Dallas-Fort Worth Leads in Population Growth and Detroit Metro Leads in Population Decline

Dallas-Fort Worth had the largest Population growth of any metro area between 2006 and 2007, increasing by 162,250, according to estimates of metro area population size and growth released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Detroit Metro leads in Population Decline with approx 27,314 folks leaving the area.

Here's a look at Population changes in 100 Largest Metro areas in United States on Google Maps. This Mashup sorts the list by 1. Most Populated 2. Largest Gain 3. Least/Negative Gain.

NCAA Basketball - March Madness Mashups

NCAA Basketball - Championship History: This Mashup shows the location of NCAA Basketball Championship teams/team locations/venues/scores from 1939 to 2007 on Google Maps. It also sorts the teams by year/teams traveling most miles/teams traveling least miles to the championship venue.



NCAA College Basketball - Most Valuable Teams: This is a Google Maps Mashup of Forbes List of College Basketball's 20 Most Valuable Teams. University of North Carolina, Tar Heels top the list with a valuation of $26 million.



More NCAA Basketball Related Mashups (via Google Maps Mania)

• March Madness Team By Team Bar Map: This Mashup shows the Bars in New York City where fans and alumni of more than half the teams in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament will be watching the games.
• Live NCAA Sports Map (during games)
• NCAA Tournament Bracket - 2008

Mapping the World's Dirtiest Cities

Forbes is out with a list of "The World's 25 Dirtiest Cities". The dirties of them all is "Baku, Azerbaijan" with a index score of 27.6 (compared to New York city as a base with a index score of 100).

Click here for a Google Maps View of "The World's Dirties Cities".

Related: The World's most Polluted Cities.

Metro Detroit Potholes - Mapped!

WWJ Newsradio 950, a Metro Detroit radio station has a "Pothole Patrol Map" on their website. They have mapped out Potholes in the Metro Detroit area on Google Maps.

So if you are driving around in the Metro Detroit Area and come across a "Tire Eater" Pothole, then do let the community know by visiting the Pothole Patrol Map page and adding the Pothole info. The potholes that are fixed are marked with a Green Marker and the ones which need fixing are shown with red markers (looks like none of the potholes are fixed!!).

Google Maps now open to "User Edits"

Google LatLong Blog is reporting that now you can edit Marker Locations, Business Details on Google Maps. You can also remove a place if it does not exist, or if it is a private location. This feature is available for US, Australia and New Zealand.

I decided to give it a try by checking out the accuracy of "Hard Rock Cafe" location in Downtown Detroit. As you can see in the image, Google Maps is showing Hard Rock Cafe in the middle of the Street and also it is bit more to the North. So I clicked on the "Edit" link in the information window and then clicked on "move the marker" link and moved the marker to the side entrance door of Hard Rock Cafe as shown in the image at the bottom of this post.

Note: The information window shows the "Last Edited By..." info. There is also a link which will revert the marker back to the original location.

New Jersey Rail and Light Rail trips on Google Transit

NJ TRANSIT Rail and Light Rail trips can now be planned using Google Transit Website. (via InformationWeek)

Example:
Here's how it works:
Visit www.google.com/transit and type in "Trenton, NJ" in the Start Address Box and "New York Penn Station" in the End Address box and click on the "Get Directions" Button. Google Transit will then return with upcoming train departure times from "Trenton, NJ" including travel time. You can also click on the "Options" tab to check on all the departure/arrival times for any particular date.

Here's a view from Google Transit (journey from trenton, nj to new york penn station)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

There is some confusion as to when the St. Patrick's Day falls this year. Was it on March 15th or is it today March 17th?. Quoting from CNN

For the first time since 1940, St. Patrick's Day will fall during Holy Week, the sacred seven days preceding Easter.

Because of the overlap, liturgical rules dictate that no Mass in honor of the saint can be celebrated on Monday, March 17, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

However in Ireland March 17 will remain an official Irish day off work and the Dublin parade will go on as scheduled.

So today being St. Patrick's Day (for some March 15th), I decided to take a look at towns and cities across United States named Shamrock or Dublin. There are 19 cities/towns which I found at the United States Government Census site. Here's a look at those towns/cities on Google Maps.

Web version of Google Sky launched

Astronomy enthusiasts will love this. Google today launched the web version of Google Sky. Now it is easier than ever for students, amateur astronomers and professionals alike to explore the universe. No extra downloads is required. Simply type in http://sky.google.com in your favorite browser. Google Sky is also available in 26 localized language editions.

