gHacks technology news » google maps

Google Map Saver

Martin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:52:40 +0000

We reviewed the Google Maps downloader Offline Maps last month and came to the conclusion that it was an excellent program for users who want to have offline access to specific regions and locations in Google Maps. The Google Map Saver is a similar application. There are a few differences between the programs that need to be addressed.

Google Map Saver is a portable software program that feels more responsive and less complicated to use. The user can enter a location or point of interest and the program will download the available data from Google Maps. This process takes a few seconds the most on fast connections. The usual Google Maps controls are available including zooming in and out, moving around with the mouse or switching between map, satellite and terrain view.

The zoom factor and map type can also be changed in pulldown menus at the top. Images of the maps that are displayed can be saved in various resolutions (e.g. window size, iPhone, HD 1080 or custom formats up to 4096×4096. Various output formats including jpg, png, targa and bmp are available. The resulting images can be large (40+ Megabytes) if the highest resolutions are selected.

Google Map Saver is an uncomplicated program that can be used to save locations in Google Maps in a short period of time. The program is portable and available at the developer’s homepage. The watermark can be removed by clicking on the globe in the upper right corner to get to the about page and there on the Activate button which will remove the watermark. (via Technobuzz)

Tags: google map saver, google maps, portable software, windows software

Bing Maps 3D

Martin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:31:31 +0000

Bing Maps, which was formerly known as Virtual Earth, is Microsoft’s answer to Google Maps. The maps service is directly available on the Bing homepage and offers a 2D mode by default. This mode can be used to zoom in and out of locations in the world or get directions from one place to another. The main difference between the two maps services is the third party support. Hundreds, if not thousands of Google Maps mashups exist which is one of the prime reasons for the popularity of the service.

Bing Maps 3D is an add-on for Bing Maps which activates the 3D mode. This mode adds the possibility to zoom and rotate in 3D. Probably the most interesting aspect of the add-on are the 3D models of buildings and sights that have been added to the map. Among the cities are New York, Las Vegas, Tokyo and Berlin.

Bing Maps 3D can be installed in two different ways. The first option is to visit the Bing Maps website and click on the 3D link in the upper left control panel. This will open a window with the possibility to download Bing Maps 3D. The second possibility is to download the add-on directly from a Microsoft server. The web browser needs to be closed and restarted after installation. The installation displays (preselected) options to switch to MSN as the homepage and Bing as the default search engine. Users who do not want this should ensure that they have unchecked the options.

A fast video card and Internet connection is advised to enjoy Bing Maps 3D.

Tags: bing, bing maps, bing maps 3d, google maps

Real-time Local Twitter Trends

Martin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:55:02 +0000

Twitter can be an excellent source for spotting the latest trends. Twitter itself displays several popular topics on its frontpage which are sorted by minute, day and week. It does become more difficulty to spot trends if they are not displayed on the Twitter homepage. The two problems that arise are finding those trends if they are not displayed on the Twitter website and to find local trends opposed to global trends.

Trendsmap is a Google Maps and Twitter mashup that solves both of these problems. The tool displays a world map that is displaying popular topics based on the region the user is looking at. It is for instance possible to see right now that the people in the Philippines are tweeting about the typhoon Pepeng while the most popular topics on the US west coast are the movie Zombieland, Halloween and the NL West Champs.

Since Trendmaps is a Google Maps mashup it is possible to zoom in and out of the map. This only makes sense in regions of the world where Twitter is a popular form of communication. A click on a popular topic will display trends and latest messages on the same screen. The box that is displayed on the right side of the website usually contains a short description of the trend and links to websites for additional information.

Trendsmap is an interesting Google Maps Twitter mashup. More so for researchers and users who like to stay up to date on certain topics.

Tags: google maps, trendmaps, twitter, twitter trends

Google Maps Downloader Offline Maps

Martin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:02:09 +0000

Google Maps is an interesting service for quite a few purposes. It can be used to get directions or take a closer look at a specific location on the planet. Many mashups extends its functionality making it without doubt one of the most popular map applications on the Internet. Google Maps does require an Internet connection which can be problematic in some situations like downloading directions from point a to point b to a computer to access it on the road where Internet access is either not available or to costly.

