A Cross Platform Guide to Mumbai

The Guardian Mumbai City Guide is the latest of the The Guardian's Google Maps based guides to the world's favourite cities. This time however they are trying something new.

Like the paper's previous city guides the map shows the best places to stay, eat and visit and includes videos and sound recordings taken in the city.

However with this map The Guardian has created an application that is "responsive to the platform on which it is viewed ... if you view the guide on a desktop or laptop, it looks one way, if you view it on a tablet, it looks another way, and if you view it on mobile, it looks different again. Crucially the source behind what you are viewing is exactly the same on all of them, it's just adapting accordingly".

One of the beauties of version 3 of the Google Maps API is that it it works with desktop computers, smartphones and tablets. Even Street View in the Google Maps API works on these very different platforms.

The cross-platform functionality of the API presumably helped The Guardian in creating a responsive application. The menu system (the map sidebar) is where The Guardian have worked their own magic. Check out the application on different platforms to see how the map menu adjusts to suit the platform on which it is viewed.

Auto-Rickshaw Fares on Google Maps

In India auto-rickshaws are highly unregulated and drivers often charge customers not on a fixed fare system but based on what they think the customer is willing to pay.

MeterPodu is an application designed to try and crowd-source auto-rickshaw fare information in a number of Indian cities and tell passengers what the approximate auto-rickshaw fare should be for their journey.

Using MeterPodu commuters can add their journey details to a Google Map and view the average fare charged for that journey based on what other users have been charged. Passengers then at least have some ammunition in the inevitable haggling over the fare with the auto-rickshaw driver.

The Festival of Lights on Google Maps

A diya is a small light or lamp. During Diwali or 'the festival of lights' diyas are lit to signify the triumph of good over evil. Light a Diya allows anyone to light a virtual diya at the home of a loved one to help wish them a happy Diwali (Diwali is on Oct 26 this year).

The application uses Google Maps to allow users to search and find the address of the home where they wish to light a virtual diya. It is also possible to send the recipient of your virtual diya a personal message, either using Facebook connect or via e-mail.

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Mapping Violence Against Women in India

According to maps4aid the high number of female foeticide, infanticide and human trafficking prevalent in India has placed it as the fourth most dangerous country for women in the world.

They have therefore set up this citizen reporting service using the Ushahidi platform. Anyone can report an incident by:

1. clicking on the “Submit A Report” link
2. sending an SMS/MMS
3. tweeting with the hashtag #m4aid
4. using the Ushahidi App for i-Phone or Android
5. making a voice call

All incidents reported will then be displayed on the maps4aid Google Map.

Hat-tip:Street View Funny

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A Car Rental Calculator for Google Maps

When you hire a car in India the car rental charge is based on the the distance travelled. However, it is not unknown for the odometers in rental cars to be 'generous' when calculating the distance travelled. This can obviously lead to the customer being overcharged.

CarRentalin is a fully fledged car rental calculator to help you know what you really should be paying. Users of CarRentalin can plan a route with the help of a Google Map and calculate the distance travelled and the estimated rental cost.

If you use CarRentalin to work out your rental costs you also get a fully detailed route map for your journey.

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Indian Real Estate on Google Maps

PropertyFeast is a real estate search portal for properties for sale and rent across India.



PropertyFeast features Google Maps throughout the user experience. If a user browses for properties by location then they are shown a Google Map of India displaying the towns and cities with properties listed on PropertyFeast.



It is possible to search for a property by location, price and by type of property. The results of all searches feature a Google Map displaying the returned properties. Each individual property listing on PropertyFeast also features a map to show the property's exact location.



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Indian Local Places on Google Maps

PlayCez is a great Google Maps based local recommendation engine for India.



PlayCez users can find the best places to eat, shop and hang out in the largest Indian cities. The user interface is very simple to use. Users just need to choose a city and whether they want to eat, shop or hangout. The results are then displayed on a Google Map and displayed alongside the map.



If users select an individual venue they can then read comments about the venue by other users, invite their friends to meet at the venue (via Connect with Facebook) and get directions to the venue.



Currently PlayCez is available for the major cities in India, but has plans to expand to further geographies soon.



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How to Calculate the Cost of a Car Journey

MyPetrolPlace.com

This new Google Maps based application allows you to work out the cost for your car or motorbike journey in India based on the current cost of petrol in your city.

To use MyPetrolPlace.com enter a starting point and a destination. Then add the number of kilometres per kilogram your vehicle normally achieves. The application then calculates your daily and monthly fuel expenditure.

Your journey is also displayed on a Google Map. You can change the displayed route by dragging the markers. All the metro cities and state capitals in India are supported by the application.

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A Google Map of Indian Corruption

Corruption Tweets from India

Mibazaar tells me that corruption is rampant in India, with quite a few politicians making a fortune. He argues that social media is playing a very important part in exposing the illegal activities of some politicians.

To help publicise the work of Twitter users Mibazaar has created this Google Map of Twitter messages tagged with 'corruption'. The map animates through the latest messages posted to Twitter. The map can also be embedded in any website or blog.

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Cricket World Cup Final on Google Maps

Cricket World Cup 2011

At the time of writing in it is just twelve hours to the Cricket World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka and the Tweets are already streaming in on this Twitter Map.

Mibazaar's Google Map shows Twitter messages posted within 1 km of the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. It should be really interesting to see how many Tweets are actually posted from inside the venue during the game.

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Cricket World Cup on Google Maps

World Cup 2011 Twitter Map

The Cricket World Cup started in India today. Mibazaar has stepped up to the wicket and produced this World Cup Twitter map.

The map animates through the latest Tweets mentioning '#cricket'. It picks up all such Twitter messages sent from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

At the time of writing India are setting about Bangladesh with a vengeance and are looking to establish a huge target for Bangladesh to chase down. Judging by Mibazaar's map this is going down rather well with Twitter users in India.

