provides a great way to get the inside information on locations from some of the best travel blogs. For example, if you want to find out ten great things to do in Madrid you just need to zoom in on the Spanish capital and click on the red map marker.

When you click on a map marker the travel blog itself replaces the map within The Big Blog page. Once you have finished reading the blog you just have to click on the close window link in the site header to return to the map.

Create an Animated Trip with Google Maps

Trip maps created with Go Pro Travelling now include some amazing animations that show the progress of a trip on a Google Map.

Go Pro Travelling is a great application that helps users easily create a Google Map of any trip whether it be a walking tour, a bicycle ride or a vacation. Users can plot their journey with Go Pro Travelling and add information and photographs to each stage of the trip and create a great mapped record of their travels.

Every travel map now created with the app is automatically transformed into an animated map! Users can use the play and pause buttons to play back a trip, view the trip in chronological order or use numbered buttons to skip to any part of the journey.

The animations between the different stages are pretty amazing. Planes, cars and people fly, drive and walk across the Google Map creating stunning transitions between the different stages of the journey. The screenshot of Go Pro Travelling above doesn't really do the animations justice so check out the video below or check out an animated trip map here.

A Travel Journal with Google Maps

Everlater is an application that allows you to create your own travel journal and travel blog.

As you add entries to your everlater travel blog they are also added to a Google Map of your journey. The map includes markers for each journal entry and all the markers are connected by polylines to show the progression of your trip.

Everlater has an iPhone app which allows you to update your travel blog whilst you are on your travels. Your travel blog can include photos of your trip and you can also connect your everlater account to a Facebook account so that all your entries are also posted to your Facebook wall.

Create a Personal Journey Map

Go Pro Travelling lets you create a Google Map of any trip whether it be a walking tour, a bicycle ride or a vacation. Users can add information and photographs to each stage of the trip and create a great mapped record of their journey.

The finished map includes numbered map markers showing the chronology of the trip. If you click on a numbered marker you can view the text and photographic entries for that stage of the journey. The application automatically displays how far has been travelled since the last stage and you can even indicate what mode of travel was taken.

Links to Twitter and Facebook mean it is very easy to share created trip maps with friends and friends can even leave comments on the map itself.

How a Trails Map Should be Made

The Nature Valley Trail View is a beautiful map of trails in the Grand Canyon.

The map includes a number of trails, each of which can be experienced with a glorious animated custom Street View tour. If you click on the menu link you can select any of the trails and then virtually walk the trail with custom Street Views of the whole trail.

Each tour includes an option to animate a walk on the trail, so you can just sit back and watch as you walk the trail with custom Street Views. Below the Street View is an altitude graph and a compass rose is also provided.



The Nature Valley Trail View Grand is a great example of what can be achieved with the Google Maps API. I'd almost go as far as to say it nearly matches the beauty of the Grand Canyon itself.

Hat-tip: Street View Funny

Bookmark Locations App with Google Maps

Everplaces is a really nice new location bookmarking application. With Everplaces you can keep a record of all the amazing places you've been or those you'd love to try out one day.

Everplaces makes it very easy to add locations to your personal collection. You can painlessly import locations that you have saved in Google Maps. The Everplaces bookmarklet lets you easily add locations and venues that you find on other web pages. Everplaces also allows you to 'Explore' the locations added by other users and add those you like to your collections.

Whilst creating your locations collection you can easily share your favourite location finds with your friends via Twitter, Facebook and via the Everplace smartphone application.

Find a TAM Flight with Google Maps

Brazilian airline TAM has released a nice destination finder called TAM Tips. The application allows users to search for vacation destinations based on their personal preferences.

TAM Tips uses Google Maps to show possible vacation locations based on TAM airlines' destinations. The destinations suggested on the map can be refined by selecting categories of interest, for example museums and galleries, sport, music, mountains, beaches etc.

If you click on a suggested destination on the map you can then read a review of the location and view the price of a ticket on TAM airlines to the destination.

Google Maps - Your Vacation Photo Album

Travelogic is an experimental website by Gabe Morton-Cook. Gabe says the project "is intended to bring together three of my passions: Travel, Photography and Interactive Design/Development".

The application plots Gabe's travels on a styled Google Map. If you click on any of the map markers for a trip you can view a selection of beautiful photographs taken at that location and Gabe's blog post about the journey.