Offline Maps is a software program for Microsoft Windows that offers the following functionality to users and developers:

The application provides following functionality to its users:

The ability to download tiles to a folder on your computer of a given zoomfactor along a path
The ability to view the downloaded tiles in the application
The ability to draw a path on the map and save that path to a file
The ability to receive data from a GPS device and position the map at the points received from the device

To developers it provides following functionality

The ability to develop new layers with specific functionality
The ability to draw on the map using longitude and latitude coordinates
The ability to draw on the map using regular coordinates

The developer provides access to a version for the Microsoft Windows operating system and a mobile version for Windows Mobile devices. Supported are Google Maps and Open Street Maps. It is furthermore possible to load maps that have already been downloaded from either service. Several additional options are provided in the layers tab including ripping, routing and GPS options.

The software program requires the Microsoft .net Framework. Interested users can download it from the Codeplex website.

Tags: google map, google maps, map download, offline maps, open street maps

Google City Tours

Martin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:07:09 +0000

The Google City Tours online application provides an interesting alternative to traditional ways of exploring a city with the help of travel guides or guided tours. It is basically a Google Maps application that provides three day tours for many of the world’s most popular cities. All the user needs to do is to enter the name of a city and the country. Google City Tours will then display information about the sights in the left sidebar and a visual representation on Google Maps on the right.

Each tour is taking the day the sights are visited into account to include anniversaries and festivals that might take place at one of the days of the tour. The tour overview on the left side will list the name of the sights and the traveling time between sites (only walking time, might be a good idea to check for other means of transportation).

The tour is displayed on Google Maps with the usual options of zooming in and out of the map and printing parts of it.

One interesting option provided by Google City Tours is the ability to add or remove sights from the tour. This is extremely useful if a sight is not listed in the default tour. It can also be handy to remove sights that are of no interest to the individual or group. The Google Maps service will calculate the new tour. It is even possible to remove all sights and plan a tour individually.

Google City Tours is an excellent online tool that aids individuals and groups plan city tours.

Tags: city tours, Google, google city tours, google maps, google maps mashup, google maps sights, sights, sightseeing

Google Maps Downloader And Joiner

Martin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:14:03 +0000

Google Maps is one of the most popular map services on the Internet. It can be used for several purposes including looking at maps at different zoom levels in the world or to get directions by entering two locations.

One problem that many users experience when using Google Maps is the inability to create maps that do not fit on the computer screen. This usually means to take a screenshot of each part of the map and either keep them as separate images on the computer or to join them together in an image editor. Both options are not very comfortable.

A better solution is the portable software Google Map Buddy which allows the user to download and join any area in Google Maps. The program does that by opening Google Maps in its interface. All navigational options are provided which means it is possible to find a location in the world by searching for it or to get directions by using that feature.

The program offers a small control overlay that can be used to draw a rectangle on the map. This rectangle will be downloaded and joined together later on.

There are two additional steps after drawing the rectangle on the screen. The first is the selection of the zoom level. A higher zoom level results in greater detail but also in additional images that are downloaded and joined in the end. The program will display the number of images that are created. There is also a visual aid if the Draw Helper button is pressed.

The Create Map Image will start start downloading the selected area from Google Maps to the location specified by the user in the file browser. The map parts will be downloaded separately at first and joined in the end. It is furthermore possible to keep the single map images or delete them in the end.

Google Map Buddy is a helpful program for users who want to download or print maps from Google Maps without having to join them afterwards. It is for instance possible to create a detailed map of a specific town or location which would take a long time to create manually due to the many screens it would be displayed on.

Tags: Google, google map, google map buddy, google maps, maps, maps google, portable software, windows software

Create Heatmaps With Heatmap Studio

Martin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:57:30 +0000

Heatmaps are basically graphical data representations on two dimensional maps. They can for example be used to represent how users access applications or websites which makes them an extremely popular instrument for usability studies. Many webmasters use heatmaps to design their websites in an optimal fashion which usually means placing the ads in a position that is recognized by most users who come and visit the website.

The Heatmap Studio is a software program for the Windows operating system that can generate heatmaps from three different types of data. The first from applications that are monitored over time, the second from Google Maps and the third from an already existing set of data.

The application monitoring heatmap module will display a list of all applications that are currently running on the computer system. It will monitor the mouse every 150 milliseconds by default. The value can be lowered to 1 ms or increased to 4901 ms. The heatmap monitoring process can be started by clicking on the start button. The Heatmap Studio will record the mouse movement and display a visual representation of it in the end. Several parameters of the heatmap can be changed once the monitoring period has ended.

The two other heatmap types work with data sets that need to be imported into the software program. The data set must fit the selected heatmap type. For Google Maps heatmaps it would mean to import a two or three column dataset with latitude and longitude while the standard heatmap requires an image for the heatmap and a dataset that is made up of standard x,y coordinates.

