april 2005 archives

Friday, April 29, 2005

Aerial photos, satellite imagery and maps online

When Google acquired Keyhole, the mapping community started speculating how satellite imagery was going to be integrated in Google. Then came Google Maps and we just waited for the widget to appear for us to change from maps to satellite imagery! Google's approach: either maps or satellite imagery. Multimap has offfered similar functionality since late 2000. Visitors to the website could get either a map or an aerial photo for most part of England at the larger scales. There are more ways than one to integrate aerial or satellite imagery with maps. Switching between imagery and maps is just one way.

At Multimap I introduced the lens that I'd discussed before in an early piece on web mapping. Instead of using the lens as a magnifying glass, Ian re-wrote the code for the lens to work as an information filter. Moving the lens over the map, the lens would show the aerial photo as a transparent layer on top of the map at the same scale. Visitors to the website were always intriged by this feature. Furthermore, it was a great tool to show people the value of cartography as there was a direct link between the map and the aerial photo.

Mappy has taken this feature even further. Instead of having the aerial photo only show up as a transparent layer when moving a lens over the map, the full map view is taken up by either the map or imagery. A slider widget allows users to change the transparency of the map layer for the aerial photo to appear. The lettering, such as street names, remains visible at all times. All in all, it's a really neat trick to make the transition between map and imagery more subtle.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

The end of Ordnance Survey?

Been quiet about Google Maps here at webmapper.net for a while. Lots of other map-related blogs informed their readership of the latest mapping hacks. Since Google Maps only covered the US, I didn't want to get too excited about it. Europe is a different piece of cake. That was until yesterday, when Google Maps UK was launched! Google struck where it hurts most.

With Ordnance Survey, the UK got the most tight copyrights governing geographic information in Europe. This is one of the reasons most businesses that do not want to be sued for infringing Crown Copyright and use an online mapping supplier to include maps on their website. While most business websites use Multimap.com maps, Streetmap seems to be preferred by the general public. Viamichelin and Map24 are making inroads into the UK mapping arena, but is there room for another player: Google Maps UK? Maporama and Mapquest even opened London offices to conquer the Brits.

Admittedly, Google does stand a chance. First, Google is not French like Maporama! Second, Google doesn't serve stick maps like MapQuest. Third, they're not primarily serving maps and therefore have more reasons to be in the UK. When can we expect the first Google Maps hack? How about integrating Google Maps into the Open Guide to London?

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Collaborative mapping in the Guardian

In the Get mapping article in the Guardian, Schuyler Erle and Jo Walsh, authors of Mapping Hacks not only talk about copyright on tax-funded geographic data, but also highlight initiatives such as the London Free Map to create open source data. If you are a regular reader of webmapper, there's hardly anything new in this article, but it certainly adds to the awareness of collaborative mapping. Furthermore, it nicely puts all the pieces together to quickly get an overview: who, why, what, how, where?

Friday, April 08, 2005

Map theft online

Did you notice The Flop on Stopdesign last Friday? He took the look'n feel from some other high profile websites and applied these to his homepage. It certainly made me laugh. On the other hand, Pirated-Sites showcases side-by-side comparisons of web sites that are suspected of borrowing, copying or stealing copyright-protected content, design or code without permission. How about Pirated-maps.com?

Often I have raged against copyrighted geographic data that's been funded by tax payers' money, culminating in the OS maps under Crown Copyright. But what if you've got your own cartographic studio and have put your efforts into creating a location map for one of your clients and then you stumble across another web site using that very map, slightly altered? How convenient for Funda, they're located in the same building as Regioplan. They didn't even try to conceal their theft by removing the copyright notice in the lower right corner.

Can we soon expect an update of The Island of Lost Map set in the 21st century? It's about time copyright on cartographic material is taken seriously! However, it may be a great opportunity to convert Funda from a thief into a paying client.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Petermann's maps on Dutch radio

Since 1855, every copy of the German journal Geographische Mitteilungen was accompanied by a map from the cartographer August Petermann. At the heyday of nationalist expansion in Africa and Asia, expeditioners used to sent their latest discoveries to Gotha for publication. Petermann was also one of the first cartographers to create thematic maps.

At 10pm on Thursday 7 April, the Dutch radio programme De Avonden will braodcast the documentary Nooit zonder kaart about this important cartographer. It follows the Dutch librarian Jan Smits on his travel to Gotha. Jan Smits is the map librarian of the Dutch Royal Library in the Hague and is also the author of Petermann's Maps. Cartobibliography of the maps in Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen, 1855-1945. On his travels, Jan Smits reveals the mystery of Gotha and the birth of modern cartography.