Check out this video on Google Sky or visit Google LatLong Blog for more details:

Unique View of Detroit

Bill McGraw a Detroit Free Press Columnist was given a "extreme assignment": Take a 2,700-mile road trip and never leave Detroit. So starting in May last year he drove through Detroit's 2,100+ streets. The idea here was to get a unique view of Detroit, a street-level survey of Detroit's 138 square miles. So with all the video, sound, music and photos which were recorded during the journey, the staff of Detroit Free Press created a Google Maps Mashup.

Mike Pegg of GoogleMapsMania has this to say about this Google Maps Mashup

This is one of the best video/photo essays I've seen since it really gave me a vibe for the city when I used it.

Intel Science Talent Search 2008

Shivani Sud, 17 who attends Charles E. Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina won the top prize in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search. The winner was announced last night in Washington DC. Shivani Sud won a $100,000 scholarship.

Shivani had submitted a bioinformatics and genomics project to Intel Science Talent Search that focused on identifying stage II colon cancer patients at high risk for recurrence and the best therapeutic agents for treating their tumors.

A versatile student, Shivani Sud is a Teen Court student attorney, a Durham Rescue Mission volunteer and performs classical and modern Indian dance.(via)

There were a total of 40 Finalists from schools across United States as shown in this Google Maps Mashup.

Presciption Drugs in United States Drinking Water

CNN was reporting yesterday that researchers have found prescription drugs in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas - from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit, Michigan, to Louisville, Kentucky.

Even though quantities found are far below the levels of medical dose, scientists are worried of long-term consequences to human health.

I have mapped out the metropolitan areas affected on Google Maps along with prescription drug info. (Note: Information window pop up after every 8 seconds. However you can click on "Disable/Pause" button if you need more time to read thru the text in the information window.

Here's a screen shot of Drugs found in drinking water around Columbus, OH.

Cost of IRAQ War - by State

Ever wondered what each state's contribution is towards IRAQ war and how that money could have been used if not spent on the war?

I bumped into a site called costofwar.com which answers those questions. I took the information from the site and mashed it up with Google Maps. California leads the States list in contribution. California to date has contributed $66.2 billion and on the other end of the scale is North Dakota which has contributed $630.5 million to date.

FORTUNE: Top 20 Most Admired Companies (2008)

While Google tops the list of Fortune's "Top 100 Companies" to work for, it is APPLE which is ranked as the "Top Most Admired" Company.

Click here for a look at the "Top 20 Most Admired" on Google Maps. (No need to click on markers as the Information Window pops up automatically)

Why is Apple #1?. According to Fortune

It is a tribute to its CEO that Apple, which ten years ago seemed headed for the slag heap, is No. 1 on this list. Steve Jobs has always had a knack for weaving magic out of silicon and software. But who knew he could build a $24 billion (in sales) company on the strength of a portable jukebox and a computer with a single-digit market share?

His pitch, as he leveraged the success of the iPod, was very simple: Apple products work, and if you buy more than one, they work better. The company (if not its stock) is on a tear, but even with the economy weakening, it will be interesting to see how economically sensitive this growth engine is

US Military Bases off limits for Google Maps Street View

United States Military has blocked Google from collecting imagery and 360 degree views of Military Bases. This after officials found 360 deg. imagery of Fort Sam Military Base (Houston, TX) on Google Maps Street View. (via afp.google.com)

Google now has removed the imagery from in and around Fort Sam Military Base as shown in the image below:

TripTouch.com: A Cool Travel Mashup

I recently bumped into TripTouch.Com - a simple looking and yet a powerful travel mashup.

It provides travelers with trip planning tools (hotel, flight booking), diverse local information like news, weather. In addition it also provides "you the traveler" with reviews and photos from fellow travelers, a blog to document your trips. All this in one easy to use website.

TripTouch includes a mashup from several sources, including Google maps, Eventful. TripTouch also has agreements with Kayak to provide travel booking services for hotels, hostels, cars, flights and cruises. The site has approx 4,000 world-wide destinations listed.

Here is a screen shot from TripTouch showing info on Rishikesh, India a place I would like to visit one day.

Near Plane Crash at Hamburg, Germany

A Lufthansa Airbus A320 while making a landing approach at Hamburg Airport, Germany got caught in a fierce crosswind and almost crashed. This video says it all. Fortunately the aircraft landed safely on a second try with all 130 passengers safe. (Incident Date: March 1st, 2008) (more at Reuters)


Google Maps View of Hamburg Airport, Germany.

American Idol Contestants - Season 7 (Top 16)

American Idol Season 7 is underway on Fox Television. Unfortunately there is no Sanjaya Malakar type contestant this season.

There are though some incredible talents like 17 year old David Archuleta from Murray, Utah. One of the songs he sang on the show was "Imagine" by John Lennon. That was a great performance. I have included the YouTube video of that song in this Google Maps Mashup of American Idol Contestants - Season 7 (2008).