Yesterday I did a very basic overview of mapping services provided by Google and MSN (Microsoft), showing some pictures and warning you that what they show you on those pictures might not be what's actually on the ground at the moment!

And it was a very basic overview. I did not, for example, talk about the Application Programming Interface (API) available for mapping services like Google Maps. I also didn't mention that there's a whole subset of the Internet that spends its time poring over satellite photos to find cool stuff and tell you about it. Both these facts that there's a whole world of things to see and things to do in the world of mapping beyond the Google Local and Windows Live Local sites.

Mapping Sites -- Things to See

Without too much trouble it's easy to find odd sites via Google Maps. (If you get a chance look at a satellite photo of Dorton Arena, at the Fairgrounds. Extremely odd-shaped -- and as white and glowing as a nuclear egg.) There are places online that aggregate both the odd and the mundane in browsable blogs that will act as huge timesinks to the armchair tourist.

Google Sightseeing is a blog of both interesting sights seen on Google Maps (visit the Soviet Tank Graveyard!), odd phenomena (love notes visible from space), and mysteries (not one but two "flying cars".) Entries are listed by latest available, location, category (from Aircraft to Weirdness) and via a Google Map, of course!

Unlike Google Sightseeing, Virtual Globetrotting aggregates satellite pictures from three different sources, and focuses as much on things as places -- aircraft, images carved into fields, advertising on the sides of buildings, and, for some reason, a skate park. At the moment there are over 14,000 maps available on this site.

Static images are fun but what about moving images? You can have those courtesy of vlogs. You've probably heard of blogs, right? A vlog is a video blog. video+blog = vlog (at least according to geek math.) VlogMap uses a Google Map to allow you to search for Vloggers around the world, so not only can you see what their countries look like, you can see what their lives look like. A little closer to home, don't miss Chris Daniel's vlog -- he's in Holly Springs and posts a variety of videos including music, family stuff, and a mixed-up 50's social instruction film ("Gaaaaash, my new biiiike!")

Google Maps Mania, at http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/, posts not only pointers to interesting pictures and roundups of information related to Google Maps (like a Google Map showing the birth cities of Oscar winners), but also interesting programs that people have built - ways to find restaurants or get information on movie showtimes via a map, or even a way to plot your daily walk and see how far you're really going. And this brings me to the second part of this post. Not only are there things to look at via mapping services, but thanks to offerings like the Google Map API, there are things to do with mapping services too.

Mapping Sites -- Things to Do

Are you familiar with Craigslist? It's an online classified ads list that's divided into several regions, including one for the Triangle. A very clever person combined Craigslist and Google Maps to form HousingMaps, which lets you pick a region and get a map with available properties marked with icons (the yellow ones have pictures, the red ones don't.) Click on the icon and you'll get a description and pictures of the rental property. Click again and you'll go straight to the Craiglist ads for more details. You can also filter your results if you're looking for a certain number of bedrooms, or for properties that will allow cats or dogs. This is great for when you're apartment hunting and want an instant sense of where a complex or a rental unit is.

I can't wait for springtime! I can watch it coming with Weatherbonk, which uses a Google Map to show weather conditions across the world, along with forecasts. Small numbered icons show you the temperature, while if you hold your mouse over a sun/moon icon (depending of time of day) you'll get a local forecast. And the translucent icons are links to Webcams. Hold your mouse over one and you'll get a popup picture of an outdoor Web cam in the area. (And if it's night, sometimes all you'll get is a big black square!) Be sure to give the pictures a few minutes to load; this site is aggregating a lot of information.

These examples are barely scratching the surface; there are only a few of the many applications online that use mapping information. Mapki, which is a Wiki devoted to Google Maps, has a whole page of examples available at http://mapki.com/index.php?title=Map_Projects lists links and descriptions of mapping projects for everything from Activism to WiFi. After all this maybe you're interested in Google Maps, but you have a more prosaic desire; you just want to put a Google Map on your site, to show a route or an interesting landmark. No problem. YourGMap, at http://www.yourgmap.com/, lets you embed a Google Map on your Web site without having to sweat code or JavaScript. You'll have to register to use YourGMap, but it's free.

I've been using MapQuest and other driving direction sites for ages, but they look positively Victorian against all the information you can get out of a service like Google Maps or Windows Live Local. Whether you use 'em for sightseeing or driving directions, these mapping sites can come in really handy!