Mumbai Terror Attacks - Latest Videos from YouTube

Here's a quick Google Maps Mashup I put together of GeoTagged YouTube videos as it relates to Mumbai Terror Terror Attacks. Click on the arrows on upper right to go forward or back to view videos.

Mumbai Terror Attacks - Chatter on Twitter

Here's a quick mashup I put together of Twitter Tweets as it relates to Mumbai Terror Attacks along with Google Maps + YouTube video. It shows on Google Maps where in the world people are twittering on Mumbai Terror Attacks. It also shows the latest YouTube videos.

Pegman goes Big Time in Google Maps

Till yesterday Pegman was viewable only when you clicked on Street View in Google Maps. Today Google has revamped its Google Maps Street View feature, Pegman now sits on top of the Zoom Slider bar. So if Steet View is available for the area you are viewing then the Pegman becomes draggable/enabled

Tip: if you hold Pegman over a location for a second, you'll see a preview of what it looks like. Which direction you're facing depends on which side of the street you drag to

(more info at: Google Lat Long)

Here's Pegman on top of the world :)

If you want to learn more about the revamped Google Maps Street View feature here's Pegman himself explaining it.

Turkey Day Facts on Google Maps

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Here's a Thankgiving Day related Google Maps Mashup which I had created last year and which shows the following:

• Towns/Cities in USA named Turkey
• Towns/Cities in USA which claim to being the Turkey Capital of the World
• Towns/Cities in USA named Plymouth
• Towns/Cities in USA named Cranberry

Google Maps Street View Comes to iPhone

iPhone version 2.2 is out there now. And with it comes a great new feature: Google Maps Street View. (more info at Google Lat Long Blog)

Check this screenshot of Golden Gate Bridge: Awesome!!

Christmas Decorations for your and/or a friend's house in Google Maps.

With the help of Coca Cola you can now decorate your house or your friends house with Christmas decorations. (details here).

I hope President George Bush does not mind, because I took liberty in decorating his current house (White House). Here's how it looks:

Google Mapping worldwide Piracy Incidents

There have been numerous piracy incidents reported lately off the coast of Somalia. Numerous other piracy incidents around the world have also been reported as shown in this Google Maps Mashup. This Map shows all the piracy and robbery incidents in 2008 which were reported to International Maritime Bureau.

Buy 1 car get another for $1

A Chrysler Dealership (Mancari's Chrysler-Jeep) in Oak Lawn, IL has found a innovative way to sell cars in this horrible economy. So what is the dealership doing. (via)

With the purchase of a new Chrysler Pacifica, for the sticker price, Mancari's Chrysler-Jeep owner Frank Mancari will include a slightly used PT Cruiser for $1. The offer is likely aimed at households with multiple drivers, maybe teenagers, where the addition of a lightly used vehicle makes sense.

The PT Cruisers are former rental vehicles with about 10,000 miles on them. They normally retail for $12,000 to $13,000. The Pacifica goes for $39,000 and gets 14/22 mpg city/highway.

If interested in visiting this dealer then here's Google Maps Street View of the Dealership.

View Larger Map

Google Voice Search comes to iPhone but...

my accent might be a problem. After numerous tries with "Pizza" I get this:

Christopher Lloyd's Home destroyed in California Fire

Google Earth view of Terrain surrounding Christopher Lloyd's House:
Christopher Lloyd's home located at 1050 Coyote Rd., Santa Barbara, CA, was destroyed by wild fires. The 70-year-old actor, who played Doc Brown in Back To The Future, was filming in Vancouver when the fire reached his property and destroyed it. (via Zillow)

Google Maps View:

View Larger Map

Moms respond to Motrin via Twitter and YouTube

Motrin came out with a ad targeting babywearing moms with something like "We feel your pain". This did not go well with Moms. Makes you wonder who they consulted before coming up with this ad.

Moms are angry with MOTRIN and they have taken to Twitter and YouTube to express their displeasure. Result: As of this writing Motrin's website was down. They might be taking their ad down.

I quickly put together a page which shows "Motrin/Mom Chatter" on Twitter. In addition I pull in videos related to "Motrin Moms" from YouTube. All this is shown on Google Maps.

Now Motrin is "Feeling the Pain"

Los Angeles Fire Tweets - Google Maps Mashup

Southern California has been hit by wildfires which were driven by hurricane-strength winds. Lot of folks have lost homes. Other then CNN and other media outlets how does one get information as to what is happening on the ground there in Southern California?

Twitter is a great tool to get a feel of what the situation is on the ground. With the help of Twitter Search API + Google Maps API, I have put together a Gooogle Maps Mashup which shows you the tweets as it relates to Los Angeles Fires.

