Google Maps, Apple Maps, etc.

[Shawn]

Hi UrbanMSPers,

How do you guys feel about throwing a google map in the original posts for some of the threads? I have a map that anyone can edit:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&m ... 60a705af8b

Please let me know if this is a bad idea or too difficult, but I would love for new posts about new projects to be added to the map with a real quick description of the project (1 sentence) and then a link to the related thread. What do you guys think?

EXAMPLE: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=73&p=273#p273

HOW TO:
1. Add it to the map (click link above - sign in to any google account)
2. Zoom to a good level, then click the paperclip-like link button in the top left of the screen, next to the printer button.
3. Copy the TOP link, just the HTML
4. Put it between "googlemaps" tags on the forum.

[Shawn]

[FISHMANPET]

The map in your second post doesn't load for me, just a blank grey square. If I right click it's got some flash controls, but they don't do me any good.

[Shawn]

The map in your second post doesn't load for me, just a blank grey square. If I right click it's got some flash controls, but they don't do me any good.

How about now, fixed? It should just be the link, I'm not sure what I pasted in there the other day.

[FISHMANPET]

Yep, that works.

E: Here's another post with a Google LInk that doesn't work, though copy/pasting the link into my browser works, wondering if it's the same problem?

[mulad]

That's a feature sorely missing on Google Maps. Splitting lines would also be good. But that's nowhere near Shawn's responsibility.

Google Earth also has some map-editing functionality, though I've never used that. Anyone know if that can split/join segments?

[Le Sueur]

Great work. Just tried this out with a new post. Is there anyway to join multiple line segments?

I've been wondering this also. I'll look into it more but at the time being it doesn't really look like it.

Good to know. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't unnecessarily cluttering the list if there was a better way to do things. I really appreciate the work you've done here.

[mister.shoes]

I don't know when this happened, but Apple updated their maps of MPLS and now we have the 3D view. Kick ass.

[thumbnail]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16815944/Downt ... Maps3D.png[/thumbnail]

Judging by the state of some exterior home improvements projects, the photos of my neighborhood were taken sometime after late August but before the trees dropped their leaves.

[MSPtoMKE]

They must have loaded them, well, today. I was at the apple store yesterday and a briefly played around with the maps app, but minneapolis had no 3D. How large of an area has the 3D buildings?

[mister.shoes]

Bounded by the 494-694 beltway on the north, east, and south and MN100 on the west, roughly speaking. That's a fairly sizable amount of land, all things considered. I wonder how often they'll update. We've got a lot of holes in the ground that'll be much taller in a year.

[Le Sueur]

Sweet! It's like they finally listened to my feedback...

Fun little tidbit: For anyone who is so inclined you can run AppleMaps on your desktop using the iPad Simulator in Xcode!

[mister.shoes]

So the proper 3D maps have now gone away. Neither my iPad 3 nor iPhone 5 show them now. That's...odd.

[lordmoke]

Does adding new projects require approval of some kind? I just made a ton of updates to the map, and only the changes I made to existing pins are showing up now.

[mulad]

Looks like we've reached the point of having more than one page worth of data in the map. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the left-hand column, I bet the updated bits will show up after you click either "Next" or page "2".

Some old stuff probably needs to be removed to make way for newer items. I'm also not sure how Google determines how much stuff should fit on a single page. I've been able to have about 300 placemarks on a single page in the past, but the points on the LRT lines roadways also seem to count against the total amount of data visible at any time.

[lordmoke]

Got it, thanks!

Maybe we could move all of the road/ transit lines into a second map of their own? That map could be especially helpful once road construction season starts in the summer. Haha.

[mulad]

I see that Google has launched something new called Maps Engine Lite which appears to have more customizability than the normal My Maps service. I suspect it might be a more flexible alternative than what's currently there, but there isn't any obvious help or other description of capability on the site, so I don't know. I'm in the middle of something right now, so maybe someone can take a peek at it.

[lordmoke]

Does anyone else look at/ update the project map any more? I felt like I was the only one for quite a while, but a number of the project markers disappeared recently.

Regardless, the map still exists and is (mostly) up to date! I feel like this is a neat tool that kind of got buried by the rest of the site.

[twincitizen]

I sporadically maintain the Uptown one.

[Shawn]

I would really like to make the maps a bigger part of the site - we have the info and capability to be the go-to place to check what projects are going on around the metro area. If anyone has suggestions how to do this, I'm open to ideas.

[lordmoke]

The only real thing I can think of would be putting a new tab ("Map" or "Maps") up at the top of the page for the main project map, and perhaps another one or two. The page itself could have the map embedded, and a short description/ key, similar to the first post in the top stickied thread where it's now currently located.