Google Map of the Week

Normally the Google Maps of the Week is a round-up of the best maps to have featured on Google Maps Mania in the previous week. This week we have saved the best to last.



Levi's Roadwear is a clever marketing campaign that uses the Google Maps API to help promote Levi's jeans. The application maps out and lets users explore the Levi's Roadwear range of clothes.



The app includes two map layers, 'terrain' and 'denim'. The terrain layer uses custom made map tiles of a sketch of the Roadwear range. If you switch to the denim layer the tiles switch to a photograph view of the clothes.



Using the zoom controls you can zoom in on details in both layers. The app also includes an animated tour of the map that includes videos and photographs of a band, Mermonkey, undertaking a fictional tour around Levi's Roadwear range.



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Google Maps of the Week

Discovery Channel - Remembering 9/11



Nearly everybody can remember where they were when they heard that flight 11 had flown into the World Trade Center’s North Tower and that the South Tower had collapsed.



The Discovery Channel has created this Google Map to commemorate the collective presence and kindness of strangers that got many people through the unimaginable horrors they witnessed that day.



Hipmunk



Hipmunk, the flight planning and booking tool, has added a new hotel search function that includes an interesting hotspot facility.



Hipmunk allows users to search for hotels by location and date. The results of each search are shown on a Google Map, with green markers showing the cheapest rates and red the most expensive. It is also possible to sort the results by price, reviews and distance.



Hipmunk also allows users to overlay a number of heatmaps over the results. The heatmaps help the user to see which areas of their destination have high and low concentrations of restaurants, museums, bars etc.

Google Maps of the Week

Maersk Fleet - Live Map

Real-time Google Maps tracking vehicles can be particularly useful for public transit passengers. However shipping company Maersk show that they can be equally effective as a marketing tool.

This Google Map allows you to track in real-time the huge shipping containers of Maersk as they travel around the world. The position of the ships are displayed live on the map and you can click on any of the ship map markers to view a photograph of the ship and read further details.

The map is a really effective tool in demonstrating the size of the Maersk fleet of shipping containers.

Maori Maps

This Google Map displays the locations of the tribal marae of Aotearoa New Zealand. A marae is a communal or sacred place, the centre of Maori identity and activity.

Maori Maps is a nationwide map of Aotearoa marae, with photos of each marae, contact and background information, and photographs. Currently the map displays marae in the Tai Tokerau (Northland) and Tamaki (Auckland) regions. Eventually the map will show all of Aotearoa’s more than 800 ancestral marae.

Oxfam's Food Price Pressure Points Map

This new Google Map, created by Oxfam, shows how poor communities across the world are being hurt by high and volatile food prices. The map displays countries that are highly vulnerable to price spikes, have seen price spikes contribute to violence or unrest, or have suffered extreme weather events that have contributed to price hikes.

If you click on any of marked food pressure points you can read about the cause of the problem at that location and the impact that it is having on people's lives.

The map is available in English, Spanish and French and can be embedded in any website.

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Google Maps of the Week

They Draw & Travel - World Map

They Draw & Travel is a collection of wonderful user submitted hand drawn maps.

The World Map lets you browse the maps submitted to They Draw & Travel on Google Maps. You can click on any of the map markers and view the hand drawn map submitted for that location.

One Day on Earth

On 10.10.10 One Day on Earth asked people around the world to create a video of their world. The goal of the project was to "create an open shareable archive and documentary film of the world on 10/10/10."

You can browse and watch the thousands of videos that were contributed around the world on this Google Map.

#rorschmap

I only found this map yesterday and it has already become a firm favourite.

#rorschmap uses the Google Maps API to create a kaleidoscope for any location on the Earth. Essentially the application displays the Google Maps satellite view of a location and, using the same principle of multiple reflection that you find in kaleidoscopes, creates an animated Rorschach test effect.

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The Pick of this Week's Google Maps

Met Office: Storm Tracker

The UK Met Office has created a new Google Maps based application to monitor and forecast tropical cyclones around the world.

