Gigapan Panoramas of Bora Bora and Tahiti

Traveling is what we do at Mapicurious, and we most recently traveled to the island of Bora Bora for a nice getaway. What is there to do in Bora Bora if you run a site about maps?.....well, mapping of course.

Here are a few links to Gigapans done during our stay in Bora Bora:

The US forces established a naval base on the island during WWII to protect a shipping lane between the US and Australia. One activity is to visit the 4 remaining naval gun emplacements on the island. Here is a view from one of those:
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50888/

The largest town on the island is Vaitape. Here is a panorama of the town taken from a private dock.
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50537/

We drove around the island looking for excellent spots for good shots of the island. Here are a few:

Mt. Otemanu and Mt Pahia:
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50291/

Another mountain shot:
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50227/

Matera Beach. The only public beach on Bora Bora:
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50439/

We travel in style at Mapicurious. Here is the view from our deck in the overwater bungalow in which we stayed. Thanks to the Hilton Bora Bora Nui, we appreciated this view during our stay. Disclosure: Hilton did not sponsor this stay.
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50505/

The resort is on an island on the other side of the main Bora Bora island, and is a treat to walk around and soak up the beauty. Here is a bunch of other shots we captured just walking around, exploring:

Black rocks and bungalows:
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50421/

Overwater bungalows:
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50398/

Flowers:
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50354/

Between the bungalows on land:
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50330/

From the water tower (secret spot):
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50301/

From the spa:
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50216/

From the walk up to the spa:
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/50228/

Hope you enjoy. If you take panoramas, you have the ability to embed them into Mapicurious maps. Just let us know if you have questions.

Thanks,

Maps

A Small Guide to Mapicurious

As we travel around at Mapicurious, we need efficient ways to create maps on the site - and quickly share points of interest.

Here is our guide to how we do it:

1. We have Twitter and Foursquare accounts. We can tweet and checkin from places around the city during our data collection. These geotagged apps simplify collection of known places like restaurants and bars.

2. We use our Around Mapicurious app for iPhone (available on Android as well). This lets us know what we have already mapped. No reason to add duplicate points.

3. What's in our bag today? iPhone 3GS and Garmin Colorado 400t. We take advantage of the lower resolution camera on the iPhone, versus carrying the N95 8GB. For quick mapping, these tools are the best.

4. We use the Foursquare and Twitter mapping methods to get a map, and use our other tools (Garmin and iPhone) to enhance the location data. It can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes to create a complete map.

5. Once in Mapicurious, we can easily expose our map data to:

a. The Mapicurious.com site.
b. Google Earth for detailed analysis.
c. Our Garmin nuvi for road trips.
d. GeoRSS to add into a few random GPSes we have laying around the place. (Sometimes we get bored too.)
e. Layar AR browsing app on the iPhone.
f. OpenStreetMap because we see value participating in the larger geo community.

And now you know.

Maps

Mapicurious view on APIs

Over the years, we have spent a lot of development time integrating selected APIs into Mapicurious. Because APIs tend to change over time, we spend even more time updating our code. Sometimes writing code specifically to integrate with others' APIs is just a waste of time.

Do you feel the same?

We believe integration of Mapicurious into your software projects should be easier, therefore we offer the following as "our API":

- Each map has a GPX file - Access an example map: http://www.mapicurious.com/maps/483/locations.gpx

- Each map has a KML file - Access an example map: http://www.mapicurious.com/maps/483/locations.kml

- Each map has a GeoRSS file - Access an example map: http://www.mapicurious.com/maps/483/locations.rss

Our API philosophy is simple:

If you already have a geo based application you can probably read one or all of those formats, and read the useful data.

One more thing - We ask that you respect the attribution of data from Mapicurious by recognizing the author's name and Mapicurious.com with a link provided back to the author's map.

Thanks,

Maps

New Printable Maps at Mapicurious

Ever needed to print one of our maps, and take it with you on your travels?

We definitely wished we could print a neat map to help us find some of our historical points of interest among other locations.

So we built a printable map.

Find the "Print This Map" link on any map to get the printable view.

Check out a couple of examples:

Social Circle, GA
Battle of Antietam - USA Battle Markers Volume 1

Thanks,

Maps

New Twitter Integration at Mapicurious

We have two new ways to use Mapicurious together with Twitter:

1. Map makers can broadcast a link to their maps by using the Share on Twitter link. Mapicurious generates a standard update to Twitter that you can edit before updating your followers. Here's a sample:

Check out my map on Mapicurious: A Random Walk Around Rochester New York http://www.mapicurious.com/maps/23

2. Any map user can click the Share on Twitter link for each location. Mapicurious generates a standard update to Twitter that you can edit before updating your followers. Here's another sample:

Found @Mapicurious - Nick Tahou Hots II on map http://www.mapicurious.com/maps/23

So tweet away! And if you are not already following @mapicurious - here is your invitation.

Thanks,

Maps

Mapicurious becomes social with Google Friend Connect

We make maps for people at Mapicurious.com.

These people can view the map on Mapicurious, can download the points to their own GPS, view the points on their Dash GPS, access the points on your mobile phone, view the map in Google Earth, explore zoomable panoramas from Gigapan....and now interact with other Mapicurious users with Google Friend Connect.

Hope you enjoy the experience.

