Tooting Our Own Horn

When you tell someone that you work in the map industry you find out that a lot of people love maps. Yes, maps can be very practical, but they also act as a time machine, taking people back to a favorite vacation or long-ago road trip or another country or time. A great example of maps transcending utilitarian needs are the the folded map supplements found in National Geographic Magazine since the 1890's (not a typo). Each issue contained a contemporary map or thematic map or historical map and everyone of them displayed qualities that transported the viewer.

Last year the online commerce and digital mapping expertise of Maps.com was put to use working with the great people at National Geographic Maps in Evergreen, Colorado to bring their storied magazine map supplements archive to life in a whole new way and NGMapCollection.com was born. Maps.com used high-resolution scans of the original folded map supplements to produce never-before-available large format wall maps and "zoom-able" online imagery that lets you see up close the detail of these cartographic treasures.

If you are a fan of National Geographic or enjoy maps then NGMapCollection.com is a must-visit web site.

Labels: history, maps, national geographic

posted by Maps.com at 9:42 AM

AOL: What Are You Thinking?

And the winner of today's "What Are You Thinking" technology award goes to...AOL!

AOL announced its Instant Messenger service will display AIM'ers locations on a map creating a mashup that should never see the light of day. Yeah, yeah, this feature will be opt-in, but why offer it in the first place? If an AIM'er wants another AIM'er to know their location then THEY CAN TELL THEM.

Hey AOL, have you not heard about adult predators posing as teens and trolling social networks like MySpace? AOL, show some social responsibility and put this feature where it belongs -- in a B2B offering --not in a consumer product that is largely the playground of teens and pre-teens.

Another unsettling tidbit of this unneeded, unnecessary, and unsafe development is that the technology provider behind the scenes, Skyhook, made this feature possible by driving a fleet of 200 trucks through 2,500 cities scanning for the pulses given off by home wireless routers and then used GPS devices to document their physical location. Gee, how could this data be abused???

Labels: AIM, AOL, maps

posted by Maps.com at 8:52 AM

Rockwell: 80's One Hit Wonder or Visionary?

Big Brother conspiracy theorists be aware: They DO know where you are. The emergence and convergence of GPS enabled cellular phones, RFID technology, and digital maps make it possible to track and locate employees, children, pets, and even spouse's whereabouts.

Want to know the location of your spouse or friends? Technology from Loopt plots the location of people in your social network on maps displayed on your phone. Loopt says you can choose to be invisible if you don't want to be tracked down, but then some explaining will be in order when, geographically speaking, you "fall off the face of the earth" for a few hours.

Where is Bob -- the meeting was supposed to start ten minutes ago? ThingMagic's RFID technology track's employee movement using small "tags" worn within a RFID reader equipped building. Electronic fences that give a jolt when you try to leave the office a few minutes early can't be far behind.

While adults may flinch at the thought of being tracked, they will also be the first to see the benefits of applying this technology to children and pets. Products from companies like IonKids and GlobalPetFinder make it possible to increase the safety and security of your precious little ones (and your children too). Think LoJack for kids and pets and you quickly get the idea. GPS equipped collars and bracelets communicate with web-based mapping allow you to view your child's or pet's location in real time.

I always feel like somebody's watching me
Who's playing tricks on me
I always feel like somebody's watching me
Tell me it can't be

I don't know anymore
Are the neighbors watching me
Well is the mailman watching me
And I don't feel safe anymore, oh what a mess
I wonder who's watching me now?

Rockwell, 1984 (watch the video)

Labels: GPS, maps, RFID

posted by Maps.com at 8:24 AM