Why give use plain old google maps to get to your destination, when you could use a Bing Treasure Map,? Bing Maps now have a whole host of Map Apps including Twitter Maps (because who doesn't want to know what their neighbors are tweeting about), Photosynth Maps (because all things photosynth are wondrous and enjoyable), or the Treasure Map shown above, part of the Destination Maps app (because who doesn't love a hand drawn map, especially one with a big red X on it).
Geography students from Kansas State University have mapped the Seven Deadly Sins as committed by US residents. The results are pretty interesting, and arguably predictable in many cases. I enjoy that the Greed and Envy maps are so reflective of each other. The sources of the data used to create the spacial distributions is unclear, but an interesting perspective none the less.
An interesting study out of Columbia University's Spatial Information Design Lab, tries to map art, music and fashion events in New York. They mapped the buzz using geotagged images of events from Getty Images.
Perhaps not the most scientifically sound way of doing it, but an interesting point of view. This reminds me a bit of San Francisco's City Sense.
The Baby Name Wizard has mapped baby name trends over time. If you want to know where and when a baby name was popular in the United States, just type in the name and explore the maps. The maps are viewable by year, highlighting the peak year and the trends over time.
Guide to Get Lost is a student project by Emily CM Anderson. I don't know a whole lot about the project, but I kind of like it that way. There is something really charming and inspirational about wanting to get lost. And even more charming about needing a guide to do it. I'm just going to sit and enjoy that thought for a while.
A picture is worth a thousand words, or rather a mouthful of drool. Eatbite.com helps you figure out what you want to eat, using a picture flashcard method. You scroll through photos of food from New York restaurants and when your mouth starts to water and you tummy grumble, you can hit BITE to see the restaurant on a map. Images can be sorted by location, price, or descriptive tags. The site's users are encouraged to post their own food pictures and add comments or tags to other people's images. I like this idea a lot. It combines a few simple features to provide a minimal but useful application that takes into account the emotional aspect of making decisions. (Found through Springwise).
We all make decisions based on emotions. Andy Whitlock has tried to simplify these decisions for us by mapping points of interest based on feelings. He is currently testing I Feel maps for 3 cities: London, New York and Toronto. Users can choose their current emotion and see what others in the city do when the feel naughty, energetic, broke or hungover (amongst others). The maps are just in the beginning phases and looking for more contributions.
Wanderlust is a fun infographic map from GOOD Magazine. It maps the most famous journeys of all time. Factual and fictional adventures are mashed up together onto one map. Each trip has information and images along the route. Journeys range from Amelia Earhart's round the world trip to the route from Around the World in 80 Days.
Artist Sebastian Campion currently has an interesting exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde, Denmark. Social Souvenir is an interactive exhibit reflective of current online trends. The museum is selling 300 t-shirts for 125 DKK each. The t-shirt is black with white text, forming a phrase inspired by one of the museum's artists. As each shirt is sold, they are removed from the tangible half of the exhibit and transitioned into the virtual half, a large map. The t-shirt owner's address are marked on the map. I like the evolution of the exhibit from offline to online. It's very reflective of our social interactions today.
So what do you do when an elephant keeps destroying your crops at harvest? You give him a SIM card, of course. In Ol Pejeta, Kenya, two of the most destructive wild elephants were equipped with SIM cards. Every time the elephants cross one of the town's virtual fences, the rangers are alerted via text message of the intrusion. The early warning allows the ranger's to scare the elephants off before they reach the fields. The tech savvy approach to wildlife regulation has greatly benefited the elephants and the community, reducing the destruction of both animals and crops. The elephants whereabouts can also be tracked by conservationists and internet users via Google maps.
