Florida map and travel information

Is there a star man, waiting in the sky?

2009-11-27T02:57:00.000-08:00

Is there life on Mars? asked David Bowie once. Well, Dave, there just just be.

New evidence uncovered by scientists (you just knew it would be them) has revealed that the northern half of Mars was once covered by a vast sea.

The large body of water was fed through rivers carrying rainwater, scientists believe. These created a network of valleys on the surface of the planet more than twice as extensive as previously thought.

The findings come just a week after Nasa, the American space agency, announced that they had found water on the surface of the Red Planet, raising hopes of finding life on Mars. The extent of the Martian valleys, and what they mean for the chances of life on the planet, have been hotly debated since they were first discovered by the Mariner 9 Spacecraft in 1971.

Until now the only map of the networks was drawn by hand from satellite images in the 1990s. These led some scientists to claim that the valleys were carved not by rivers but by "groundwater sapping", small amounts of water springing or seeping out of the ground.
But the new evidence of the sheer scale of the network suggests that that is unlikely.

Scientists now believe that the rivers fed an ocean which covered around one third of the entire surface of Mars.

Read more on the Times website here

One area where there is a lot of life, and a good deal of sea for that matter, is Anna Maria Island, a gem of a place on Florida's Gulf Coast. To find out more, and stay in one of the island's very best rental properties, visit www.annamaria.com

Fly to Florida for less than a buck!

2009-11-20T04:38:00.000-08:00

Not strictly map news, but worth sharing if you're anywhere near Owensboro, KY.

Allegiant Air is offering a deal to help Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport get a $1 million grant. The airline is offering flights from Owensboro to Orlando for $9.99. In order for the airport to get the FAA money, 10,000 passengers must fly out of Owensboro by the end of 2009.

Officials said without this boost, they could fall short, and the grant will drop to $150,000.
Allegiant Air is also offering additional holiday flights.

Here is a schedule of the $9.99 flights:
12/16: 9:20 a.m.
12/18 11:20 a.m.
12/19 10:20 a.m.
12/20 11:20 a.m.
12/22 11:20 a.m.
12/23 10:20 a.m.
12/26 10:20 a.m.
12/28 11:20 a.m.
12/30 10:20 a.m.
1/1 9:20 a.m.
1/2 10:20 a.m.
1/4 9:20 a.m.
1/5 11:20 a.m.

Now we know a good deal when we see one, and this is a good deal. It's almost worth moving to Owensboro for, just to take advantage. Check out the link here

Come to Florida, stay on Anna Maria Island, and do so in the finest comfort you can imagine with Anna Maria Vacations. Check out our stunning properties at www.annamaria.com

Things looking brighter for color blind

2009-10-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

What connects Paul Newman, Jack Nicklaus, Bing Crosby. Keanu Reeves and Prince William? Well, not much, except that they are all color blind.

It's hard to imagine how the world must look to someone who is color blind, but at least it seems normal to them.

Color blindness is the inability to perceive differences between some of the colors that others can distinguish. It is most often of genetic nature, but may also occur because of eye, nerve, or brain damage, or due to exposure to certain chemicals. Check out the wiki entry here

One of the setbacks for them, one of many it might be said, is the trouble they have reading maps. The traditional rainbow of cartographic colours – green for grass-land and trees, red for main roads and public footpaths, and blue for major road routes and rivers – can become indistinguishable, therefore making map reading extremely difficult.

Help may be on the way though, thanks to a new product from mapping agency Ordnance Survey in Britain that can be specifically styled to make mapping easier on the colour-blind eye.

OS spokesman Paul Beauchamp said: “Cartography is a fine art, but the colours that have become so familiar to most of us are actually among the worst possible choices for those with colour blindness. By using our new mapping product, called OS VectorMap Local, councils and businesses will be able to create styles especially for colour-blind people that we hope will make life easier.”

Below are two images, one of how the map would look to someone who is not color blind, the other how it would look for those with the condition.

Another dimension in virtual maps

2009-09-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

Google Earth is cool right? Well, yeah, but there are certain things they could do to make it just that little bit cooler. Such as adding live video to the images, making the Earth appear a bit more populated.
This new development comes from the clever folk at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who are presenting results of a recent project - "Augmenting Aerial Earth Maps with Dynamic Information".
That does admittedly make it sound quite dull but it's a really quite exciting development for the likes of Google Maps. Using crowd-sourced video footage, the team has managed to create a "dynamic alive city" with cars, clouds, football players and even people moving around in their virtual little world.
Check out the video below.

Map found, history uncovered

2009-08-20T06:45:00.000-07:00

You can't lose something you don't know you ever had. But the serendipity of finding something you never knew you owned is always a pleasure.
Take the tale of the librarian at Oxford University's Queen's College who recently uncovered two remarkable treasures which had lain unknown among its manuscripts since at least the 18th century.
It turned out that they dated from 1816 and while no further details were available the librarian, Veronika Vernier, traced them to the cartographer, Joao Teixeira.
According to the Times Higher supplement, Nick Millea, map librarian at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, directed Miss Vernier to a six-volume "bible" of Portuguese cartography.
Mr Millea told THS that the atlases were "stunningly attractive" and "a very important find, because so few copies of this material exist and the ones at Queen's look almost new".
"It's great that they found them and that they were able to work out just how important they are," he added. "You don't get discoveries like this every day or even every year: I don't remember anything of similar quality turning up at Oxford since I joined the Bodleian in 1992."
It just goes to show, sometimes you can find something you weren't looking for and discover real treasure.

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Mapping history in Spain

2009-08-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

Check out this story from the Daily Mail website - a British newspaper which specialises in stories such as this.

It says: We all rely on maps, be they the sat nav in your car or a traditional A-Z, and archaeologists have found our ancient ancestors were no different.
They have unearthed what they believe to be the oldest map in Western Europe, in a Spanish cave steeped in legend.
The complex etchings were engraved on a hand-sized rock 13,660 years ago, probably by Magdalenian hunter-gatherers.
Read more here and enjoy the images which do make for compelling evidence for a cogent argument.

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Polar-ized vision of Earth's climate

2009-07-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

Climate change is one of those black-and-white topics of conversation which tend to get people all hot and bothered, if you'll pardon the expression. Some of the evidence is quite damning, however, as the images highlighted in this article which appeared in the online magazine ITWire (www.itwire.com) is anything to go by.
Writer David Heath sets the scene...

Sometimes America's spy satellites have to pass over 'friendly territory.' When they do, they can still be put to good use – in this case, monitoring sea ice for evidence of climate change.
In the past few days, the US Government has de-classified and released via the United States Geological Survey website a number of very high resolution images showing exceedingly clear evidence of warming in the Arctic.
Now, I don't know if these images have had their resolution decreased, but I thought that spy satellites were capable of much higher than the stated 1 metre resolution. No matter.
The first example (warning, all these images are at least 20MB) shows the seashore around Barrow. Barrow is on the northern coastline of Alaska and is completely locked in by ice during the northern winter. By July of each year, the ice has melted sufficiently to allow barge access to bring supplies from the south. The first image in this set shows the state of the ice in July 2006, with the sea ice situated around 800m to 1000m off the coast. The second image, just one year later, shows no sea ice at all within the image's 3000m of offshore coverage.
The next example, of the Beaufort Sea, approximately 200km north east of Barrow, shows a substantial loss of summer open-sea ice. Whereas the first image, in August 2001, shows a mass of sea ice with a degree of melting, the second image, in August 2007 shows open sea, with minor, small patches of ice – clearly melting.
These two pairs of images display an alarming change in the proximity and amount of sea ice over a relatively short time.

Read the full article here

Don't just visit Anna Maria Island, stay here. For the very best in vacation rental properties visit www.1annamaria.com and spend your vacation in a real home from home.

A giant leap for Google

2009-07-21T05:24:00.000-07:00

Google has added an interactive 3D terrain and landscape map of the moon to Google Earth as the internet giant celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Moon landings. You can now experience a tiny little bit of what it must have felt like to actually be there.
Users will need to latest version of Google Earth, 5.0 and they will be able to follow the footsteps of astronauts Jack Schmitt, the last of the Apollo astronauts to arrive and set foot on the Moon, and Buzz Aldrin and the flight of the rover during their trip online.
Michael Weiss-Malik, Product manager of Moon in Google Earth, said: "Forty years ago, two human beings walked on the Moon. Starting today, with Moon in Google Earth, it's now possible for anyone to follow in their footsteps."
Read more of the article in IT Pro Portal here and download the latest version of Google Earth here

Don't just visit Anna Maria Island, stay here. For the very best in vacation rental properties visit www.1annamaria.com and spend your vacation in a real home from home.

What is a henge anyway?

