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Google Maps Muck-Ups

Google Maps was launched to great acclaim in February 2005. Its easily
scrollable maps proved an instant hit, but opportunities to search and
customize have proved the real winner.

DPA
Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Now they've created the all-seeing eye...
Larry Page, co-founder of Google, announced a vision in 2004 which was
both audacious and faintly alarming. "Google's mission is to organize
the world's information," Page said, speaking about a plan to digitally
scan books from some of the world's most important libraries. This year
saw yet another step towards Google omniscience with the launch of
Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/). The maps are easily scrollable,
which is a welcome relief to users tired of waiting for map images to
continually reload. In addition, users are able to view satellite images
to a high resolution and most importantly, it is possible to enter
search terms for available maps. This means that if you enter search
terms such as "kebab" and "London", markers appear on your map pointing
to towards all the kebab shops in the city. Very useful if you are in
urgent need of a couple of thousand kebabs.

Increasingly though, user-customisation is delivering the really
exciting developments. Known as "Google Map Hacks" or "Mash-ups"
(http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/), thousands of Web users have
taken the interoperability feature of Google Maps to produce their own
cartographical creations. Let's take a current example. Were you taking
part in the running of the bulls
(http://www.codesyntax.com/proiektuak/sanfermin.html) last week in
Pamplona, Spain? Perhaps you wanted to find out on which streets most
people get gored by the rampaging bulls? Well, some clever spod has
created a Google Map Hack for just this.
purpose.http://www.codesyntax.com/proiektuak/sanfermin_all.html Perhaps
you drive long distances and are worried about being caught by a speed
camera again. Well, another ingenious Mash-Up plots all the locations of
speed traps in the UK (http://spod.cx/speedcameras.html) on a scrollable
map. Controversially, one can even find maps of known sex-offenders
(http://demon.dopeman.org/sexOffenders/) in your area, all with the
click of a mouse.

It seems Google has once again delivered a product with seemingly
endless possibilities and applications. At this rate, don't be surprised
if they manage to document all human knowledge by the end of next week.