The sheer number of google map mashups out there is amazing, and I looked at a ton of them. Some are utterly depressing, such as GlobalIncidentMap.com, "a display of terrorist acts, suspicious activity, and general terrorism news". If you can stand visiting that enlightening source, you will see a newly added blinking red button in the right hand corner of the page called "School Incidents Maps". (Yes there are so many they merit a map.) This particular map helps one become informed about all the horrible things happening in American schools, like fires, gas leaks, lock downs, and bomb threats. You can discover other trivia too, such as, according to the Waco Superintendent of area middle and high schools, a single bomb threat costs about $125,000 in lost wages and time. I was glad a link to "find a world brewery" immediately preceded all of that.
Other mashups can be quite entertaining and share useful information that doesn't drive me to [virtually] drink, make me want to cry, build a bomb shelter, or even momentarily ponder homeschooling my children. One taught me that if I walk due east from Houston, for about say 7000 miles, I will find myself in beautiful Harare Zimbabwe, another that there are no free public "facilities" in my town (guess they don't count libraries). I've used a mashup to track flights from Philadelphia to Bush when relatives are coming to visit. It's fun to watch the progress of the virtual plane containing my virtual loved ones. The zip code and world time maps are quick and easy reference tools. Photoenforced.com has maps of where all the red light cameras in the United States are located, so you can comport yourself appropiately when you know Big Brother is watching.
Activity 1, #2: I used a mashup to send an email to someone close to me who is recovering from surgery. One day this week I was wondering, "What can I do to let this person know I am thinking of her, encourage her from so far away, and maybe make her smile?" Then I got an idea. MapMSG.com lets you send custom smoke signals to anyone in your address book. I found a satellite view of my neighborhood, and wrote a few lines of encouragement in the box provided. The finished product looks like the message is emanating directly from my humble chimney. Next time I use this site, I may send crop-circle mail to a friend who enjoys reading science fiction.
Activity 2: As mentioned above, while I thought the mashup was great, I did not have a very good time exploring the global incident map. Terra Server has some interesting images, but it looks like you have to purchase one before the little colored squares blocking your view of the shot are eliminated. I like the photos on Panoramio (#36 Explore photos of the world) better. Here's one taken near Ziguinchor, Senegal of a bathing beauty:
The National Atlas has "dynamic maps". I don't sit around worrying about invasive zebra mussels or avian cholera distribution very often, but the maps are really wonderful educational tools. I explored the dynamic volcanoes maps, which are just incredible...tons of data, excellent geographic imagery, and beautiful photographs. I also went back to the main page and did a general search for St. Louis encephalitus and West Nile virus, to see if there were any maps or statistics for Houston. I was directed to a page which contained links to the CDC, the entity which is responsible for collecting and disseminating public health information; so even though the National Atlas technically didn't have such a map, I was able to easily obtain the information I sought through their highly organized and user friendly site.
Perhaps I am now completely jaded by all of these map mashups, because the LandSat Image Viewer didn't do much for me. While I was watching it, my thoughts were wandering and I remember thinking, "I wonder if that cow on the beach ever found her way home?"
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