I was recently on Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset. While playing with the kids at a playground on the beach I noticed the park sign had a sat nav postcode on it:
Sat Nav: BH13 7QQ
It also had the address of the nearest A&E hospital with street address and postcode. Is this a growing trend to put Sav Nav and very precise geo data onto public signs?
I will keep my eye out for this… This seems like a no brainer to me as its very useful and makes it easier for sat nav and mobile users. And makes it very easy to link the web to world of things or geo code photos and helps projects like Open Street Map, etc.
I was doing some map research/surfing and found World Wind – a very cool open source app from NASA. World Wind stitches together tons of NASA Earth imagery and satellite data from multiple sources:
World Wind lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there.
The app has gotten plenty of press over the years in Wired and tome on the geo spatial web (from Springer). Its like a Google Earth but for super geeks and researchers. Warning: this app could suck many hours out your day – but in a good way.
I am a little bit slow posting about this news from UK based Multimap, which is now part of the Microsoft family – Multimap is now tightly tied to Live Search in the UK – which is cool! Here’s some details from the official blog:
First things first, Multimap is now the lead consumer mapping experience for Live Search in the UK, and we’re proud to welcome all the UK users of Live Search Maps to Multimap.com. It may have been a while since you last used Multimap.com, but we hope that you’ll find all the great features that you’re used to, plus much more.
For those of you not familiar with Live Search Maps, and the Virtual Earth platform that powers it, check out the fabulous Bird’s Eye images, which are now available on Multimap.com. Unlike normal satellite and aerial imagery that is taken from directly above, Bird’s Eye images are captured by low-flying aircraft and are taken from a 45 degree angle, facing north, south, east and west directions to give a unique perspective.
Read the full blog post here OR better yet use the new and improved Multimap directly. I’ve always found Multimap to be one of the best UK focused mapping sites and was always an early innovator. Its great to see that they are improving the product and taking back ground from Google maps.
1st: There are two interesting posts on the use of video by SMBs (small and medium sized businesses) as way to gain better visibility and higher rankings in organic search results. The 1st post is Greg Sterling here and the 2nd on the Kelsey Group blog here. I am sure this is good news for the likes of Spot Runner and Spotzer.
2nd: Google maps has launched directions without addresses functionality – this is cool and very useful… Even works in the UK.
Lastly: While digging around on Google mapping stuff I was pointed to this funny video (below) with a privacy message.
A fun piece on SEL with 20 photos that should make you smile on Google Maps. If you think this is good then be sure to visit Google Sightseeing as well – a complete site of this stuff and there is a companion book – Off The Map site.
What’s cool is the folks running Google Sightseeing have created a nice little derivative business off Google… A life hack for sure.
This is an interesting Microsoft is acquiring UK based web mapping provider Multimap. I have to think this helps MSFT build out further relationships with many on-line publishers. Plus Multimap could also be a potential source of local advertising inventory for MSFT in the near future. There appear that so far the value of the deal has not be annouced. Below is the main body of the PR:
Microsoft Acquires One of Europe’s Top Online Map Services
12 December 2007
Acquisition of Multimap will help Microsoft deliver new, expanded services on the Web
Microsoft Corp. has acquired Multimap, one of the United Kingdom’s top 100 technology companies and one of the leading online mapping services in the world. The acquisition gives Microsoft a powerful new location and mapping technology to complement existing offerings such as Virtual Earth, Live Search, Windows Live services, MSN and the aQuantive advertising platform, with future integration potential for a range of other Microsoft products and platforms. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The addition of Multimap enhances Microsoft’s position as a leading provider of mapping and location platform services,” said Sharon Baylay, general manager of the Online Services Group at Microsoft. “This acquisition will play a significant role in the future growth of our search business and presents a huge opportunity to expand our platform business beyond the U.K. and globally. We are thrilled to welcome Multimap onboard.”
One of the best-known online mapping companies worldwide, Multimap provides a publicly available personal mapping service at http://www.multimap.com, as well as a range of integrated business services.
“Partnering with Microsoft gives us a world of new opportunities to build our mapping services into new technologies and applications,” said Jeff Kelisky, CEO of Multimap. “As one of the world’s foremost technology brands, Microsoft is in a position to bring even more value to the Multimap service and give people everywhere new, exciting and fun ways to get from point A to point B.”
Multimap will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, as part of the Virtual Earth and Search teams in the Online Services Group. The acquisition is the latest in a series of moves as Microsoft seeks to expand its online services to deliver software, services, and premium content and applications to consumers and businesses.
Google is further opening up the mapping platform to user interaction and data editing. For details see the thorough review on Search Engine Land.
Registered Google users are now permitted to adjust address and location information for businesses on Google Maps (move the place marker) and soon will have the ability to more broadly edit local business information. Changes will initially go through a human editorial process to ensure the accuracy and propriety of information as the new capabilities are rolled out. Google told us that business owners will have final authority over their listings.
This is further moving Google into the traditional yellow pages space. Time to short those YP stocks (not that I have any). This new feature is currently only available in US, Australia and New Zealand. But I am sure more countries will be added soon. I am not wondering what the status is of the Google Map stickers I’ve seen in London? [I will post more on this topic later, gotta go work now.]
