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Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Google Maps Mashups

Everybody loves Google Maps, right? (Just give the Big Brother paranoia a rest for a bit and check out some of the cool things that ol' bro can do.) Maybe you use it for driving directions like MapQuest, maybe you zoom in on your house to see if your car was parked there the day the satellite image was taken, or maybe you click the mouse around to follow your favorite trail. It's a tool - it's a toy. And that's just plain ol' Google Maps. Over at Google Maps Mania, they track "the websites, ideas and tools being influenced by Google Maps". There are a lot of people out there who take Google Maps and build on it - creating what some call "mashups". All of a sudden, a very useful tool gets customized to map specific information. Perhaps you wish to track the International Space Station or the Hubble telescope, track in realtime the commuter trains in Dublin, track the hurricanes of 2005, see all of the fast food joints in the U.S. (oh my god!), or figure out the distance of your favorite run. There are thousands of these tools (mashups). Maps always were cool, but now they're even cooler.

so sez tox senrab @ 12/14/2005 08:07:00 PM


..... "Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'" - Peter Maher ..... "It hurts up to a point and then it doesn't get any worse." - Ann Trason ….. "I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs." - Jesse Owens ..... "Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts." - Steve Prefontaine ..... "The gun goes off and everything changes... the world changes... and nothing else really matters." - Patti Sue Plummer ..... "Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible." - Doug Larson ..... "I have met my hero, and he is me." - George Sheehan ..... "Tough times don't last but tough people do." - A.C. Green ..... "Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired." - Jules Renard ..... "The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." - Juma Ikangaa ..... "Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must move faster than the lion or it will not survive. Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must move faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn't matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be moving." - Maurice Greene ..... "Good things come slow - especially in distance running." - Bill Dellinger ..... "Run hard, be strong, think big!" - Percy Cerutty ..... "Once you're beat mentally, you might as well not even go to the starting line." - Todd Williams ..... "The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy...It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed." - Jacqueline Gareau ..... "[Scientific testing] can't determine how the mind will tolerate pain in a race. Sometimes, I say, "Today I can die.'" - Gelindo Bordin ..... "Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport is about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at the last minute. Sport, like all life, is about taking risks." - Sir Roger Bannister ..... “There are as many reasons for running as there are days in the year, years in my life. But mostly I run because I am an animal and a child, an artist and a saint. So, too, are you. Find your own play, your own self-renewing compulsion, and you will become the person you are meant to be.” - George Sheehan ..... “Stadiums are for spectators. We runners have nature and that is much better.” - Juha Väätäinen …..