10 Mind-blowing maps (and 3 ways to create them)

Thursday, August 28, 2008

1. Panedia

Panedia has combined two great online technologies — panoramas and maps — to create an annotated virtual tour of some of Australia's most beautiful sites.

2. terraSound

TerraSound has found another great multimedia combination — this time maps and sound — to create the sense of a walking down a city's sidewalk while monitoring your position on a map.

3. Twitter Weather Map

The weather map parses tweets about climates in the United States and with a little bit of math displays the information on a simple map.

4. 2itch

2itch answers a simple question "What is open 24 hours a day in my neighborhood?" with an interactive Google maps mashup.

5. Ride the City

New Yorkers who prefer two wheels to taxis and trains can input their starting and stopping points and get the safest route for biking through the Big Apple.

6. World News Map

While there are several sites that display current news on a map, maplandia.com displays geotagged news going back to 2005, which is an impressive feat.

7. Olympic medalists map

If you're still in Olympics withdrawal, this comprehensive map of the hometowns of Olympic medalists around the world should do the trick.

Many maps may be mind-blowing, but at the same time are also mind-numbingly flat. OnionMap puts a new angle on things by showcasing a map that is both visually striking and, through its search features, incredibly useful.

9. Breaking News Map

Another news map, except this one has filters for viewing particular topics such as business, politics or entertainment.

10. 08 DNC Events

To all the journalists hanging around Denver this week for the Democratic National Convention, be sure to take a little time to enjoy yourself by attending any of the mapped events held this week in The Mile-High City.

And the 3 ways to create them:

1. UMapper

UMapper has a simple interface for creating map mashups and allows for importing data feeds as well as creating lines, labels and shapes. The finished map can be exported to Flash ActionScript 3.0 or KML.

2. Yahoo! MapMixer

Now that maps are all over the internet, it's time to bring some uniqueness to the party. MapMixer is a simple way to overlay an existing map on top of a Yahoo! Map, thus giving an image the functionality of a map mashup.