Google Maps: Still Cool Enough To Blog About
By vouchey in Miscellaneous on May 17, 2005 8:24PM
If you haven't already, you better try out Google Maps now, because soon it will be passe, and no self-respecting hipster will even talk to you about it.
The excitement is because it's just so darn easy to use, with its simple but very effective mapping mode and then that amazing satellite mode you can just switch over to. And then there's the hacks.
The hacks you say? Oh yes, the hacks. Each of which channel address or GPS information through Google Maps open-source interface, to create an easy to read map of the data. And many of the maps are Chicago-centric.
- Craigslist Housing Listings for locations and pictures of rental and housing for sale on Craigslist
- Chicago crime stats from February through last month on Chicagocrime.org
- A live map showing three companies' taxi locations in Chicago on Ridefinder
- Integration of Traffic.com into a live Chicago traffic map
- View a CTA map as part of Google Maps
- A combination of Flickr and Google to show where pictures were taken
- Stitch Google satellite pictures from anywhere in the world into desktop wallpaper
- Link in your GPS to get a live, moving map of your current location.
And it seems that it isn't too hard to make your own Google Maps hack, at least according to Engadget. For the real hardcore, there's more info in GoogleMapsHacking or just a sort of fansite blog on Google Maps as they hit the blogosphere.
We know this is nerdy. In fact, even if it's sunny and 75-degrees out this weekend, Chicagoist (who majored in geography and dorkiness in college) just might shut ourselves in our apartment this weekend and make our own Google Maps hack.