Digital Media Assignment

CSC 186 Digital Meda

Personalized Mapping Tools

Objectives

Learn to create a personalized map and to embed it in your website.
Browse mashups which use Google maps and consider what we might do for Brushy Fork.

Costa Rica Travels

Last summer, my husband and a couple of friends, and I went to Costa Rica. I was the travel agent and put together the itinerary. I created the itnerary in the my maps section of maps.google.com.

View Costa Rica Itinerary in a larger map

In this assignment, we will explore what is currently possible with mapping tools.

Because of the recent disaster in Japan, many specialized maps have been developed:

The following site uses a Google map to predict the affected area of the damaged nuclear reactor: http://kuippa.sakura.ne.jp/nuk.html
The following site uses Google maps to show radition levels detected via the System for Prediction of Environment Emergency Dose Information(SPEEDI): http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=4870
The following site uses Google maps and crowd-sourcing to display radiation data: http://www.rdtn.org/
The following site uses Google maps to show a huge amount of information and links in Japan: http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/sendai_earthquake/google/map/sendai_earthquake_2011.html

For more applications of a less grave nature explore:

100 Things to do with Google Maps Mashups: http://sites.google.com/site/gmapsmania/100thingstodowithgooglemapsmashups
Wayfaring mashups site: http://www.wayfaring.com/explore/live
A video of some cool mashups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMlEggjjrik&feature=related

Note that some of these sites use relatively sophisicated coding in creating the mashup. If we want to use this kind of mashup for Brushy Fork, we will be able to do so with the help of the CSC497 students.

However, it is not hard to create a personalized map, and it is not hard to embed it in a blog or website.

We will work on both of these uses of personalized maps today.

Create a word document named yourusername-PA11.doc.
Explore the links provided above, reflecting upon how Brushy Fork might make good use of maps.
Inside your Word document, address the following:

Brushy Fork Idea 1: In a paragraph, describe an idea which uses maps and that you believe is practical and workable for the Brushy Fork website. Link to an example website which uses a map, describing how Brushy Fork's map would differ from your provided example.
Brushy Fork Idea 2: In a paragraph, describe a "wilder idea" which uses maps. Feel free to be really creative for this one! Link to an example website which uses a map, describing how Brushy Fork's map might differ from your provided example.

Reflect on how you might like to make use of a personalized map in your own blog or website. Your personalized map can be for any purpose, but the purpose must be real that you can articulate. (Examples: Places you have visited, places where your family lives, places which appear in your favorite movie, etc.)
Create your own personalized map and embed it into your website or blog as follows:

Create a personalized map which has a purpose (like I did above).
Your map must have at least 4 "location pins".
You can use any mapping site you wish but the site you use must provide embedding code to be able to post on your website or blog. I recommend maps.google.com or www.wayfaring.com because they are relatively easy to use.
Copy the embed code and paste it into your blog or website.
You may optioally include links from your location pins to images or videos, but this is not required.
Use atleast a paragraph of text near this embedded map to describe the purpose of the map.

Inside your word document, paste a link to the page of your website or the blog entry which constains your personalized embedded map.

When you are finished, upload your yourusername-PA11.doc to the appropriate location in Moodle.

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