Russian Greenpeace on Google Maps

Greenpeace has released a Google Map of recycling stations in Moscow.

The map shows the locations of recycling stations for paper, glass, plastic bottles, old electronics and clothing in the Russian capital. The map includes custom made markers that are colour coordinated to indicate the type of recycling possible at each station.

It is also possible for users to add the location of missing recycling locations to the map.

Greenpeace - Moscow Recycling Map

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Finding Friends with Google Maps

ecocedu

This Russian website uses Google and Yandex Maps to show the locations of user submitted photographs and messages.

The most interesting feature of ecocedu is the mapping of user submitted messages. Anyone can choose a location on the map and leave a message about a 'neighbour'. Messages can be left to try and track down old friends. For example,

"My friend lived here in 1990. He was called ....... Does anyone know where he lives now?"

Using the map control buttons at the top of the map it is possible to view Google road or satellite maps or Yandex road and satellite map tiles.

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Russian Widfire Tracking Maps

At the time of writing 48 people are reported to have died and seven regions are under a state of emergency as a result of the wildfires raging in Russia. In response to the crisis a number of maps attempting to track the fires have been created.

Russian-Fires.ru

Russian-Fires are using the Ushahidi map reporting system to help provide a Google Map showing the fires. Users can inform Russian-Fires about other incidents by e-mail or via Twitter.

The map shows the location of fires and blocked roads. Along the bottom of the map is a time-line so you can change the dates to view data for different periods of time. Fires on the map are also listed in chronological order under the map.


Andrei's Blog has been doing a good job reporting on other online maps tracking the Russian fires. Russian website Yandex has its own Fire Map as does GeoMixer.

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Historical Moscow on Google Maps

Oldmos

Oldmos is a Russian website of historical photographs of Moscow. The home page of Oldmos features a prominent Google Map that shows the location of the historical photographs submitted to the site.

You can pan and zoom the map to view the photographs from different locations. You can also use the slider below the map to select to view only photographs from a specific date range. As well as browsing the historical photographs by map you can also browse them by those recently added and those that are top rated.

Via: Google Maps Mania.ru (no relation) and Andrei's Blog

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Real-Time Buses in Novosibirsk

Nskgortrans

The city of Novosibirsk in Russia has released a real-time tracking Google Map for the city's bus network. Using the map it is possible to view the locations in real-time of all the city's buses.

You can select to view buses on any individual bus line or select a combination of any lines. If you click on any of the displayed buses on a line you can view the schedule of when it will arrive at the stops on its route.

There is also a mobile phone optimised version of the site so that you can see how far away the next bus is when you are actually standing at a bus-stop.

Via: Andrei's Blog

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Location Reminders with Google Maps

Epythia

Google Calendar is a great application for reminding you of your important appointments and meetings. It can even show you on a Google Map the locations of your appointments. What it can't do is remind you to do something when you come near a specific location.

This is where Epythia comes in. Epythia is a new (currently in Beta) service that can remind you to do something when you are in the proximity of a defined location. For example, you can set a reminder to pick up those freshly roasted coffee beans when you come within a mile of your favourite coffee shop. Then whenever you happen to be passing within touching distance Epythia will ping you your reminder.

This is such a simple but brilliant idea. I'm always reading about exhibitions, cafes and shops that I like the sound of and thinking I must visit them when I'm in the area. Nine times of ten however I will forget. With Epythia I no longer have to miss out.

Epythia is currently in Beta. This means that you can set reminders for locations and set the radius within which you wish to be reminded. However, unless I'm missing something (a lot of the site is in Russian) there doesn't actually seem to be an app yet which will ping you the reminder.

I am assuming that applications will be on the way soon for most smart phones. Meanwhile you can always access your saved map on your phone's browser just to check what locations you have posted to visit.

Via: http://twitter.com/andreitr

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The Trans Siberian Express on Google Maps

Virtual Journey on Google Maps

If you like trains then you will love this Google Maps mashup. Google.ru have created this brilliant virtual journey of the Trans Siberian Express route using Google Maps and YouTube.

To start the journey just press play on the YouTube video and sit back and imagine you are travelling across Russia to Vladivostok. The video shows the view from the train and the location in the video is automatically updated on the Google Map in real time.

It is also possible to click on the town names along the route to skip to that section of the journey.

