Google Map Doodles

Big Doodles

Aussie doodler Felicity Stella has created an inspired website that presents her doodles via the Google Maps API. What's more you can send your own doodles to Felicity and she will create a Google Map of your scribblings for you.

Each doodle gets its own Google Map, so you can explore each picture with the Google Map's panning and zooming tools. Details about each doodle are presented underneath the map. Many of the doodles also include a statement that gives a little information about how and when the doodle was created.

Via: Programmable Web

_____________

City Guides on Google Maps

HGTV's Front Door

The HGTV website has a real-estate search engine for the USA. The site also includes a large number of city guides. Each city guide includes an 'Explore' section that features a Google Map with a huge amount of local information for home buyers.

The local information is in a number of selectable categories, including education, entertainment, food, recreation etc. Each of the categories are subdivided, for example under food it is possible to select cafes, fast food, grocery stores and restaurants.

If you are a house buyer looking to find out about the amenities in a new neighbourhood then the HGTV Frontdoor Map should prove extremely useful.

_____________

Everyone's Going Solar on Google Maps

1BOG: Community Solar Buying Initiative

Yesterday Google Maps Mania featured the Solar Energy Enquiries Google Map mashup that shows all the enquiries they have received for solar power technology. 1BOG quickly got in contact to say they have a similar map showing the locations of people who are installing solar panels.

One Block Off The Grid (1BOG) organises home-owners into communities to negotiate group discounts for home solar panel installations. The 1BOG website features a Google Map that shows where people have signed up and where they have actually gone solar.

The map features three colours of map markers (in the shape of bogmen), yellow, orange and blue. The green markers show people who have signed up to the site, the orange markers show those who have installed solar panels and the blue markers represent volunteers.

_____________

Travel Guides on Google Maps

Ruba

Ruba is a new travel site which uses Google Maps extensively to match relevant and nearby travel search results to users. Each of the user-generated travel guides on Ruba includes a Google Map showing each destination in the guide.

Ruba also features a rather cool animated Google Map on its home page. This map animates through some of the featured tours uploaded to Ruba.

Here are some direct links to Ruba guides:

• Top Attractions in Paris
• New Zealand's Top Walks
• Great Eats in Tampa, Fl
• Oktoberfest Munich
  

_____________

iPhone & Google Maps Travel Game

Gowalla
Gowalla is a location-based social network with an interesting game attached. The site uses the iPhone to check your movements and to allow you to share your experiences of locations with your Facebook & Twitter friends.

The game element involves checking in at featured locations and getting your virtual 'passport' stamped and earning rewards.

The video below explains the concept a little better:



Gowalla uses Google Maps to show the location of each featured spot.

Via: TheNextWeb

_____________

Live Twitter Trends Google Maps

Trendsmap

Trendsmap is an awesome real-time map of Twitter trends across the world. The map shows recent trends on Twitter live on a Google Map for any location that you choose.

Move the map and zoom in on any location and the Twitter trends shown on the map will update in real-time. The map is live, so if you leave the map zoomed in on one location you can see the trends growing and changing on the map over time.

When you click on a trend you can see the Tweets updating in the trends window. For each trend clicked on it is also possible to review a trend graph so that you can see the peaks and troughs of that trend over time, both locally and globally. Pictures that have been posted about that trend will also appear in the window.

If you click on the trend topic itself in the window (the large header at the top of the window) the map will change to a global view and show where in the world that topic is currently trending. About 500 cities around the world also have their own pages. If you click on a city name in the trends window you will be taken to a dedicated page for that city.

_____________

Who in the USA is Using Solar Energy?

Solar Energy Enquiries

Cooler Planet run a free service to help the public find green businesses and service providers in their area. Cooler Planet have taken all of the solar energy inquiries that they have received over the last few years and have produced an animated heat map, showing where those enquiries have come from.

To animate the map select 'Time Lapse' and the map will add all the enquiries, quarter by quarter, from 2007 to 2009. Areas that have made the most enquiries appear in red on the map.

Many of the locations that have made the most enquiries to Cooler Planet, such as Denver, Boston and cities in California are areas that have introduced local rebates on top of the federal tax credit for installing solar technology.

Google Maps Mania have previously featured Cooler Planet's The History of Solar Power Installation in California. This map shows the increase in solar power installations in California since 1999.

_____________