The application allows you to view worldwide cloud conditions and the locations of current cyclones. If you select a cyclone on the map you can view the cyclone's observed track and wind speeds recorded along the track.

As well as viewing current tropical storm conditions it is also possible to view historical storm information. For example you can view the track of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.

MyBlocNYC

MyBlockNYC is a Google Maps based application that allows users to upload and explore videos documenting the life and culture of New York City.

The site already boasts nearly 1000 videos and videos representing 734 New York City blocks. The blocks that have videos are displayed on the map with yellow roads. If you click on a yellow line you can watch the video directly from the map.

As well as exploring the videos by location you can filter the results by category, by time of day and season, and by the age and sex of the film-maker.

Geotrio

Geotrio is creating a world-wide library of mapped audio tours that can be accessed from smart phones and desktop computers. Using Geotrio users can create, browse and share digital audio tours for any location in the world.

Each uploaded tour includes a Google Map of the audio tour. The map includes markers for each stop and each stop contains an audio commentary of what you can see at that location.

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Google Map of the Week

Historypin

Historypin isn't a new map exactly but this week's release of some exciting new features is enough to make it my favourite map of the week.

There is a new Historypin mobile app. The mobile app and the desktop version have a new augmented reality view in Street View that dispays thumbnails of nearby photographs. If you click on one of the photographs you are immediately transported to that photo superimposed on the present day view in Street View.

Even more excitingly you can now view historical video clips superimposed on Street View. For example you can watch a 1903 film of the opening of the Williamsburg Bridge in New York superimposed over the Street View of the bridge.

Another great new feature is the ability to create your own tours. You could create a tour of photographs of San Francisco taken before the 1906 earthquake. Alternatively take a tour created by others. For example this tour of photographs of Gandhi's visit to Britain in 1931.

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The Google Maps of the Week

There has been two stand out maps this week.

SRMLive is a great live real-time map of the Tour de France. If you are a fan of the peloton then you will love following the riders on this map.

Intersect, on the other hand, is an excellent application for plotting your life stories, with the added bonus that you can see how your stories intersect with the stories of others.

Intersect

Intersect is an interesting new website that allows you to map stories by time and place and share them with the world. Once you have mapped your story you can then see how your narrative interacts with other stories - by seeing what else happened at the same time and place.

Intersect uses a time-line and Google Maps to show the intersections between your story and the stories of others. Using the map and the time-line you can find out what important events in other people's lives were happening at the same time and place.

SRMLive

It has taken a while but I have finally found a live real-time map of this year's Tour de France.

The map shows the real-time position of 13 of the riders. The map sidebar shows the current speed of each rider and their current heartbeat. Beneath the map is an interactive elevation chart of the current stage.

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The Google Maps of the Week

Animaps

There has been quite a reaction to Animaps this week on the social networks. The ease with which you can create an animated map with Animaps seems to have particularly appealed to a lot of teachers.

Animaps lets you create your own animated maps. You could use the application to create an animated map of a journey you have taken, or to show how a bike / yacht race progressed or even to show the progress of armies in a famous battle.

With Animaps you can quickly animate, map markers, polylines or polygons. As well as the animation features you can add photographs and video, that will appear (and play) at the points you say in your animated map.


Weaving History

Another map that should appeal to teachers - well at least history teachers, is Weaving History. This application from the Open Knowledge Foundation lets you create your own history maps with a little help from the Simile Timeline and Google Maps.

With Weaving History you can create your own historical timeline and map without any programming skills. To create a new timeline map you just need to start a new 'thread' on Weaving History and add some relevant 'factlets'.

When adding factlets you can just add the URL of a Wikipedia article and the factlet is added automatically. As you add factlets to your thread they are automatically added to your thread. It is as easy as that.

Add a few factlets to a thread and you soon have your own historical timeline map.

World of Fourcraft

Why settle for being the Mayor of Macy's when you can be the King of New York?

