Google is holding a special event in Washington DC tomorrow. The event will launch the "...newest addition to Google Earth". July 20th is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing and the list of speakers includes Buzz Aldrin and other members of NASA. This has lead Frank Taylor of the Google Earth Blog to suggest that Google will almost certainly be unveiling a 3D Moon mode for Google Earth tomorrow.
The event is being held at the Newseum in Washington DC at 11am. Google say that "if you can make it, it would be great to see you there", so it looks like it will be an open event.
Today I found the astronaut pegman images (above) in Google's 'mapfiles' site. I suspect that Google will be using the astronaut pegman in Street View tomorrow. Possibly the astro-pegman will appear around the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. .
Update - Astro-Pegman is now live in all Street View coverage on Google Maps.
Google.es Google Spain have released a number of gadgets for the forthcoming general election in the country. One gadget, Mapa Electoral, shows the results of past elections by province. The map uses coloured polygons to show which political party won in each province, going back to 1977.
A Google My Map of past election results is also available (just select Mapa Electoral from the sidebar) at google.maps.es. As well as showing the election results going back to 1977 the map has an added feature; if you select the results for 2008 map markers are added to the map. These markers reveal detailed charts that breakdown the results for each province.
The map will also display the results of next Sunday's election in near real-time. Every 15 minutes the results for declared provinces will be shown via coloured polygons on the map.
Million Marker Map The Million Marker Map uses 'Spatial DataBox' (SDB) to show over two million map markers on one Google Map.
The Spatial DataBox is able to perform 10,000 queries per second, and can return millions of markers per second. The 'Full Screen Map' button, situated at the top-left edge of the map, expands the map to occupy the full view of your computer's screen.
FindByClick.com is another example of a Google Maps mashup built on top of the Spatial DataBox. FindByClick is a community mapping site that lets users tag and share their favourite places.
Forbes American Lifestyle Map Where do people earn the most money? Which states have the most educated citizens? This Forbes Google Maps mashup compares population, education, business and lifestyle data for the whole of the USA.
Forbes teamed with ZoomProspector to produce this Google Maps heat map. Each data set is available from a drop-down menu at the top of the map and a key at the bottom of the map explains the relevance of the colours used.
If you are looking to move home any time soon you could use this map alongside the CNN Money Best Places to Live 2009 Map to find the most desirable location to live.
Versus Tour de France Live Tracker I would have reviewed this Tour de France live tracking map earlier but whenever I try to view the page all I get is an apology telling me that it is unavailable in my region. However I have now managed to get a screenshot of the map in action.
The screenshot seems to show live action from the race (which is presumably why the map is not available in the UK). I'm not sure why Versus can't show me the live tracking Google Map and the elevation chart, but if you live in the US you should check it out. I bet it's really good, sigh.
Ubilabs Tour De France Live Tracker Ubilabs have provided live tracking maps of the race leaders in the Tour de France for the last few years and they are back again this year with an improved map. This year, as well as showing positions of the race leaders, the Google Map displays real time tweets about the race.
It is possible to view the routes for any of the race's stages from a drop down menu. Each stage route contains map markers showing start and finish lines and the mountain and sprint stages.
Bikemap.net This Google Maps mashup has route maps for all the stages in the Tour de France. The map includes a 'full-screen' button, which can be used to enlarge the map.
The individual maps for each stage are accompanied with an altitude graph, which can show the altitude at any point on the stage route. The map also comes with an 'embed this map' option, so it is possible to feature the map on your own website or blog.
Accompanying each stage map are details about the length, the surface, the inclination and the vertical climb of the stage. The maps also come with a 'more' button. Clicking on this allows the map user to view Wikipedia articles, Panoramio photos and weather along the route.
Newspaper Circulation Statistics Mediaspace Solutions have produced this Google Maps mashup to display the daily circulation figures of US newspapers. For each newspaper it is possible to get the daily and Sunday circulation figures. Each information window also shows the number of unique visitors, daily visitors and page views of each newspaper's website.
It is possible to search the map by city, newspaper name or newspaper group.
Create Your Own Store Locator This amazing Google Maps creation tool allows any store or business to create their own store locator map, complete with driving directions. The created maps allow users to find the closest store locations by simply entering their ZIP Code. The Store Locator will return the nearest locations on a customisable Google Map.
Maine Lobster Shacks Brewster House, a Bed and Breakfast in Maine, has produced this Google Maps mashup of Lobster Shacks in the State. The map is an embedded Google My Map and a great example of how small businesses can use My Maps to provide added value to their customers.
Addizon Zoning Map This zoning and ordinances map for Addison, Texas allows the user to check zoning ordinances in the town all the way back to 1966. It is also possible to turn on coloured zoning overlays.
ZoomProspector Every business needs to decide where to locate. ZoomProspector finds the right location to enable companies to grow and succeed. At the heart of the ZoomProspector interface is a Google Map mashup.
Here is an introductory video:
Healthy Pet Mobile Vet Service This Google Map uses coloured polygon overlays to show the cost of a vet call out. The site covers Frederick, Montgomery, Howard, & Carroll Counties, Maryland and has limited coverage in Washington, Baltimore, & Anne Arundel Counties, Maryland.
It is possible to search the map by address and the coloured overlays represent the different costs of vet call out.
Dadillio Dadillio is a classified ads website that uses the Google Maps API to show the location of garage sales, antique markets and other events advertised on the site.
mapBattle How much do you know about the world? Play these Google Maps based games to find out.
The games come in a number of categories, divided into America, Asia and Europe. You can play find the country type games or find the city type games. Alternatively you can create your own game and challenge the world.
Most importantly each game has a high score table so you can see just how good or bad your knowledge of the world really is.
Coronation Street Street View In the UK the Street View car has been visiting Coronation Street. Coronation Street is a British television soap opera that has been running for nearly 50 years and regularly tops the television ratings.
Mmm... Google Map Marker Cakes These cakes were baked especially for the launch of Google Favorite Places.
On the subject of Favorite Places the Google Maps team in Japan put together this awesome promotion video for the new Google Maps promotion. The video uses tilt-shift photography to give the illusion of a 'miniature Tokyo'.