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Taxi Fare Calculations with Google Maps

Taxi Auto Fare

Taxi Auto Fare is a Google Maps based taxi fare calculator that works for a large number of cities in India.

To calculate a fare just enter a starting point and a destination and Taxi Auto Fare will plot the route on Google Maps and work out an estimated cost for the journey. One really nice feature of Taxi Auto Fare is the inclusion of draggable routes. If you are unhappy with the route plotted by Google Maps Driving Directions you can drag the route to alter it.

The Taxi Auto Fare team are also planning to soon extend the service to more cities in India.

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The Commonwealth Games on Google Maps

Commonwealth Games Venues
This Google My Map simply shows the locations of the different venues being used in Delhi to host the Commonwealth Games.

Commonwealth Game Dropouts

Because of concerns before the games over the facilities at the Commonwealth Games a number of athletes refused to take part. This Google My Map lists the athletes who pulled out of the games and gives their stated reason for doing so.

Commonwealth Tweets

If you want to keep up with the latest real-time news from the Commonwealth Games this Google Map shows the latest Tweets about the games. The map shows the location of where the Tweet was sent and automatically animates to the latest message.

This map was created by the prolific Mibazaar, who also created this Baton Relay Path map. The Baton Relay Path map shows the path of the baton relay that is similar to the torch relay which is held before each Olympic Games.

India Beyond

If you are in India for the games you might also want to do a little sightseeing. This Google Map shows the locations of World Heritage sites in India.

Using the map it is possible to view the satellite images of sites such as the Taj Mahal and Delhi's Red Fort.

Aurangabad Map

This Google Map is also unrelated to the Commonwealth Games but is a listings map for the Indian city of Aurangabad.

The map shows the locations of businesses in Aurangabad. The markers on the map are colour-coded by type of business. The businesses listings can be accessed by clicking on the map markers or by using the map side panel.

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Commonwealth Games Baton Relay Mapped

Baton Relay Path

The XIX Commonwealth Games is due to start in a little under two weeks in India. The Queen's Baton Relay is now under way on its Indian leg, from the Wagah Border in Punjab to New Delhi.

The Queen’s Baton started its journey on 29th October 2009 from Buckingham Palace in London. It will arrive in New Delhi in time for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on Sunday, 3rd October.

Mibazaar has created an animated map of the route of the baton relay that runs through each of the 100 stages of its journey in India. The map automatically connects each stage on the journey and opens an information window for each stage displaying the date and location when the baton arrives.

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Indian Temples, Japanese Castles

Map My Temple

If you are planning a trip to India you must check out this great guide to Indian temples. Map My Temple is a community driven website for temples in India.

The site uses Google Maps throughout to show the locations of temples submitted buy users. As well as showing the temple on a Google Map the site includes Wikipedia entries and gives the nearest train station and bus stop.

Japanese Castle Explorer

The Japanese Castle Explorer is a beautiful looking map that shows the locations of Japan's most famous (and plenty of lesser known) castles. The site is available both in English and Japanese.

The map includes a number of well thought out and handy features. For example each castle, comes with a 'best view' button, which when pressed zooms the map in to the best satellite view of the castle. The map also comes with a 'random castle' button, a 'region' button (which shows the castles in Japan's different regions) and links to more detailed information on each castle.

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Follow Bollywood Stars with Google Maps

Bollywood Fans Tweets Map

Some of the biggest film stars currently using Twitter are Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra. Thanks to Mibazaar you can now follow all the latest Tweets about these three Bollywood stars in real-time and on Google Maps.

The Bollywood Fans Tweets Map shows the latest Twitter messages posted about Bachchan, Khan and Chopra. You can select either of the three stars and then the map will animate through the latest messages about them in real-time. You can even choose which region of the world you wish to view the fan Tweets for.

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Indian Premier League Google Maps

The Indian Premier League 2010 cricket season began yesterday. This is the third season of the IPL and in just three short years it has become one of the most watched sports competitions in the world.

IPL Twitter Map

This map shows Tweets tagged #ipl. The map animates through the latest messages posted to Twitter about the Indian Premier League.

To keep up with all the latest discussion about the league all you have to do is load the map and sit back and watch.

Indian Premier Cricket League

Indian Premier Cricket League is another Google Maps Mash up from the prolific Virender Ajmani. This map shows the home grounds of each of the Indian Premier Cricket teams.

Clicking on one of the tagged grounds zooms the map into a satellite image of the clicked ground. An information window gives details of the chosen team, the latest news via RSS and even includes an embedded video about the team.

Indian Premier League 2008

This map is a couple of years old now but much of the information is still relevant for the new season. The map was created using the SadakMap Google Map creation tool.

The map shows the locations of the IPL teams' home grounds.

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Landmarks in India Directions

Sometimes map developers using the Google Maps API come up with a feature so clever that Google themselves end up implementing something very similar on Google Maps itself. That curse has now fallen on RouteGuru.

In India many streets don't have names, which of course can make giving driving directions pretty confusing. To overcome this problem RouteGuru devised a solution which they called 'landmark based' directions. A typical route in RouteGuru will say something like "take the left after restaurant X, pass by theatre Y on the right..etc.".



Guess what today Google have launched a 'landmark' system for driving directions on Google Maps in India. Google are using a new algorithm to determine which landmarks are most useful for navigation, based on importance and closeness to the turns that you need to make. They then include these landmarks in driving directions.

This new development will greatly improve driving directions for Indian users of Google Maps. It probably won't have such a positive impact on RouteGuru's traffic.

However, in Google's defence, the use of landmarks when giving directions in India is very common.

Via: Google India Blog

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