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 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

My locations are not showing on my map!

To improve performance of the site, many things are kept in memory to speed retrieval.

This presents a small issue for the Map Makers who are actively entering data on Mapicurious, but make it faster for users of the map.

If you are seeing this on your map, just be patient and refresh your browser.

Thanks,

Maps

Need a Map? We need only USD $100 and some information....

Many people have great map ideas but no time to create them. Hopefully a Mapicurious staffer can lend a hand.

Give us as little as a theme....
- I want a map of ski slopes in Vermont
- I want to know where the soccer fields are in Seattle

And we will create your map. Your data will then be ready to viewed in Google Earth, your GPS, your cell phone, your Dash GPS.

How else to use your map:
1. Highlight your business
2. Map your favorite eateries
3. Map a movie or book you have read
4. Plot vacation plans
5. Create a record of your recent vacation to share with friends

Starting July 1, 2008 we offer map making on your behalf for a fee:

1. Give us an overall theme and title for your map.

2. Give us up to 25 locations with any amount of detail: Name, Street, City, State, Zip, Country, picture, movie, and/or your comments

3. Send us USD $100 via PayPal.

4. We will produce a map hosted on Mapicurious.com, our partner services, and you will have your information in portable form (KML).

We have a lot of talented Mapicurious staffers to make impressive maps - take advantage while you can.

Businesses - Have a list of addresses to be coded and plotted on a map? Check with us on details, and we will convert to usable map data for a nominal fee.

Thanks,

Maps

Frequently Asked Questions - FAQs

A friend told me about her map. How do I find it?
If you don’t have a link to the map from your friend, you can use the “Search for Maps” function in the Mapicurious Navigation box. You can search their name or e-mail as a “Map Manager” or search for another term if you know some specifics about the map like the “Anchor City”, “Title” or “Description”.

Are you an owner of a listed business?
Congratulations on getting noticed! We offer some interesting options to get even more exposure such as the ability to place “rich media balloons” so a personalized message goes to visitors that happen upon your Mapicurious listing. Please contact us if you are interested in enhancing your brand.

How do I add a data point?
Adding data points is easy. If you have already registered as a Map Manager and entered the basic description for your map, you will see a “Data Point Editor”. Click on the “Create New Location” link and it will take you to a form. You will need to get the Latitude and Longitude for a particular address (geocode.com is a good place to go) and enter the rest of the information. If you don’t provide the coordinates, our scrubbers will fill it in, but it may take some time. After entering a data point, zoom in using the satellite or hybrid views to verify it’s mapped right.

How many data points can I add to a single map?
You can have up to 25 data points on a single map. Why 25? It’s a nice sounding number, plus you don’t want to make your map too cramped. If you have more data points, create another map, since it’s free!

How many maps can I manage?
As many as you want! Don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of storage space so create as many maps as your imagination desires.

What does being a Map Manager mean?
A Map Manager means you’re willing to share your geocentric experiences with the rest of the world.

Find a Map with Our Tag Cloud

There are so many ways to finds maps of interest on Mapicurious: you can search for maps, you can visit related maps to the map you are currently viewing, you can pick from a list of the most popular and newest maps, and you can search by map tags using the tag cloud at the bottom of the page.

To use the tag cloud, just click on a term. The term will take you to a list of maps with that specific tag.

The tags with the biggest lettering are what Mapicurious has the most of.

The color can indicate a new term on the tag cloud or a popular search done by other users.

I update these about once a month. Give it a try!

Thanks,

Maps