Guess the Country Game

Country Explorer uses Google Maps Styles to create a very simple but effective game with Google Maps. Using the game you can test your knowledge of the countries of the world by guessing the name of a country and clicking on the map to see if your guess is correct.



Using Map Styles a Google Map has been created without country or other administrative labels. When the map user clicks on the map the Google Maps API geocoder is used to determine which country the user clicks on. The map then loads the name of the country and the country's flag.



The game could be developed a little more by prompting the user to find a particular country and keeping a score of correct guesses. A timer could also be added for each guess to rack up the tension a little.



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The Amazing Google Maps Kaleidoscope

I bet the first think you did when you first discovered Google Maps was to look at your house in satellite view. It has taken a while but finally you can now go a step better and view your house in kaleidoscope view.

#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.

The result is pretty fantastic. You can even turn the automated animation off and drag and pan the map to create your own kaleidoscope views. You can even use the search function to create 'rorsch maps' for any location in the world.

#rorschmap

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Guess a Street View

Locatestreet is a Street View guessing game.

The premise of the game is simple. Locatestreet places the player in a random location using Google Maps Street View. The player then has to determine his or her location.

Along the way, the player can use helpful clues, examine random Wikipedia articles relevant to the places they virtually visit and share their favorite random locations with other users.

It is currently possible to play in the United States and Mexico, and other countries will be added in the coming days and weeks.

Locatestreet

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Zombies Attack with Google Maps

Forget check-in applications. The next big trend in location is zombie killing games.

World of the Living Dead is a zombie survival game in which you have to use Google Maps to guide a group of human survivors to safety, successful avoiding or killing the zombie hordes.

Your first goal is to direct your group of survivors to a safe-house. Your group of survivors are shown on the map. The map also displays the nearest safe-houses and a heat map of the density of zombies.

Once you have found a safe-house you are then free to scavenge for extra resources, find other survivors, increase the size of your team and develop the skills of your survivors.

World of the Living Dead

Class 3 Outbreak

Class 3 Outbreak (C3O) is a fully playable Zombie game. The game is a real time strategy zombie game running on Google Maps. C3O gives players the impossible task of holding back waves of zombies with a hopelessly outnumbered police force. Your job is to stamp out infections as they appear on the map, and try to staunch the zombie threat for as long as possible.

In the game you can protect thousands of civilians over a 1km square area. The game includes thousands of map inhabitants each of whom behave individually and interact with the terrain on Google Maps, meaning that characters move under trees, around walls and into buildings.

Street View Zombie Apocalypse

Here's the plan, we take the car. Go to Mum's. Kill Phil, grab Liz, go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over ...

Zombies have taken over the world and, unlike in the movies, they seem to be able to run really fast. To survive you will need to outpace the converging hordes of the undead in Google Maps Street View.

As you run around the streets in Street View you can view the approaching zombies in the inset Google Map. To stay alive you will need to outsmart them and avoid becoming trapped.

Oh, and if you want to pretend you are in Shaun of the Dead, try playing the game outside the location of The Winchester pub in the film (39 Monson Road, New Cross, London, England).

Fleck

Fleck is a a massively-multiplayer online world that actually takes place on Google Maps. In Fleck you can build a house, decorate your neighborhood with plants, shrubs and trees, harvest your plants and, if that all sounds a bit tame, you can even shoot the odd zombie or two.

In the game you can also interact with other players, team-up against zombies, expand your empire by buying restaurants. Restaurants earn you a little extra income and can help other players as well when they buy food from your restaurant to recover a little health.

That's enough for now. I've got some zombies to shoot.

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World of Fourcraft on Google Maps

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.

World of Fourcraft

Via: Mashable

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A Google Maps Trading Game

A Map of the Floating City is an interesting looking new game that has created its own game world with the help of Google Maps.

You can sign up for the game with Twitter or Facebook and you are then given your own ship, which will magically appear on the Google Map. The main objective of the the game is to trade with other players in order to move your ship forward on the map.

When you have a trade accepted you get to move your trading partner north on the map. If you accept a trade from another player then your ship gets to move.

This game does require a little patience. The game requires responses from other players so it is obviously never going to be an all out action game. You'll need to make your trade offers and then come back later to see if they have been accepted.

A Map of the Floating City

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Drive a Mini on Google Maps

Mini Maps on Facebook

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.

