Google NewsMap Video Mashup
MediaScrape is an Internet news network that is now integrated with Google Maps to help you find news videos by location throughout the world.
Breaking news videos from around the world are posted on the MediaScrape website and plotted on an interactive Google Map. MediaScrape’s Google NewsMap service has direct links to the standard fare of news categories and is also searchable by keyword, continent or country. You can also register an account on the Media Scrape website in order to manage the online news videos you choose to view.
MediaScrape has partnered with a dozens of broadcast news outlets including the British Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Asia News International. But what is especially cool is MediaScrape’s online mapping mashup solicits news videos from the public as well. This in effect makes everyone a potential online news reporter – a million eyeballs see everything.
Map the Locations of IP Addresses
You can map the location of an IP address using the new IP Locate This mapping mashup. Simply enter any IP address or hostname into the IP location interface and a Google map will map its geographic location.
According to this IP mapping website, IP Locate This IP location service is 95% accurate. As a test run I gave it the IP address that I typically surf the web from (I live in northern NH USA) and was given the IP address of Albany, NY. This is likely the location of my internet service provider.
I also tried the hostname of my own nameserver which was mapped very accurately.
Give the IP Locate This website a try – its fun and may come in handy when you want to track down just where a certain IP address or hostname is located.
Yahoo Map Mixer Beta
The Yahoo Map Mixer allows you to easily combine Yahoo maps with your own map to make a hybrid map. What makes this especially interesting is that your map does not have to be in the same scale as the Yahoo Map. This is a mapping mashup at its finest.
Using Yahoo Map Mixer
Simply upload a copy of your map in .jpg or .gif format and you are taken to a screen that displays Yahoo Maps on the right side and your map on the left. Navigate the Yahoo map so that you are in the same area that your map covers. Then simply select two points that both maps have in common.
Yahoo Map Mixer will complete the necessary calculations to fit your map over the Yahoo map. You can then tweak your map and publish it online for all to see. Easy map overlays for the masses.
Map Mixer Limitations
Of course you wouldn't want to use the maps that the Yahoo mapping mixer process creates for GIS purposes. But for everyday use where you need to get your additional map information onto the street maps or satellite imagery Yahoo maps provides, this is an excellent little mapping service.
Give the new Yahoo Map Mixer a try!
Interactive Map of Coalition Military Fatalities in Iraq
This online map interactively displays coalition military fatalities in Iraq across the dimensions of time and space.
The Map of Coalition Military Fatalities in Iraq runs in animation at the rate of ten frames per second, each frame mapping the fatalities for that day. You can toggle the fatalities of some 18 coalition countries on and off the map.
An unusual facet of this interactive map is the use of sound. Each audible “tic” represents the relative number of military fatalities for each individual day as compared to others.
Map Key
- One Frame per second equals one day.
- Black dot maps geographic location of a fatality.
- Dot starts with a white flash and red dot
- The red dot fades to black over 30 days then slowly fades to gray over the entire span of the Iraq war.
- More fatalities in an area produce deeper reds.
- Tic sound for each fatality as it is mapped
- Sound increases according to the number of simultaneous fatalities
- More deaths in an area causes louder tics
Free Online Open Source GIS Courses
The Florida State University Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) is offering free open source GIS courses online for the general public.
The free GIS courses are available starting September 17th and include
- Summer 2007 GIS Courses
- ClassIntroduction to Diva GIS (GIS 101)
- Fall 2007 GIS Courses
- A Practical Look at Diva GIS (GIS 101)
- A Practical Look at MapWindow GIS (GIS 102)
- A Practcal Look At Quantum GIS (GIS 103)
- A Practcal Look At uDig (GIS 104)
- A Practcal Look At BASIN4 (GIS 105)
- A Practcal Look At AccuGlobe 2007 (GIS 202)
- Spring 2008 GIS Course(s)
- gvSIG (GIS 108)
- OpenJUMP (GIS 107)
- OSSIM (GIS 106)
- SAGA (GIS 109)
- Summer 2008 GIS Courses
- Forestry GIS (GIS 201)
As time allows I am looking forward to participating in these free GIS courses. I earned a GIS degree way back in 1998 but got into web programming instead of pursuing a GIS career and so am a bit rusty!
