Your Google Maps Guide to Paris

If you want an alternative to The Guardian's Google Maps city guides then you need look no further than the New York Times. The NYT's Travel section provides Google Maps based guides for many of the most popular tourist destinations around the world.



Each of the city guide maps allow you to select different categories of markers to view on the map. The categories are hotels, restaurants, attractions, shopping and nightlife.



As well as using the map as a guide to the city you can use the links in the map sidebar to click through to the New York Times' recommendations in each category.



NYT Travel Guide to Paris Map



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Your Google Maps Guide to Berlin

The Guardian's Google Maps based city guides now includes Berlin.



The Berlin City Guide maps the best places to stay, eat and shop in the German capital and also maps great bars, clubs, museums and galleries to visit. You can select a category to view on the map from the menu above the map. When you select a category as well as dropping the appropriate markers on the map a list of the venues is displayed beneath the map.



If you select an individual venue, by clicking a marker or from the list beneath the map, The Guardian's review of the location will then be displayed.



The Guardian - Berlin City Guide



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Travel Blogs and Google Maps

Blogabond is a neat application that allows anyone to create their own travel blog with an accompanying Google Map that shows the location of your blog posts and photographs.

Blogabond is very easy to use. After you create an account you can create a new travel blog. This simply involves choosing a location, adding your text and uploading any photographs that you want to share.

When finished your travel blog is presented on its very own page. The blog includes a Google Maps header that displays markers for all of your entries. The map can therefore be used as an index for your blog. You just need to click on a map marker to view the entry for that location.

Blogabond

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Audio Tours on Google Maps

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.

Geotrio is available as a free iPhone app so you can listen to the audio tours whilst actually walking the route of the tour. If you are more of an armchair tourist or you are interested in listening about locations that you can't visit you can also access the tours from your desktop computer.

Geotrio

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Boris' Cabs on Google Maps

This certainly qualifies as the strangest map I've seen for a while. The map creates the scenario of the user wanting to catch a taxi from a famous London landmark to the ICC London Excel conference centre.

The map displays a number of videos of London mayor Boris Johnson moonlighting as a London taxi driver. Each of the videos contains a brief description, by Boris Johnson, of a famous London landmark. When you click on one of the landmarks you can watch the appropriate video and, at the same time, a route is displayed on the map from the landmark to the ICC London Excel conference centre.

There seems to be a little bug in the map that stops the video displaying properly in FireFox but it worked fine for me in Chrome and Internet Explorer.

Take me there Boris!

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Scrolling Backgrounds with Google Map

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.

New Zealand 100% Pure

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London, Paris & New York on Google Maps

The Guardian City Guides

The Guardian and lastminute.com have collaborated to create a number of interactive Google Maps based city guides. Currently you can view guides to New York, London and Paris, with more cities in the pipeline.

Each of the city map guides helps you plan the perfect trip with information on hotels, travel, restaurants and activities across the city. You can select to view points of interest by category (where to stay, eats, shopping, nightlife, arts and outdoors).

If you click on a map marker a brief review of the chosen location is displayed beneath the map. You can also click through to read the location's full Guardian review.

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More Sweden on Google Maps

Mere Sverige

Mere Sverige (More Sweden) is a tourism promotion site for Sweden aimed at the Danish market. The site is therefore in Danish. More Sweden uses Google Maps to provide Danish visitors to Sweden with all the accommodation and sightseeing information that they will need.

The map includes some very nice features. In particular the numbered marker clustering solution is well thought out. Numbered markers show the number of points of information at a location. If you mouse-over the marker a small information window opens with preview thumbnails of the individual locations. If you click on the marker the map zooms in so that you can view the individual markers.

Markers on the map are divided into the categories of 'experiences, 'accommodation' and 'transport' and each of these categories is further subdivided. For example 'accommodation' contains sub-categories of hotels, B&B's etc.

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A Personal Travel Agent with Google Maps

YourTour

YourTour aims to be your personal digital travel agent by helping you create personalised travel itineraries in France, Spain and Florida, in just 15 seconds!

After answering a few basic questions about your trip (like when and where you want to go), you will receive a recommended tour proposal. The proposal includes a detailed itinerary of tourist attractions and hotel accommodations, all displayed on Google Maps.