World of Fourcraft is a clever new Google Maps based game that turns your foursquare check-ins into a giant game of Risk. If you live in New York you can sign in with your foursquare account and then swear your allegiance to one of the city's boroughs.

After you have chosen a team every time you check-in with foursquare in New York you add one of your armies to that neighborhood. If your team places the most armies in a neighborhood you win that area for your borough.

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The Google Maps Apps of the Week

Hurtigruten: Minute by Minute

Norwegian Public Service broadcaster NRK this week live broadcasted the voyage of the cruise liner Hurtigruten around the Norway coastline for 134 hours. As well as amazing live footage you could follow the position of the cruise liner on a real-time Google Map.

The cruise is now over but you can still view video of the event. If you click on any of the red dots on the ship's track on the map you can replay the video for that section of the voyage.

New Zealand 100% Pure

Tourism New Zealand has implemented a very clever and striking website using Google Maps in conjunction with a series of related background images.

As you use scroll through the New Zealand 100% Pure website the background images change to create some impressive effects. The scrolling images are used to create animated clouds moving across still landscape images or to provide a narrative, for examples as the people portrayed in the images move around.

The effect of the scrolling images is hard to explain, so you really need to see it yourself on the 100% Pure website. When you visit the page notice how the Google Maps inset changes as you scroll the page to reflect the location of the current background image shown on the page.

Map Icons Collection

This one isn't a map but if you are a map developer you will want to permanently bookmark this website.

I rarely make a Google Map without using map markers from the Map Icons Collection. The collection has more than 600 free icons which you can use as map markers with the Google Maps API, which means you can nearly always find a marker that fits the purpose and design of your map.

The collection has previously been hosted on Google Projects but now has its very own website. With the new website comes two cool new features, styles and custom colors. The custom colors feature allows you to change the color of any map marker to fit the style of your map and website. The style feature lets you choose from seven different style of marker, including iPhone, gradient and classic.

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Google Maps Mania's Apps of the Week

Mini Maps on Facebook

The most retweeted map on Google Maps Mania this week was definitely this racing game from Mini.

Mini Maps is a great driving game for Facebook that lets you race anywhere in the world on Google Maps. You can race on tracks created by other players, competing against the best track times or even race against others by inviting your Facebook friends to play.

Alternatively you can create your own tracks, set the best time and challenge others to try and beat you.

WorkSnug

If you are tired of working out of coffee shops then you might want to give WorkSnug a go. WorkSnug uses Google Maps to show you your nearest workspaces with WiFi access.

To find your nearest workspace you just need to enter your location. The results will show you the nearest coffee shops with WiFi but will also show you nearby libraries and other communal spaces where you can work.

If you click on a mapped workspace you can click through to read details about the venue, which includes information about the availability of power, refreshments and the noise levels.

Cooler Planet: Solar Energy Installation Map

Cooler Planet has created an animated time-line with Google Maps to show the progress of solar installations in California from 1999 through to 2011.

Using data from Go Solar California Statistics the map lets you view time-lines of 'total installs', 'total watts', 'watts per install' and 'total carbon saved'. It is fascinating using the map to view how solar power installations have blossomed in California over the last decade.

TripsQ

TripsQ is a data visualisation application that aims to help people make full use of the data that they have generated through Foursquare. It uses all the data you have gathered while travelling, by turning your check-ins at airports into useful travel statistics.

Everyone who uses Foursquare can easily sign in to tripsQ and visualise their trips and travel itineraries. TripsQ also provides users with detailed statistics on the distance they’ve travelled, the amount of CO² they’ve produced during each trip and other information about their travels.

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Google Maps of the Week

Toronto is Trending

Toronto is Trending has a really cool welcome screen and a cool Google Map as well. On first entering the Toronto is Trending website you are presented with a full-screen video of Toronto. Twitter speech bubbles then appear above some of the moving pedestrians in the video and follow them down the street.

If you switch to the 'map view' you can see the latest Tweets and check-ins made in Toronto on a Google Map view of the city. The map also displays a number of hotel, ticket and package deals.