Hope to see you guys online at the free open source GIS courses!Mapping Manhattan Skyscraper Districts Through Time
The Skyscraper Museum website has a series of online maps created in flash. Their aim is to map the relationships between the skyscrapers of Manhattan and layers of urban information including geology, settlement patterns, transportation, real estate cycles and more.
The Mapping Manhattan Skyscraper Districts Through Time map series includes:
Animated Manhattan Map
3-D cartographic history of lower Manhattan Island related to high rise office buildings and real estate. You can rotate and spin the map for a variety of perspectives
Transparent Map of New York
An interactive map of Manhattan that allows you to turn a variety of cartographic and date layers on and off.
Manhattan Timetable Map
An interactive map of skyscraper views looking up Broadway or from the East River at time periods you can select starting from 1893.
Perspectival Fly-Through Map
A map depicting all the map’s layers stacked over each other. The viewer can fly through them.
The Mapping Manhattan Skyscraper Districts Through Time map series is a little different than most online mapping projects and for that reason alone certainly deserves consideration.
Walk Score Maps
Walk score is an interactive online mapping website created for homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents. If you enjoy walking as much as I do, it is an important part of deciding where to purchase a home or rent an apartment. Walk Score is an excellent real estate planning tool.
Using the map interface Walk Score will find the amenities within walking range of an address you type in. A list with distances is provided that includes such necessities of life as restaurants, stores, schools, and bars. The Google Map displayed contains clickable icons with information associated with items in the list.
I had some fun using the Walk Score online mapping tool. First I entered my own address and verified that the map is indeed quite accurate. Then I tried mapping addresses like 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I was surprised about the walk score of the local prison and thought perhaps there is also room for Run Score online mapping software.
Give the Walk Score online map a run.
Wind Speed Assessment Map
A wind speed map covering the United States has been mashed up by FirstLook. Intended for renewable energy development, the wind speed map can be used to assess potential areas to harness wind for power generation.
The Wind Speed Map
Simply clicking anywhere on the wind speed map will give you latitude and longitude and the wind speed at that position for 20, 50, or 80 meters above the surface. You can also select positions by entering an address or the latitude and longitude.
The wind speed map was created using some two thousand airport and towers for wind speed observations. The FirstLook wind assessment mapping site also offers a detailed wind report for the positions you select.
The Wind Assessment Map tool is another great use of online mapping.
Interactive Heat Loss Map
The interactive heat loss map on the Haringey Council website is an excellent means of getting individuals to act. According to the website about a third of the money spent heating improperly insulated homes and business is wasted through heat loss.
A map showing all the homes in an area colored by the rate of heat they are loosing to the environment is posted online for all to see. An aerial thermographic survey was flown for thermal imaging data layer.
Rather than sift through pages of dry data searching for how the heat loss of their home compares with the neighbors, a simple glance at theinteractive heat loss map tells all. I know if I were the owner of a house mapped in red I would be glad to know how much heat my home is losing and I would get the heat loss problem taken care of before the cold of winter sets in.
The Haringey Interactive Heat Loss Map is certainly a call to action for home an business owners concerned about the rising cost of heat, global warming, and natural resources.
San Francisco Solar Map Website
The State of California and in particular the city of San Francisco are big on the environment. So it comes as no surprise that the San Francisco Department of the Environment has created its own interactive mapping tool for its solar power website.
The San Francisco Solar Map website features an online mapping tool that displays the positions of solar power installations at residential, municipal, and commercial sites throughout the city. Clicking an interactive map icon displays information about the solar power at that location including the systems size and a link to the company that installed the system.
The website uses Google Maps, allowing you to zoom right in using satellite view in order to see the rooftops on which most of the solar power systems are installed.
But the solar power mapping tool goes beyond that. You can enter your address to obtain the size of your roof, and estimates of:
- Solar PV potential in kW
- Electricity produced kWH per year
- Savings in dollars per year
- Carbon savings in pounds toward the reduction of global warming
- A nearby solar power installer
You can also click a link that brings you to the Clean Power Estimator web page of the California Energy Commission for more detailed information.
Currently there are some 585 solar power installations in San Francisco with a goal of 10,000 over the next 5 years. Give the San Francisco Solar Map website a visit, an excellent example of what can be done with online mapping.