You can specify your preferences (budget, activity types, specific attractions or hotels, etc.) and receive an updated, more personalised tour proposal. Once you are happy with your tour you can even book all of the hotels in a single click.

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Australian Budget Travel with Google Maps

Aus-emaps.com - Tourism Map

A report (PDF) published by aus-emaps.com shows where to find the cheapest holiday accommodation in each state and territory in Australia. The report is accompanied by an online Google Map illustrating the report's findings.

The report is particularly useful for budget conscious travellers who could make substantial savings if they aren't fixed on specific locations. For example, in Queensland, Fraser Coast north of Brisbane offers much better prices than adjoining Sunshine Coast (which is almost 50% more expensive) and the Gold Coast (approximately 35% more expensive).

The researchers examined average takings per night by accredited accommodation service providers in each tourism region around Australia and mapped out the results. The outcome is a colourful map matrix that highlights regions with both the cheapest and the most expensive accommodation.

On a state and territory basis, Tasmania has the cheapest accommodation while the Australian Capital Territory is comparatively the most expensive ($128 and $163 respectively). The cheapest region in Australia goes to Victoria's Wimmera region, which has an average accommodation cost of just $83.82 per night. Close second is South Australia's Yorke Peninsula ($85.36), followed by Northern Territory's Barkly ($87.98), Victoria's Upper Yarra ($90.48) and Outback NSW ($93.14).

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Something for the Weekend on Google Maps

SoWeTrip

SoWeTrip is a French website that provides a guide to user created weekend trips. Each of the trips is designed to highlight a number of activities that can be undertaken during a short break in a European city.

The home page of SoWeTrip features a Google Map that animates through the locations of the weekend guides submitted to the site. If you click on any of the displayed locations you are taken to a page featuring the guides created for that city.

Each individual guide also features a Google Map showing the location of all the suggested venues that you can visit as part of the user created guide. Each suggested venue, whether it is a museum, gallery, shop, club or other activity, includes a detailed guide to the venue.

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Find Historical Buildings on Google Maps

Historvius

Here is a great way to search for satellite views of historical buildings around the world. Historvius helps you discover the world’s historic locations. The site provides information on historic destinations around the world and displays their locations with Google Maps.

It is possible to search Historvius by location, historical period or by historical figure. For example, if you are interested in Roman history you can search for destinations tagged 'Ancient Rome'.

Each individual entry on Historvius comes with detailed information including useful information such as website links, directions and opening hours.

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Google Map of Tourist Attractions

RueFind

RueFind is a website that explores interesting tourist attractions around the world. The site includes a Google Maps interface to the over one thousand tourist attractions in its database.

The map shows each of the locations listed on RueFind using thumbnail images of each attraction. If you click on any of the thumbnail images you can read a description of the attraction and click through to view the attraction's main page on RueFind.

It is also possible to vote for your favourite attractions. RueFind will be publishing the results showing the best tourist attractions very soon.

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The Greek Experience on Google Maps

My Greece

This Google Map from the official Greek tourism agency hopes to encourage tourists to the country to share their holiday photographs and videos.

Users of the map can upload their favourite photos and videos of their visits to Greece. If you don't have any photos or videos from Greece you can just browse the map and explore the beauty of the country.

It is possible to browse the map by location, by category or by time of year. Each photo and video is displayed on the map with a small thumbnail image and can be viewed directly on the map by clicking the thumbnail map markers.

As an added bonus if you love this map you can access the data via an API and create your own Google Maps mashup from the content.

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Interactive Trips with Google Maps

GoWaza

Gowaza let's you plan a trip, helping you to find flights and hotels and also helping you to create an itinerary of restaurants, events and other places to visit.

Once you have entered your destination and time of travel Gowaza presents you with a choice of hotels, restaurants and events. Gowaza uses Google Maps to display the locations of all the options in each category. As you browse the listings you can click on the 'add to folder' button to add a location to your itinerary and to the map.

Gowaza provides seamless integration between your personalised itinerary and the Google Map. If you click on a location in your itinerary the map will centre on that location. You can also use a local search option to find other destinations, such as 'banks, 'bakeries' etc.

