mapping

TwitterKeys replaces your keyboard with a bookmarklet

I've been a long-time Windows user, and one of the many remaining traces of the old days lies deep within the accessories menu. I speak, of course, of the character map, something I rarely pull up except to find things like ? and the occasional ?. Apparently one of the hot trends on Twitter is adding some of these barely-used symbols to your Tweets, or it's at least enough of a trend for two guys over at The Next Web blog to create their own bookmarklet to avoid having to open up the character map, or learn the keyboard shortcuts … Read more

Google Street View goes mobile

Street View endows Google Maps with a driver's-eye view of the world, and now people actually on the street will be able to use it, too.

The company announced a new version of its Google Maps for Mobile software that includes support for Street View, as well as walking directions and reviews of businesses. Google said the new version is faster too.

The new features work on BlackBerrys with color screens and on mobile devices with Java abilities. Sorry, iPhone users. Visiting the Google site with an iPhone produces this message: "Sorry, Google Maps does not work on … Read more

Firefox add-on maps the sites you visit

Last May, I described the CallingID add-on for the Mozilla Firefox browser. It lets users see at a glance the address or location of the server hosting the site their visiting, and it even offers a color-coded security rating.

Unfortunately, the add-on doesn't work with Firefox 3, and the vendor's site doesn't offer any information on or help with this problem.

While looking for a solution to the CallingID glitch, I discovered Shazou, a Firefox add-on created by Chuck Durham at Seisan that goes one step further by showing the location of the site's server on … Read more

BigStage launches, lets you face off with Mr. T

Like Slinkies and Silly Putty originating from flubbed technology, some of the cooler Web services have originated from tech originally intended for government agencies.

BigStage is definitely one of those services. It uses three photos of your face to map your features onto a virtual head using technology developed for the CIA. Your magic head is rendered into various scenes from popular movies, television shows, and digital shorts--including clips from The A-Team. You can then send those clips to your friends, parents, and relatives to be thoroughly confused and/or entertained by your shenanigans.

The service was originally demoed at both CES … Read more

Google to buy GeoEye satellite imagery

Google has signed a deal under which GeoEye will supply the search giant with imagery from a satellite due to launch in coming days, the companies said.

Under the deal, Google is the exclusive online mapping site that may use the imagery, said Mark Brender, vice president of corporate communications and marketing. Google uses satellite imagery in its Google Maps and Google Earth product.

And as a little icing on the cake, Google's logo is on the side of the rocket set to launch the 4,300-pound satellite in six days from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Terms … Read more

Google Earth shows cows point north

My grandparents in England had cows on their farm so I've always had a lot of affection for them, and was delighted to read this story from the Los Angeles Times indicating a "hidden cow power." Turns out cows may have internal compasses much like birds and bees do for orienting themselves to magnetic north.

Using satellite images on Google Earth, German scientists were able to see that all over the planet, cows stand with their bodies pointing to magnetic north.

Studying photographs of 8,510 cattle in 308 herds from around the world, zoologists Sabine Begall … Read more

MapQuest inches toward modernity

In talking to Mark Law, the new VP of product development for AOL's MapQuest, I was surprised to learn how powerful the service still is. To my mind the formerly leading mapping system is a trailing contender against Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Ask.com, but apparently MapQuest is still in the game as a leading Web site, with 48 million monthly visitors to the site, not to mention the users of the service who see it embedded on partner sites.

Law walked me through updates to the service that will be rolling out as an optional beta test to … Read more

Nokia takes 'Lonely Planet' mobile

Tired of lugging a big travel book on vacation? Some Nokia phone users won't have to. They'll be able to download Lonely Planet travel guides directly onto their mobile handsets.

On Tuesday Nokia announced a deal with the travel book publisher Lonely Planet to sell maps and city guides to Nokia Maps 2.0 users. The service will initially allow users to download information for more than 100 cities, with more destinations to be added.

Each download, which costs 7.99 euros, or about $11.75, provides maps with directions and some background on important sites.

Nokia first … Read more

Diaroogle helps you find clean public bathrooms

When you've gotta go you've gotta go. Unfortunately, finding a place to do that when you're in New York, one of the largest cities in the world, can be difficult unless you've got some local knowledge.

Human-powered search engine Diaroogle is up to the task. It'll help you find the nearest toilet based off its user-generated database. Like Mizpee, which does the same thing but with a much cuter pretense, it's got user ratings for general cleanliness, the rules of gaining entrance, and occasionally even pictures snapped by users to show how good or … Read more

Flickr taps into open source for better maps. Yahoo Maps to follow?

Flickr is now utilizing maps from the wiki-based Open Street Map project to improve the detail level on cities where Yahoo's maps fall short. The first city to get the treatment is Beijing in honor of the Olympics. Flickr has posted before and after shots and the difference is profound. What was once a brown blob now has streets, landmarks, and of course geotagged shots.

Despite the improvement in Flickr's world map, parent company Yahoo's maps, which power the rest of Flickr's world map cartography, have not been cross-updated to share the changes. Flickr is using … Read more