Google: The Killer App'Maps are a killer app for the web. The ability to mix maps with other data, which is how we relate to it out in the real world anyway, is leading to new levels of usefulness'. The quote is from Mike Pegg, a 29-year-old from Waterloo in Canada, who is an enthusiast for the new geographic interfaces being produced by the search engine. He is not alone. In Brazil, it was used to create [digtootherside.cjb.net]. Users can find out where they would end up if they dug a hole in their backyard, and kept digging through the Earth. Dig a hole anywhere in Australia, and you'll come out in the middle of the Atlantic. Elsewhere, it was instrumental in fashioning weatherbonk.com. Here, web surfers can view real-time weather information on a map. A fitness enthusiast used it to measure running and walking distances for workouts. Google's map feature is being combined with other information to create new cartography. These sites are called 'mashups'. They mash Google Maps with some other information source. Google provided a free toolkit to enable developers to manipulate the information. The idea took off, leading to hundreds of websites mapping such things as cheap petrol and celebrity homes. Creators trade tips at chat groups including http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Maps and http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Maps-API. Pegg maintains a web page called Googlemapsmania.blogspot.com to keep up with the current crop of Google Maps-related sites, blogs and tools. |
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