On 6/30/05, Andy Carvin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Also from the Boston Globe; I'd love to hear what list members think about > this impacting community informatics.... -ac
> Google points way to Maps' code > > Move OK's sites' use of feature to create their own services > > When the online information search giant launched a feature in February > letting Web surfers pull up maps and satellite images of virtually any > neighborhood in America, hackers quickly found the Google service made > it possible to present data in cartographic format. Unlike existing services > from Time Warner Inc.'s MapQuest.com and Yahoo Inc. that are limited to > presenting information authorized by the portal -- like locations of pizza > shops or bank machines -- Google Maps let people plug in their own data. And now, Yahoo! does as well. I spent some time working with both, yesterday and today. Very useful stuff. I had an existing database of sites with latitude and longitude stored -- http://sandiegobloggers.com/ -- and now have samples of the data in yahoo format: http://sandiegobloggers.com/newmap/yahoo/ (which redirects to being hosted on yahoo) And http://sandiegobloggers.com/newmap/ (which is local to me) Y! is great because you can send it richer data about sites, in addition to being able to feed it *either* lat/lon or address data. Google is great because you have a bit more control over look and feel, and can host it locally on your own site. Both have a wee learning curve - but if you can hack xml and javascript and follow instructions, you're golden. The first time I ever worked on anything like this it was with an org in San Diego that maintains a list of CTCs down there. It was homegrown because of prohibitive licensing costs for commercial mapping tools. These tools now are essentially free, and darned useful. Anyone looking to build a quick list of locations only needs an api key (free) and a nice xml file of data on the web, and you have an instant map. These are powerful tools, and these are interesting times for the web. Joe Crawford -- http://artlung.com/ 805-857-3951 _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
