What is India Googling right now?

Couple of weeks back I created Google Maps Mashps (Live Mapping) of Google Hot Trends for both India and US. You can see in this mashup, where the searches are originating from. Google Hot Trends which is "today's top 100 fastest-rising search queries", is updated hourly. Unfortunately, there is not a whole lot of location information available for United States whereas for India there is much more location information available. Here is a screen shot from Google Hot Trends (India). For United States click here.

(Related: Google Trends Historical Data (India) (United States)).

How safe are the roads near you?

Head on over to saferoadmaps.org for a look on Google Maps at roads near your neighborhood with most fatal crashes. Researchers in the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (CERS) from University of Minnesota have mapped out every fatality in United States with details on each death, so now you can see

the "dead man's curve" on your commute or the "devil's triangle" in your backyard.

Information on this site has been compiled from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. You can enter an address and view the roads that have the highest number of traffic fatalities in a specified area. You can also view dynamically generated maps that show how public policy has been implemented to improve transportation safety by region. The creators of this website hope that this site brings both increased safety and awareness to transportation policy makers and private citizens.

Example: I typed in Novi, MI to see the number of fatalities around a 10 mile radius. Even 1 is too many. As you can see there are quite a few fatalities in this area. So please drive safe....

Nice Mention in Detroit Free Press

Mike Wendland of Detroit Free Press has written a very nice (very....generous) article about me and my work here at MIBAZAAR. Click here to read Mike's article at Detroit Free Press.

Click here for more coverage on MIBAZAAR, in print media and on the web.

World's most expensive cups of coffee

Take a look at this Google Maps Mashup of average price of a cup of coffee around the world. Its unbelievable!!. In Moscow, Russia it costs a whopping $10.19 for a cup of coffee. (Source Forbes).

There are 6 locations (and I have added 1 more) shown on this map. You don't have to click anything. Enjoy your coffee!!

Google's Walking Directions - Absolutely Hilarious!!

But then it is in Beta!!

Now consider these 2 cities. Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario which is across the Detroit River. The Drive time is 8 mins (2 miles). How about trying out the new feature in Google Maps "Walking Directions". Google Maps "Walking Directions" to Windsor, Ontario from Detroit, MI will take you 1 day and 15 hours (120 miles). Click on the image below to see how this happens: (more on walking directions at Google LatLong Blog)

YouTube + Google Maps: Who is uploading what and from where

Update: Detroit FreePress Reporter Mike Wendland makes a nice mention (he is very generous) of this mashup in his blog
I have created a Google Maps Mashup which shows the most recent videos being uploaded to YouTube. The videos which are show are all geotagged. You will notice the forward and backward arrows located at the top right corner of the map. Clicking the forward arrow will take you to the next video and clicking the back arrow will take you to the previous video. The updated time shown in the pop up window is Pacific (California) Time. Enjoy!!

Google Mapping Starbucks Closures

Starbucks announced earlier in July that will be shutting down approximately 600 stores. Is there one which is close to where your are?.

Keir Clarke who writes at GoogleMapsMania Blog has created a Google Maps Mashup of locations where Starbucks will be shutting down (all 600 of them).

And if you feel strongly about Starbucks closures then join one of many groups on FACEBOOK and show your displeasure with these closures :)

the worst building in the history of mankind....

is back under construction after a 16-year lull. Reuters is reporting that

North Korea's phantom hotel is stirring back to life. Once dubbed by Esquire magazine as "the worst building in the history of mankind," the 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel is back under construction after a 16-year lull in the capital of one of the world's most reclusive and destitute countries.

It would cost up to $2 billion to finish the Ryugyong Hotel and make it safe, according to estimates in South Korean media. That is equivalent to about 10 percent of the North's annual economic output.

Google Maps view of "Hotel of Doom"

Happy 90th Birthday to Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela a symbol of freedom and equality celebrates his 90th Birthday today.

Here's a Google Maps view of Robben Island, South Africa where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison.


View Larger Map

Plymouth, MN tops FORTUNE's List of Top 100 places to live - 2008

Plymouth, MN tops Fortune's list of Top 100 places to live (2008). It's followed by, Fort Collins, CO, Naperville, IL, Irvine, CA, Franklin Township, NJ, Norman, OK, Round Rock, TX, Columbia/Ellicott City, MD, Overland Park, KS, Fishers, IN. Quoting Fortune:

Plentiful jobs, excellent schools, affordable housing - America's best small cities have all that and more

Check out the entire list of 100 cities in this Google Maps Mashup put together by folks at FORTUNE.

placeSpotting.com a Google Maps Mashup game/quiz

Now that the kids are out of school for summer, parents should have their child take a look at PlaceSpotting.com. Placespotting is a cool Google Maps Mashup game/quiz which is about finding places on a Google map. Recently placespotting.com has reached a milestone of 100,000 solved quizzes on their site which is quite an achievement.

The game started in Switzerland and has already more than 6637 different quizzes stored, 108208 quizzes solved and 926659 quizzes opened.

Check out this video put together by placeSpotting.com

IPHONE 3G - Worldwide pricing

IPHONE 3G is all set to be released on July 11th, 2008. Here's the Worldwide pricing of IPHONE 3G shown on Google Maps. This was created using "My Maps". I have turned the collaboration feature on so if prices shown is different in your country then what is shown then please do update the map. (Source for Pricing info: tuaw.com)

Google Trends - India

So what are folks in India Googling? There's a list for India which is updated hourly which can be found at http://www.google.co.in/trends. This must have been there for a while but I found out recently. After I found out I went about creating a Google Maps Mashup which shows the top 10 cities from India (you can drill down to the state level too) for a given keyword search along with historical data. Here it is: (You can click on the hot trends at the column on the left or type in a keyword at the input box - top left).

Related: For what the entire world is googling click here.

Google Maps Street View debuts in Europe

France is the 1st European country to get Google Maps Street View. The Race route from Tour de France (due to start on Saturday) is also covered by Google Maps Street View. (more at Google Maps Mania Blog).

Enjoy this Google Maps Street view of Eiffel Tower.

View Larger Map

LA Times: Mapping the road to the White House, Google-style

Los Angeles Times in their Business Section (07/01/2008) writes about Google's Election 08 Gallery in a article titled "Mapping the road to the White House Google-Style". The article displays a snapshot from my John McCain's Journey of Life Google Maps Mashup. Additionally the article states that

Maps can add a whole new layer of understanding to the race and the people running it. A pair of maps tracks each candidate's life across the planet, allowing you to see, for example, the location where McCain was held as a prisoner during the Vietnam War (pictured above) and the private prep school in Honolulu that Obama attended.

This is quite an honor for me. (Thanks to Keir Clarke at Google Maps Mania Blog for alerting me on the LA Times article).