June 2005
- New Full-Text RSS Feed
- A new full-text RSS feed is now available. The original, excerpts-only feed is still available, and will remain as the default feed for autodiscovery. But those of you who’ve been asking for a full-text feed now have that option. (In…
- Maps from the National Library of South Africa
- Digital Fine Art, which does reproductions from the collections of the National Library of South Africa, has a couple of pages of scans of 17th- and 18th-century maps of Africa and, more specifically, the Cape. Thanks to PK for the…
- Mapufacture and worldKit
- The O’Reilly Network has an article by Mikel Maron, the creator of Mapufacture and worldKit, that introduces us to what those two tools can do. Mapufacture is a new service to browse, build, and share interactive web maps, on a…
- Electronic Charts for Boaters
- Motor Boating’s Electronics department periodically reviews charting and navigation software (see previous entry); this review of three brands is from their June 2005 issue….
- Wired on Google Earth
- Wired’s article on Google Earth examines a heretofore overlooked feature: “Google Earth’s true special sauce is the way it allows users to create markers for just about any venue or location, write a note describing it and then share it…
- Boston Globe Coverage of Google Maps API
- The Boston Globe’s Peter Howe has a story on the Google Maps API release (see previous entry), with a quote from yours truly….
- Google Earth Downloads Halted
- Google has halted downloads of Google Earth for now; it seems that their plan was to limit the number of users of the new, beta service. It’s something they’ve done before with betas — think Gmail — and is probably…
- Maps as State Secrets
- If you’re bemoaning the lack of open geographical data in your country, the following should give you pause. In Russia, public maps are limited to a scale of 1:100,000, with secret installations “cleansed”; higher-resolution maps are considered state secrets, their…
- Sprol
- Sprol is a relatively new blog that uses satellite imagery to draw attention to the effects of environmental predation. Via MetaFilter….
- Yahoo! Maps API
- Yahoo! Maps, not wanting to be counted out, also has an API; on a more basic level, see their guide to how to link to maps on their service. Via O’Reilly Radar. (Corrected.) Update: Jeffrey McManus: Why the Yahoo! Maps…
- Google Maps API; More Google Links
- Google has released an API for embedding Google Maps in your own web pages via JavaScript. Hacking Google Maps has just gone legit — not that Google seems to have had much complaint with the majority of the hacks out…
- Getting Lost with Mapping Sites
- An article in yesterday’s New York Times (free registration required) about getting lost using the directions in online mapping services. Key graf: “Roughly 1 in 50 computer-generated directions is a dud, according to Doug Richardson, the executive director for the…
- Tube Disruptions Movie
- Fed up with delays on the London Underground, Stef took Transport for London’s tube disruption maps and spliced them together into a three-minute time-lapse movie that shows delays over a 15-day period. The result? “London Underground is disruption free, a…
- Where 2.0
- The Where 2.0 Conference gets under way today. Update: Here’s Nathan Torkington’s opening address….
- Google Earth
- Google Earth is out. Requires a fast Windows PC. Three subscription levels, the basic one free. More once I’ve had a chance to look through the site; post your take in the comments. Via Google Blog. See previous entries: Google…
- Mapping Bumpy Streets in Cambridge, Mass.
- Noah Vawter’s project for a class at MIT was to map the bumpiness of Cambridge streets. Via MAKE: Blog….
- Fisk’s Geological Investigation
- Pruned has discovered Harold Fisk’s 1944 Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River, the text and plates of which are available for download from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers web site (though at hundreds of…
- Sheffield Historical Society Exhibition
- Through July 10 at the Old Stone Store in Sheffield, Mass., an exhibit from the Sheffield Historical Society called Mapping Our Way into the Future, featuring surveying equipment and regional maps from the 18th century to the present….
