45,000 Trails on Google Maps

AllTrails currently has over 200,000 members who have mapped over 45,000 trails. The trails includes routes and information on many different activities including hiking, mountain biking, skiing, and snowboarding.

It is possible to search for trails by location and the results are displayed on a Google Map. It is then possible to refine the trails shown by the driving distance from your location, the length of the trail and / or its duration.

When you select a trail you can view its route on a Google Map and view details about its length and duration. It is also possible to download the route as a GPX file or download it to a smartphone.

Strange Strolling with Google Maps

The Strange Stollers is a team of hikers, currently in training for the Oxfam Trailtrekker 2012 challenge. Oxfam Trailtrekker is a 100km trek for teams of four, over 30 hours across the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and takes place 26th-27th May 2012.

The Strange Strollers Training Map is a Google Map being used to record and document the walks that the group are undertaking in their training for the Oxfam Trailtrekker.

Using the GPS tracks, captured with a Garmin Forerunner, the map shows the routes of the group's walks. Each walk contains map markers that reveal photographs taken on the walk, which have been imported with the Instagram API or Tweets that have been imported onto the map using the Twitter API.

View Your Ski Runs on Google Maps

Phresheez is a smartphone application that allows users to track their ski-runs (or bike rides, hikes or running routes) and then view an animation of the run on Google Maps.

The Google Map playback feature shows the track of the recorded run. It is possible to view the animation of the actual run using the play, pause and fast-forward buttons beneath the map.

Whilst the run is animated on the map a number of controls above the map show the current altitude and speed at each stage of the track.

A Video Map of the London Olympics Park

The Guardian's Alternative Olympics Park Tour is an interesting mapped video guide to the 2012 London Olympics Park and the surrounding area in east London.

The tour starts in north Hackney and winds along the Lea River into the Olympics Park. The route is displayed on a Google Map and points of interest along the way are indicated with numbered map markers. If you click on a map marker you can view a video introduction given by Simon Cole, of Hackney Tours.

The map does work well as an introduction to the 2012 Olympics Park but I can't understand why The Guardian removed the navigation controls from the map. If you are going to include a map in your tour why then make the map difficult to navigate?

Record Your Ski Runs with Google Maps

Recon Instruments make micro optics display systems with GPS tracking technology for outdoor sports - in effect a heads up display for your ski goggles.

The HUD lets you view maps and statistics, such as your current speed and altitude. The devices can also record your ski runs, which you can replay later on a Google Map. The Google Map animated replays of your ski runs show your route, your current speed and altitude and some impressive statistics such as your average and maximum speed and altitude during your run.

The home page of the Recon Instruments website shows recent recorded ski runs by users, so even if you haven't bought a HUD you can view the ski runs added by those who have. The home page also features a Google Map of added runs so you can search for recorded ski runs on your favourite pistes throughout the world.

Watch 3D Previews of Hiking Routes

If you want to encourage your friends to join you on a hike then you could do worse than show them a 3d tour of the route using the Google Earth plugin.

MapMyHike is a website and mobile application for mapping and finding great hikes. You can search for a hiking route by location or by zooming in on a Google Map and searching for all the hikes in the current map view.

Each of the hikes come with extensive details about length and elevation, and a dedicated Google Map of the route.It is also possible to view a tour of the selected hike with the help of the Google Earth browser plugin. The tour really gives a great idea of the terrain, difficulty and scenery that you are likely to experience on the hike.

If you like the features provided by MapMyHike then you will probably also enjoy MapMyRun and MapMyRide from the same stable.

Fore - Lookout It's the Ultimate Golf Guide

The Golf Guide is a Google Map showing the location of thousands of golf courses throughout the world.

Many of the golf courses displayed on the map include Google Earth tours. The green map markers show which courses have the Google Earth tours available. When you click on a green marker an information window will open displaying the course with the Google Earth browser plugin.

The Google Earth tours take you on a 3d flyover of the course. You can interrupt the tour at any time and use the links to fly to a particular hole. The tour also informs the user of the par and length of each hole.

Tour the Tour Down Under

Cycling the Alps has created video tours of each of the stages in the upcoming Tour Down Under cycling race. The Tour Down Under is a UCI WorldTour cycling race, held in Adelaide, Australia, which starts next week.

Cycling the Alps has created Google Earth fly-through tours for each stage of the tour. You can view videos of each of the tours or view them with the Google Earth browser plug-in on the Cycling the Alps website.

Cycling the Alps has also created Street View tours for each stage of the race. The Street View tours animate through each stage using Google Maps Street View.

Not content with creating Google Earth and Street View tours you can also play a Google Earth based game for each stage. The game shows you the route of each stage on Google Earth and requires the user to guide a cyclist from the start to the finish of the stage.

If any of the tours or games grab your fancy you can even grab the embed code and add them to your own website or blog.

The Tour Down Under on Google Maps

The Santos Tour Down Under is a UCI WorldTour cycling race, held in Adelaide, South Australia. The 2012 race starts on the 15th January, 2012.

Velowire.com has created Google Maps showing the routes for each stage of this year's race. In a detailed article Velowire.com examines each stage with accompanying pop-up Google Maps and elevation charts of each stage route.

A KML file has also been created for those who wish to view the stage routes in Google Earth.

