Maps

There's a massive amount of data out there if you're prepared to look for it. For example, I've found a site called Ordnance Survey-sponsored project called www.geograph.co.uk which allows members of the public to add their own geo-coded pictures to a map of the UK. What's really good about it is that you can search by landmark, postcode or place and it will come up with a list which you can look through. There are also some great export options to create an geoRSS feed or a KML feed for applications for Google Earth fans.

I think I'm on a roll today with not one, but two Google maps of information that might be useful.

It looks like I've finally sussed this Regex function in Yahoo Pipes in order to extract the geo coding in a URL to plot accident information from the Highways Agency.

I was basically playing around looking for a feed to process and realised that the info provided by the Highways Agency is coded in a format thus:

http://www.trafficengland.co.uk/map.aspx?isTrafficAlert=true&lat=53.0195...

The challenge was to extract the bits for longitude and latitude.

Now I've tried before and got nowhere. This time I managed it.

I've finally managed to get my Google Map of the creditors of Wedgwood working, after a bit of work to get the feed right.

Admittedly, it's four weeks later than I had hoped, but today has been the first chance I've had in a while to have a play with Yahoo Pipes.

To be honest, I'd already done the hard part in ripping the list of creditors out of a PDF document and then plonking them into a Google spreadsheet.

Isn't Google Docs just fantastic as a web-based tool? In recent months, the suite of applications has gone from remarkably useful in doing my job, to almost indispensable.

Is this man really juggling a shark? Website Cracked.com has found out how this and five other 'WTF' pictures were created. It's The True Stories Behind 5 Famous WTF Images. It's certainly worth a look.

My latest mashup on Google Maps is a straight job of plugging an RSS feed from the national website FixMyStreet into a map.

For those who are not aware of it, FixMyStreet is an open source project which allows members of the public to report problems where they live such as graffiti, dog dirt, poor road conditions.

What's good is that you can use the site to drill down to where you live to find out what problems are there, and report them.

Each report is then passed on to the relevant local authority to tackle.

Another day, another Google Map. This was based on a list of local pubs, restaurants and clubs in the Staffordshire Moorlands, close to where I live. That is Cresswell, Draycott and Forsbrook.

Some of the map references appear to be a little bit out, particularly the Izaak Walton, but that's because the geo-coding is linked to postcode rather than specific longitude and latitude.