Thanks,

Maps

Atlanta Gas Crisis Line Spotter

Exclusively on the Dash GPS - Drive around and submit places you see a line for gas. A line means that station has the valuable resource.

View the results on the map.

A Dash user simply adds the application via their account at my.dash.net, clicks the application button when near a gas station, adds the station name (you can even add price), and submits to Mapicurious.

Looking for other ideas to alleviate the panic of looking for gas. My sipper is OK for the moment.

Thanks,

Maps

Testing Vimeo HD video with Mapicurious

Here is the first video to Vimeo. Next stop - a map on the site.



Inspiration Point from Mapicurious on Vimeo.

How do you get your business on a GPS?

Hopefully you have harder questions for us at Mapicurious, but we assist businesses getting their locations onto various GPS devices.

Contact us at maps at mapicurious dot com for more info. Use the subject "Get my business on a GPS".

Thanks,

Maps

Demo of Mapicurious on the Dash GPS

Get Mapicurious LBS on your Dash GPS

Mapicurious has released the Mapicuriosities search service on the Dash GPS.

Find a large selection of content entered on Mapicurious.com directly from your Dash GPS. Great for explorers who need to know what is around you.

If you have trouble finding or using the service, send us an email.

Thanks,

Maps

Mapicuriosities on your cell phone!

A little news from the ranch:

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080603005802&newsLang=en

Mapicurious has a goal to deliver your geographic data to you in the real world. Why just post it on a web site?

Mapicuriosities is our cell phone application that runs on the free WHERE platform. Visit WHERE.com and download their application onto your GPS enabled cell phone. Works on Motorola, LG, Samsung, BlackBerry, Nokia, and other handsets.

The application lets you see what Mapicurious.com has on the site based on your current location. You can even add points from this application directly to any one of your maps!

Send us feedback. Our Map Makers/Managers know that we are very helpful getting you started with mapping.

Thanks,

Maps

Mapicurious on Your Blackberry?

That's correct! Through our friends at Where.com, you can access Mapicurious to search for points around you and add points directly to your map.

Follow the steps outline on our Blackberry page.

Thanks,

Maps

Mapicurious on Dash Navigation

Finally a GPS company allows information maintained on the Internet to be exchanged with their GPS device in real time. This inexpensive automobile GPS has Internet search features, traffic routing, and Mapicurious content streaming live from the Mapicurious.com site.

For more information, and to get yours: http://www.dash.net

Thanks,

Maps

Follow Mapicurious on Twitter

If you have not heard of Twitter and you own a cell phone, here is your chance.

Twitter is a web and short message service that allows registered users to broadcast a single text message to a large group of individuals. Users "follow" each other to be kept up-to-date on the news about that person.

CNN and the Presidential candidates all use this service to quickly alert their constituents.

Register at http://www.twitter.com and follow Mapicurious - http://www.twitter.com/mapicurious

Thanks,

Maps

Wide Maps at Mapicurious Announcement

When you build a map at Mapicurious, you now have the option to use the original Mapicurious look that fits an 800x600 screen or a larger, wider map for larger resolutions.

Thanks,

Maps

Notice the Wider maps?

You'll notice some maps have a new, wider format. This format will be available to other Map Managers in the coming weeks.

Send us feedback, and we'll update your map with a wider format.

Thanks,

Maps

Map Management for Real Estate Agents

A few Real Estate agents asked me about how they could highlight their businesses using a map on Mapicurious. So here are 5 simple ways to use a map in the Real Estate business.

1. Showcase clusters of homes you are selling and significant points in the neighborhood beyond the school systems and police stations. This establishes credibility that you really know this neighborhood. A great example of this kind of map is Catherine Nelke's Housing Map.

2. Create a driving tour of houses for a client to be downloaded into their car's GPS. You probably thought this service would cost a fortune to implement, but it is easy to do with Mapicurious. You will see either Garmin or GPX on each map's Locations sidebar.

3. Add your homes listings and business cards to Google Earth. When you create locations on Mapicurious, they are surfaced in Google Earth. Now you can do 3D fly-overs of the areas you are selling homes.

4. You already have a website, how about adding maps without paying a programmer. Each Mapicurious map can be embedded into your site to look as part of your own existing site.

5. Custom brand your maps, by adding picture packs, color schemes, and You Tube videos. If you read about vCards used on Mapicurious, you can see that people can download your electronic business card. Check out Green Key's map.

If you have any questions about how Mapicurious can differentiate your Real Estate business - send me an email.

Thanks,

Maps

Add a Point and the Fun Map

Sometimes you don't want to add a whole map, but just tell the world about a single location. Now you can add a point just by completing the form at http://www.mapicurious.com/addapoint.

These points will automatically be displayed on the Mapicurious Fun Map.

If you already manage map at Mapicurious, you still need to login and create a location for that map as you did previously. This feature is for the users that just want to broadcast one point.

Thanks,

Maps

Bermuda Disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle!

Hello to my friends at Google Maps - What happen to Bermuda?

I recently checked on the island myself, and did find it did actually still exist. No hurricane or other natural disaster has removed it from Earth - even Google Earth.

So for Mapicurious users that are exploring the Bermuda maps, for now, you want to open the points of interests within Google Earth. You will be viewing the KML version of Mapicurious maps. And the best news is this feature works with all maps on the site.

Thanks,

Maps