items tagged with maps

Let's have a look at what some smart guys are developing using Google Maps...

Google Maps is Google's latest product offering which provides a super cool mapping application for US street maps, driving directions, and local search.

• Foundcity is a social mapping tool for creating a personalized map of your life on-the-fly. Using your mobile phone, you "tag" or capture photos throughout the day, label them with any words you want, and send them to your map. At home, you access and customize your map, which you can share with friends, keep private, or publish openly. As a visitor to the Foundcity site, you view a map of all tags and connect with the people and places that share your interests. By plugging in to the network of Foundcity users, you learn what others value in the city as you surf their hotspots. By publishing your own tags, you share what you know about your city. http://www.foundcity.net/
• Central London Traffic Cameras, http://www.gmaptrack.com/map/locations/24/44
• This resource enables users of the popular Craigslist database to visualize and map the results of their search for available housing and rental properties http://www.housingmaps.com/
• A freely browsable database of crimes reported in Chicago. http://www.chicagocrime.org
• Traffic: an example of interoperablity with Yahoo weservices: Traffic data by Yahoo!, icons by Yahoo, maps by Google http://traffic.poly9.com or http://supergreg.hopto.org/google-traffic.com/
• UPS Package Tracking with Google Maps http://www.thrall.net/maps/upstracking.html
• Boston Subway Station Map http://www.thrall.net/maps/mbta.html
• Hotel search and booking capabilities worldwide: http://reservemy.com
• Searching the best deal on Gas in USA? http://www.ahding.com/cheapgas
• Locate a movie theater and map it's location in USA? http://www.ahding.com/movie
• Large inventory database of U.S. Police - Fire - 911 Incidents: http://www.incidentlog.com
• Florida Sexual Predators: http://www.floridasexualpredator.com
• Google Map links for Unesco World Heritage Sites: http://www.templetons.com/brad/unesco
• Vancouver Tourist Map: http://www.williamsweekly.com/gmap2.html
• Where do you want to eat? http://www.toeat.com
• Your Ancestors on a Google Map: http://www.mapyourancestors.com
• Track visitors to your website: http://www.gvisit.com
• Bookmarklet to create a walking tour of an area: http://www.gnik.com/maps/google
• Pedometer: http://www.sueandpaul.com/gmapPedometer
• How congested a local EVDO wireless broadband network is: http://wifi-hotspot.wirelessinternetcoverage.com
• gCensus: http://gcensus.com/index.php
• NYC Subway stops: http://monkeyhomes.com/map/nycsubway.php
• Real time weather information on a map: http://www.weatherbonk.com/weather/index.jsp
• UFO get also caught? http://simplyted.blogspot.com/2005/05/google-maps-show-apparent-ufos.html
• Company bought by Google Inc.: http://www.dodgeball.com

And the list go on....

• Chating rooms: This example demonstrates bi-directional messaging between heterogeneous (Flash and AJAX) clients and WebORB Message Server. The server performs additional processing to geolocate chat users, injects necessary information in messages so users can plotted on the map.
• Weather Bond: Weather Bonk lets you view real time weather information on a map. This can provide some very interesting information, particularly in areas with microclimates, such as San Francisco.
  The Interface do not only look great, but informations displayed as layer are really fantastics since it use also many sources: national weather services. Weather Underground, Weather Bug, Citizen Weather Observer Program, and National Weather Service. look at the About.
  

More sites using Google maps:

• Geolocate where the server is on Google Maps, for example: www.waltercedric.com server is in Paris ;-)
• Find free WIFI hotspot
• Meet hot people, hmmm

And If You have a good idea and want to develp our own application  using Google Maps, You may ask How it works...

Google maps is using Javascript, XML, XSLT, and CSS to create a web application that behaves more like a desktop application. With normal web programming, the user is presented with a form, the user inputs its data, the user submits the form, and finally the entire web page reloads with new content. AJAX, as this type of programming has been coined,  does not require the reloading of the entire interface.  The Javascript is able to make calls back to the server to get the required information and update only those parts of the interface that needs to change.

You can start by registering for a key HERE, and start reading all blogs describing hacks an tips, for example:

• Google Maps Mania: An unofficial Google Maps blog tracking the websites, ideas and tools being influenced by Google Maps.

And for finishing, the most beautiful hacks I've found: Google Maps Transparencies  and extended box zooming function