Heatmap Studio requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3. and is compatible with most Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Tags: google maps, heatmap, heatmap software, heatmap studio, hetamaps, windows software

Play with and understand WiFi Positioning System

Joe — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:44:15 +0000

A few months ago, Mozilla generated lots of buzz through its Geode extension, which locates users through the WiFi access point they were using. Other popular tools have similar features, such as ‘Locate me’ on iPod Touches.

So, a very interesting question is how does such technology work?

They consult a service called Skyhook Wireless. They drive around settlements in several countries and record the GPS co-ordinates of where they pick up certain wireless access points, so when users send the access point’s MAC to them, it can return the co-ordinates. Many areas aren’t covered but if you would still like to use it, and let others use it, one can manually add details to the system. The same system is used to correct erroneous listings.

Many services already make use of WiFi-based location services.

For example, GPS units may struggle to provide an accurate location indoors or in an urban environment, but Skyhook Wireless doesn’t have this problem. Software like Google Maps on the iPhone use WiFi-based location in such scenarios.

Several online websites also use WiFi-based location services to return information based on the locality. Some are social networking, like brightkite and Fire Eagle to local search, although these services tend to be American. MyLoki is another service which relies on geolocation, and this allows location data to be exported to RSS feeds, Facebook or even Twitter. It can also grab data from ‘channels’ and plot things nearby on a map. These ‘channels’ include everything from Starbucks coffee shops to geotagged photos, Yelp reviews and cinemas.

Google Gears uses its own geolocation service, which websites like ITN use, but this is much worse than Geode/Skyhook, being accurate for me to about 150 miles instead of 15 meters!

Skyhook-based locations are built into the iPhone, the Opera web-browser and Mozilla Geode.

Privacy concerns are put to ease as data is only sent if you confirm the website can have access to it, and the software lets you specify how accurate a location you’re willing to send.

The idea of geolocation and WiFi positioning is fantastic. Eventually, it will allow you to open your laptop and then share your location with others, should you choose, or find the nearest restaurant in a distant city!

Tags: brightkite, fire eagle, geolocate, geolocation, google maps, gps, loki, mozilla geode, navigation, semantic web, skyhook, skyhook wireless, web 2.0, wifi, wifi based location, wifi positioning system, wps

Use and make free, as in beer and freedom, maps with OpenStreetMap

Joe — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:05:55 +0000

Hundreds of websites offer mapping services, which highlight roads, railways, streets and scores of other things. Most of these sites charge for commercial use of their data and almost certainly won’t allow users to change the maps in a wiki-like fashion.

OpenStreetMap is a project to provide maps, like Google Maps does. Unlike sites like Google, though, OpenStreetMap provides its data freely under a Creative Commons licence.

The site relies on its users to utilise their GPS devices to record roads, something that can be done through several pieces of software available for platforms ranging from Linux to PocketPC to iPhones. These pieces of software produce journeys which can be traced around, labelled using software and then uploaded to OSM. As roads change, other users can then edit these pieces of information.

Many websites and appplication, especially those involved in the free software movement, utilise OpenStreetMap’s data.

To contribute to this project, you need a GPS receiver. Then, you need software to log it in the ‘GPX’ format; the project’s wiki lists a number of pieces of software for several platforms which do that. TopoGrafix Personally, I use Track n Trail for iPhone. OSM seem to like GPSBabel for non-mobile operating systems. Maps are then uploaded to OpenStreetMap, where using a Java editor they are edited and published. If this sounds complicated, a clearer how-to guide is available.

To summarise, OpenStreetMap is a wonderful idea. Coverage is patchy outside major cities, although most major roads in most Western countries are marked. There is no harm in contributing, naturally! It gives but more access to free information.

Tags: foss, google maps, gps, mapping, Open Source, openstreetmap, routes, sat nav, satellite navigative

loc.alize.us: Geotag photos the old way… with Google Maps

Joe — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:30:04 +0000

Generally, I geotag my photos using Flickr’s Organizr. Unfortunately, I often find Yahoo! Maps to be much worse than Google Maps and whilst recently tagging some photos of Northern France and Flanders, I simply found it intolerable (being unfamiliar with placenames etc). I began to reminisce about the days when geotagging was somewhat more complex and proceeded to search for the tool I used to use.

I stumbled across loc.alize.us. loc.alize.us is a bookmarklet and website which uses Google Maps for geotagging. It is remarkably simple to use and quite minimalist.

The bookmarklet works through going to one of your photos on Flickr, hitting the bookmarklet, searching for the location using Google Maps, clicking the location and pressing save. Pretty simple, if you ask me! I find this much quicker than Flickr’s service and Google Maps, in my opinion, is much better than Yahoo! Maps.

