I've been on the The Huffington Post Media Group's case for some time. The group owns and runs both the Patch series of online local news sites and MapQuest. However, until today all illustrative maps I've seen for stories have been created using Google Maps. I even pinged one editor about it. He noted:
When I originally set out to create the map, I wanted to make it a heat map. As someone with limited programming skills, I was looking for a simple way to make a heat map. Through some brief research, I learned that Google Fusion Tables could be used to make a heat map. Even though the heat map didn't turn out as I'd hoped, I already had input my data into Google Fusion Tables, and thus ended up using a Google-based map.
I'm pleased to say that I found my first MapQuest Map Mashup in the wild on May 4. A Branford, CT Patch article discusses an open space celebration in the town and includes a simple point map.
Will similar MapQuest maps appear in other Patch outlets? I hope so!
- Branford Patch
by Adena Schutzberg on 05/07 at 03:00 AM |
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In a large infographic MapQuest shared a variety of stats related to number of routed miles in six months of 2011 (and its equivalence in moon visits, etc.), whether women or men use the service more (women do) and popular searches. There's also a map of the use of MapQuest on Black Friday. Most valuable numbers are at the bottom: how it ranks among other services.
- MapQuest Blog
Newly-released Android app
ObscuraCam lets users pixelize faces and strip metadata from internet video.
It also strips out GPS data so citizen journalists and activists can protect themselves and/or those they cover. Of course, those simply concerned about personal privacy can use it, too. An earlier release suported just still pictures and a sibling will add in more data using the mobile device's sensors. The app is in the Knight New Challenge.
Telenav, Inc. begins offering its free Scout for Apps service, an HTML5, browser-based, voice-guided turn-by-turn GPS navigation service, to all mobile web and app developers. Optimized for iOS now, Android later.
by Adena Schutzberg on 03/27 at 04:50 AM |
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I wonder if the folks at Patch remember they work for the same organization that owns MapQuest? I continue to look for synergy there but didn't find any today.
- Lake Saint Louis Patch
by Adena Schutzberg on 03/14 at 03:00 AM |
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Foursquare has joined a few other players and switched off of Google Maps and onto OSM for its basemaps. The new maps are built on OSM, but are in fact MapBox Streets, a new product from the MapBox folks, aka DevelopmentSeed.
- Foursquare Blog
MapQuest has tweeked the look of its OSM-based maps (MapQuest Open) and enhance perfomance of tiles.
We updated the styles of our Open tiles to match some of the improvements we’ve made on our licensed tileset. ...
The second change is that we upgraded the tiling platform for better performance and reliability. Hopefully it’s like a great offensive line in football – you never notice it because it just works.
- MapQuest Dev Blog
by Adena Schutzberg on 03/02 at 06:33 AM |
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Google announced a Public Alerts page on Jan 25. The idea is to keep you informed of emergency alerts for floods, tornadoes, winter storms, and other dangers that may be headed your way. But, it's completely query driven, not location-based in this first attempt. Google is seeking feedback. Mano Marks noted on Twitter he'd worked on this project in the past.
- Google Blog
MapQuest launched an HTML5 client.
- press release
Adam Sadilek of the University of Rochester has developed a tool to predict one's location based on friend's locations known through Twitter. How well? It can locate you to within 100 meters with up to 85% accuracy.
"You can actually infer a lot of things about people, even though they are pretty careful about how they manage their online behaviour," he reports.
- New Scientist
by Adena Schutzberg on 01/26 at 05:30 AM |
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