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Google Maps Mania

An unofficial Google Maps blog tracking the websites, mashups and tools being influenced by Google Maps.

Street View Finds Kidnapped ChildToday

Police have used GPS technology and Google street view to find a child who had been kidnapped by her grandmother. The police were able to determine the girl's location using her mobile phone and then entered the latitude and longitude in Google Maps. The latitude and longitude led them to this street view:



The street view shows a motel where the police correctly assumed the grandmother had booked in with the child.

Read more at the Worcester Telegram and Gazette.

Via: Google LatLong: Google Street View helps find kidnapped Mass. child

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Out of this World Google MapsToday

Astronomy Star Finder

NGC 5866

I love Google Sky and can spend hours looking at the amazing celestial sights on this night time map. That task just got easier with this mashup of Google Sky with a database of 250,000 stars.

It is possible to search the database using a SAO or HD number, or a PGC, NGC or UGC catalog number. The site has also created a number of specialist lists of stars. The lists are, Named Stars, Bright Star List, Messier Objects, Herschel 400, ARP Peculiar Galaxies.

Each of the lists include quick links to the stars in that category.

Via: Ogle Earth

Previous Google Sky Mashups

Hertszptung-Russell Diagram

Google Maps API Library for GWTToday

The Google Geo Developers Blog has announced the release of a Maps API library for Google Web Toolkit. The Maps API library for GWT provides Java classes which are designed to provide a familiar paradigm for Java users to access the Google Maps JavaScript API.

The library comes with onlinedocumentation, samples, tutorials, and a support forum.

Via: Google Geo Developers Blog: Google Maps API Library for GWT

Gaza Timeline MapToday

Gaza Attack Timeline

This Google Map mashup shows a timeline of the Gaza conflict. The map includes a day by day breakdown of the Israeli invasion and Hamas rocket attacks. The map also shows the growing number of dead and injured from the conflict.

The Gaza Attack Timeline includes a number of news feeds about the conflict from CNN, the BBC, Reuters, Aljeezera and the NY Times.

As well as the dedicated map there is a Google Mapplet and Google Gadget of the conflict as well.

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The Battle of Red Cliff on Google MapsToday

The Battle of Red Cliffs

Google China have produced this Google Mapplet to commemorate the 1800th anniversary of the Battle of Red Cliffs. The release of the map also happily coincides with the western release of the feature film Red Cliff. Like the battle itself (and the film) the map is epic in scope. It has also been lovingly produced, with stills from the film and a custom made graphics.

There are three main tabs in the map sidebar 'Historical Events', 'The Main Characters' and 'Vote'. The Historical Events tab allows the user to follow the events in chronological order. The Main Characters tab provides pen portraits of those involved in the battle, with links that load onto the map a graphical representation of the historical events that they were involved in.

I'm sure this map is going to prove very popular both with fans of Chinese history and fans of the many computer games based on this batt