Mapping as community building
The explosion of free online mapping options is truly mind-blowing. Increasingly, mapping is becoming a popular and easy way of organizing content and sharing it.
Maps give you a new perspective on things. Try looking at Google Earth for a while in satellite mode. Observe the threads of concrete that cover the countryside like chicken wire. Look how the cities are virtually solid gray concrete, with barely visible ribbons of green that line the valleys (assuming the natural rivers haven’t been buried with the sewers). At the very least, it makes me think about how it must feel to be a non-human living among all this unnatural stucture.
I found UMapper.com while looking for cool Flash-based plugins for WordPress. It has some nice annotation features, but is distinguished by its packaging as a Flash app. The sample below maps the route I would have taken had I driven from Toronto to Edmonton last summer.
Returning to Google Maps for comparison, I realized that Google’s maps worked just as well – if not better. In addition to making it easy to embed maps on web sites, Google allows you to log in and create your own custom maps for private use or to share with the world. But I was amazed by the split screen street level view of the cross-Canada trip.
Does this mean an end to 3500 km road trips? Because after seeing this trip at street level, I’m not that excited about taking it anymore.