Most Read Posts 2010

In 2010 the most read posts on Google Maps Mania were, in order of popularity:

Volcanic Ash Cloud Live Tracking Map

The ever popular live flight tracking Google Map Radar Virtuel in April added a layer showing the position of the Icelandic volcano ash cloud. Users were able to not only view the non-existent planes over Europe as flights were cancelled because of the cloud but see the the location of the very existent ash cloud.

Street View in 3D

On April 1st Google released the option to view Street View in 3D. Like most other commentators I thought that this was the Google Maps teams April Fool joke.

It might well have been released as an April Fool but the feature proved so popular that the feature remains. If you right click on a Street View in Google Maps you can still turn 3D mode on.

Maps of the Nashville Flood

Historic flooding took place in Nashville in May with over 13 inches of rain falling in a two day period. This post looking at a few Google Maps that showed road closures, flooding incidents and the National Weather Service's Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service proved very popular.

Met Office Volcanic Ash Map

The UK Met Office also produced a Google Map for the ash cloud caused by the Icelandic volcano eruption. It didn't prove quite as popular as RadarVirtuel's map. Maybe the Met should start tracking planes as well as the weather.

The Horse Headed Man on Google Maps

In June a half man half horse creature was spotted in Street View in Aberdeen, Scotland. Thanks to the readers of Google Sightseeing and Street View Funny lots of other sightings of the same strange creature in Street View were also reported.

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Finding the Best Donuts with Google Maps

dishtip

There are lots of websites that can help you find top rated restaurants. dishtip, on the other hand, can help you find the best places to go for specific dishes.

dishtip allows you to search for anything related to what you want to eat. You can search for general categories, such as 'Chinese' or 'steak' or 'chocolate', to a specific food item such as 'Red Velvet Cupcakes'. dishtip then recommends the best places to eat based on your search and ranks them based on internet-based reviews.

The results page for each page also features a Google Map highlighting the locations of the best locations to visit. If you click through to any establishment you can also view a Google Map showing its location.

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Google Maps of City Council Agendas

Toronto City Council Agendas

Toronto City Council have redesigned their web pages for the meetings, schedules and agendas of the City Council and its committees. Included in the update are new Google Map views of the city's agendas.

The new map views in the agendas allow Toronto citizens to see what decisions are affecting the parts of the City that are important to them. The council will be mapping all agendas going forward and are working on retroactive conversion going back to 2007.

If you click 'Map' on the header for any meeting you can view the Google Map of the agenda. Here are a couple of examples:

• Meeting-2010.CC52
• Meeting-2011.TE2

At the moment the maps are rendered for specific meetings of specific committees. The council are also working on additional mapping features, including overlays of agendas from multiple committees within specific date ranges.

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Google Maps Wikipedia Browser

Wikihood

Wikihood uses Google Maps to present you with information and selected images from Wikipedia relevant to any given location.

The application lets you see at a glance which Wikipedia articles are related to any chosen location. The displayed articles and images include information on people, culture, buildings, companies and organizations and geographical information.

As well as being available for the desktop Wikihood is available for the iPad and the iPhone. The mobile applications in particular are very useful for getting local information from Wikipedia when out and about.

Also See

Wikikmapia

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Help to Cure Diabetes with Google Maps

Zip The Cure

16 year old Monica Oxenreiter has so far raised $57,000 to help fund research to find a cure for juvenile diabetes. Her ingenious idea to raise money involves selling zip codes on a Google Map for $100.

The map designed by John Coryat, allows anyone to click on their location to see if their zip code has been bought yet. Of course if someone has already given in your zip code you can choose another zip code area. The zip code areas where someone has already donated are shaded green. Zip codes still available are shaded yellow.

Once you have donated your generous support will be shown on the map. Whenever someone searches for your zip code area they will be shown that you have already donated.

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Google Maps Rising Map Searches

Google Zeitgeist 2010

Google have produced a map animation of some of the top searches this year for Global Events.

using the map you can choose to view an animation of the year's searches for a combination of events. The events included in the map are the World Cup, the Gulf oil spill, the winter Olympics, the Haiti earthquake and the Icelandic volcano eruption and ash cloud. You can view an animation of the amount of searches for each event or select to view a combination of events on the map.

Beneath the map it is also possible to see the 'Fastest Rising Maps Searches" for 2010.

1. anhembi parque
2. wm gucken
3. world cup
4. bundeskanzleramt
5. rio branco
6. mt everest
7. kew gardens
8. tour eiffel
9. oxford street
10. nürburgring

Via: Mapperz

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Santa's Google Maps

How Far Does Santa Have to Travel

Have you ever wondered how far Santa Claus has to travel to get to your house? Now you can find out using this Google Map.

Santa holds a huge list of children who have been good throughout the year. This list has the addresses, post codes and ZIP codes of all the children in the world. The population of the world right now is 6,630,000,00. So if 27% of the world's population is below 15 years old then Santa has to visit 1,790,100,000 children (nearly 2 billion).

To work out the most effective route to each child's house Santa uses Google Maps. This year Santa has decided to release the map so that every child in the world can view the route that he will take to reach their house.

This Google Maps application works out the distance between the North Pole and your house. You are also able to view on the map the route Santa will take from the North Pole to your house.

NORAD Santa Tracker

Every year Santa also works with NORAD to provide a real-time Santa tracker using Google Maps and Google Earth.

For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s flight. If you visit the NORAD Santa Tracker on Christmas Eve you can view his live position as he travels around the world.

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