Ski Resort Webcams on Google Maps

If you want to check out the skiing conditions at your favourite resort you could do worse than check out the Sion Valais Webcam Navigator.

The Webcam Navigator is a Google Map showing European ski resort webcams. Thumbnail images of the latest shots from each webcam are shown on the map. You can click any of the thumbnail images to view the full-size image on the Sion Valais website or you can choose to view local points of interest at each ski resort.

Extreme Google Maps Sports

YouSpots is a Google Maps based app for finding and sharing new and exciting places to surf, skateboard, snowboard or participate in other extreme sports.

You can search YouSpots by location and sport. The results of your search are then displayed on a Google Map. You can refine the results by track length and by the steepness of the slope.

YouSpots also allows you to search by category, for example Water Sports includes the sub-categories of surfing, windsurfing, water kiting, wakeboarding, snorkelling, water skiing, scuba diving and cliff diving.

Route Planning with Google Maps

Komoot is a German language route planning application with a number of really useful features.

The site uses OpenStreetMap, Google Satellite and Google Terrain map layers to help users plan their route. When planning a hiking or cycling route users can view points of interest along the route and adjust the trip to take in any that take their fancy.

Finished routes come with lots of information, such as the length of the route, its difficulty and an altitude chart. The app is available for the desktop and for iPhone and Android smart phones.

Paragliding Planning with Google Maps

XC Planner is a Google Maps based planning tool for paragliders.

I know nothing about paragliding so I don't feel entirely qualified to comment on this map but it looks very impressive. Using the map you can select the type of paragliding flight you wish to undertake and then drag and drop the turning points. Coloured polygons on the map (I presume) show thermals (although I may be completely wrong).

Version 2 of XC Planner is currently in development. You can get a sneak peak of the new app here.

Weather for the Game on Google Maps

BleacherWeather.com allows you to find upcoming sporting events on a Google Map and get a weather forecast for the game.

It is possible to filter the upcoming games shown on the map by sport (MLB, NASCAR NCAA and NFL). It is also possible to filter the results by date to find a game on a particular day.

If you click on a game's map marker you can then view the weather forecast for that location. The forecast includes the current conditions, a three day forecast and an animated radar map of the location from the National Weather Service.

Win Olympics Tickets with Google Maps

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) are holding a competition called Show Your Best.

The competition can be entered by anyone aged 13-19. Entrants need to videotape, upload and share their 'personal best' moments. The personal best videos are being showcased and can be watched directly from a Show Your Best Google Map.

The two winners of the competition will win a trip to the London 2012 Summer Games, others will appear in a commercial to be broadcast during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

As well as the Google Map, showcasing the submitted videos, users can use a Digital Mash Up Creator to take their uploaded video and instantly see their best mixed into some of the greatest Olympic moments, and share the mashup with their friends.

Running a Marathon in Street View

The self styled 'most beautiful marathon in the world' is taking place on the 10th September. If you don't fancy hauling yourself up the Swiss Alps at a swift pace or if you can't get to Jungfrau this weekend you can still enjoy the gorgeous views on offer with this Google Map.

Jungfrau Marathon is a Google Map of the route that allows you to view photography taken along the whole of the route.

The application allows you to set your pace and then just press 'play'. The map then animates along the marathon route and gives you a first person view with imagery especially captured for this application.

The map even includes an elevation chart that shows you just how steep those mountain slopes really are. This is exactly how I like my marathons - with gorgeous scenery and viewed from my armchair.

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An Epic Adventure on Google Maps

American author and adventurer John Harlin has set out on an epic journey to follow the entire Swiss border under his own power, a 2,000km odyssey with more than 170,000m of climbing. You can follow John's journey on swissinfo.ch's John Harlin Live Google Map.



The map shows John's current position (at the time of writing he appears to be approaching the Matterhorn). The map also includes the amazing photographs that John has taken on his journey, links to John's daily reports and some of the interesting features and points of interest that John is passing on his epic journey.



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A Real-Time Map of the World's Joggers

Sports Tracker is a free sports tracking app for Android, iPhone and Nokia Symbian devices.



The app maps your runs or bike rides and collects data on your speed, distance, step-count, elevation and times. As well as using Google Maps in the app the Sports Tracker website also features a smart real-time map of sports enthusiasts who have most recently used the app.



It is even possible to click on the individual users and view the track they recorded on a separate map alongside all the data they collected on their run or bike ride.



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Hiking in France with Google Maps

Randonee dans l'Ain is a really nicely designed website promoting hiking, horse riding and bike trails in Ain, an area of the region Rhône-Alpes in France.



Each of the trails can be viewed on Google Maps. The route of each selected trail is displayed on the map and you can select to view restaurants, activities, photos and accommodation along and near the trail.



Each trail also comes with an elevation chart and with information concerning the route's length and the approximate time it takes to complete.



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The Google Maps Guide to Hiking in Norway

UT.no is a complete guide to hiking in Norway. The site features hiking routes, cabins, a calendar of events and a hiking map built with the Google Maps API.

As well as the usual Google Map views the map features detailed topographical map tiles. Using the menu in the map sidebar you can select to view cabins, summer trails, winter trails, videos, articles and even current skiing conditions.

Kart - UT.no

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