Their website allows users to explore geotagged photographs, much like the explore option on Flickr’s maps. Once again, the difference is primarily choice. It allows users to use Google Maps, which has much better satellite coverage for example, rather than Yahoo! Maps. Results, naturally, can be refined by user etc.

loc.alize.us allows its maps to be embedded into website. I question the practical uses of this, but it’s still a good idea. I believe Flickr lacks this.

loc.alize.us doesn’t offer anything important that Flickr doesn’t. The key difference is the mapping site it uses; and that’s one big difference!

Tags: bookmarklets, flickr, geodata, geotagging, geotags, google maps, javascript, online photo sharing, photography, photos, photosharing

The reason people love (and should love) Google so much

Daniel Pataki — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:22:51 +0000

I’ve been thinking a bit about the history of the internet, and one important point I deduced was how important Google was to this all. Many-many people love Google, which usually means a lot hate it or dislike it too, but everyone should be thankful for what they have done.

You’re probably thinking that I’m a Gmail maniac, or I use Google Maps too much, but this isn’t the case. The reason Google should be thought of highly is that it made (and makes) everyone question the quality of everything, and taught everyone that even the strongest product can be beaten with the right attitude/tools. It first challenged Altavista and other search engines and won. It then built the best Email app ever, made it completely free and gave people masses of storage.

During this period it “Googleized” all its rivals, meaning Yahoo, Microsoft and smaller companies started to act the same way, thinking more community-oriented thoughts and developing their own stuff to the same standard.

I think most of the Twitter phenomenon is because of Google too. Not that they have anything in common, but the same thing is happening here. First there was Twitter, a great idea. Then others came and created Pownce, Plurk, and loads of other, basically identical services. This is great since it guves us variety, and they push each other to do better and better.

Consumer-wise Google made people take top-notch software for granted. When I work with Gmail I expect updates, I expect stuff like themes, Google Labs to come sooner or later and so on. Sure enough, Gmail slowly but surely evolved toward POP, IMAP, a built in task manager, and so on. Making consumers hard to “buy” means that companies try harder and harder, in the end also benefiting the consumer.

Overall, what Google really brought to the table is a kind of internet capitalism that benefits everyone, but mostly the common user. So if you’re bad mouthing Google any time you may actually be right, just remember that many of the quality apps you use today were made, or were made today and not years from now, partly because of Google.

Tags: gmail, Google, google hate, google love, google maps, search engine

Calculating The Solar Potential Of A Roof

Martin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:39:56 +0000

Solar Roof is a Google Maps mashup that can calculate the solar potential of a roof. If you ever wanted to find out if it would make sense to put solar collectors on your roof you can do so now by using the free service. This can be quite an efficient first analysis of the potential of the roof. It is probably nowhere near perfect and an expert who would come to your house to measure the solar potential would be definitely more accurate in his calculations but it should give a first overview of the potential.

Using Solar Roof is easy. The user begins by entering an address which Google Maps will then show on the map. He then begins to place array segments around the roof of the house that mark the house on the map, the part that should be analyzed should appear in yellow afterwards.

The script begins to calculate various parameters like the potential, the power per sq. ft., the area in sq. ft and total peak power as soon as the first array marker has been placed on the roof. Once all markers have been placed it is important to click the first marker again to signal that the roof has been completely marked.

After that the orientation marker has to be placed on the map. The orientation marker determines the direction that the roof slopes. Lastly the roof tilt angle has to be selected.

A click on the performance tab will load a monthly solar performance graph which will show the monthly output level in kilowatt hours. The calculations take region characteristics like weather cycles and cloud cover into account.

Solar Roof will also provide a financial analysis in the third tab. Users who enter their monthly electric bill and utility company will see how a solar roof would affect those bills. In the end it displays a chart that shows the break even date and the net costs if solar panels would be added to the roof.

Tags: electric bill, google maps, google mashup, solar energy, solar potential, solar power, solar roof, utility company

Feel the image, become the image

Martin — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 19:04:50 +0000

I’m writing this article rather excited because of what I have just seen. Panoramic photos recently started to be very popular when the first algorithms and applications for creating such images appeared and digital cameras were given support for this specific kind of shooting. Publishing such shots on Flickr or any other similar site sure is fine but I’ve just hit a service that serves panoramic photos in a breath-taking way.

The site I’m talking about is called ViewAt and it doesn’t appear to be special by any means until you choose a photo to be transformed and viewed in 3D by their service. A flash-based strip will then appear showing you the panoramic photo as a 3D animation.