2009-07-14T05:03:00.000-07:00

Get on your trikes ladies and gentlemen of Google, you're off to see the best sights and sites Britain has to offer.
According to Webuser online magazine, Google has announced the six British tourist destinations that will be photographed extensively for Google Maps Street View.
It says: The six winners, as chosen by the public through an online poll organised by Google and tourism agency Visit Britain, will each be visited by the Google Trike, an 18-stone tricycle mounted with a camera and powered by a Google tricyclist.
Along with the six winners, which are Stonehenge, the Millennium Stadium, the Angel of the North, Loch Ness, the Eden Project and Warwick Castle, Visit Britain chose Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland as the 'wildcard' entry.
If you fancy an early look, here's what Stonehenge looks like...

Don't just visit Anna Maria Island, stay here. For the very best in vacation rental properties visit http://www.annamaria.com/ and spend your vacation in a real home from home.

Map your way to a new home

2009-07-07T03:11:00.000-07:00

Google Inc. has unveiled a new feature that will let users in Australia and New Zealand search for property listings on its mapping service, a move that could pit the company against established online real estate services.
Google's new tool will enable real-estate agents and publishers to upload their listings into its database, allowing buyers and renters to link directly to property listings displayed on the Google's maps.
The free service is available only down under at the moment, but Australia's The Age reported that Google is poised to roll it out in the U.S. as well.
Google said in a blog post that people were increasingly using the internet to search for a home to buy or rent. Its new service will allow buyers and renters to refine their searches by neighborhood, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, available parking and price.
Each result would appear as a marker on a map, giving users a sense of the distribution of the properties for sale or rent. That means searchers could quickly find available properties that are close to, for example, a specific school.
Users could then click on a marker to get more detailed information about the property, including the listing agent's Web site and contact details.
Sounds like a good idea, all that needs to happen now is for the housing market to pick up and we can start actually using it...

Don't just visit Anna Maria Island, stay here. For the very best in vacation rental properties visit www.amisland.com and spend your vacation in a real home from home.

A very English country garden

2009-06-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

All eyes - in the tennis world at least - are focused on a small part of London, England at the moment, with the second week of Wimbledon under way.
The grass courts are something of an institution over there, and that is for a very good reason. The BBC website has a very interesting blog posting dedicated to the small patches of turf which make SW19 such a famous London zip code.
It goes: The English lawn was invented in the early 17th Century as a way for the Jacobean gentry to assert their superiority. Hugely labour intensive, only the wealthiest and most powerful could afford to maintain the immaculate turf.
The traditional use of sheep or other livestock to graze pasture lacked the precision to create the closely-cut finish that amazed the rival gardeners of France and beyond. The perfect lawn was hand-produced by scything and shearing the grass.
With the invention of the mowing machine in 1830, the lawn escaped the bonds of England's great estates and became a key component of the Victorian enthusiasm for games, sports and pastimes.
Croquet, cricket, bowls and lawn tennis required immaculate grass playing surfaces and the art of lawn-making was developed and exported around the world along with imperial expansion.
However, domestic dominance was largely retained because a key component of a soft lawn is soft weather - drizzly English rain.
In the 20th Century the United States, in keeping with its acquired super-power status, mobilised the masses to defy this meteorological handicap and strive for global lawn domination.
The American Garden Club convinced its members that it was their civic duty to maintain a beautiful lawn: "a plot with a single type of grass with no intruding weeds, kept mown at a height of an inch and a half, uniformly green and neatly edged".
In suburban Britain, no garden was complete without its square of striped green, tended to within an inch of its life. The lawn had become a ubiquitous part of the English landscape, as this map of Wimbledon from 1933 shows.

Just look at the lawns on some of those houses.

New maps show HIV levels in real time

2009-06-26T03:15:00.000-07:00

This from the wires:
ATLANTA (AP) — A new internet data map offers a first-of-its-kind, county-level look at HIV cases in the U.S. and finds the infection rates tend to be highest in the South.
It also finds the infection is concentrated in about 20 percent of American counties, with the highest numbers of cases in population centers like New York and California.
However, parts of the South appear especially hard-hit by the virus. More than half the 48 counties with the highest rates of the AIDS-causing infection were in Georgia.
The map was put together by the National Minority Quality Forum, a nonprofit research organization that has done other disease maps.
Check out the map here http://www.maphiv.org/

Maps help cops catch crooks

2009-06-22T06:02:00.000-07:00

It just had to happen some time. Google Maps has had its first major arrest, thanks to images taken from one of the 360degree vehicles.
The cops from Groningen contacted Google to ask for the original images taken by their Street View camera car after a robbery victim told them he had seen the suspects on the mapping website.
When they received the un-blurred photos of three men matching the descriptions given by the 14-year-old victim, they moved in and arrested the gang.
A police spokesperson explained the unusual procedure leading to the arrests: "You must tell Google clearly why you want [the photos]. For us, it is unique."
Quite. And not quite what the inventors had in mind when they created it, but it's just another feather in their cap.

Coming to a trail near you

2009-06-12T02:20:00.000-07:00

We are all used to the Google vans driving around the country, mapping our neighborhoods for its "Street View" application.
But now Google Maps is expanding to biking and hiking trails: a Google employee on a tricycle actually rides around to snap the same wide-area views as the vans.
"Much of the world is inaccessible to the car," says Daniel Ratner, a Google senior engineer who designed the trike. "We want to get access to places people find important."
So far, only a bike trail in Monterey, Calif., is up and running but Google right now has cyclists out now in California, Italy and the United Kingdom. The company says to look for hiking and biking images from those locations over the summer — along with shots from US theme parks.
There were many complaints about Google invading our privacy with the unblinking eyes of its cameras, but Stephen Chau, a product manager for Google Maps, says that what the Google cars picked up photographically was no different from what any tourist would see on vacation.
"We show images that are taken from public streets," he says. Chau says the complaints about the product are minimal considering its usage, and many people just have an initial misunderstanding. "We have tools to automatically blur faces, if they show up, and license plates."
Additionally, homeowners who object to their homes being shown can contact Google and request removal. Wonder if the same applies for any disgruntled squirrels on some of these bike trails...

Not so lonely anymore

2009-06-02T05:14:00.000-07:00

Never underestimate the power of the internet. And that goes for you too Kim Jong Il.
According to a story on the Sydney Morning Herald website, a group of amateur spies has used Google Earth to provide a rare glimpse inside North Korea, one of the world's most secretive countries.
By default the Google Earth map of North Korea is completely bare, with no roads or landmarks labelled. Over two years, US doctoral student Curtis Melvin and other volunteers pored over news reports, images, accounts, books and maps painstakingly identifying and locating thousands of buildings, monuments, missile-storage facilities, mass graves, secret labour camps, palaces, restaurants, tourist sites, main roads and even the entrance to the country's subterranean nuclear test base.
The result, North Korea Uncovered, is one of the most detailed maps of North Korea available to the public today. The small file, which can be installed on top of Google Earth, has been downloaded more than 47,000 times since an updated version was released last month.
Among the most notable findings is the site of mass graves created in the 1990s following a famine that the UN estimates killed about two million people.
"We have portrayed things about which they are most proud and ashamed," Melvin said in an email interview.
More power to you Curtis, keep up the good work!

Check out the best in Anna Maria vacation rentals at www.annamaria.com

Map the Fallen launched

2009-05-26T04:05:00.000-07:00

The little yellow dots look a bit like those maps they have in power stations, showing where the lights are on and off across America.
But look a little closer and you can see that each one is a little human figure. Zoom further and the details of each is revealed - these are each of the US servicemen to have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of the war on terror.
The project, known as Map the Fallen, shows where, when and how each military officer from the U.S. and coalition forces died since the start of the war in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001.
Created by a Google Earth engineer in his free time, the map draws a line across the world linking each service member’s home town to the place they died serving their country.
Zooming in on a target home town reveals yellow figures, which represent the soldiers, positioned on the Google Earth view among recognisable points of interest. Scrolling over the figures triggers a pop-up box with the soldier's name and age.
There are also links to obituaries and memorial sites for the war heroes, with messages from families and friends.
Google engineer Sean Askay sourced data from the first death - on October 10 2001 - up until March this year.

It's a bit of a grizzly reminder of the human cost of the war, but at least gives us the chance to leave messages of respect to those who have fallen.

You can view the site at www.mapthefallen.org/

Traffic caught on camera

2009-05-22T04:33:00.000-07:00

Being stuck in traffic is no fun. Wouldn't it be nice to see where the trouble spots were before you got there?
Well, lucky Florida residents, now you can. TrafficLand has just announced an agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to integrate traffic video from five major markets across the state into its national network of nearly 7,000 traffic cameras.
TrafficLand is to install its IP video equipment at FDOT Operation Centers in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Orlando. Live video from the FDOT cameras will be available to the public on TrafficLand’s free website at www.trafficland.com
The TrafficLand public website uses interactive maps showing traffic camera locations, which users click to view live video streams. Users can save customized camera displays, schedule emails with live images from selected cameras, access cameras by Web-enabled mobile devices and even set up traffic camera Widgets on personalized home pages or blogs.
Take a look. And if the jams are on your way home from work, at least you'll get to see where you'll be spending the next few hours.

