What I Learned Today…

Last week I went to San Francisco for work and then a bit of a break. I knew I had friends in SF, but couldn’t remember everyone. I touched base with a couple before heading out that way and set up plans, but once in the state got a message from another friend that I forgot lived there! There are many apps out there with location information, Tripit for example  [ Read More ]

I’ve been on the road a lot this month and last and have had friends on Facebook and Twitter comment on my Foursquare checkins asking why I didn’t let them know I’d be in their area. Well the reason is simple – I can’t remember where everyone I’m friends with lives This is the new world of virtual relationships and for me many of these relationships are just as good  [ Read More ]

Okay this is just sad. Apparently Google Maps has had a link to Labs since at least February, but I just noticed it today. I have used Labs before in my email and like the idea of adding new features to Google Maps – i just wish I was more observant and had seen this sooner. My favorite new feature is the ability to draw a box on the map  [ Read More ]

David Friggens, Systems Librarian at University of Waikato in New Zealand, has been releasing a series of mashups that are close to my heart. They are a series of maps of libraries that are using an Open Source ILS. Academic Libraries Public Libraries Special/Corporate Libraries The maps pull data from libwebcats (another project I love very much) and plot the libraries on a Google Map. Since libwebcats depends on libraries  [ Read More ]

Today I taught mashups for InfoLink at the Clark public library. We did some simple Google Maps mashups just to get a feel for it. Then when catching up on blog reading I found this article from CNet that talks about additional map tools. Google Maps is dynamic. Making customized maps through the service isn’t very difficult. But there are a variety of third-party tools on the Web that help  [ Read More ]

From Library Journal: Let Mikael Jacobsen take you on a guided tour through the creation of customized and embeddable maps using Google’s My Maps. Be sure to read this month’s InfoTech feature (Google Maps: You Are Here) to see some innovative map uses at Franklin Park Public Library and elsewhere, and then check out the screencast below!

Back when street view was released for Google, I was hiding my head in 100 books, but I did bookmark the announcement. Now, Download Squad has pointed out that Google now has 6 new locations on street view – including Philadelphia! I could have used that a couple of weeks ago when I got turned around coming out of the subway and walked 6 blocks in the wrong direction!! Technorati  [ Read More ]

I saw this new tab earlier but just ignored it (who needs another “my” tool?), but then I read what it was all about on Lifehacker and had to share. To add multiple layers of data points to your maps – like information about real estate prices, weather, earthquakes and movie showtimes – from the “My Maps” tab hit “Add content,” and watch all those third-party Google maps mashups get  [ Read More ]

I was just playing with the new “traffic” button on Google Maps. It doesn’t look like Philly has this feature yet – but San Fran does and it looks like of interesting. The question I have is how up to date is this info? I don’t see any indication to help me with an answer. For now I’ll stick with the local news. Technorati Tags: google

I've written about Google Maps Mania in the past. Today I found a nifty little site (with a cute interface) that finds the cheapest gas near you – Map Gase Prices.com. I don't know where it's getting it's data … but it didn't find my cheapest gas station ($2.14) but it may find one you didn't know about near you.