This mashup is a lot more sophisticated and much better done than some of my own Google Maps & YouTube virtual train journeys. However if you love trains you might also want to check out my mapped train journeys featuring YouTube videos:

The Orient Express
The Place on Wheels (India)
The Glacier Express
The Vermonter

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Russian Google Maps Mashups Round-Up

Russian website linkstore.ru does a really good job of tracking Russian based Google Maps mashups. Here is a pick of some of their latest finds.

Unfortunately Russian isn't one of my languages, so there may be one or two mistakes in this round-up.

Retromap

If you love maps then you will love this website.

Retromap uses the Google Maps API to display a large collection of historical maps of Moscow. The collection includes 18th century maps, maps from the 19th century, pre-revolutionary 20th century maps and many more modern 20th century maps of the Russian capital.

Авто-услуги

This website maps and reviews garages, gas stations, driving schools and traffic police locations in Russia. It is possible to search the database of added locations directly from a Google Map. The site includes a rating system and user contributed reviews.

RealMetrs
RealMetrs is a Russian real-estate website that uses Google Maps to display the location of properties. It is possible to search for properties by price, type of property and location. The results of a search are displayed in list form with an accompanying Google Map displaying property locations.

Афиша

This Russian events and entertainment guide lists upcoming concerts, films, club nights and exhibitions. The site makes liberal use of Google Maps throughout to provide guides to venues in Russian cities and to show the location of upcoming events.

Банкоматор

This Google Maps mashup shows the locations of payment terminals and ATMs in Moscow. It is possible to select to view ATMs by the name of the bank and it is also possible to search the map by district or by a named street.

Via: linkstore.ru

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Even More Russian Street View

Gdeetotdom

Gdeeetotdom is a Russian website that uses Google Maps as a means to navigate its 'street view' type interactive panoramic images and to display photographs of houses. The site has imagery coverage for a large part of Moscow and several other cities.

The interactive panoramas work in much the same way as Google's Street View with interactive arrows within each panorama that are used to navigate to the adjacent image. Each still photograph on the map contains a link to a description of that house and links to real-estate adverts for each house.

NORC

NORC uses Google Maps as the means to navigate around the 'street view' type panoramas. Unfortunately NORC does not have links within each panorama, so you can't use arrows to jump to the adjacent image. Instead you have to drag the map marker to the location you want to view.

NORC also doesn't seem to have quite as much coverage in Moscow as Yandex. However it does have some stunning panoramas of Russia's capital.

Yandex - Russian Street View

Russian search engine Yandex have added Street View type functionality to their online mapping service. At the moment the imagery seems confined to Moscow but it does appear that the whole city is covered.

Here are some direct links to some Yandex street views in Moscow:

• Bolshoi Theatre
• Entrance to Moscow Zoo
• Ostankino Tower
• The Kremlin

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More Russian 'Street View'

NORC

Yesterday I linked to Russian search engine Yandex's online map service, which has a street view type service for Moscow. In the comments to that post someone pointed out that NORC also has a map with panoramic imagery for Moscow.

NORC uses Google Maps as the means to navigate around the 'street view' type panoramas. Unfortunately NORC does not have links within each panorama, so you can't use arrows to jump to the adjacent image. Instead you have to drag the map marker to the location you want.

NORC also doesn't seem to have quite as much coverage in Moscow as Yandex. However it does have some stunning panoramas of Russia's capital.

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Friday Fun Part Two - Russian Street View

Yandex - Russian Street View

Russian search engine Yandex have added Street View type functionality to their online mapping service. At the moment the imagery seems confined to Moscow but it does appear that the whole city is covered.

Here are some direct links to some Yandex street views in Moscow:

• Bolshoi Theatre
• Entrance to Moscow Zoo
• Ostankino Tower
• The Kremlin
  

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Russian Google Maps Roundup

Aroundme

Aroundme is a very nicely designed Google Maps based social sharing site for Moscow. Registered users are able to show the location of their favourite places in Moscow and find points of interest added by other users.

Mirtesen

Mirtesen is a social networking site that uses Google Maps to show the location of members. As well as allowing members to make new friends and connections the site also encourages the social sharing of points of interest.

Sosedi-Online
This Google Map mashup is designed so that neighbours can connect online. It is a forum for people to help each other learn more about their city and the region. The site allows users to not only connect with other users but to rate and review local locations and learn more about their neighbourhood.

Via: Abavanet, Google Maps Mania.RU

Rusavtobus

Rusvatobus have partnered with Moscow's transport authority to provide an English guide to the city's public transport system on Google Maps. Using the map it is possible to enter your starting and finishing destination. The map then displays the best route you can take using public transport.

The route is displayed on the map and listed in detail under the map.

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