Sentinel maps Florida fires

2009-05-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

The News Illustrated section of the Sun-Sentinel site is often quite fascinating. This week's blog entry is no different, and should come as a delight to map lovers. Unfortunately the subject matter is not exactly good news, but it is interesting none the less.
The map shows how many fires have occurred in Florida since January 1. The red flame icons indicate how many have burned since Saturday, May 9 to indicate why there had been interstate closures in recent days. There are also larger maps of the Naples and Palm Beach County areas, so you can see clearly how many fires we've had lately. If you're interested in seeing the latest conditions, check out the U.S. Forestry Division's site to see how many more fires are burning in the Sunshine State.
Click here to read the full story.

Space, the final frontier for Google

2009-05-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

It's hard to keep up with Google these days. No sooner do they bring out one innovation using the latest technology to map out the planet, than they set their eyes to the sky.Only this time they want us to look up as well.
From now on, amateur astronomers will be able to tell the difference between Mercury and Mars by simply pointing their camera-phones at the night sky and clicking a button.
The Google software, called Star Droid, uses GPS technology found in most new handsets to identify the position of the user and then compares this with existing maps of space. It automatically attaches name tags to the stars and planets that can be seen through the phone’s viewfinder.
The application, which could be launched as early as this week, is also likely to identify the object’s distance from Earth and its position within a constellation.
Astronomers hope Google’s technology, which will be free to download from the internet, will help to inspire and educate a new generation of stargazers.
The company’s critics, however, will no doubt see Google’s move into space as further evidence of its omnipresence. Some have already half-jokingly referred to its latest product as Google Universe.

All of a sudden, Mexico doesn't seem that far away

2009-05-01T01:41:00.000-07:00

Another day, another Google map of the spread of swine flu. This one comes courtesy of http://www.guardian.co.uk/ blogger Bobbie Johnson. It shows the intensity of the affected areas and is actually really rather interesting.

Bobbie writes:

Over the past couple of years, those very clever people at Google.org have been trying to build early-warning systems for diseases - by tracking trends in the data that Google sees in order to build up a picture of whether people are succumbing to certain symptoms.
The US data on Flu Trends has been going since last autumn - but now, given the concern over swine flu, they're also mapping information in Mexico with a new, experimental system.
Engineers admit that it's not perfect, but they do think there's something to be learned from the information:
We cannot be fully confident that the data is correct because we don't have enough historical surveillance data for Mexico against which to compare and calibrate our estimates. Although we cannot validate our estimates as we did for Flu Trends for U.S., we have seen that Google users in Mexico also search for flu-related topics when they experience flu-related symptoms. We are cautiously optimistic that the graphs reflect actual flu activity. The system detected an increase in Mexico City before major news coverage.

Take a look at the map below.

Google maps out spread of infection

2009-04-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

If you are worried about the spread of swine flu into America, then keep an eye on this Google Map, created to show where the infected cases are being treated.

View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

Spread the word on online map of the world

2009-04-24T04:11:00.000-07:00

Want to tell everyone how great Anna Maria Island is? Why not get on to MapVivo and spread the word.
Online start-up MapVivo has unveiled a web application enabling users to share travel experiences by linking destination information, images and video to a pin on a map.
The company, which received funding from a private investor in February, is planning to use the tool as the springboard to a social travel platform enabling users to plan trips, meet up and share travel information.
The application available from the Mapvivo website and users can also post their travel itineraries directly into Facebook or Twitter or share them via e-mail.
Co-founder Mark Seall declined to reveal the level of investment but said it had enabled the company to employ a small development team to work on future site enhancements and content.
He added that investment would go towards further improving the social elements of the site by allowing members to comment and ask questions about journeys and generally interact more.
A mobile application is also in the pipeline for users to update their details on the move as well as trawl the trips database for existing relevant information.
Further enhancements are also planned for the journey creation and search functionality.
The company sees opportunity in social travel tools to influence purchase decisions as sites such as Facebook gain ground over Tripadvisor in the UK in terms of upstream booking referrals.

New Zealand, new names

2009-04-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting story from the other side of the world. It concerns New Zealand, or rather it concerns the two islands which make up the large part of New Zealand.
According to the Telegraph newspaper, a discovery by officials that the existing names had never been adopted in law has increased pressure from Maori nationalists for the names to be dropped.
However, some opposed to the idea criticised the suggestion as "political correctness of the worst kind".
The New Zealand Geographic Board, the statutory body charged with gazetting placenames, said it stumbled on the anomaly after a member of the public proposed changing the name of South Island to Te Wai Pounamu, the Maori alternative.
The Maori name means "place of greenstone" after the island's outcrops of jade, from which tribes traditionally crafted weapons and jewellery.
Maori know North Island as Te Ika a Maui or "the fish of Maui", based on a legend about how the god Maui hauled the island up from the sea while fishing.
"The English names North and South Island are not official," said Don Grant, the board's chairman.
"They had appeared in maps for a long time, but they were not official."
Dr Grant said the board would consult Maori tribes in the next few weeks, then put up suggestions to the wider public in 2010.
He said the Maori names might run in tandem with today's or could even replace them altogether.
Hone Harawhira, an outspoken Maori Party MP, said: "It's time to drop the North Island, South Island. Those names don't have any connotation except these people are too dumb to work it out for themselves."

Long arm of the Latitude

2009-04-17T02:39:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting tale from the mobile phone review website www.phonesreview.co.uk which is keen to point out the benefits of Google's controversial Latitude application.

A few months ago Google Maps launched Latitude, and apparently according to a report over at techcrunch, this piece of Google software has helped a San Francisco lady regain her purse which had been stolen by thieves.
Janina Valiente’s Google Maps sporting BlackBerry Bold was in her purse when it was stolen, so Janina called her sister who had permission to see her Latitude position and the info was passed to the police who were able to track down the thief.
So, just goes to show having Google’s Latitude installed on your smartphone can come in handy in more ways than you’d expect.

They might have a point. Of course the flip side is that for those of us who are not criminals, the police and everyone else can know where we are all the time as well. Like most things Google does, Latitude seems to be either loved or hated. Which side of the fence do you sit on?

A sign of the times...

2009-04-14T05:46:00.000-07:00

It's always nice when your town's local tourism agency recognises your importance to visitors to the area. Not nice, then, when they completely leave you off the map given to those tourists as happened to a small town in Scotland recently.
But then, another blow.
Just weeks after a town was left off a regional tourism map, its fragile sense of identity has suffered another blow. A sign welcoming visitors to Saltney has mysteriously vanished, apparently stolen to be sold off for scrap.
Saltney mayor, Cllr Klaus Armstrong-Braun, said: "This time it seems we have physically disappeared from the map."
Cllr Armstrong-Braun recently attacked tourism chiefs behind the North Wales Borderlands Wander and Wonder attractions guide map.
He branded the decision to leave Saltney off the map "lame, idiotic, diabolical and pathetic".
The brochure has been produced jointly by Flintshire, Wrexham and Denbighshire councils.
A spokesman for the publication said: "The main intention of the map is to give visitors general assistance in locating a specific attraction and is not designed as a definitive road map.
"Not every settlement is located on the map and in general we include places which have a known attraction or accommodation provision."
Well, funnily enough, all this publicity has probably put Saltney on the map more than it could have possibly imagined. Every cloud has a silver lining then.

Google Earth maps quake effects

2009-04-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

Thankfully we don't suffer with them in Florida as they do in, say, San Francisco, but the people of Italy have again been at the center of another earthquake disaster in the past few days.
More than 200 people have died after a powerful earthquake hit central Italy on Monday. The quake, with a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale, hit the city of L'Aquila, 60 miles from Rome. Thanks to an application using Google Maps, you can see a map of the area showing the epicentre and where several of the aftershocks have hit.Not only that, you can also see how earthquakes are taking place around the world and be amazed at just how many there are.Check out the website here

Bucks village bucks the trend

2009-04-03T03:47:00.000-07:00

Google Maps rules the world, right? Well, wrong. For the residents of Buckinghamshire village of Broughton, in England, they don't.
Apparently not everyone wants to feature on Google's world-changing application, Street View. Here's the story in full from the Guardian website www.guardian.co.uk For the full story click here

Maev Kennedy writes:
Any villains inspired to check Google Street View to see whether a personal visit to the Buckinghamshire village of Broughton might be profitable, have been confounded. The residents formed a human hoarding to block the camera's view of their streets, then forced its vehicle into ignominious retreat.
In the satellite images on Google maps the village looks jolly nice: back gardens the size of small parks, swimming pools, tennis courts, two cars parked outside most of the large houses, a smart pink parasol behind one house on London Road.
But a note on the Google website says, of Broughton, "no street view", a sign that usually means the area has not yet been added to the millions of photographs that now reveal aspects of towns across nine countries and three continents - in brick-by-brick detail.
In fact, once Paul Jacobs spotted the Google camera when he glanced out his window on Wednesday, the photographers did not get far. The car was an unmarked black Opel, but the 360-degree camera on the roof was a bit of a giveaway. Jacobs rushed round banging on neighbours' doors, and soon had a posse surrounding the driver. When one of the residents called the police, there was a swift U-turn. Jacobs said there had been three burglaries in the last six weeks: "If our houses are plastered all over Google, it's an invitation for more criminals to strike."
Google was inundated with complaints of privacy being invaded in the days after it launched the British street view service.
A Google spokeswomansaid householders were entitled to request their property be removed from the site, and that the site blurred faces and car number plates, so did not break privacy laws.