- India and the Mercator
- Writing in India’s Financial Express, Y. R. K. Reddy calls for India to discard the “racist” Mercator projection, which makes “our country look so small on the map,” and advocates a switch to the Peters projection (about which see previous…
- Mapping Hacks Now Out
- Mapping Hacks (see previous entry) is finally shipping after some delays; Directions has a review. The book went to press too soon to take account of all the Google Maps hacks that have sprung up in the meantime, so they’ve…
- High-Resolution Google Satellite Maps for the Rest of the World
- Pyramids, uploaded by Alison Biggs. Scavengeroogle and WorldChanging are among those who’ve discovered that Google Maps’s satellite imagery for the rest of the world just got a lot more detailed, with high-resolution images available for a number of cities and…
- A Plea for Open-Source Public Transit Maps
- Over on environmental blog WorldChanging, Jeremy Faludi calls for open-source public transit mapping services, on the basis that online mapping services are focused on driving directions rather than transit, and that transit services aren’t as useful or user-friendly, and lack…
- Google Maps Meets the U.S. Census
- The mother of all mash-ups, perhaps: gCensus combines Google Maps with data from the 2000 U.S. Census — down to the block level. Via Boing Boing….
- Lewis and Clark: A Satellite View
- The USGS uses satellite imagery to trace the route of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It’s good for showing the topography, but the subsequent development and cultivation, particularly east of the Rockies, shatters the illusion somewhat. Via Gadling….
- More Widgets
- If you’re running Mac OS X 10.4 “Tiger”, here are a couple more map-related Dashboard widgets. Quick lookups are the epitome of Dashboard, so it makes sense that location- and mapping-based widgets will proliferate; it’s worthwhile to keep an eye…
- New York City Traceroute
- A GPS traceroute of a year’s worth of walking and biking in New York — mostly Manhattan and Brooklyn — by a single person. Beyond neat. Via Gadling….
- Vector One: “Mapping Is About Freedom”
- Vector One is “a spatially related blog” by Jeff Thurston, focusing mostly on locative technologies and GIS; it’s been running for a year but I only found out about it late last week. Shame on me. In a recent post,…
- Google Maps Upgrades?
- While there’s been no formal announcement of it, it looks like Google Maps has had an upgrade; reports of various improvements are trickling in from around the web. Scavengeroogle notes a change in the magnification slider; Here Be Dragons and…
- More French EU Referendum Results
- Following up on this post, Alain Wrobel submits this page analysing the results of last month’s French EU referendum, on which he worked; it breaks down the results for several regions and shows some rather high (I think) absention and…
- A Few Pages About Theodolites
- Theodolites are surveying equipment used in triangulation. They’ve turned up on a couple of web pages recently: Ethel the Frog wants to know how to use one, and Languagehat looks at the origins of the word (see also)….
- Ingo Günther’s Globes
- World Processor showcases the globes of Ingo Günther, which depict social, environmental and political data: everything from life expectancy to pollution to wealth distribution. Via WorldChanging….
- Revising Wainwright
- Alfred Wainwright’s seven-volume Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells (reissued box set), published between 1955 and 1966, were apparently marvels of art and detail (though I haven’t found any samples online), and have served as the definitive guides to hiking…
- Mid-June Google Maps Roundup
- Some more hacks, news and commentary about Google Maps that I’ve been saving up for another one of these roundup posts: Google Maps hacking gets mentioned on CNN (via Google Maps Mania). Google has deployed a 3D mapping truck in…
- Whither GIS?
