Recent developments in mapping are providing good examples of the growing utility and ubiquity of mashups that we’ve discussed here in my prior postings “The Future is a Monstrous and Marvelous Mashup” and “Mashed Up Snowflakes”. These new developments are putting the ability to create mashups into the hands of all of us.
What’s noteworthy about these new tools is that they enable ANY one to create a mashup. By eliminating the need for programming or other advanced skills, these tools make it possible for anyone to quickly and easily create their very own mashup maps.
- Elinor Mills, in her CNET News article “Google makes mashups easy, even for me”, has a review of Google’s new “My Maps” feature.*
- Wired has two related articles “GeekDad/GoogleMaps mashup” and “UnGoogle Geekdad Map of Bay Area Attractions” that describe experiences with Google Maps and the new features in Wayfaring.*
With these tools, it is now a simple matter of dragging and dropping, cutting and pasting, and selecting from menus to create your own maps, customize the icons, add photos or video at any locations, and annotate the map with boundaries for highlighted areas.
If you want to do some hands on experiential learning, check out “How-To: Google MyMaps mashups” and Google’s “How to Create your Maps”. These are great examples of what I’ve long referred to as MC2 (MC squared)—when the effects of mass customization are multiplied by mass contribution.
Watch Elinor’s short video and slides embedded in her CNET article above to see how simple it is to use: drop-down menu choices, dragging and dropping of icons, boundaries, video and photos that let you create your own mashup map. You also get the choice of sharing this with others, either publicly or privately.
“So what?” you might ask. “Where is this taking us?” Well, right now, Google has NOT provided the obvious next step, which is the means to edit or modify the maps, but this capability is sure to follow soon. Then the MC2 factor can really take hold.
Next, add the “4th dimension” of time to these maps, as suggested by Scott Nagle in "How-To: Google MyMaps mashups”. And then add some automation to the metadata and add related information to any location on these maps as covered in my previous posting “Snowflakes Galore at TechFest 2007 Part 1” and I think you too can see just how exciting and powerful the possibilities become.
Consider the fun and the inspiration you could get from building a DIY (Do It Yourself) drone or (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) with a digital camera in it! Why? Imagine if you had the ability to access massive amounts of location-based content from these mapping sites mentioned above, as well as all the geospatial data from satellites with even greater amounts of content and with higher definition and coverage
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Chris Anderson nicely summarizes this capability in the another GeekDad article “Why UAVs? ‘Geocrawling'!”
“The hot business trend of the moment is all about geography: bridging the web and the real world, from map mash ups to hyper local news and Twitter.”
And then he goes on to help strike the brain sparks I’m trying to fan here when he writes:
“But what if you could deploy airborne cameras as easily as a software spider? What if those cameras were carried on platforms so light and cheap that it didn't matter if they occasionally got stuck in a tree or fluttered to the ground? What if you could deploy them by the thousands to quietly scan cities block by block at an altitude of a few hundred feet, below planes but above buildings, no louder than a bird and no more dangerous? What if, in short, cheap UAVs became 'spiders for the real world' in the way software is for the Web?"
Think about this idea of "spiders for the real world" for more than a minute, and you too will be filled with equal parts of fascination and fear (a bit like seeing real spiders for some?!). This combination of emotions is one that I find to be common when presented with truly profound and powerful capabilities.
I strongly encourage you to do some “serious playing” with these new capabilities and tools. Try them out on your own or...even better...with children and others. I think you too will be inspired, excited, and concerned, all at the same time.
As you begin to imagine some of the possibilities and as it sparks ideas of how YOU can put this to use, professionally and personally, be sure to let us know what you find. Tell us what other applications you can think of, and what concerns you may have for the inevitable continuation and exponential growth of these kinds of examples, as well as the power of mass personalization, mass customization, and mass contribution.
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* BTW, for all you parents and kids out there (geeks or not), be sure to check out the relatively new “GeekDad” blog from Wired for some really fun projects— things to do with your kids, and some “serious fun” just being a kid no matter what chronological age you might be. How about building a Baby spoon plane?
I think is a good idea for creating maps. Maps should be perfect and this will really work out. Go ahead for this. Lovely blog.
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