California, knows how to censor

2009-03-31T02:25:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting story from Business World Online.
An elected California official wants the state known for Internet technology to blur images of schools, hospitals, government buildings and houses of worship in online maps.
Southern California assemblyman Joel Anderson, a Republican, is backing a bill that would call for Internet mapping services to obscure such images or face daily fines of 250,000 dollars.
"Sensitive areas that could be potential soft targets for terrorists or hate crime perpetrators should not be available on the Internet at a level of detail that poses a serious security risk," Mr. Anderson said in an e-mail to AFP.
He cited reports that pictures of former prime minister Tony Blair’s home in London were recently removed from a Street View feature in Google maps that provides users with 360-degree images of locations.
Mr. Anderson also said that Street View pictures of the House of Commons and other British government buildings were "blacked out".
Google has said publicly that it does not take it on itself to edit images at its free online mapping service but that it does delete or obscure pictures at requests from property owners or officials running government facilities.
"In the United Kingdom, Google blacked out key government buildings from their Street View service," Mr. Anderson said.
"I have proposed a bill, AB 255, that would require all Internet mapping sites to take the same precautions with California government buildings, places of worship, schools and hospitals."
Read the full story on Business World Online, here

Underwater mystery revealed

2009-03-17T04:21:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting story from Florida concerning an innovative idea from the students of the Florida Keys Community College.
Ever wondered what the reef off the Florida Keys might look like on a map? Well, now you'll be able to see it.
Here's the story, from the Miami Herald. Read the full story here.

Equipped with floating GPS units, side scan sonar and waterproof paper, college students dove 25 feet down into an underwater classroom with a pioneering assignment: create a three-dimensional, interactive map of a reef.
When completed, the map will show both the contour and biological life on Looe Key reef, considered one of the most beautiful dive sites in the world.
"It's the first time this type of project has been done in the Keys," said Patrick Rice, director of marine sciences at the Florida Keys Community College.
Just as a tourist map of Key West marks Ernest Hemingway's House and the Southernmost Point, the portion of Looe Key mapped by Rice's class will highlight points of interest such as spectacular coral head formations and known hangouts for Goliath grouper and other territorial sea creatures.
"A lot of divers do underwater photography," said Lucja Jakuvowska, a student from Poland. "So if they come and can do only one dive on a certain dive site, they can just look at the map and go, 'Oh, I want to see this, this, this and this.' "
The 3-D underwater maps also will provide valuable baseline data for marine researchers, Rice said.
For years, federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey, have mapped reefs in 3-D in the Keys.
"We are taking it to the next level by making it interactive and incorporating the biological data," Rice said.
The maps have the potential to work in conjunction with the new Google Ocean technology, in which a person can zoom into a specific location in a body of water and see what it looks like, Rice said.
Each of the 14 students in Rice's class had specific tasks to accomplish during their two approximate 45-minute dives at the east end of Looe Key reef known as the Towers. Some outlined the perimeter. Others took photographs or video of special features or creatures.
Student Nick Corby of Pennsylvania conducted a fish survey, coming up with 50 species that included stingrays. And one student operated the side scan sonar that produced high-resolution bathymetry.
The raw data was collected and combined using a quick grid program, which pumped out a topographical image. Video gaming software will be used to put in the color and points of special interest, and make it interactive with the photographs and video.
"You'll be able to take a simulated dive on Looe Key," Rice said.

Go green, go Google

2009-03-10T03:10:00.001-07:00

Here's an interesting claim from green campaign site fairhome.co.uk. Its author, David Masters, suggests that Google is getting greener.
Google’s map service is 500% greener than it was 12 months ago, according to the Internet giant’s blog.
Green improvements include detailed and accurate walking directions (users are no longer directed to swim across rivers) and a 250-500% increase in the number of cities where Google Maps can be used to plan public transport journeys.
“A year ago, we had ‘walking directions’ that simply consisted of an as-the-crow-flies arrow across buildings - and sometimes rivers!” writes Jessica Wei on Google’s official blog.
“Today, people are no longer directed to swim across rivers or fly over impassible areas - detailed turn-by-turn walking directions have now been seamlessly integrated with our transit directions.”
Public transport integration has also seen huge improvements.
In North America, Google Maps now integrates 115 public transport agencies into its journey search, compared to just 20 a year ago.
To read the full article, click here

Google Maps out nuclear base

2009-03-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting story which appeared in the Australian newspaper, The Age, about a storm in a British teacup.
The British military has worked itself into a lather over new high-resolution images on Google Earth showing an aerial view of its top-secret nuclear defence base, which, it says, could help terrorists, pictured above.
The facility, located in Faslane on the River Clyde in Scotland, is the home of Britain's nuclear defence force. It was previously blurred out of Google Earth, along with British bases in Iraq, at the request of the British Government.
But the locations - along with other military sites such as MI6's London offices, Britain's nuclear crisis HQ and the SAS training facility - are now visible following updates to Google Earth, which can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection.
The Sun newspaper, which broke the story, quoted military experts who warned that the online images would make it easy for terrorists to launch accurate mortar or rocket attacks.
"A strike on our nuclear capability would cause untold devastation. Terrorists could have a field day, knowing exactly where to aim strikes to cause the maximum devastation," one anonymous expert told the paper.
...
Reports of terrorists using Google Earth to plot attacks are now commonplace. Hamas militants in Gaza and the terrorists who stormed Mumbai last year are among the groups who reportedly used the online mapping service in their missions.
The Mumbai High Court asked Google to blur images of sensitive areas in December, arguing Google Earth "aids terrorists in plotting attacks".
In January, John Hanke, the director in charge of Google Earth and Google Maps, hit back at the claims, saying terrorists would still carry out their attacks with or without Google's help.
"I don't really think it's tipping the balance in favour of the bad guys," Hanke said.
"The evilness is in the philosophies and the desires of those that want to do evil. They will use the tools at hand to do that, whether it's throwing a Molotov cocktail, or shooting a rifle or using some piece of technology as part of the process."
Read the full story here

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A new take on old maps

2009-02-27T02:09:00.001-08:00

Move over Google Maps, it's time to get medieval on your pixels. Well, perhaps not that ancient, but Charles R Carpenter has cornered the market in historical property maps, known as cadastral maps.
Cadastral maps recorded property ownership at every address in the US and Carpenter’s company, Historic MapWorks LLC of Scarborough, Maine, now owns the rights to some 1.2 million of them, covering the entire country.
Seven employees are scanning the map library and linking them street by street to current maps, using latitude and longitude points where old streets have disappeared and old neighborhoods are paved over. “We have produced a digital, historic Google Earth,” said Carpenter.
Earlier this month, Google announced in a blog post that its Google Earth product would begin offering historical images. All this is free, but Carpenter believes subscribers will pay $30 a month for unfettered access to many times more and deeper historical data in an online map collection that is expanding daily.
So if you want to take a (limited) look at old Florida, and Manatee County in particular, click on the Historic MapWorks site

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Maps are what divide us

2009-02-24T02:39:00.000-08:00

Hi there map lovers!
Now we don't like to get too controversial over here at Florida Map and Travel Information, but this issue is just too big for us to ignore.
Picture the scene. You're in a car, travelling somewhere you've never been before. In the driver's seat is a man, in the passenger's seat is a woman. With a map. There is an argument waiting to happen.
But maybe you should just chill, accept your differences and agree that men are good at some things, women at others. And while you're at it you can cite some recent scientific findings to back up your argument.
According to the Telegraph newspaper in England, scientists believe the reason the sexes differ is due to their different roles in evolution.
It says: Men had to hunt and stalk their prey, so became skilled at navigation, while women foraged for food and so became good at spotting fruits and nuts close by.
The theory emerged from a study which looked at the different ways in which men and women appreciate art.
Researchers discovered that a brain region called the parietal lobe, which governs spatial awareness, is active in both men and women when they admire a "beautiful" picture or photograph.
But while neurons on both sides of the brain were stimulated in women, only those in the right hemisphere were activated in men.
The left side deals with closer range objects while the right is better at co-ordinates.
The scientists, led by Dr Francisco Ayala from the University of California, and reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, believe differences in the way men and women appreciate beauty probably arose early in the evolution of early modern humans, say the researchers.
Hunting, traditionally done by men, required a "co-ordinating" ability to track animals accurately while on the move. Closer spatial awareness was better suited to foraging for fruit, roots or berries, a job mainly carried out by women.
"Women tend to be more aware than men of objects around them, including those that seem irrelevant to the current task, whereas men out-perform women in navigation tasks," the scientists wrote.
"Men tend to solve navigation tasks by using orientation-based strategies involving distance concepts and cardinal directions, whereas women tend to base their activities on remembering the location of landmarks and relative directions, such as "left from", or "to the right of"."
So there you have it. Evolution is to blame. Not men, nor women. Glad to have cleared that up.

