07/17/2009
Google Maps!
Fun With Google Maps
This map must already exist somewhere, but I finally gave up looking for it and made one myself. There are various websites with information about wildlife areas or parks, but I haven't found one that simply shows you a map of the Northampton area and marks all the locations. When I'm looking for a park, I like to see where it is first, then read the description, instead of vice versa.
I've found that two of the most hidden things in any area are playgrounds and access to nature. Play structures pop up in the strangest places, so much so that I don't even remember when one is right around the corner. But when you're out-and-about and you've got a three year old with you, they're very useful. And so are nature areas, which appeal to a wider audience.
When I see a patch of forest behind someone's yard I can't resist. No, I don't go sneaking around the side of their house. I usually go home and scour Google Maps for another way in. Sometimes it's not possible to get in, but there's often some kind of public access. On the map here I've marked not just the forest itself, but the way to get there.
The Technology
This isn't my first use of Google Maps technology. I also helped when Gravity Switch was working on this map for a nonprofit called NESEA (Northeast Sustainable Energy Association).
Google allows you to customize a map and use most of their features. If the map is publicly accessible, you don't even have to pay them for it. You can control the description that you see when someone clicks on one of the markers - you can even put pictures there.
For NESEA we used an existing database of addresses to feed a Google Map that shows their locations. It's dynamic, which means that if addresses are added to or deleted from the database, markers are added or removed from the map automatically. You can even mark a map with lines or areas, or change the icon used for the marker.
I've actually just scratched the surface on what you can do with Google Maps. Their draggable web-based map was pioneered by Google in 2005, and it already seems like a fact of life that we all take for granted. These maps are pretty amazing just as they appear on the Google site, but it's really cool that you can have them on yours and use them for your own purposes.
~Todd Cesere
Gravity Switch Programmer