The map includes forward and back buttons to help the user navigate through each journey and also includes a handy time-line below the map.

Via: TNW

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Virtual Travel with Google Maps

Wandercast.TV is a travel video website that aims to allow you to "Watch where you’re going before leaving home."

If you are planning a trip you can search Wandercast.TV for great places to visit and view a video of the location before travelling. Alternatively you can of course just browse Wandercast.TV to virtually visit places in the world that you may never get a chance to visit for real.

Each video on Wandercast.TV is accompanied by a Google Map showing the location where it was shot. If you have your own travel videos then you can also upload them to the Wandercast.TV map.

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How Far Can You Fly with Google Maps?

Hungarian Airline Malev has a nice flight finder tool that allows you to select an airport, the amount of money that you are willing to pay and then view on Google Maps destinations that you can afford on your budget.

The travel finder is very easy to use. You can just click on any of the mapped airports to set them as the airport that you wish to fly from. You can set the amount of money you are prepared to pay using the slide control. When you press enter all the destinations that you can afford with Malev Hungarian Airlines are shown on the map (with the cost of flight).

You can even book your flight directly from the map.

Malev Travel Planner

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Swedish Travel Tips with Google Map

ReseEkonomen

This Swedish language Google Map provides advice and tips about the favourite tourist destinations of the Swedish around the world.

As well as providing travel tips from Mattias Varén the map also shows tips sent in by users. The yellow markers on the map indicate tips provided by Mattias and the green markers are those sent in by users of the map.

It is possible to filter the travel tips shown on the map by country and by type of holiday destination. The categories include, Family Travel, Weekend, Backpacking, Cruises and Adventure.

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Google Maps Plane, Train & Boat Directions

rome2rio

Google Maps includes a number of little Easter Eggs with suggestions for your inter-continental travel. For example, if you ask Google Maps for driving directions from Japan to China Google Maps suggests, at step 42, that you 'Jet ski across the Pacific Ocean'.

If you don't fancy jet skiing then rome2rio could be the solution that you are looking for. This Google Maps based travel search engine can help you get to anywhere on Earth with flights, trains, ferry and driving directions.

This introductory video is a great introduction to what rome2rio provides:



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Where in the World is it Safe to Travel?

The Guardian Travel Advice Map

In the UK the Foreign and Commonwealth Office issues travel warnings and advice about countries it is safe to travel to. The Guardian newspaper has used Fusion Tables and Google Maps to create a world map of the 53 countries that the FCO currently has travel warnings for.

Even if you are not interested in travelling the world the map provides an interesting view of countries currently affected by conflict or disaster. Do bear in mind however that where the FCO has issued more localised warnings, for example not to visit Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, The Guardian's map displays the whole country as unsafe.

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Finding the Best Hotels with Google Maps

The Best City Hotels in the World

Last the week The Guardian published a Google Map mapping the newspaper's travel videos, called Video Breaks Around the World. This week they have created a Google Map highlighting the best city hotels in the world.

So far the paper has mapped out the best hotels in 32 cities across the world, 'hand-picked by locals and experts from San Francisco to Beijing'. The Guardian says it has plans to add more cities to the map in the future.

You can select to view a city's hotels from the drop-down menu in the map sidebar. If you then click on the individual hotel markers you can read The Guardian's review.

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Travel Suggestions with Google Maps

Wanderfly

Wanderfly is a new travel suggestion site. Tell Wanderfly where you are leaving from, how much money you have and the sorts of activities you are interested in and it recommends travel destinations based on your preferences.

Wanderfly will recommend flights and hotels. It will also recommend places to see and visit based on your activity preferences. Google Maps is used to show the location of each of your recommendations.

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Travel Videos on Google Maps

Video Breaks Around the World

It is easy to forget what a great mapping tool Google My Maps is. Even without programming skills you can use Google My Maps to create a great Google Maps application.

This map from The Guardian newspaper is a nice example of what can be created with My Maps. The map showcases The Guardian's travel video collection, from taxi driver tours of Buenos Aires to atmospheric backstreet workshops in Istanbul.

The map uses custom map markers and allows you to view The Guardian's travel videos directly from the map. So. if you have a little time this weekend. you can while away the hours with a little sightseeing from the comfort of your own home.

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