A virtual globe for your phone..
I’ve just downloaded Wayfinder Earth to my mobile phone. It’s a beta version, mapping application that zooms from a globe overview down to city street level, and links to a GPS to provide a phone-based satellite navigation system.
The globe is nicely rendered and pans smoothly. I was quite impressed. Providing that you have an internet connection, the transition from globe to the maps (provided by Tele Atlas) is seamless and rapid. The maps themselves are hardly beautiful, but are nevertheless functional and detailed. It can be a little disorientating at certain zoom levels with a lcak of named locations with which to get your bearings. The maps are rendered very quickly, especially by phone standards, and they take up very little memory.
If Wayfinder Earth remains free to use, then I’d say it’s an essential mobile application. I noticed that when I tried to link Wayfinder Earth to my GPS it wanted to go to an internet shop and upgrade. At this point you are buying into the existing Wayfinder Navigator sat-nav system. I’ve used Wayfinder Navigator for a while and really like it. It’s has just been improved with a nice visual makeover. As a sat-nav program it’s quite easy to use, has a postcode look up, gives very good directions and clear visual instructions and even warns of some (but not all) speed cameras. The Wayfinder website gives more information, and there’s a generous free trial period. You need a suitable phone and a bluetooth GPS.
What WayFinder Earth is not, is any kind of mobile Google Earth. As a mapping program for your phone, it’s brilliant and will work all over Europe and North America. You will want to buy a GPS and upgrade once you’ve tried it! I don’t know how much it is to purchase and use as a fully featured sat nav program , however I’m guessing it will be the same as Wayfinder Navigator, (99 Euros).
Thanks to Ogle Earth for spotting the release of Wayfinder Earth today
Sadly, Geobloggers is no more according to Ogle Earth. Perhaps, as someone has hopefully suggested on the Flickr forums, the Geobloggers code could be open-sourced. For those not aware, Geobloggers was a visionary application that located Flickr photos in Google Maps, and later in Google Earth too.
My favourite free alternative to Geobloggers was the GMiF Fire Fox extension which embeds Google Maps into Flickr. I welcome the latest development: Yuan. CC Maps. My geotagged Flickr photographs have a new home! It’s a really simple application that works beautifully, though not with Google Earth (yet?).
Yuan.CC Maps looks like this: (quite a big file)
In the meantime Itag offers a way to conveniently tag a location to Flickr photos, and by adding the FlickrFly script, the photgraph is viewable in Google Earth.
This is a brilliant take on the London tube map
The map has subsequently been removed following threats by London Underground. Boing Boing has more, and a link to a mirror version.
Thanks to The Map Room
Since moving away from London, I’d forgottten about the Yellow Arrow project. Although the concept was born in 2004, it is still very much part of the zeitgeist, and a recent investigation into Semipedia see post, together with my impending smart phone purchase (this week!) prompted a quick post.
Yellow Arrow describes itself as a “Massively Authored Artistic Production” or MAAP, according to the website. It’s a spatial anotation project, the aim being to tag features of interest with a yellow arrow sticker bearing a unique code. When someone finds the arrow, they text the code and receive back a message, about that location. In some cities, the yellow arrows form an unconventional tour through parts of the landscape that would be hidden from non-locals - creating a geographical adventure by text.
photo by Stillben
Potentially, Yellow Arrow would make a unique local study. Where would students place the arrows? What would the messages be?
A subversive, graffitti-based local place study, linking the virtual and human environment? It really sounds like my next fieldwork project! No seriously…
Thanks to a recent post at SLN, I’ve discovered Maplecroft Maps. This is a remarkable site that serves up attractive, interactive maps on a variety of environmental, social, economic and polictical themes.
Close analysis of the data is encouraged; one can overlay maps in order to discern relationships between data sets, and a hotspot icon draws attention to critical information.
click to enlarge
The maps examine the response of business and government to the various issues, and icons describe cases of particularly good, or by contrast, poor examples of corporate responsibility.
The site will appeal across the KS3/4 geography curriculum, particularly for more able students with an inquisitive nature, and should be indispensible to A level students looking for material on sustainable development.
Lynmouth on the 14th January
The surf is going off today. That’s not common at Lynmouth and it’s a long way from the main North Devon surf beaches. So why is it so crowded? Where are all the surfers coming from, and do they use the internet to make the decision? Local surfers have prevented a webcam from being installed and even Magic Seaweed, the ultimate surf forecasting site doesn’t mention this spot for fear of upsetting the locals.
The screenshot below displays desire lines that represent the origin of 15 surfers visiting Lynmouth on 14th January.
click to enlarge
Respondents were asked for their postcode, which was converted into latitude and longitude using the converter at Nearby.org.uk The data was pasted into a spreadsheet and converted to a .kml file using Earth Plot software.
I also asked respondents whether they had used the internet to help them plan their surfing that day. The local surfers at Lynmouth are opposed to a webcam or online forecast for this area because of the overcrowding. I added this information as a simple post in EarthPlot, and edited the icon within Google Earth. Surfers who had looked at the internet for infomation about surfing conditions at other North Devon spots are shown with a webcam symbol.
Download Gogle Earth file: Lynmouth surfers
The results show that even local surfers use the internet before setting out to the beach. It may not be too long before Lynmouth does get a webcam although I doubt it would be a permanent fixture judging by the reactions of those who live in the town!
Please note that this isn’t a serious research project - just an opportunity to work with Earth Plot. A full review of this application is due to follow soon.
Geography teachers might be interested in the Predjudice Map, compiled from simple Google search queries.
Via the Map Room
click to enlarge
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