Okay, it’s already established that I’m a Google Maps “My Maps” fan-boy. For example, here is the first “My Map” I created, a trail map of a Greenway near my home. Today, the Google Maps team announced they’ve added a collaborative feature to My Maps. I’m trying out the new feature on the map embedded below. If you’d like to add something to the map, click here and see what you can do. I believe you have to have a Google ID and be logged-in to edit it. I think I set it where anyone can edit it — however that’s one of the things I’m testing.
I’ve replaced the map I originally embedded below with a community map of East Nashville that Jackson Miller started. It’s not only a cool way to see what a collaborative map can be, it is also something that could be helpful to lots of people. Cool stuff, Jackson.
Click for larger view or to edit
November 28th, 2007 at 7:36 am
Cool map, Rex - if Google maps adds distance and elevation, I think a lot of runners will use this rather than other alternatives. (I currently use RunningAhead.com which does a nice job of this.)
Earlier this year, I created a Google Map to show a lot of the local races in our town. You can check it out at http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=40.099347,-76.345711&spn=0.119491,0.276031&z=12&om=1&msid=118218531840118747776.00000111c1d82caace811&iwloc=00000111d6afe38d7219b
November 28th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Thanks for the tip. I just created a map of East Nashville businesses and opened it up to the (very active) email list. It will be interesting to see what happens with it.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101918256890571597051.00043ffe23c15c1e2eaf9&z=13&om=1
November 28th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Marcus, if you want to go really crazy with running maps, get a GPS device — like a Garmin Forerunner (I have an older model) — and start uploading your runs to http://www.motionbased.com/. Not only will it reveal elevations, but you can record heartbeat rates, speed, etc.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
[...] I wrote yesterday about the location-based tagging app I would like to see come to mobile phones. Today I saw Rex posted about Google Maps having a new collaborative editing feature for custom maps. I decided to create an East Nashville map showing all the local businesses. I got the map started and opened it up to Laura Creekmore’s East Nashville Google Group. [...]
November 29th, 2007 at 9:33 am
[...] Increasingly, Google Maps mashups with flickr and other social software provide an increased level of hyperlocality. For instance, local Nashville blogger Jackson has created a useful map of East Nashville hot spots here or the newly launched Your Street or to Google’s own launch of MyMaps GPS like system next wednesday. Further, there are a host of hyperlocal resources for the California fires and Poynter even has an article about hyperlocal disaster content delivery in light of the recent fires in California. [...]