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Explore Europe with Eurostar & Google Maps

Europe by Eurostar

Eurostar, the high speed rail link that connects the UK to mainland Europe, have created a new website to highlight some of the great cities that you can visit by train and to provide tips on what you can see and do when you get there.

The site's home page features a Google Map, which allows you to navigate to all of the featured cities. This works fine, as long as you know the location of your European cities. If you don't you can always zoom in. Some marker tool-tips however would greatly enhance navigation. It would be nice if you could just mouse-over a map marker to see which city it redirects to.

The city pages each come with their own Google Map. The maps feature colour-coded map markers to show points of interest in the city. The categories include Art & Culture, Food & Drink, Music & Nightlife, Fashion & Beauty and Events.

Some cities at the moment are a little lacking in points of interest. Eurostar do say that they would love you to tell them about your own discoveries, so I'm guessing that they are planning to populate the maps with user generated tips and advice.

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Create a Travel Guide with Google Maps

Stay.com

Stay.com is a great way to create your very own printable travel guide.

Using Stay.com you can review hotels and points of interest at most of the world's top cities and tourist destination from the comfort of your desktop. You can view the hotels, restaurants, museums and bars listed on Stay.com on a Google Map to easily plan your travel itinerary. Each of the points of interest has a comprehensive review and attractive photographs.

When you like a review of a point of interest you can simply add it to your own travel guide. When you have finished planning your visit and adding places to stay and visit you can then print out an attractive personal guide. The guide includes a Google Map with all the places added to your itinerary clearly marked.

As well as the map your points of interest are presented in list form, with attractive photographs and full details, such as address and telephone numbers.

Nile Guide

Nile Guide is a great trip planner and personal travel guide. The site lets you explore areas you might like to visit for hotels, restaurants and other points of interest and create your own personalised travel itinerary.

To start planning your trip with Nile Guide you just need to enter your destination. Nile Guide will then give you an overview of your destination and allow you to view Hotels, Things to Do, Restaurants, Nightlife and Events. The points of interest are even displayed on a Google Map.

To add a place you want to visit you just need to click on the 'Add to List' link and it will be added to your 'My Guide'. Once you have added a number of destinations to your travel itinerary you can then organise your guide. You can drag and drop your different picks on to different days of your trip and you can view the locations of your choices on a Google Map.

When you have completed your personal travel guide if you press 'Print my guide to go' Nile Guide will create a printable version of your very own travel itinerary.

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Google Maps - Your Personal Travel Guide

Nile Guide

Nile Guide is a great trip planner and personal travel guide. The site lets you explore areas you might like to visit for hotels, restaurants and other points of interest and create your own personalised travel itinerary.

To start planning your trip with Nile Guide you just need to enter your destination. Nile Guide will then give you an overview of your destination and allow you to view Hotels, Things to Do, Restaurants, Nightlife and Events. The points of interest are even displayed on a Google Map.

To add a place you want to visit you just need to click on the 'Add to List' link and it will be added to your 'My Guide'. Once you have added a number of destinations to your travel itinerary you can then organise your guide. You can drag and drop your different picks on to different days of your trip and you can view the locations of your choices on a Google Map.

When you have completed your personal travel guide if you press 'Print my guide to go' Nile Guide will create a printable version of your very own travel itinerary.

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Search for Travel Books with Google Maps

JungleThingy

JungleThingy is a very simple to use Google Maps based search engine for travel guides listed on Amazon.

To search for a travel book for a specific location on JungleThingy just click on a location on Google Maps. The travel guides and travel books for that location are then listed in the middle column. If you then click on one of the listed books you can get further details, including the price, reader ratings and a summary of the book's contents.

Also See

GuidebookPlus - maps the page numbers of locations in guide books, such as those published by Lonely Planet and Rough Guide.

Find a Caravan Site with Google Maps

Camping & Caravanning Club - SiteSeeker

The UK's Camping and Caravanning Club have produced a very useful Google Map for caravan owners to find a camping site that meets all their requirements.

The map's search facility allows you to search within a defined distance of a given location and refine the search to sites offering electric hook-up, hard standing, full facility or electric and hard standing. Beneath the map are a large number of other facilities that you can require in your search, such as laundry facilities and showers etc.

Via: Mapperz

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