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Carbon data shows disturbing detail

2009-02-20T04:09:00.000-08:00

Hi map lovers!
Today we're going to look at a new scientific discovery which has used Google Maps to chart the carbon dioxide emissions across America. Those scientists, always up to something!
Here's the story as reported by AFP.
A team of US scientists led by Purdue University unveiled an interactive Google Earth map on Thursday showing carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels across the United States.
The high-resolution map, available at here, shows carbon dioxide emissions in metric tons in residential and commercial areas by state, county or per capita.
Called "Vulcan" after the Roman god of fire, the project, which took three years to complete, quantifies carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline.
It breaks down emissions by the sectors responsible including aircraft, commercial, electricity production, industrial, residential and transport.
"This will bring emissions information into everyone's living room as a recognizable, accessible online experience," said Kevin Gurney, the project leader and an assistant professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue.
"We hope to eventually turn it into an interactive space where the public will feed information into the system to create an even finer picture of emissions down to the street and individual building level," he added.
The United States accounts for some 25 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide, which scientists have identified as the most important human-produced gas contributing to global climate change.
Simon Ilyushchenko, an engineer at Internet search giant Google who worked on the project, said "integrating the data with Google Earth was a way to advance public understanding of fossil fuel energy usage.
"Dynamic maps of the data, broken down by the different sources of emissions, easily show where people burn more gasoline from driving or where they use more fuel for heating and cooling homes and businesses," he said.
Vulcan integrates carbon dioxide emissions data from the US Environmental Protection Agency and US Department of Energy. The current data is from 2002, but the scientists said they plan to incorporate more recent data.
Besides Purdue, the project also involved researchers from Colorado State University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
It was funded by NASA, the US Department of Energy, the Purdue Showalter Trust and Indianapolis-based Knauf Insulation.

Why Latitude is not on the level for everyone

2009-02-17T03:39:00.000-08:00

Google Maps' new feature, Latitude, appears to be dividing those who have i-Phones and plan to use them. One person who admits he will not be taking advantage of the tracking service is JR Raphael from PC World, who wrote on his blog three very good reasons why not.
Google unveiled its new mobile location tracking service, Google Latitude, on Wednesday -- and it took me only a matter of minutes to determine it's one service I won't be using.
Google Latitude, if you haven't heard, lets you have your location monitored and shared in real time with your friends, family, or whomever you choose. Once you sign up, GPS satellites and cell towers watch your whereabouts. They pull location data from your laptop or smartphone, then pinpoint you on a pretty little Google Map as you go about your day.
While Google Latitude isn't the first mobile location tracking service to hit the market, it may be the first with the potential for mainstream and widespread adoption. Here are three reasons why I won't be hopping on the bandwagon.
1. It's just a little too friendly.
Call me old-fashioned, but I don't want every aspect of my life to be public domain - even when it comes to my close friends and family. I may be in the minority within the open book, share-it-all sentiment of the Web 2.0 world, but there's something nice about not having everyone knowing what I'm doing every minute of my day. If I run out for a quick cup of coffee, I may not want my buddy to see that I'm right around the corner from his house. If I tell someone I can't make it to dinner because I'm visiting a friend in the hospital, I don't want him to know that I'm really sitting at home eating biscuits.
2. Google already has enough dirt on me.
We've heard for years about how much Google knows about us. From cookies to calendars and crazy search queries, the G-gods probably know more about me than my own mother does. The last thing I need is Google also knowing where I am every second.
3. Who knows who could end up getting the data?
Right now, the location data from Latitude stops at Google's servers. But who's to say what agency might demand it at some point down the line?
So there you have it - the three reasons I won't be using Google Latitude. Maybe I'm overly protective of my privacy, but in an era when the verses to "Every Breath You Take" can serve as a literal description of a day, you've gotta hang on to what little you can.
Well, time to get back to work. If you need me, I'll be right here at my desk. That's my story, anyway - and, thanks to the lack of location tracking technology in my life, I'm sticking to it.
Read the whole of JR's blog here

Get interactive in Florida

2009-02-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

Hi map lovers!

Check out this great new feature from Visit Florida, for all those who are thinking of coming to our great state, or maybe those who are already here but want to know more.
The state tourism agency has just launched interactive area maps, telling you such useful information as where to find lodging, attractions, where the best spots are for outdoors, sightseeing, golf, entertainment, camping and shopping. All you do is click on the subject you want to know more about, choose the city you are interested in and the interactive map does the rest.
It's great for finding out about each area of Florida and what there is to do there. You can also access visitor services, view photos and even videos of your chosen area. Just click on www.visitflorida.com/maps to start your interactive experience.

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There but for the grace of God...

2009-02-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

Hi there map fans.
You may have been following on the TV news the terrible tragedy taking place in Australia at the moment, with wild fires tearing through the South Eastern part of the country.
We in Florida know all about the dangers of nature and the havoc it can wreak.
The real problem for those caught up in the fires is the speed at which they move. Google Maps have plotted a map guide of where the fires are currently burning, and those which have been put out. Check it out below.

Big Google is watching you...

2009-02-06T03:17:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting story about a brand-new feature from Google Maps, Latitude. It comes from the website www.mobileshop.com and explains how the global giants had to consider many factors before launching its new service.

A new feature launched by Google this week required the company to think "long and hard" about how to give users total control.
In a statement to mark the release of Latitude - an opt-in accompaniment to Google Maps that enables people to see the location of their friends and family - the company said privacy settings for the gadget are adjustable so participants can measure how much information they share.
The system works by allowing a user to invite others to join Latitude, after which their profile then appears on a map to show where they are. Although "it won't pinpoint your exact location", it can provide directions to where people are and provide "a good idea of where your friends are at a given time".
However, Google said people with this feature on their mobile phones can choose to hide their profile, or even turn it off altogether if they want privacy.
The feature is available for various handsets including some BlackBerry devices and Nokia smartphones. Support for the Apple iPhone and the T-Mobile G1 is "coming soon".
Google's official blog suggested that the gadget might be ideal for those who need to see if a loved one is stuck in traffic or if their plane has landed safely.
Would you share your location with friends?

Well, would you? It seems as though, far from being scared of such 'Big Brother' technology, people are prepared to accept it as long as it's their choice. Can you imagine the outcry if the state tried to impose something like this?
Come to Anna Maria Island and stay a while with us at www.annamaria.com for the best in luxury vacation rentals on the island.

Google goes under water

2009-02-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

Google has done it again! Check out this latest news from the Telegraph Online website telegraph.co.uk
Google Ocean, which will be included in the newest version of Google Earth, will allow users to swim around underwater volcanoes, watch videos about exotic marine life, read about nearby shipwrecks, contribute photos and watch unseen footage of historic ocean expeditions - all from the comfort of their homes.
Footage of polar bears, beluga whales, sea urchins and king penguins from the BBC's award winning series Planet Earth and The Blue Planet will also be available.
The world's oceans cover more than 70 per cent of the planet's surface and contain 80 per cent of all life on Earth, yet humans have only ever explored around 5 per cent of that space.
Google Earth, which combines satellite imagery, maps and information to allow users to explore streets and cities around the world, has been downloaded 500 million times since it was introduced in 2005.
Google Ocean was developed with an advisory council of more than 25 leading ocean advocates and scientists.
Sylvia Earle, oceanographer and Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society, said: "I cannot imagine a more effective way to inspire awareness and caring for the blue heart of the planet than the new Ocean in Google Earth.
"For the first time, everyone from curious kids to serious researchers can see the world, the whole world, with new eyes."
In addition to Ocean, Google has also introduced other tools for Google Earth 5.0 users, including Virtual Time travel - where users can revisit the past and observe changes in areas where historical satellite imagery is available. For example, users will be able to see construction of Germany's soccer stadiums in the build up to the 2006 World Cup, witness the desertification of Africa's Lake Chad and track the melting of ice on the Grinnell Glacier in Montana.
Users can visit the planet Mars with a click of a button to see high resolution imagery and 3D terrain and a bit closer to home, users will be able to download GPS Tracking, making it easy to visualise and record running, hiking and biking routes.

