Google Map of London Coffee Houses

London Coffee Houses of the 17th & 18th Century

Inspired by the recent Atlas of the Rhode Island Book Trade I decided to create a map of the London Coffee Houses of the 17th & 18th centuries.

In their heyday there were over 2,000 coffee houses in London. Much has been written about the importance of the coffee house as providing a public sphere for discussion and debate that was largely free from class distinction. Many of modern day London's most important institutions were formed from meetings that first took place in the coffee houses of this time, including the Stock Exchange, Lloyds of London and the Royal Academy.

This Google Map shows the (often approximate) location of some of the most influential of the coffee houses of the 17th & 18th centuries. In creating the map I used Esa's Google Maps API v3 Sidebar with makeMarker() template. I used the Styled Maps function to make the map grey-scale and for the markers I used an image from google-maps-icons.

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Overheard in New York on Google Maps

Overplot

Here is an oldie that should brighten up your day. Overplot last featured on Google Maps Mania over four years ago but is as funny as ever.

Overplot maps funny conversations overheard in New York and posted to Overheard in New York. Each conversation posted has a fairly precise location attached so Overplot is able to display the conversations on a Google Map of New York.

If you are interested in how the map was created there is also a lengthy explanation at persistant.info.

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Create Your Own Google Maps

TargetMap

TargetMap is a powerful new creation tool to make your own Google Map mashups.

To create a map with TargetMap you can import data from an Excel file. Target Map can then automatically geocode your data as long as it includes zip / postal codes. It is also possible to use data from other public TargetMaps. Maps created with TargetMap can be shared online and embedded in blogs and websites.

All maps created with TargetMaps can be shared via the TargetMaps public library where all maps are available for viewing.

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The New York Marathon on Google Maps

New Balance - New York Marathon Map

This beautiful looking application from New Balance shows you Flickr photographs on a stylised Google Map that uses custom made map tiles.

The map shows the New York Marathon route and allows you to view geotagged photographs of previous New York marathons directly on the map. To view a photograph you can click on the small red map markers or select from the thumbnails at the bottom of the map.

As well as the map you can leave messages of support for individual runners, find the best locations to view the race and find places to eat around the route.

Going the Distance - The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal have also created a map of the New York Marathon route. The map includes the route, an elevations chart and Street Views of the route.

My favourite feature of the Wall Street Journal's map is the superb integration between the elevation chart and Street View. If you hover your mouse along the elevation chart the Street View will update to show the respective view. Very cool.

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Street View Germany - Part 2

Schloss Solitude

What first appeared to be a very small release by Google Maps of Street View in the small southern town of Oberstaufen has begun to look a little more extensive.

As well as Oberstaufen a number of German landmarks also now seem to have Street View. These include:

Munich's Allianz Arena
Berlin's Siegessäule
The Bundestag
Munich's Konigsplatz
Schloss Solitude
Kohlbrandbrucke
Imtech Arena, Hamburg
Theatreplatz, Dresden
Millerntor Stadium, Hamburg
SC Freiburg
Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern
FC Koln
Bay Arena, Leverkusen
Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund
FC Schalke
AWD Arena, Hannover



Theatreplatz, Dresden

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First German Street View Animation

Street View Drives

I think I can claim a world's first here. I've just added an animated drive along Munich's Konigsplatz to my Street View Drives collection.

The Konigsplatz drive is the last image on the page. If you open up Street View Drive and scroll to the bottom of the page and then click on the Konigsplatz link you will be able to watch the animated drive.

As well as this new animation you can also view Street View animations of Stonehenge, the Eiffel Tower and other locations around the world.

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Street View Arrives in Germany - Updated

Google have released Street View for the first time in Germany. The small town of Oberstaufen in southern Germany is one of the first places to get Street View in the country.



You may wonder why the small town of Oberstaufen has been chosen to launch Street View in Germany. The answer it seems is that whilst some Germans have been less than keen to see Street View in their country the town of Oberstaufen was kind enough to bake Google a cake.

Yes folks, all you have to do is show Google a little love and they will reciprocate. (via DW-worlde.de)


Update

I've just discovered that Munich's Allianz Arena and Berlin's Siegessäule and Bundestag have also been added to Street View.



I suspect that other small patches of Street View may also have been added today. My guess is that Google may have added a number of public spaces that won't cause too many bad headlines over invasion of privacy.



Leave a comment if you find any more German Street View imagery.




Munich's Konigsplatz

Via: Street View Funny

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Travel Times on Google Maps

Mapnificent

Mapnificent is a Google Maps mashup that shows how far you can travel on public transport for any given time period in a number of worldwide cities. The Berlin map has been around for a while but Mapnificent now works in London, a large number of US cities, in Auckland and in Perth.

To navigate to a city just click on its map marker. Next click on any location in your chosen city, set the length of time and the map will add a layer to the map showing the areas that you can travel to in that time from your location.

This map is an amazing resource for anyone who is looking to buy a property and wants to work out the areas within a set commuting time from their work place. As an added bonus you can use OSM map tiles instead of Google Maps or you can view a 'night' view created with the Google Maps API V3 Styled Maps function.

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Voting Help from Google Maps

Google Election Center

Google have released an experimental service called Google Election Center that lets election officials provide data directly to Google. Developers can then access the data by embedding an open source Election Center gadget on their websites, or use the gadget code or an API to build their own application.

The Election Center gadget allows voters to enter their address and find their nearest polling station on a Google Map. The API allows developers to retrieve polling location and candidate information for a specific election, given an address.

The Google Election Center can also be accessed on mobile phones from the dedication mobile site m.google.com/elections

Via: Google LatLong

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Louisiana Planning on Google Maps

Center for Planning Excellence

The Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) is a non-profit organization that coordinates urban, rural and regional planning efforts in Louisiana. The Center's website features a prominent Google Map that is used to help guide visitors to the content specific to their location.

The map has been designed with a great deal of care and attention to detail. The marker menu sits above the map and slides into view only when you click on one of the categories. The markers and information windows have been custom designed to fit the overall design of the Center's website.

Louisiana itself is highlighted on the map with a different colour and when you select a region or neighbourhood then that area is also highlighted on the map. If you click on any of the map markers the content for that location is loaded below the map.

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