GOOGLE MAPS & HACKS

Updated June 2005


This is an area which has been made possible by the wonderful people at GOOGLE who have extended their Google Map from the USA to the UK. It doesn't have the aerial photography layers that the USA has yet, but maybe some time we'll be able to do our Google sightseeing.

Contents of this page

GEOBLOGGERS & FLICKR - GeoTagging

GMAPTRACKS

FLICKR POSTCARD BROWSER

GOOGLE MAP DIRECTIONS


GEOBLOGGERS & FLICKR

GeoBloggers is a site behind a rather exciting new development. Thanks to Noel Jenkins for 'flagging this up' on the SLN Geography site. The GEOBLOGGERS site has all the instructions you need, but I've tried to explain them on this page. If there's something I've missed, let me know.

To see the process in action, click the link below. It will take you to a picture of mine of the Magpie Cafe in Whitby. This was taken with a digital camera and uploaded to the FLICKR site. You will need to get an account for this great Yahoo photo-sharing application (FREE) and follow the simple instructions to add the tags:

http://flickr.com/photos/42438338@N00/9128764/

If you look at the page you will see that it says Geo Tagged beneath the picture. Tags are labels that can be applied to online things... they are used on webpages and also on the Flickr photos, so that people can search for particular photos on a theme of their choice. See the Flickr Postcard viewer further down the page to see TAGS in action.

Other tags for the picture are listed to the right hand side of the screen: Yorkshire, coast, Whitby and Magpie in this case.

Instructions below are adapted from the definitive ones produced by Steeev at:

http://steeev.f2o.org/mt/2005/05/geotagging_flickr_with_google_maps_and_greasemonkey_part_2.html

There are several stages you need to do if you want to join the revolution:

1. Sign up for a FLICKR account. They are free. You need an e-mail address.

2. Get the FIREFOX browser: Version 1.0.4 is FREE from the Mozilla site. A 3 Mb download. It will also help your browsing. It's possible to do the tagging without, but Firefox makes the process easier.

3. Download the GreaseMonkey extension. This is available to download by clicking THIS LINK.

4. You will then find it a lot easier to tag your pictures if you attach a few scripts to your browser.

You will need to follow the link above to Steeev to get the scripts and information.

5. OK. Ready ? You now need to upload a picture to FLICKR.

6. Next, check out the picture in Flickr. If you have the GreaseMonkey scripts installed, you will see an extra label offering you the chance to add GeoTags.

7. You now need to locate the image. This can be done using various mapping services, a postcode... Can do this by Latitude / Longitude too. Can use the map itself: double click centres the map to your cursor location.

8. Down the right hand side of the screen is a label to "Add GeoTags to your Flickr image" and "Add link to description", which does the actual work for you of adding the extra code.

9. This adds the GeoTag to the photo. Click the link below the photo and you'll see the location you provided.

Oh, and as usual, someone else has done it better than me! Check out

http://txfx.net/2005/05/17/flickr-google-maps-geobloggers/ for a visual tutorial which will explain the whole process

GMAP TRACK

This is a development of the theme mentioned above. It allows users to add photos to a personalised map of their choice. Head to the website for instructions. It's very straightforward - if you managed the above then you'll be fine with this.

Go to the GMAPTRACK website.

FLICKR Postcard Viewer

Want to seach FLICKR for suitable pictures ? This is a rather nice FLASH viewer. Give it a tag and it will search to find images with that tag. It will then display them as a mini gallery, with the postcards spreading around the page to create a mini-gallery.

You can use the TAGS to search of course.

The site is produced by AIRTIGHT INTERACTIVE. Check it out. Click on a photo to go back to the gallery page, or click the link to FLICKR PHOTO PAGE to start making some great discoveries. But be warned, you could lose a lot of time!

Google Map Directions

This is a rather neat piece of code produced at MALEVOLENT DESIGNS. You will need to go to the page to get the code.

There are 2 additions you need to make: tell it what place you are travelling to: this needs a bit of tinkering with HTML code.

A similar list of suggestions for use of these ideas is now available on the JUICY GEOGRAPHY site.

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