You can watch the panorama as a whole or click in the picture to start moving around it and see all the details. You can also zoom in or out but the picture is only smooth when not moving. Here comes the best part – try switching to full-screen by hitting the button in the lower right corner and watch what happens.

To make the first impression best, I recommend you to view THIS particular image in full-screen with a suitable background music (which is quite important for the resulting effect), exactly as I did when I first hit this website. Watch the sky, the sea… Can you see the beauty?

Read More:

ViewAt.org

Tags: google maps, mashup, panoramic images, panoramic views, viewat

Google Maps: Swim across the Atlantic Ocean

Martin — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:42:28 +0000

Now ain’t that interesting ? You can use Google Maps to get directions from one location to another. It is most of the time pretty accurate displaying information about highways, signs, exits and so on to give you a good impression of the route that lies ahead. You can try it now and head over to the Google Maps website and use the Get Directions tab to enter a starting point and destination to see how the system works.

Now guess what happens if you enter a starting point in Europe and a destination in North America ? Let us see what happens: I start in Berlin and want the direction to Fort Knox. (I love gold, hehe). Everything appears to be looking fine. I’m receiving 64 parts that detail the journey from Berlin to Fort Knox. Nothing unusual so far but take a look at the image that details the route, it goes straight through the Atlantic Ocean.

Now if we analyze direction 40 on the list we see something very astonishing. It says “Swim Across the Atlantic Ocean” with a distance of 5572 kilometers, that is 3462 miles! Think this is a pretty strange suggestion: What do you do with your car btw, leave it behind ?

Tags: Google, google maps, google maps fun, swim accross the atlantic ocean

Google Maps Flight Simulator

Martin — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 18:23:41 +0000

I thought I pass this great find on to my readers here at ghacks. Google Maps Flight Simulator is a nice little application that uses various google map locations like London, Paris and Tokyo and add a plane that you can steer on the map. If you ever wanted to fly over a town this application might be right what you´ve been looking for. Hope you enjoy it.

Tags: flight simulator, google maps

Google Maps Nighttime

Martin — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 15:50:52 +0000

Everyone knows the map service of google and the google maps nighttime shows the earth at night (and dusk). Looks great if you ask me. Lets you zoom in and out like in every other google map.

Tags: Google, google maps

Celebrity maps

Martin — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 06:43:18 +0000

We have seen all kind of Google maps so far, some interesting, some not but this one could be interesting to some of you. If you are the type that likes to watch the Oscar and Emmy Awards for instance.

I found a celebrity map that shows where celebrities live on a Google map. The site provides a large list of them, starting with Paula Abdul over Pamela Anderson to Elijah Wood and Billy Zane.

If you´d like to see where they live head over to i-am-bored.com

Tags: Celebrity houses, Celebrity maps, google maps, location

Famous Sites and Buildings on Google Maps

Martin — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 21:17:23 +0000

What have the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Parthenon in Athens and the Eiffel Tower in Paris in common ? The answer is, they all can be seen in excellent quality on Google maps.

I found a site that lists some of the world famous buildings and sites with a direct link to Google maps for your viewing pleasure. Take a look around, visit the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City and the Washington Monument in Washington DC.

Only traveling there will enhance your experience of this wonderful sites. Take a look at zopheus.com to begin your sightseeing tour.

Tags: famous buildings, famous sites, google maps, google maps tips

Google Maps Risk Game

Martin — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:49:27 +0000

Could not believe it when I first heard about it. Someone ported the board game Risk to Google maps. When you start the game you see a world map and some lines drawn that are the borders. They look exactly like the risk game layout.

There are no computer players for now, so its only really playable in hot seat mode, unless you have multiple personalities, then that might be the perfect game for you. Take a look at this astonishing Google maps game and tell me what you think of it.

Tags: Games, google maps, risk

Live Weather on Google Maps

Martin — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 07:32:56 +0000

Weatherbonk lets you view realtime weather information about a town you specify. Its not only working for the USA but the whole word. Its working pretty straightforward and fast, you enter the name and location of your town (San Francisco CA, or Berlin, Germany) and the map loads the location showing every town it has weather information of with a green dot.

The options include changing temperature degrees between fahrenheit and celsius as well as turning wind barbs on and off.

You simply move your mouse over a green dot and receive immediately some basic information, name of town, temperature and wind. You receive more information on a left click.

The script also displays positions of webcams on the mapscreen. Users can add new webcams and look at the latest picture of the cam to get an impression of the local weather.

Its a nice little script in my opinion, try it out weatherbonk.com

Tags: Google, google maps, live weather, weather

gHacks technology news » google maps

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