Community Action on Google Maps

Creek Speak

Creek Speak is an oral history project that uses Google Maps to present the stories of people and places near Newtown Creek, New York. The map is part of the Creek Speak Project which has been designed to inspire community action by identifying shared health and environmental concerns and demonstrating the possibilities for positive change.

To listen to the stories of Newton Creek or read about some of the places mentioned in these stories just click on the map markers. When you click on a marker an information window opens with texts, photos and audio provided by Newtown Creek citizens.

Creek Speak was created using HabitatMap, an online mapping and social networking platform designed to maximize the impact of community voices on city planning and strengthen ties between organizations and activists working to build greener, greater cities.

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Create Your Own Google Map

CartoView

CartoView is a free map creation tool from CartoLogic. CartoView allows you to easily create maps using Google Maps, the Google Earth browser plug-in or Openlayers.

If you want to see what you kind of maps you can create with CartoView the site has provided a number of working demos. This example shows a map created with CartoView and data from Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia, Gowalla and Twitter.

If you browse through the examples on the demo page you will see that CartoView gives the user the ability to customise the look of the created map.

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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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Brazilian Street View Collections

Strit Viu

Strit Viu has been created to collect the best Street View images found in Brazil. The site allows users to submit the funny or memorable images they find in Street View and share them with the world.

You can search the submitted Street Views by location or by rank. Strit Viu also plans to add categories soon, so you will also be able search the images by tag.

Via: Street View Funny

Also See

• http://www.sampaview.com (São Paulo)
• http://www.riostreetview.com (Rio de Janeiro)
• http://www.bhnomapa.com (Belo Horizonte)

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Social Planning with Google Maps

Plannr

This iPhone application is a social scheduling, planning, calendar tool that uses Google Maps to sync location with your calendar. Plannr is essentially a calendar tool that allows you to share and make plans with your friends.

Using Plannr you can coordinate your plans with your friends using a calendar, email, SMS and Google Maps. if you are planning a night out with friends you can use Plannr to organise your schedule and keep your friends updated with your plans and location.

The iPhone application is free and you can also access the service via the desktop. To subscribe to the service you can sign in with your Facebook account.

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Dublin Journey Planner on Google Maps

Hit the Road

Hit the Road is a route planner for Dublin that shows you how to get between any two points in the city by bus, Luas and DART routes.

It is possible to find a route by either dropping map markers on the map to show your start and finish points or by entering addresses in the search boxes. Possible routes are then displayed on the map and the steps on the journey are displayed in the map side panel.

Alternative routes are indicated by numbered icons in the side panel. If you roll over one of these icons the alternate route is automatically displayed on the map. All the suggested routes tell you which number buses to take and give the estimated journey time.

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Australian Demographics on Google Maps

NuMaps

NuMap is a Google Maps based application to view and analyse demographic data for any Australian Federal Government Electorate.

Using the map it is possible to view a large number of demographic datasets for any Federal electorate. To start exploring the data you first need to choose an electorate from the myElectorate Panel. Once you have selected an electorate it will be highlighted on the map. You can then open the DemographicDrapes Panel and select the demographic data that you wish to view.

You can use the DemographicDrapes panel to analyse different aspects of your chosen electorate. The datasets include gender, housing, income, birthplace and many more.

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