What will they think of next?

This is why we live here

2009-02-02T10:45:00.000-08:00

Hi map lovers!
Just thought you might be interested in a map showing just why so many people choose to live in this fantastic place.
This map shows the average rainfall for the years 1951 to 1980. Over such a long period of time the averages are a pretty good indication of levels so it is interesting to note how the different areas had different averages.
Orlando and the central area, for instance, had appreciably less rain than parts of the pan handle and the south west.
Interesting also that two of our major Gulf Coast tourist areas - around Tampa Bay and Fort Myers - also had a very low average.

If you want to come and experience why Anna Maria Island is so special, click on www.annamaria.com for the very best in vacation rentals from Anna Maria Vacations.

Super Bowl does not runneth over

2009-01-28T02:25:00.000-08:00

Not even the biggest sporting event in the world is immune from the economic downturn it seems. The Playboy gala, which has been a showcase prior to the big game for the past nine years, will not be taking place this year in Tampa. Sports Illustrated also called off its party and the NFL reduced the price of some Super Bowl seats for the first time in history.
Even the most-watched sporting event in the U.S. “is not immune to the effects of an economic downturn,” said Amanda Holt to Bloomberg, a spokeswoman for the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee, which lowered its fundraising goal to $7 million from $8 million.
Spending has dropped across the board for the Feb. 1 game in Tampa, Florida, said Alex Sink, chief financial officer for the state. In more sumptuous times, “I walked into the commissioner’s party and there was a huge bowl of caviar,” Sink said. “I guarantee you won’t see that this year.”
That sort of thing does not affect the regular fan, however, and Super Bowl visitors are still expected to pump about $150 million directly into the local economy during Super Bowl weekend, although that is 22.3 per cent less than when the 2008 championship was in Glendale, Arizona, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

If you're coming to Tampa, stay in Anna Maria. Check out the best in vacation rentals at annamaria.com

FEMA must update mapping system says report

2009-01-26T02:26:00.000-08:00

Hi map lovers!
Here is a story which should interest everyone living in Florida, whether or not you have ever experienced flooding to your property.
It comes in a story on the science website sciencedaily.com and makes for thought-provoking reading.

It says: Significant loss of life, destroyed property and businesses, and repairs to infrastructure could be avoided by replacing Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps with ones that contain high-accuracy and high-resolution land surface elevation data, says a new report from the National Research Council.
The benefits of more accurate flood maps will outweigh the costs, mainly because insurance premiums and building restrictions would better match the actual flood risks. Coastal region flood maps could also be improved by updating current models and using two-dimensional storm surge and wave models.
Flood maps are used by FEMA to set flood insurance rates, regulate floodplain development, and inform those who live in the "100-year" floodplain of potential hazards, and they require continuous maintenance and revision due to land development and natural changes to the landscape. FEMA's Map Modernization Program of 2003 to 2008 resulted in digital flood maps for 92 percent of the continental U.S. population, most of whom live in areas that had outdated maps or no maps at all. However, after a $1 billion investment, only 21 percent of the population have maps that meet all of FEMA's data quality standards.
For this reason, FEMA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration asked the Research Council to examine the factors that affect flood map accuracy; assess the costs and benefits of producing more accurate maps; and recommend ways to improve mapping, communication, and management of flood-related data. In response, the committee that wrote the report collected and analyzed information on selected streams in Florida and North Carolina and on the economic costs and benefits of creating new digital flood maps in North Carolina. Information from the North Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program, which has high-accuracy topographic data and maps for nearly the entire state, allowed the committee to compare new and traditional mapping methods among three distinct topographical regions: mountains, rolling hills, and coastal plains.

For more on this story click here

Big Apple leads the way

2009-01-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

Hi there map lovers!

As is so often the case, New York seems to be leading the way with a great technological innovation. This time visitors to the Big Apple will be able to take advantage of a brand new website which uses Google Maps to guide them to the city's major attractions.
The computing website, computerworld.com. reported the story this week.

Its report says: 'The informational website, created jointly by the city and Google Inc., aims to help visitors and residents find what they're looking for in the Big Apple. In a blog post on the on the Google website, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he hopes that nycgo.com becomes the official online resource for tourists and residents looking for an activity or a place to go.
The website uses Google Maps to help users find their destinations, as well as get directions on how to get there. The information can also be sent to cell phones via Google Maps for Mobile.
"In partnership with Google, we are launching a new Web site and Information Center to help make it easier for both visitors and residents to explore all the energy, excitement and diversity of New York City's five boroughs," wrote Bloomberg. "So whether you are a visitor or a resident, we invite you to explore New York City from your home computer, your mobile phone -- and of course, in person."

So if you're visiting NYC don't forget to log in to nycgo.com for all your tourist needs. And don't forget to send us a postcard either...

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Everglades, ever fascinating

2009-01-19T03:21:00.001-08:00

Hi there map fans!

Check out this great map of a part of Florida we all know and love - the Everglades. It's a huge area, best seen from an airboat obviously, and here is an exhaustive map showing the visitor centres, tourist offices, picnic zones, speeding restrictions, camp grounds, boat launches... It is not intended for use as a navigation map - we hope that all you captains out there already have one of those - but as a guide to the area it's second to none. Download the pdf here

The Everglades National Park, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, boasts rare and endangered species. It has been designated a World Heritage Site, International Biosphere Reserve, and Wetland of International Importance. For more information from the Everglades National Park Service, click here

All odour the world

2009-01-13T02:14:00.000-08:00

Hello map lovers!
How's your sense of smell today? Good I hope, because you could join in the world's first odour map, thanks to a Japanese website which is mapping the world by its smell.
The BBC reports that members of the 'Nioibu' or Smell Club have posted descriptions of more than 160 odours from around the world. The scents range from 'cats with halitosis' in Kamakura, Japan, to 'verbena soap' in Paris, according to AP.
All that is missing, said a spokeswoman for Nioibu, is a 'smelling function'.
"That is our next challenge," said Kayo Matsubara, from Kayac Inc, which runs the Japanese-language Nioibu.com website.
Other scents that Nioibu's 'smellists' - as members are called - have posted include 'steam coming out of a rice cooker' and 'used socks in the summer'.
You can view the site here but you might have to brush up on your Japanese first...

Civil action

2009-01-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

Hello there map lovers!

Check out this map of the part Florida played in the civil war. The decisive battles are all shown, mostly in the north of the state, but two important skirmishes at Fort Brooke and Tampa are also explained in detail.

Click on this link to get to the main site

Growing in the Florida sun

2009-01-05T02:46:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year map lovers!
Hello and welcome to 2009. Let's hope it turns out to be better than all the doom merchants are predicting.
To get us off to a good start, check out this map from the University of Florida. It features the four growing zones found in Florida.
As it says, some plants grow easily across the entire state, but others need the specific conditions of a particular zone in order to thrive. This page provides information on Florida plants, sorted by zone.
Follow this link to view the map, a bigger version of the one below. It is most interesting.

Stay on Anna Maria Island, Florida. Check out annamaria.com for the best in vacation rentals

Treasure (Google) maps

2008-12-31T09:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a bonkers story which appeared on the news wires this week. It concerns 39-year-old musician Nathan Smith, who supposedly used Google Maps to help find a buried treasure along the Texas Gulf coast.
Smith is in court trying to lay claim to the find, which may contain a boat lost in 1822 during a hurricane that was filled with silver and gold.
MG Siegler, blogging on the tech website Venture Beat, writes:

...That, in and of itself would be a great story, but that’s hardly the most interesting part. First of all, Smith, who is also a filmmaker that makes documentaries about conspiracy theories surround the terrorist attacks of 9/11, says he hasn’t made a profit from his artistic endeavors since 1990. Instead, he looks for investors to fund his treasure hunting, which would in turn fund his life as an artist.
Second, he got the idea to become a treasure hunter after seeing the movie National Treasure.
Third, Smith says that half of the crew died in the shipwreck, while the other half were eaten by the local cannibal tribe.
Fourth, Smith estimates that there is $3 billion in buried treasure in the spot that he’s trying to claim.
I bet you didn’t think finding a buried treasure on Google Maps would be the normal part of the story. But something tells me Smith is just trying to get his story sold as the plot for National Treasure 3.

Read the full account of Smith's day in court on the Houston Chronicle site here It doesn't get much stranger!
Oh, and a Happy New Year to everyone!

Panther sightings on the rise

2008-12-29T01:53:00.000-08:00

Hi there map lovers!

