Linkstew

It looks like a few changes to google maps were just rolled out and then quickly rolled back. While I definitely like the new "Set this as default location" feature (though in my few minutes of usage I couldn't figure out how to change the default after setting it, and the first time I tried it it crashed Safari), the decision to put the sidebar information on the left and relegate the map itself to the right felt pretty terrible. Using it for several minutes, I repeatedly reached for the left edge of the browser for the zoom widget, and how is the map not the primary piece of information on that page?

Hopefully that left / right decision doesn't come back when these changes are re-introduced. And sorry, I didn't capture a screenshot while they were there.

Update: Okay, these changes are back, and I still don't like the left right thing.

The San Francisco Bicycle and Walking Map. This map has some easily readable topographic information about the city. If you're walking or biking in the city, this looks like the tool to have.

While looking at a couple of maps of Vegas in preparation for this weekend's trip, I noticed there's a new hybrid view, but I can't find any mention of it on the web yet. It does a pretty awesome job of overlaying information on the satellite view, finally making the satellite view something more than a novelty. I also don't remember google maps including so many landmarks, but this makes finding which casinos are within walking distance of my hotel super easy.

I really need to learn the google maps API so I can just embed a map in the post next time. Too bad your average aggregator probably wouldn't take very well to that.

Update: Oh, they also added a scale!

Between Google releasing Earth on Tuesday and a map API yesterday, and Yahoo! also releasing a map API yesterday, it's an exciting week for the map lover in me.

But between all the announcements, it was easy to overlook the launch of the A9 maps beta. I admit I'm biased, but I think it's pretty neat. One of my first comments when I saw this was "when did mapquest get such pretty maps?" Be sure to check out a city with Block View data (how about San Francisco?) to experience how much fun it can be to explore the Block View images with this interface. Don't miss the "Mark Streets With Block View" toggle.

Remember, it's actually a beta (I haven't actually asked the guys who are working on this, but I don't doubt that this claim that they finished at 2 am). Also check out what DeWitt has to say.

It's definitely exciting times for maps. I can't wait to see what someone comes up with next.

This is the trace of one year of one person's walking and biking in New York City. Pretty cool.

I just noticed there's a GeoPlugin for WordPress. I suddenly have the urge to go annotate all my old posts with geographic information.

Craigslist Housing / Google Maps mash-up

I love maps, and I love craigslist, so of course I think this is awesome, but I can't help but feel a little jealous that I didn't come up with this hack first. Of course, it'd still be nice if there were pictures of the neighborhoods each of those apartments were in... ;-)

Here's a pretty nice shot of the Berkeley Campus. You can zoom in more and get a lot more detail, but then the edges of campus get cut off.

Here's a close up of my high school. Check out the goofy shapes of those buildings! Hehe.

Next, here's a shot of my old neighborhood, more or less centered on my old house. I have no idea who even lives there anymore. Of particular note is the insane number of swimming pools there are in that picture. Wowie.

And finally, here is a shot again centered on my house, but zoomed out an additional level so that all of my schools are visible. In the top center is West High. One big block up and one big block over from the bottom right (where the very obvious track is) is Thompson Jr. High. And Stine Elementary is a little hard to point out, but it's 2/3 from the left edge, and 1/2 from the top, more or less (a block above Thompson and a little to the left. It looks kind of like a sideways U of white buildings, and if you squint you can see the very tiny faded track).

For those wondering, yes, there is another Jr. High that's closer to my house than Thompson is (Actis Jr. High is the one about a third from the left edge and a little above center, with the more faded track), but it's not like school districts make any sense. I think one of their primary concerns when it came to school zoning was ethnic diversity. Also, for extra amusement, it's worth mentioning that Thompson Jr. High is located on Actis St.

And the final Junior High in that picture, located at the absolute upper right corner of the picture is Curran Middle School, which my sister went to.

There I was, watching an episode of Deep Space 9, when I found myself wondering "How far Ferenginar from DS9?"

And so I turned to my good friend google for answers, and he showed me this amazing site on Star Trek Cartography. Yes, the dedication involved is disturbing, but the site does a great job of critically synthesizing data without being a whiney continuity bitch. The detail, references, and discussion are fantastic.