Find HIV / AIDS Prevention & Service Providers

There is nothing particularly new or exciting about this AIDS.gov Google Map but it does a very important job very well.

The map automatically detects your location and displays the nearest HIV/AIDS prevention and service providers within 5 miles. You can also change your address or the distance of the search radius you wish to search within.

ShowHopping

There are a lot of upcoming events maps, so if a new one wants to make a mark it has to be good. ShowHopping is.

ShowHopping uses Google Maps to help you find upcoming gigs and shows listed on Last.fm. To find out what is on in your town you just need to enter your location and the dates that are you are interested in.

The results of your search are displayed on the map and also listed in a slide-out sidebar. The list view sorts the results by venue and by date.

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Google Maps of the Week

Yvan Rodic - Cities

In many ways this is a very simple Google Map - but it just looks soooo good.

Yvan Rodic is a journalist and photographer. He has used the Google Maps Styled Maps feature to create a visually attractive interface to browse his photography of cities around the world.

Paint Your Street

Have you ever wanted to spray your tag on the side of the White House or Buckingham Palace?

Well now you can.

At least you can virtually.

Paint Your Street lets you add graffiti to Google Maps Street View. Anywhere that has Street View coverage can now be virtually daubed with your very own tag.

Just log-in with your Facebook account, find your location on Google Maps and tag away to your heart's content. If you want to you can also browse other users' creations by most popular, most recent or just view your friends' artwork.

San Francisco BikeMapper

The San Francisco BikeMapper uses Google Maps to provide biking directions using all existing Class I, II and III bike routes in San Francisco, southern Marin County and northern San Mateo County.

Using the BikeMapper it is possible to find the best bike route for your trip with turn-by-turn directions. To get directions you just need to enter your starting point and destination. You can also select to get the shortest bike friendly route or, importantly for hilly San Francisco, the flattest bike friendly route.

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The Best Google Maps of the Week

El Microscopio del Voto

The 2011 Spanish electoral results in the context of historical electoral results and a vast range of demographic indicators. Using the map you can view electoral results since 1987 and discover how the electoral and socio-economic landscape of Spain has evolved over the last few decades.

TU Delft Cloudviewer

TU Delft Clouvdviewer allows for the 3D exploration of massive point clouds directly from a web browser. The Cloudviewer lets you explore Delft in the Netherlands in 3D, from a number of angles and points of view.

Grand Theft Auto IV - Custom Street View

An excellent Google Map of Grand Theft Auto IV. Walk around the whole of Liberty City in Street View.

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The Best Google Maps of the Week

Invisible Playground

Invisible Playground was definitely the most retweeted map on Google Maps Mania this week. Using the Google Maps satellite view as a background image certainly seemed to catch a lot of people's imagination.

When you drag the map around the map also moves for everyone else viewing the webpage. What's more every move of the map is recorded and Invisible Playground plan to post a map soon tracking where user's have dragged the map.

Global Billboard

Smells Like Teen Spirit is going down a storm in Russia this week with over a thousand fans on Last.fm. Whilst in the USA over 7,000 listeners are Rolling in the Deep with Adele.

Global Billboard visualises the popularity of top artists and top tracks on Last.fm in (nearly) every country in the world, and in more than 200 metro areas. Using the map it is possible to check out which are the most listened to artists and tracks on Last.fm in different countries.

The Weekend Map

Are you struggling for something to do in New York this weekend? Then you should consult The Weekend Map, your guide to everything happening in the Big Apple at the weekends.

The Weekend Map displays events happening in New York from Friday through to Sunday, on a Google Map. The listed events on the map are categorised into festivals, music eating, farmers markets etc. It is also possible to filter the events by day.

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Google Maps of the Week

Where the Streets Have Your Name

By far the most Tweeted map this week was this Google Map that lets you find all the roads, parks and rivers that share your name around the world.

If you haven't already tried this vanity map search give it a go now.