Hope you had a great Christmas, and that you enjoyed tracking Santa across the world's skies. Back down to earth, and here in Florida we have had some exciting news regarding the native panther and the rise in sightings of this big cat.

The Interagency Florida Panther Response Team annual report: 2007-2008 offers some really encouraging news of the increase in panther-human interaction, which at least means the repopulation program is working. Check out the link here to read the report, and check out the actual satellite images recording the sightings and what happened where and when.

The one below shows human-panther conflicts in the Naples area, including one confirmed encounter in the past year.

Norad still tracking Santa's journey

2008-12-24T05:37:00.001-08:00

Hello there map lovers!

Are you keeping track of Santa Claus as he makes his way towards Florida? If not you need to get on the Norad site quick, he's on his way and has already checked his list once ...

If you don't believe me, watch this video of the big guy arriving in Auckland, New Zealand. They already have their gifts, lucky Kiwis!

Keep going back to the Norad site here to see where he is. And don't forget to leave out some cookies and milk for Rudolph and the other reindeer.

Here's some information from the Norad website on why exactly they track Santa every year.

For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s Christmas Eve flight.
The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline." The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born. To listen to Colonel Shoup talk about the experience, click here.
In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD. NORAD inherited the tradition of tracking Santa.
Since that time, NORAD men, women, family and friends have selflessly volunteered their time to personally respond to Christmas Eve phone calls and emails from children. In addition, we now track Santa using the internet. Last year, millions of people who wanted to know Santa's whereabouts visited the NORAD Tracks Santa website.

Merry Christmas everybody!

A quick reminder...

2008-12-22T06:21:00.000-08:00

Hi there map fans!
Take a look at this weather map from the good folks at weather.com. Kind of reminds you of why we live in Florida. Look how the rest of the country shivers in the big winter chill while we are toasty warm and golden!
While you're there why not check out the rest of the site, there are lots of cool things on there. You customize the reports to be specific to your region, download screensavers and other toys and games, and even watch the weather reports from Weather TV.
Check out this video, live from the 'North Pole'...

How to read the death map

2008-12-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

Hi there Florida map fans!
Some people are calling it the death map, but the new maps created by two academics may help emergency management policy makers and local emergency responders reduce fatalities from natural disasters or at least plan accordingly.
The New Scientist has posted the maps, which chart the areas of the United States where nature piled up the highest body counts by county between 1970 and 2004. The maps come from a study in the International Journal of Health Geographics written by Kevin Borden, a geography professor at the University of South Carolina, and Susan L. Cutter, director of the Hazards & Vulnerability Research Institute, also at the University of South Carolina.
The New Scientist reports: Southerners are more like to die from the effects of the weather than people living in any other region of the US.
But for all the attention garnered by catastrophic hurricanes such as Katrina and Andrew, simple heatwaves kill far more people than all natural disasters combined, according to a newly published county-by-county map of natural hazard deaths (see the maps here).
Other extreme summer hazards, such as floods, and cold winter weather also outranked hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires, according to geographers Kevin Borden and Susan Cutter, of the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Overall, natural disasters account for less than 5% of natural hazard deaths across the US.
Large cities like San Francisco and New York are among the safest places to live, but if city living isn't for you, the odds of dying from the weather are lowest in the Midwest.
So there you have it, choose your preferred mode of death, find where it's most likely to happen and go live there! Alternatively, just come to Florida and enjoy yourself - you never how long you might be around!
Visit annamaria.com for more great reasons to visit

Let it snow, and find where to go

2008-12-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

Hello there Florida map fans!
Here is some news for all you snow seekers out there - not much chance of finding much in Florida but you don't have to go too far to find a white-capped mountain.
Part of the stress of going skiiing or snowboarding is whether or not there is going to be any snow on the ground when you get there. Well, never fear, (if you have an iPhone) the Snocator is here!
The Snocator is a nifty piece of software that displays more than 70 maps for North American ski resorts and shows the user where they are on the map, where they're going, plus weather and on-mountain restaurant information.
"We've taken the anxiety and intimidation out of navigating the ski resort, especially for skiers who may be worried about avoiding difficult runs or getting lost," said Chris Glode, Snocator product manager for Denver-based Useful Networks, a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp. "It's also very convenient, not to mention green, to never have to deal with the traditional unwieldy paper trail maps."
Snocator also provides access to daily snow reports for the resorts, which users can quickly sort by snowfall totals to find where the best snow might be. Links to webcams are also included in the current version. An upcoming version will deliver information like how fast a snowrider is going, how much vertical has been skied and where other skiers in the group are located.
Pushing the touch screen can be a chilly task, however, since the iPhone touchscreen doesn't work with typical gloves. That problem, however, has been solved by several companies that offer special touch-screen friendly gloves, which allow users to operate their iPhones in chilly conditions without removing their cozy handwear.
Useful Networks also offers a tool kit called AdWhere, which offers location-based advertising as a way for brands to reach customers with messages and offers at nearby store locations.
"Location is the unique and key element to providing the best possible experience in mobile apps, and we've made it our mission to make location simple, safe, and reliable for developers and end users alike," said Useful Networks CEO Brian Levin.
A subscription to Snocator is available at the iPhone app store for $2.99 during the holidays ($5.99 regular price) and it lasts throughout the ski season.
More here

Brits use thermals this winter

2008-12-04T05:44:00.000-08:00

Hello there map lovers,
I know it's not Florida news, but I thought you might be interested in this technological development from England. The Italian ITnews.it website reports a British company, Bluesky, is producing thermal imaging maps for cities across the UK which are viewable online.
It says: 'Visitors can search on an area using a name or postcode to view the thermal maps that are colour coded to show the amount of heat lost into the sky at night. This imagery can be viewed along with conventional aerial photography so areas of high heat loss can be identified. 'Aerial mapping company Bluesky has captured 2500 square kilometres of thermal data across Britain and expects to survey another 2,000 sqkm over the forthcoming winter months. Twenty UK towns and cities, including Derby, Slough and Luton, are currently online and more will be added as the nighttime surveys are completed. Bluesky is offering raw thermal data for sale online so that organisations can create their own colour coded and geo-referenced maps.
'To capture the thermal data, Bluesky uses an airborne thermal infrared sensor which is modified version of technology used by the military for night vision. Surveys are typically undertaken in the two hours after dark, on weekdays, during school term time, giving the best view of energy use at peak times.'
Check out the maps here

Get in a state (park)

2008-11-28T04:45:00.000-08:00

Hello there map lovers!
I hope you also like nature too, as we are surrounded by some wonderful sights here in Florida. If you're wondering where to go to make the most of our beautiful part of the world, check out this handy guide to the state parks of Florida.
Just click on the map for the area you are interested in, and it will take you through to a section where you can view all the parks within it. You might be surprised at quite how many there are.
Happing traveling. Oh, and if you go into a state park, don't forget to take a map with you!
Click here for the Florida state park guide.

Rocking all over the word

2008-11-26T05:38:00.000-08:00

It had to happen – but who would have thought it would come from Germany? Yes, we have the first Google Map influenced novel, written by debut writer Christoph Benda.
Benda's work, Senghor on the Rocks, is a geo-referenced electronic novel in which the text is combined with an embedded map mash-up from Google Maps on a website.
The map, viewed in the satellite mode, moves as the location changes in the novel and every page of text is accompanied by a corresponding map. The geo-novel is an adaption of a book written by Benda, a former advertising copywriter now working at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and is based on his travels in Senegal.
"For me, the project always has been related to a map in a certain sense. Only that it wasn't hi-tech, online satellite imagery but the rather worn out paper map I had carried with me throughout all my time in Africa," says Benda who wrote the book between 2002 and 2005.
"It's a fast paced adventure that starts as a job, develops into an involuntary journey and culminates in a reflection about the possibilities and limits of cross-cultural understanding," explains Florian Ledermann, a software engineer at the Vienna University of Technology, who worked with Benda on the project.
As yet the work is only available in German, bu with the launch this year by Amazon of the internet-connected Kindle electronic book reader, it may not be too long before even more geo-referenced publications hit the mainstream.

The Sunshine State

2008-11-24T02:39:00.000-08:00

Hello there map lovers!

Ever wonder why so many people choose to visit Florida each year? Yes we have some great beaches, lively towns and cities, a friendly outlook on life and some of the best fishing and golf on the planet. But as well as all that, they come for our wonderful, stable and reliable climate.

There is a very good reason why we're called the Sunshine State - we have so much of the stuff year-round there is nothing else to say. While no one would claim that Florida is anything like a desert, we certainly receive less than our share of rainfall, which you can see from this average rainfall chart.

Here's the link if you want to see it slightly bigger.

