Tag: Google maps

  • Virtual Touring

    Sometimes I want to be somewhere I’m not. Today, it was Yosemite. Fortunately, there’s a high-tech solution: virtual touring.

    Here are a few of my favorite resources.

    There are many more resources you can use for virtual traveling.

    Do you use the Internet to “travel”? What are your favorite resources?

    Update (2/15/2010). Here are a couple more resources I should have mentioned:

    1. Twitter — Chances are, there’s someone on Twitter tweeting about the location you’re interested in. Tweeting about the location likely will result in your being followed by that someone. For example, I tweeted about Yosemite and was soon followed by @THEYosemiteBlog. Doing a people search for Yosemite resulted in a lot more hits.
    2. Blogs — Finding blogs about a certain topic is easy. Google’s Blog Search or Technorati are great resources to find blogs.

    Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bestrated1/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

  • Embedded Google Maps Slowness

    My main page had really slowed down: 56.58 seconds to load completely! The culprit appeared to be the four embedded Google maps. Let’s see how the loading time broke down (all times according to Firebug):

    CategoryEntire PageGoogle Maps Portion
    HTML20.5 s5.925 s
    CSS5.04 s0 s
    JS26.55 s22.656 s
    XHR31.26 s31.26 s
    Images4.72 s0 s
    Flash0 s0 s

    Converting those embedded Google maps to static images that link to the maps resulted in a substantial decrease in loading times. My main page now loads in 7.34 seconds!

    I love the convenience of creating and embedding Google maps. I just can’t handle their slow loading. Looks like it’s time to investigate Google static maps. Unfortunately, static maps don’t have the slick editing features that Google My Maps does.

    Any other suggestions?

  • Links for May 10, 2007

  • Links for May 9, 2007

    One link for today.

    • Are You Statisfied? — Show you latest visitor on a Google map in real time. Here’s the blogan map. I imagine this would be even more exciting for those who get more hits. ;-)
  • West Nickel Mines Amish School

    Yesterday, 32-year-old Charles Carl Roberts IV killed five schoolgirls and then himself at the West Nickel Mines Amish School.

    It seems strangely appropriate that Google maps does not have a high-resolution satellite view of the Amish school.

    Update. The school building is gone. The Amish kept no monument to the terrible evil that occurred that day, no constant reminder of the pain they endured. Instead, they leveled the building to the ground, and forgave and reconciled with the family of the shooter. Incredible!

  • Google moon

    Google celebrates the 36th anniversary of the first lunar landing with Google Moon. Zoom in for a surprisingly detailed, color view of the landing sites.

  • How to Make a Memory Map

    How to Make a Memory Map

    So you want to make a memory map, but don’t know how? Here’s a simple guide.

    1. Go to Google maps.
    2. Zoom in to the area you want. There are two easy way to do this:
      • The first method is to enter an address in the search field on the Google page. Google will display a map with a red flag marking the address. Unfortunately, the flag may not be in the exact right place (or you might not want the flag; I don’t know how to get rid of it short of starting over). Click the “x” to close the address bubble.
      • The second method is to double-click on the map where you want to display. This centers the map on that location. Then use the zoom tool on the left to zoom in. You can double-click or click and drag anywhere on the map to move the map around.
    3. Change to the “Satellite” view by clicking the link on the upper right.
    4. Fine tune the position and zoom to display the area you want. The scales of the map and satellite pictures are slightly off.
    5. Capture the screen. Pressing Alt-PrtScn copies an image of the active window into the scrapbook.
    6. Paste the captured screen in an image editor. I prefer to use IrfanView.
    7. Crop the picture.
    8. Save the picture to your computer.
    9. Upload the picture to Flickr. I recommend adding the tags “memorymap memory map” and something to do with the location.
    10. Edit the picture’s title and description. Press “save.” Flickr will now display all of your pictures.
    11. Select your new picture by clicking on it. Flicker displays it with some tools at the picture’s top edge.
    12. Click on the “add note” tool and enter some descriptive text about a location on the picture.
    13. Before pressing “save,” click and drag the square that appeared in the upper left of the picture to the correct location on the picture. You can move the square’s corners around to change the square’s size.
    14. Press “save.” If you need to change the note’s text or the location of the box after you press “save,” just move your mouse cursor over the box and click. You can now edit the note and move the box.
    15. Add more notes. You’re having fun now… :-D

    While writing this guide, I made my third memory map.

  • Memory Maps, Part 2

    Memory Maps, Part 2

    It’s amazing how looking at satellite photos of a city I haven’t lived in since 1987 brings back memories. I created a second memory map, this time using a larger scale. You can visit my Flickr site to see both.

    Go here to read my earlier article on memory maps.

  • Memory Maps

    Memory Maps

    What do you get when you combine satellite photography with annotations? Memory maps.

    We can thank Matt Haughey for creating the first (?) memory map using Google Maps new satellite view and Flickr’s photo sharing and annotation. It’s so easy that I made my own memory map.

    The idea is contagious; a Flickr group (or two) has formed around the idea.

    Hat tip: lifehacker.

Search

Stuff

Made with

in

to

Copyright 2004-2023 Brent Logan

Thanks for visiting!

Brent Logan