Hack your maps

A great article/tutorial on hacking open source maps by Young Hahn (working at MapBox - the tool the tutorial is presenting) on alistapart.com. 

So many amazing clever google maps

Guess this was made by Thailand tourism for the Japanese market - thanks to Chrome i can at least make out what’s going on with the text - however the googlemaps functionality and look is very fine…

Find out who’s pumping out the most Greenhouse gasses in the USA care of the EPA.

The Carbon Calculator is an innovative online tool that informs about the potential contribution of any selected area in the world to climate change mitigation by providing initial estimates on the amount of carbon currently stored inside, as well as the amount of additional carbon that could be sequestered through restoration.

 California takes climate change info and makes it interact on this selection of google maps.

play with the population dataset on this 7billionactions.org site

Timeline controlled map - using scroll up/down feature - really cllever way to tell a story using google maps over time.

History in these streets - In the summer of 2011, the Bay Area Video Coalition’s Factory filmmaking program for teenagers partnered with the Mozilla Foundation and four Bay Area non-profit organizations to create web-native social-justice video projects. A web-native video is a story that can only be experienced fully on the Internet. It takes advantage of the Internet’s capacity for engagement and connectivity to create an experience that allows the viewer/user a heightened degree of control and interactivity.

These projects were made possible through Popcorn Maker, an open source tool by Mozilla. Popcorn Maker is a program that allows filmmakers with only a minimal grasp of HTML to integrate the limitless resources of the Internet into new film experiences. 

Created using popcorn js this guided tour around the RIT campus is a fine example of putting html 5 to good use…

Can’t think of where to go for food? WTF - just try this little google mashup…

searchable google map using fusion tables

Maybe not an exciting screenshot but a very cool opensource mapping tool by Derek Eder.

Putting now on the map

The LRA Crisis Tracker is a real-time mapping platform and data collection system created to bring an unprecedented level of transparency to the atrocities of the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Using information sourced from Invisible Children’s Early Warning Radio Network (check this out!), UN agencies, and local NGOs, this tool allows for better response from governments, policy-makers, and humanitarian organizations.

jQuery subway maps

Well you never know when you might need one!

There’s something very appealing about the design of the London Underground (PDF) Tube maps. The design has spawned plenty of spinoffs, and is in demand for all types of projects. If you’re looking to include something similar in your own project, Nik Kalyani has produced a jQuery plugin that you can use to create your own.

(source: readwriteweb.com)

Googlemap icons

Some lovely icons from “map icons collection” made under cc  - you do need to give these guys a creditline - or ask them to design some for you!

To customise the icon on your map click on the icon to bring up the content dialogue box, then clcik on the icon in the top right. Then click on the “add an icon”.

Thanks to Jack Hunter for the inspiration and finding the icons!

Corona beer - extraordinary multimedia road trip taking people from central China, the place furthest from the sea and taking them, you guessed it - to the sea.. You’ll need serious bandwidth but it’s worth the trip. Beautiful. Beer!

Good magazine road map to harmony. The good people at Good magazine produce beautiful and good infographics - this one is interactive flash from 2009. www.good.is also produce fantastic videos and is just a great place to go for some eye and brain candy.

Maps

We’re looking at how we can use googlemaps better - I’ve been amazed to see what’s out there!

One of the best places to look for the latest and coolest is googlemapsmania - really worth a look and a bookmark to come back to later.

Here’s some links to maps I’ve looked at recently that are really worth checking out for function and form.:

NOCA interactive map - The sites listed are a small representation of the many excellent modern sites in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have been chosen for the website because they represent a range of building types, architects and geography.

Historypin - sticking photo’s to places and giving them a story - another lovely little storytelling site that caters for history and travel interested folks.

Smashing magazine gives the lowdown on Maps In Modern Web Design: Showcase and Examples

Levis road trip. a very different way of using google maps - two layers - terrain and denim…Worth clicking through to see how you can explore the story…