Assuming you go in for that sort of thing, of course.

(If you just want a visual representation without dealing with pages and pages and pages of text, here.)

When most people (in California) visualize going from California to Japan or China, etc, they probably imagine going straight across the Pacific, thanks to confusion caused by the inaccuracies of projecting a sphere onto a flat map. I know better, though, and know that the quickest route from here to Japan winds up going up north through Alaska and the like. Take a piece of string and a globe and measure it if you don't believe me. And yet, when I envision traveling to Australia, I visualize getting there via Europe. I likely make this mistake because in my head, Australia is associated with Europe and not Asia based on the people that (I assume) live there. In reality, though, there are a fair number of Asians in Australia (as I recall from studying Australia in Geography last semester), Australia deals a lot with the local Asian countries economically, and it would be really, really stupid to go to Australia via Europe. For reference, apparently it's standard to get to Australia via New Zealand.

You have no idea how long I could talk about mental maps... It's a very fascinating topic. I'll dig up some links after I play a quick game of Mario Party 2, in anticipation of the impending release of Mario Party 3.

later: Wow, I actually won a game of Mario Party!

Anyway, this about.com article is a good a place as any to start reading about mental maps, and it has a few good links. Basically, Mental Maps are how the world is represented inside of the head of a person. Familiar places are perceived as closer, while unfamiliar places are perceived as more distant. People frequently put their home at the center of their mental map of the world, which might be a cause of confusion when traveling abroad. Sometimes orientations vary, sometimes things get grouped based on broad boundaries, and frequently, they're very distorted and wrong. Thinking about how people think is so entertaining!

this is a nice diagram about the start of the new Millennium. Well, as nice as a news publication can be, because it has to dumb down the content for stupid readers. Boy it must have been cool to have been alive in the 19th century; What with so few people being able to read, newspapers probably didn't have to bother with dumbing things down. There was probably such a disparity between those who would read a newspaper and those who wouldn't that it wasn't necessary to make the thing stupid for stupid people to understand.

I enrolled in Geography 10 because I needed to fill another requirement this semester. So on the recommendation of my roommate, I signed up for Geography 10 with the grading option of pass/no pass, because honestly, how hard could it be to pass geography? Well, since it was easier than I thought, I changed my grading option back to letter graded, and I'm expecting at least a B+.

During the first lecture, I remember thinking "I'm probably not going to attend this class very often." There were several reasons for this thought. The first was that the class was from 3:30 to 5 in the afternoon, meaning that I had 3 and a half hours between Japanese and Geography. The second was that my first impression of Professor Hoosen was that of a rambling old man who probably wouldn't be able to put together a coherent lecture *cough* Searle *cough*. In fact, anticipating a lack of attendance, I invested in a subscription to Black Lightning Lecture Notes.

During the first couple of weeks, I actually did skip most of my classes, because it was tedious and Hoosen was just discussing the History of Geography as a subject. However, once we got into the discussion of actually countries, I was hooked. Though Hoosen was indeed rambly, he was also very interesting. He was in World War II, and he's been all over the world, so he had all kinds of personal insight to offer on almost every thing he talked about. I enjoyed the class very much, and the black lightning lecture notes I invested in ended up being a very useful supplement to my lecture attendance.

The two tests weren't that bad. My biggest complaint had to do with a change of style between the first test and the second, which messed made my studying for the second test less than useful. You see, on the map section of the first test, we were given maps of regions and a list of places to identify on the maps. On the second test, we were given a map with numbers on it, and a list of descriptions, and we were asked to name and find the number on the map for each description. Now, these are very different types of tasks requiring different types of recall, and I have methods of studying for each kind of test. Unfortunately, the methods don't work very well for anything but that kind of test, because I'm given the wrong cues to trigger my memories. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

So I really enjoyed the class, and I'm pretty sure I'll recommend a geography class to anyone who ever asks me about a class to take. On the last day of lecture, Professor Hoosen was one of the few professors I've actually wanted to applaud, because I enjoyed his class and he deserves his retirement.