The game has some great features. Visibility is affected by the local time, so, for example, if you log into San Francisco at night, you are going to be driving with the assistance of your headlamps.

Unlike most Google Maps based driving games this one actually features collision detection. There's no off road driving here - you will have to stick to those roads. The game also lets you select from a number of Mini models and even lets you customise the look of your car.

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Flight Sim Flights on Google Maps

FlightGear Server Online Map

There are a number of real-time flight tracking maps in existence (checkout Flightradar24 or RadarVirtuel) but this is the first map I've seen that is tracking virtual planes.

FlightGear is an open source flight simulation game - and the game now has a map. The FlightGear Server Online Map is a real time flight tracking Google Map that shows where FlightGear pilots are flying online on the FlightGear Multiplayer Server.

The positions of aircraft of players currently playing FlightGear are shown in real-time on the map. The map includes a navaids search facility so that you can search for airports anywhere in the world and find out who is flying nearby.

It is possible to view all players currently online in the navigation box at the bottom of the map. If you select a pilot's check-box then the map will automatically centre on the chosen pilot and follow their progress in the game in real-time.

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Google Maps Games for the iPad

Geopoly
Geopoly is a new free monopoly building game for the iPad and iPhone.

In the game players can buy real-life buildings on Google Maps. They can then collect rent, upgrade buildings and get points to become the richest player in their town or city. If you check-in to your own buildings you can also become a mayor and get twice the rent.

The game shows some similarities to another Google Maps based iPad game Fleck. Fleck can also be played on a desktop computer and features zombies!

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Minecraft in Street View

MineCraft Köttdisken

Hot on the heels of the amazing GTA IV Street View map comes this Minecraft Google Map.

Admittedly this map isn't quite in the same league, containing just the two custom Street Views (compared to the over 80,000 Street Views in the GTA map), but it does help to show the possibilities of mapping game worlds with the Google Maps API.

MineCraft Köttdisken uses the Google Maps API to display the Middle Earth Minecraft world. As well as the two panoramas, created using the custum Street View function, you can also turn on map markers to show signposts and view the map in a number of different styles.

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Add Graffiti to Google Maps Street View

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.

Hat-tip: @geoparadigm

Red Bull Street View Art

Red Bull are using Google Maps and Google Street View to present a crowd-sourced map of street art from around the world.

Using the map you can search for graffiti directly from the map and click on the map markers to view a Street View image of the art. The site includes quick links to the 'most viewed' and the 'latest additions' to the map. There are also quick links to works by popular graffiti artists such as Banksy and Keith Haring.

Adding your own finds to the map is very easy. It just involves finding the right location on the map and dragging the Street View to grab the best shot of the street art that you wish to submit.

Shelter Housebling - World Cup Special

UK housing charity, Shelter produced a special World Cup edition of their Christmas Street View House Decoration application last year. The World Cup may have finished a long time ago but the application is still working.

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Grand Theft Auto IV in Street View

Grand Theft Auto IV - Custom Street View

I think this might just be one of the most awesome things I've seen ever. This Google Map lets you explore the whole of Liberty City, from Grand Theft Auto IV, in Street View.

GTA4.net have created custom Street Views of the whole of Liberty City and added them to this Google Map. The map shows all the important locations in the game, such as health & weapon pick-up points and all the important mission starting points.

However, once you enter Street View, you will forget about all that and just spend all your time wandering the streets of Liberty City through the amazing custom Street Views of the game.



The Street View option in this Liberty City map works just as it does on Google Maps. Drop the pegman icon anywhere on the map and you can start exploring the game in Street View. You can click on the arrows to navigate around the city and you can use the mini inset map to keep track of your position in the city.

I can't begin to think how many hours went into capturing the imagery for these custom Street Views and then lovingly mapping it all with the Google Maps API. Just ... wow!
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The Street Has Your Name

Where the Streets Have Your Name

Due to your many illustrious achievements numerous roads, parks and rivers have now been named in your honour. This Google Maps based application has been created to help you find all the roads that now share your name.

To discover your eponymous placemarks just enter your first name and select the 'map it' or 'earth it' button. You can then view all the streets, towns, rivers and parks in the world that share your name on a Google Map or with the Google Earth browser plug-in.

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Zombies Attack the Royal Wedding

The Royal Zombie Wedding

There is a Royal Wedding taking place this Friday in London.

As you can imagine the burning question on everyone's lips is:

Can the wedding survive a zombie attack?