Rome in 320 AD - A 3D view in Google Earth

Learning Ancient History will be a lot more fun now. If you are in a history class learning about Ancient Rome then head over to Google Earth to make your history class a enjoyable experience. Google LatLong Blog reports that Google has

introduced a new approach to learning about ancient history: the ability to go back in time and explore Rome as it existed in 320 AD -- in 3D!

All of this is possible through the new Ancient Rome 3D layer in Google Earth. To activate the layer, simply open the "Gallery" folder in the "Layers" panel and select "Ancient Rome 3D."

The new layer, produced by the University of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) and based on its Rome Reborn model, contains over 6,700 3D buildings and 250 Google Earth placemarks that allow Google Earth users to explore and learn about this fascinating period of history.

(Information first found at Google Earth Blog)

Here's a video from Google introducing the new layer in Google Earth.

All the US Presidents

Couple of years back I had created a Google Maps Mashup of United States Presidents from George Washington to George Bush. I have modified it now include Barack Obama. This mashup also includes information on spouse(s). Here it is:

Google changes its Veterans Day Logo!!

Just noticed the change. Letter "l" has changed.

Morning: 2008-11-11




Evening: 2008-11-11

Google knows when you might catch the "Flu Bug"

Google launches "Flu Trends", which will provide up-to-date flu-related activity estimate for all 50 states in the U.S. Quoting from Google Blog

Our team found that certain aggregated search queries tend to be very common during flu season each year. We compared these aggregated queries against data provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and we found that there's a very close relationship between the frequency of these search queries and the number of people who are experiencing flu-like symptoms each week. As a result, if we tally each day's flu-related search queries, we can estimate how many people have a flu-like illness

(Information first found at: http://bit.ly/XTyX)

Veterans Day 2008

(via wikipedia)
Several nations celebrate, in some way, the end of World War I, the ceasefire of which went into effect at 11:00am CET on this day in 1918.

• Veterans Day in the United States (called Armistice Day until 1952, when the name was changed, and the holiday was re-geared toward all military veterans)
• Armistice Day in New Zealand, France and Belgium
• Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth of Nations, including Australia and Canada.
• Poland - Independence Day (1918)

If you visit Google today this is what you will see:


In Washington DC, Veterans Day event is scheduled at Arlington Memorial Amphitheater.
View Larger Map

Today in History (1975): Edmund Fitzgerald sinks in Lake Superior

Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior during a gale storm on November 10th 1975. All 29 members of the crew perished. Here's a Google Maps view of the exact location where Edmund Fitzgerald sank.

Vaishno Devi, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Vaishno Devi is one of the holiest Hindu temples, located in the hill of Vaishno Devi, Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is the second most visited religious shrine in India.

Back in January, 2005 I visited India after a gap of 15 years. After attending a family wedding in New Delhi we headed north to Jammu & Kashmir for a pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi. From the base camp we had to walk approx 12 kms of narrow path up the mountain to the place of worship. It was a unforgettable experience (the view, having to walk thru metal detectors after every couple of kilometers).

The satellite view of this place of worship was blurred, I guess because of security reasons.

I am again planning to go on a pilgrimage to this temple in February. So while planning the whole thing out I decided to take a look at this location on Google Maps. Wow!! it is no longer blurred. Here's the view in Google Earth. For a view in Google Maps click here.

Barack Obama victory celebrations (YouTube + Google Maps)

Here's a Google Maps Mashup which I put together last night which captures geo tagged YouTube videos which relates to Barack Obama Victory Celebrations.
(Thanks to Keir Clarke of GoogleMapsMania for featuring this mashup)

Barack Obama - 44th President of United States

Wow!! What a Historic Night!! Happy to have witnessed this moment in history!!



Barack Obama's Journey

Google's Logo on Election Day 2008

Live 2008 Election Results in Google Maps

Folks at Google have come up with a Google Election Results widget which can be embedded in your website or Blog. Click here to get the widget. For a timetable of expected results check out GoogleMapsMania. Here's what it looks like:

Twitter Voter Reports from across the country on Google Maps

TwitterVoterReport.com is a website where voters

will be able to share their experiences and resources with one another (e.g. “#wait:120″ meaning that the wait time is 120 minutes). These messages will then be aggregated and mapped on Google Maps so that we can “see” voting problems around the country in real-time.

A great team was behind this project and one of them is TWITTERVISION fame: David Troy who just today has been featured in Baltimore Sun which also covers David Troy's role in the Twitter Voter Reports project.

To embed a state-specific map on your site, use the following code:(replacing MI with your 2 letter state code)

<iframe src="http://votereport.us/reports/map?state=MI" frameborder="0" class="stream" width="535" height="500" scrolling="no" ></iframe>