European Road Trip with Google Maps

The Best European Road Trips

The European Grand Tour used to be an essential rite of passage for those who could afford it. The modern equivalent of the Grand Tour is probably the Gap Year, which I'm pleased to say seems to no longer be the preserve of the young.

This Guardian guide to the best European road-trips is essential reading for anyone who is planning their own European trip. Each of the trips is accompanied by a Google Map that shows the route of the trip and includes map markers highlighting the best places to visit along the route.

Each route is also accompanied by a short guide advising you on what to look out for, where to stay and where to eat on your trip.

Whilst on the subject of road trips many people will have seen Google's ad last night during the Super Bowl. The ad is one of a series of videos that Google produced telling stories through using Google search. As an ex-English teacher and map addict I much preferred this Google video taking inspiration from Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road',



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A Google Maps Game for the iPhone

1000: Find 'Em All

Glu Mobile have just launched a new iPhone game that includes a fun Google Maps based level. The Google Maps part of the game involves finding items that are scattered around the map using your current location.

The items are displayed on the map and you have to travel to the marker locations in the real world to collect them.

The game also uses your current location to help you find 'gifts' in your vicinity. Gifters are generated from registered Wi-Fi hotspots near your location. Glu Mobile says you can use this feature to 'find a slice of moon cheese at your local coffee shop, or discover a bucking bronco in the library.'

The 'Gifters' part of the game sounds like Glu Mobile may have plans to develop more Foursquare type features for the game in the future. The game already features badges that can be earned as you play the game.

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Los Angeles Mudslide Maps

Los Angeles Storm Map

According to the California Geological Society more than 100 Californians have been killed by debris flows during the past 25 years. Slopes left denuded by wildfires in California are especially susceptible to "mudslides" during and immediately after major rainstorms.

Just such a rainstorm yesterday caused a mudslide in the La Cañada Flintridge area. The Los Angeles Times have created two Google Maps in response to the latest mudslides. The second of the two maps on the LA Times website shows the areas considered by the U.S. Geological Survey to be most at risk of mudslides.

Hat-tip: Mapperz
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Tracking the Street View Car - Updated

Google Street Car in Berlin (NSFW)

The Free Art and Technology (F.A.T.) Lab in Berlin spotted a Google Street View car in Berlin and claim to have planted a GPS device on board. They then created this Google Map which apparently tracked the vehicle live as it drove around Berlin yesterday.

The map now just shows the track the car drove on Saturday, with map markers indicating the time it was at various locations. The map also contains one video of the car (which is NSFW as it contains a few choice words about Google).

The comments in the video seem to relate to 'F... Google', a F.A.T. project to promote "a collection of browser add-ons, open source software, theoretical musings and direct actions aimed at creating an awareness of the role Google plays in our daily lives."

Considering the F.A.T. stance it seems ironic that they used Google Maps to track the Street View car. Surely it would have made more sense for them to have used OpenStreetMap.

Update - I suspected that this might not be true. The Guardian have been in contact with Google who have confirmed that this was an art project using a fake Street View car.

Form a Google spokesperson,

"Just saw your piece on the GPS Street View car in Germany and wanted to let you know it was a hoax :-) . Free Art and Technology (F.A.T.) Lab is an art organization which recently used a fake Street View car as an art project in Berlin and claimed to have put a GPS tracking device on in to track its route. This car was not an official Google car, as we are currently not driving through Germany as there are not optimal weather and light conditions at this time of year. As soon as we'll restart driving you can find the driving schedule at http://www.google.de/streetview."

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Baltimore Snow on Google Maps

Baltimore Sun Twitter Snow Map

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Ben Marsh should be pleased. The concept behind his #UKSnow Google Map has been picked up first by The Guardian Snow Map, then by the Norwegian Snow Map and now by The Baltimore Sun.

Yesterday The Baltimore Sun created a Twitter snow map. The map showed Tweets about snow around the Baltimore area. To add yourself to the map you just needed to Tweet #mdsnow and a short message.

Strangely the map has now disappeared although The Baltimore Sun are still displaying the Tweets in list form. Today the Baltimore Sun has actually added another Google Map that instead allows readers to post pictures and messages about the snow.

To use the map, you need to be logged into a Google account. You can then add comments and pictures to the map.



Alternatively, if you wish to check the current snow coverage in the eastern US, you can check out iMap Weather and click on the 'Winter' tab.

If you wish to see the latest pictures submitted to Twitpic then check out Geo Search. The application loads the latest geo-tagged pictures from Twitpic. So if you click on the map anywhere in the eastern US you should see a lot of recent pictures of the snow.

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Explore Thailand with Google Maps

Thailand Globetrotter

This stunning looking Google Maps mashup from the Tourism Authority of Thailand showcases some beautiful photographs of this Southeast Asian country.

The homepage features a full-screen Google Map with a photo thumbnail menu. If you roll over any of the photographs the map automatically zooms to the picture's location. Clicking on any of the photographs takes you to the main page for that location.

Each individual location page features a slideshow of the area and its own Google Map. Every map on the page has a tinted overlay to ensure the map fits in with the overall design of the website. It really is a beautifully designed website.

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Google Maps Friday Fun

Riccardo Paci Photograph Map

This Google Maps mashup has replaced the Google Maps tiles with a photo montage by Riccardo Paci. Italian artist Riccardo Paci creates larger images from montages of lots of smaller photographs.

It isn't very clear from the screenshot above but this image is a human eye created by assembling a number of photographs. Using the Google Maps to display the image allows the user to zoom in on each of the smaller photos.

Street View Convoy

Mapperz found this little Street View convoy in Milton Keynes, England.

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