Groupon Now

Groupon has finally turned on location and has become a lot more useful in the process. Groupon Now lets you view the nearest deals to your location on a Google Map. It is available both from your desktop and from your mobile device.

At the moment Groupon Now has very limited coverage. But this is Groupon so this will eventually be huge. Coupon maps are one of the biggest trends in online maps this year and Groupon, Facebook and Google will no doubt be the biggest players in this market.

LoveFre.sh

LoveFre.sh is a location based service to help you connect with locally produced food, wherever you are.

The LoveFre.sh Google Map features the latest check-ins made with the app and provides a great way to find local food markets and outlets selling locally produced food.

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Google Maps of the Week

My two favourite maps of this week are both weather maps. WeatherSpark is a pretty amazing map that lets you view historical weather records and El Tiempo is a very good implementation of a Google Map to display weather forecasts.

WeatherSpark

WeatherSpark is a pretty amazing Google Map of current and historical weather conditions. The site lets you view the historical records of over 4,000 weather stations.

If you want to know what the weather was like in Honolulu on the day of Barack Obama's birth in August 1961 all you have to do is use the time-line to bring up the correct date and centre the map on Honolulu. You can then view the recorded weather for that day (a balmy 30 degrees centigrade).

If you are more interested in today's weather you can just centre the map on your location and view the current temperature and the current precipitation radar results.

El Tiempo

Spanish newspaper El Mundo has created a very nice Google Map to show the weather in Spain.

The map's default view displays today's weather, however you can use the numbered icons at the top of the map to view the forecast for the next three days. If you click on any of the weather icons displayed on the map you can view today's weather at that location and view a quick three day forecast.

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The Best Google Maps of the Week

Fleck

I've been playing Fleck all week. It is probably the best game yet created with Google Maps.

In the game you can build a home anywhere in North America. You can decorate your house with trees and plants and other decorations. You can team up with other players and fight zombies. You can complete scavenger hunts that send you all across the USA searching for goodies. You can even build an empire by buying the models of real-world restaurants in the game.

The game features some cool touches. For example many American landmarks have been modelled in the game. Each location also has real-time weather, so if you are in Seattle and it happens to be snowing in Seattle it will also be snowing in the game.

Generate a Panorama

'Generate a Panorama' lets you click on a Google Map and see a representation of the panoramic view from that location.

For example, below is the generated view from the summit of Mont Blanc looking due west. As you can see all the peaks in your view are marked on the created panorama.



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The Best Google Maps of the Week

Marker / Music

My favourite map this week was probably the simplest. This map is just a handful of markers with embedded videos. However the idea behind it is inspired.

Each of the videos features a different musical instrument. If you open up the videos you can play and mix the sounds being played in each video. You can even adjust the volume of each video / instrument.

Trulia: Price Reductions Map

At the other end of the complexity scale comes this amazing map from Trulia. This map uses the canvas element to create a heat map. As well as being amazing the map is also very useful for house buyers.

The map displays house price change data from live non-foreclosure listings and tracks all price reductions from March 31, 2010 to March 31, 2011. Using Trulia's Google Map it is possible to search by zip-code for the average number of days a house is on the market in that area before sellers make their first reduction.

Plnnr

Plnnr helps you plan your perfect vacation. Using Plnnr you just need to enter your vacation destination and the date you wish to travel and you are presented with a personalised ready-to-use itinerary for your trip.

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The Week's Best Google Maps

Fast and Furious Challenge

This Spanish language racing game brings the thrill of Scalectrix to Google Maps. The game lets you race and create tour own tracks.

Zeit-Online: American Nuclear Power Plants Map

Zeit-Online's Google Map shows the number of American's living near nuclear power plants. Use the slider tool to find out how far you are from the nearest nuclear power station.

Washington Post Civil War Map

This map includes a huge amount of information about the Civil War. It also includes an animated time-line so you can watch the war unfold over time.

Google Maps Colorizr

This Styled Maps wizard lets you adjust the look of your Google Map. The wizard allows you to create your style using HEX RGB colors.

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