As you can see, the central areas get the least rainfall (as indicated by the amber-gold areas) while as you move up to the panhandle, the rainfall (represented by blue shading) increases. Also note the higher levels of rainfall at the south-eastern tip of Florida, which catches the gulf stream. From those of us who live on the gulf coast side, thanks Miami and the Keys for taking the hit - we're most grateful!

Visit annamaria.com for more reasons to visit Florida's wonderful gulf coast.

A view from above

2008-11-20T02:33:00.000-08:00

Hello map fans! Here's another look at Florida from space. This one is from the South Florida Water Management District. If you follow the link you can click on any area of the map for a closer look. It's interesting when you look down on a large area of Earth, don't you find you learn things you never knew before? See what you can discover by following this link
There are loads of great maps on my website, if you think I have left any off please do contact me and I will add as many as I can.

Smoke and mirrors

2008-11-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

Hello map lovers!
You will already be familiar with NASA satellite images, the sight of the Earth from space is a common one. The agency does more than just fly shuttle runs past our atmosphere and back as the series of pictures tracking the Southern California wildfires illustrate. The images were taken with one of NASA's research satellites and offer a truly remarkable view of the course of the fires.
Click here to see pictures of the plume of smoke billowing out over the Pacific Ocean on NASA's website like the one below.
(Credit: Nasa)

Delcan McCullagh, writing on Cnet, adds: 'The images show smoke from the fires being blown west over the Pacific Ocean from a portion of the state stretching from Santa Barbara to Riverside County. They were taken with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, which specializes in measurements including cloud cover, ocean color, and water vapor, and has delivered pictures of notable events including Hurricane Katrina and Bangladesh flooding in the past.'

Declan advises another way to view the effects of the fires is to check out the Google Earth maps of the area. Available maps include a detailed outline of the area, homes affected, official warnings, and evacuation orders.

Whatever the weather

2008-11-17T04:29:00.000-08:00

Hello there map lovers, I wonder if you've ever heard of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), a part of the National Weather Service (NWS).
NDBC designs, develops, operates, and maintains a network of data collecting buoys and coastal stations positioned around our coast.
This from the NDBC website: NWS forecasters need frequent, high-quality marine observations to examine conditions for forecast preparation and to verify their forecasts after they are produced. Other users rely on the observations and forecasts for commercial and recreational activities. NDBC provides hourly observations from a network of about 90 buoys and 60 Coastal Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) stations to help meet these needs. All stations measure wind speed, direction, and gust; barometric pressure; and air temperature. In addition, all buoy stations, and some C-MAN stations, measure sea surface temperature and wave height and period. Conductivity and water current are measured at selected stations.
To support this network and other engineering/data collection projects, NDBC employs engineers, meteorologists, oceanographers, computer scientists, and other professionals. U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) members serve on the government staff to provide unique skills and interface with USCG for transportation support. An NDBC Technical Services Contractor (NTSC) supports NDBC with a staff of approximately 110 employees.

You can view a clickable map of Florida, showing all the buoy stations here. This is what it will look like

From the stations you will be able to get detailed weather information - what you are supposed to do with this information and whether you can do anything about it is another matter entirely!

FEMA updates disaster maps

2008-11-14T02:06:00.000-08:00

The Federal Emergency Management Agency just updated flood maps in many southeast states, including Florida. FEMA not only changed the maps, but presented the maps online. The organization said the new maps are more accurate, easier to update and are being used by mortgage companies to base loans. The changes will require some homeowners who have never had to carry flood insurance to purchase policies. Others who used to be forced to carry flood insurance policies will be able to drop them if their property is no longer in a flood zone. Flood insurance rates differ from state to state but can cost about $700 to $800 a year. The best way to find out if a resident is in a flood-susceptible zone is to contact an insurance agent. For an interactive map of where you live, such as the Florida one below, click here. It lets you determine the flood and disaster risk of your home town, city or area - from Seattle to Key West - although some areas are more susciptible to such risks than others...

2008-11-12T03:32:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow map lovers,

We all know how precious the manatee is to Florida and the waters that surround it, and do everything we can to promote the protection of this precious animal. Here is a map showing the speed limits for craft around Anna Maria Island, one of the favoured haunts of this gentle beast.

For a larger, zoomable version of this map, follow this link

Here's some information on the manatee from wikipedia.

The population of manatees in Florida (T. manatus) is thought to be between 1,000 and 3,000, yet population estimates are very difficult. The number of manatee deaths in Florida caused by humans has been increasing through the years, and now typically accounts for 20%-40% of recorded manatee deaths. There were near 300 registered and confirmed manatees in Florida killed by human activity in 2006; the majority of these, that happened to be discovered by Florida Fish and Wildlife, have been caused by boat strikes.
Accurate population estimates of the Florida manatee are notoriously difficult and have been called scientifically weak; with widely varying counts from year to year, some areas show possible increases yet others decreases, with very little strong evidence of increases except in 2 areas. However, studies carried out in 1997, found that decreasing adult survival and eventual extinction is a probable future outcome for the Florida manatees, unless they are aggressively protected. Manatee counts are highly variable without an accurate way to estimate numbers in Florida in 1996, a winter survey found 2,639 manatees; in 1997 a January survey found 2,229; and a February survey found 1,706. Fossil remains of manatee ancestors show they have inhabited Florida for about 45 million years.

So, there you have it, if we want to carry on enjoying the sight of manatees around Florida it is vital that the impact of humans is kept to a minimum. And, as this map suggests, that could start with all boats slowing down in and around the coast where these fascinating creatures live.

Treasure came at a price

2008-11-11T02:03:00.000-08:00

Hello there map lovers!
Check out this map of the routes taken by Spanish treasure fleets in the 17th and 18th centuries. The red marks indicate where the fleets were sunk by hurricanes - all around the southern tip of Florida.
Click here for an interesting and detailed account of the 1715 fleet disaster which befell the squadron of Tierra Firma, under the command of Captain-General Don Antonio de Escheverz y Zubiza, off the eastern coast of Florida. The location is the furthest right of the three red marked areas.
A second Spanish treasure fleet was wrecked in another storm in 1733 and today, the remains of two of the ships - the Urca de Lima from the 1715 fleet and the San Pedro from the 1733 fleet - are protected as Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserves. These ships are time capsules from a bygone era and can reveal much about the history of the mighty maritime system that helped shape the Americas.

Has the US got gas?

2008-11-10T02:54:00.000-08:00

Hello there. We might have the clearest skies and bluest seas in Florida but how about the rest of the US? Watch this great video from research scientists at Purdue University from something called the Vulcan Project to see the truth about CO2 emissions from our country. It's really interesting stuff.

Sunny weather?

2008-11-09T08:22:00.000-08:00

Weather maps are familiar to most people, on the news, in paper, now on the internet and even your cellphone. Check out today's weather in Florida and around the region by clicking here
While you're at it, why not watch today's forecast, courtesy of Yahoo.com by clicking here
Hope it's sunny where you are...

3D gets mapped

2008-11-07T03:21:00.000-08:00

Hello there Florida map lovers. Check out this from internet newswire Cnet.

Microsoft now lets people using its Live Search Maps service get a more immersive view by integrating the company's Photosynth panoramic viewer technology.
Photosynth stitches multiple images together into a 3D view, and people can in effect gaze around from a virtual vantage point. Areas with Photosynth views can be shown in the "explore collections" view of a map that also lets people see photos and other additions to a map.
I found the feature easy to use--even the Photosynth installation that had given me some headaches when I tried it during its early days. I still don't like the vast swath of empty green wasted space that could have been used to make the imagery even more immersive, though, and so far there aren't a huge number of places with Photosynth photos.
For full instructions on how to use Photosynth on Microsoft's maps, check the Virtual Earth evangelist's blog from Microsoft.
In addition, Microsoft said Wednesday it added 47 terabytes of new aerial imagery on Wednesday showing new views of Spain, Japan, Canada, the United States, Australia, and assorted European countries, according to the Virtual Earth blog.

It's really cool. Check out this view of Rod n Reel Pier, Anna Maria

2008-11-06T02:44:00.000-08:00

Check out this map from the website http://www.luddist.com/map.html

It shows the Native American tribes and their position when they first came into contact with the Europeans who first discovered Florida in the 16th century.
Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish explorer and soldier, is credited as being the first European to set foot in Florida. He also established the oldest European settlement in Puerto Rico and discovered the Gulf Stream (a current in the Atlantic Ocean). Ponce de Leon was searching for the legendary fountain of youth and other riches.

2008-11-04T12:02:00.001-08:00

Hello and welcome to my Florida Map blog. I'll be posting news about maps, letting you know of any interesting things I come across and basically inviting your views and comments. I'll also be talking you through some of the many maps to be found on Luddist.com First up here's a really cool link to a site showing how life expectancy in Britain has changed over the period 1992 to 2006. Just follow this link That's all for now, do let me know what you think...

2008-10-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

Coming soon. Information on maps and travel in Florda