- A Directions magazine editorial, An Open Letter to GIS/Geospatial Software Companies, argues that between data providers providing mapping data to companies like Google, who then build hackable web tools, that are then used by GPS users to build custom maps…
- The Mapquiz
- Marc de Kam writes to plug his map quiz site, called, oddly enough, The Mapquiz: “The mapquiz shows you a series of mapfragments, and each time the question is: where is this? Some fragments are placed in a different perspective,…
- Asia Through Western Eyes
- Another map exhibition in Taiwan: at the National Palace Museum in Taipei until August 31, The World and its Warp and Woof: A Special Exhibition of Antique Maps Donated by Prof. Johannes Hajime Iizuka, featuring 33 maps donated by Iizuka…
- 1946 U.S. Railroad Atlas, Volume Two
- Last year I covered the first volume in Richard Carpenter’s series of historical railroad atlases covering the United States in 1946. I actually got it for Christmas last year: because I’m not familiar with the mid-Atlantic states the first volume…
- Review of A History of Spaces
- Cristina D’Alessandro-Scarpari reviews A History of Spaces (by John Pickles) for EspacesTemps.net. Not for the academically disinclined: “A History of Spaces is certainly about geography and maps, but it is mainly a questioning of the processes of map-making and of…
- 1895 U.S. Atlas
- The 1895 U.S. Atlas features reasonably high-resolution scans of maps of U.S. states, counties and territories from that year. Via Plep (our countdown to International Plep Day continues)….
- Internet Atlas of the Netherlands
- Because it’s all in Dutch, of course, I can’t say much about the Internet Atlas of the Netherlands, except that it looks comprehensive. Via Plep — don’t forget to get your shopping done for International Plep Day (the second Monday…
- Google Shuts Down Map Hack
- Sooner or later it had to happen: a Google Maps hack crossing a previously unknown line and Google putting a stop to the fun. Google’s been pretty good about hacks in general (see previous entries: 1, 2), but they’ve informed…
- Waldseemuller’s Map Goes for £545,600
- An update. One of four surviving copies of Martin Waldseemuller’s 1507 map — the first to label the New World as “America” — went for £545,600 at auction at Christie’s today. See previous entry. It’s the most any map has…
- One Planet, Many People
- A new atlas announced Saturday by the UN, titled One Planet, Many People, shows the impact of the last 30 years of human development in a dramatic way, by showing before and after satellite photography of various locations. Sample images…
- Gaelic-only Maps
- Maps can be normative as well as descriptive; the names contained thereon can reflect politics as much as common usage. Thanks to a new law, maps and road signs of western Ireland will be in Gaelic only, even if the…
- A Literary Map of Manhattan: The Results
- Back in April, Randy Cohen solicited submissions from readers of the New York Times Book Review for a literary map of Manhattan (see previous entry). That map is now online as scheduled, and it’s well done: interactive, with lots of…
- Google Maps Wallpapers
- Google Maps Wallpapers is another hack (see previous entry) allowing you to build wallpapers — think posters or desktop backgrounds — from Google Maps satellite images. Via MAKE: Blog….
- Traffic Maps for Portland, Oregon
- The Oregon Department of Transportation’s TripCheck site provides traffic information for the Portland area, including a neat speed map, which is a great way of visualizing congestion. Via Matt….
- Google Maps Hacking Resources
- A trio of tools for Google Maps hacking: the Unofficial Google Maps Embedding How-To seems to supercede the GMaps-Standalone hack I linked to earlier (via Google Maps Mania); Noah’s Google Maps Hack for Large Maps allows you to make poster-sized…
- Dutch EU Referendum Results
- Webmapper, whose author is kind of Dutch himself, critiques the maps made by Dutch newspapers to display the results of the Netherlands’ EU constitution referendum, which took place yesterday. (The best of which, incidentally, is probably this one, but see…
- MapQuest Goes Paper
- MapQuest. Remember them? You wouldn’t know it from all the buzz about Google over the last few months (er, guilty), but MapQuest still claims to have a 70 per cent share of the online mapping market. Now, whereas traditional businesses…
- British Google Maps Mashups
- O’Reilly Radar has a post about some very neat British Google Maps mashups that use data from BBC Backstage, including one for travel advisories, Sport Map (for teams and news about them), and this one, which links to images from…
- Seoul and Beijing: The Best and the Worst
- Mark Eadie eviscerates Beijing Public Transport’s web maps: Nowhere, on this sorry excuse for an information system, do you get the smallest piece of information about bus routes or times. This has to be the most useless example of GPS…