Thanks to the makers of Class 3 Outbreak, the Google Maps zombie game, we can now simulate the effects of a zombie attack on Westminster Abbey during the royal wedding and discover the answer to this important question.

After extensive testing of the simulator I can attest that things don't bode well for William and Kate. By my reckoning the happy couple will enjoy about five minutes of married life before joining the leagues of the walking dead.

On a more happy note a zombie attack won't make much difference to the royal family. It has been rumoured that the Queen's husband Prince Philip has been zombified for the last twenty years with very little noticeable effect on his ability to perform his royal duties.


As a reward for their work on the The Royal Zombie Wedding game creators Binary Space have been awarded a permanent room in the Tower of London by the UK government.

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Angry Bird Eggs on Google Maps

The Cadbury Creme Egg Cad-apult

Have you ever wanted to plaster your friends' houses with eggs? Thanks to Cadbury Creme Eggs and Google Maps you now can! And you don't have to clean up afterwards.

The concept of this campaign from Cadbury is fairly simple. You have a catapult loaded with a Creme Egg. If you type in an address you can then hurl your egg onto the satellite image of your chosen location.

You are then presented with an animated cut-scene of your egg sailing through the air before having the pleasure of witnessing it land and splatter over Google Maps.

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The Most Addictive Google Maps Game Yet

Fleck

Hi, my name's Keir and I'm a Cityville addict. There, I've finally admitted it. I feel happy to admit to my addiction though ... because I've found the cure by becoming hooked to Fleck instead.

Fleck is a a massively-multiplayer online world that actually takes place on Google Maps. In Fleck you can build a house, decorate your neighborhood with plants, shrubs and trees, harvest your plants and, if that all sounds a bit tame, you can even shoot the odd zombie or two.

In the game you can also interact with other players, team-up against zombies, expand your empire by buying restaurants. Restaurants earn you a little extra income and can help other players as well when they buy food from your restaurant to recover a little health.

That's enough for now. I've got an empire to build!

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Red Wins the Inaugural Google Map Attack

MapAttack

Geoloqi has launched a new Google Maps based location game for mobile phones called MapAttacks.

The first beta test of MapAttack was held at the Park Blocks in Portland, Oregon last week. The game seems to involve two teams of players having to collect points in the real world by following the locations of the points as shown on a Google Map. The map also displays the locations of all the players in real-time.

At the moment Geoloqi have two more games of MapAttack lined up. One will be in Medellín, Colombia later this summer. The other is taking place today at WhereCamp at Stanford University. If you want to follow today's game (or get a sneak peek) you can do so here.

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Taking Geo-Games to the Next Level

Dokobots

Dokobots is a free location-based game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The game is a scavenger hunt that involves finding Dokobots, marking locations and taking photos.

Using the app players can pick up objects shown on a Google Map as they travel around town. Dokobots, batteries and other items can be found with your iPhone as you move around. If you find a Dokobot you can find out all about who has owned it before and add your own record of ownership.

Every Dokobot keeps a detailed record of its adventures in a travel journal. The journal automatically charts its route through the world, tracking map locations, players who have picked it up and user-created photos and notes.

Players can check out the photos taken by each of the previous hosts before adding their own, and a newsfeed keeps players up to date about the latest activities of their favorite Dokobots, highlighting new photos and other entries.

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Scalextric on Google Maps

Fast and Furious Challenge

Fast and Furious Challenge is a Scalextric type racing game on Google Maps.

To play the game just choose from one of the many circuits around the world on Google Maps, select the car you want to play then race! Hold down your left mouse button to go faster and move your mouse to steer. Watch your speed though. If you go too fast you'll never take those bends.

As well as racing around the many circuits on offer you can create your own track by just drawing the route on Google Maps. If you connect your Facebook account to the game you can save your scores and you can compare your lap times to those of every other player.

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Google Maps of Minecraft

Tectonicus

Shaftlands Survival world

Minecraft is a computer game in which players can build 3D worlds. Tectonicus is a minecraft map renderer that can help you create map tiles of Minecraft 3D worlds for Google Maps.

Maps made with Tectonicus created map tiles can include all the normal features of Google Maps, including map markers and information windows. Because Minecraft contains a first person view it would even be possible to create custom Street Views for a Minecraft Google Map, although disappointingly no-one has done this yet.

The Minecraft Wiki has links to a number of Minecraft Google Maps, if you are interested in seeing what players have created.

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