Back to the Map August 30, 2007
Posted by Rob Ponte in maps.4 comments
This may be irrelevant by now but I just discovered this Where 2.0 conference put on by the o’reily network. There’s some really cool presentations about whats going on in mapping technologies and web mashups. It occurred in May so it may be a bit dated but some stuff is really interesting. Check out the Wherefair section for some links to ongoing projects too.
new girl’s new ideas August 27, 2007
Posted by rebeccaperez in data display, ideas, maps.4 comments
This is my first idea:
I am creating a central database using google maps as a project for credit here at Kansas state, I was wondering if you guys had thought about using the map idea of hyperzoom to tell stories that news readers want that doesn’t relate to crime. This could be a great tool for obits online. The ability to create a “lives that have been touched” map for the deceased with flickr pictures tied to the places. Groups they belonged to, schools attended, so on and so forth. The map idea could also be used for arts and entertainment sections. I think the obit idea would have to be an online company that only does obits. but if a newspaper wanted to make there own online obits I think they could, but the obit idea works best if each person gets their own map. Newspapers could also do something similar each day with their arts and entertainment sections. Pictures and clips for bands, theater, concerts, and general events. I can’t tell you how often I wished there had been a map that came with the arts section.
Second idea really doesn’t fit with the germ idea, but I thought it was a good idea. I’m just not sure if it is even possible at this time:
A program that reads all text on your computer outloud. At first I would say a male and a female voice would be the choices, but eventually I would like to see a variety of celebrity voices that the user could choose from. The ability to hear the news while working on something else would help to increase consumption.
I had a bunch more ideas, unfortunately I have since forgotten them. Sucks to get old. I really liked the idea of taking online submissions and turning them into papers, but it is already being done, so I don’t think that would be a great idea to bring to ONA as a new idea. haha. If I can remember anything else I’ll post it.
Maps! August 18, 2007
Posted by Rob Ponte in competition, hyper-local, interactivity, maps, mashups, tools.2 comments
Some updates.
1. There is a blog of mostly historical Strange Maps. Some are pretty interesting although probably not terribly useful. I found this handy map of where single males and females live (and I need to get my ass east).
[cut by Jeff due to images...] (more…)
Holovaty’s upcomming project.. August 16, 2007
Posted by heperimita in competition, maps.4 comments
In attempting to get in touch with Adrian Holovaty I came across his blog (http://www.holovaty.com/). In it he briefly discusses his upcoming project Everyblock (which got off the ground through a 1.1 million dollar grant from the Knight-News Challenge by the way). Now there is very little information on what exactly Everyblock is going to be but I think this quote from an article about EveryBlock on poynter.org gives the public the best preview:
“This site will pick up where his (Holovaty’s) earlier project, ChicagoCrime.org, left off by bringing together several databases of information. He said this will allow citizens of a large city to learn (and act on) civic information. What makes this idea truly new, however, is not just that it will aggregate local information. Holovaty explained, “The concept of aggregating local information is not new, but I think our particular implementation will be, because we’re focusing on a wide variety of information that doesn’t tend to be available in a one-stop-shop format.”"
The article can be found here.
Map map map map! August 15, 2007
Posted by Jeff in maps, mashups, tools.add a comment
Judy’s Book – Shopping Deals displayed on a map
Source for heatmaps used on CraigStats – unfortunately, these heatmaps layers don’t seem to scroll well with the gMap… it’s like it has to completely load again.
Overlaid layers – with tutorial
Multimedia Content August 15, 2007
Posted by Jeff in hyper-local, maps.add a comment
As I was “enjoying” my tech-deprived state in Canada this week, I was struck with a revelation. How can multimedia content be added? I’m sure there are very ‘hyperlocal’ videos on YouTube, but how could they be integrated into a maplike interface without becoming too cluttered?
“A map on every page” August 15, 2007
Posted by Brian in competition, hyper-local, interactivity, maps, mashups.8 comments
Google is coming out with a feature that lets anyone paste some HTML into a page to get a Google Map.
The article at CNET says that “[t]he map will be fully interactive, with the ability for users to drag and click or zoom in on a location. The maps will include satellite and hybrid modes. We’d better keep track of this as well.
Map Mashups! August 11, 2007
Posted by Jeff in maps, mashups.add a comment
Just a list of ideas for layers that could be included on a map (for brainstorming purposes):
Bridges – (I like the different-sized and different-colored points on the map.
Advertising
Crime vs Real Estate
My most excellent adventures at Pegasus News… August 10, 2007
Posted by heperimita in competition, crowdsourcing, maps.5 comments
So in my quest to get in touch with Mike Orren I decided to fully explore the Pegasus news website and what I found there was the implementation of many aspects of the layers functions we had discussed while up in Ithaca.
I’ll start with the worst of my findings. The website traffic.com is linked to on the pegasus website. It mostly gives users a text summary of traffic in their city, but upon further investigation I found there was a map function that uses google map technology to give you a graphical representation of local traffic. However, I wasn’t impressed with the map function. It displays data in an understandable way, and even denotes events that may cause traffic. But its hard to understand what area this delay encompasses, nor does it give any indication of the effect these delays may have on other parts of town.
By far the thing that related most to delivering news via geo tagging was the “your neighborhood” section of Pegasus news. Once there it uses a google map to center on your location and then indicates all upcoming events in the user’s proximity. You can then find out more information about these events by clicking on the green dots which represent the said event. I know nothing about communities in dallas, but this particular page also seems to generate news stories related to the neighborhood specified by the user’s location (which is automatically set to uptown dallas for unregistered users). The stories are a separate entity from the map however. This service is available for over 150 neighborhoods in the dallas area.
Another snazzy usage of Geotagging is present in Pegasus news “Garage Sales Hub“. It maps out all upcoming garage sales for the week, but also goes a step further, in that you can actually specify what type of garage sale you’re interested in, be it antiques, garage, or estate sales. I’m not real big on yard sale culture so I’m not quite sure what it all means, but it is probably really awesome if yard sales are your thing.
I have saved the best use of mapping for last. The Pegasus news “Drink Specials” section maps out all of your local bars and informs users of where they can get drunk for the least amount of money, each day of the week. All I can really say about this function is wow. The person who made this is clearly a genius and I’m almost tempted to move to Dallas to achieve my dream of being a well informed town drunk.
It seems that Pegasus news is slowly trying to incorporate mapping into all aspects of news, and I think this is something we must be wary of as we progress.
Hepi.
