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Uncategorized: Geo-coding news
Published on 25/02/07
by Zac Echola
There’s something interesting to me about pinning the news to a map. MappedUp is a feed reader that adds your feeds to a nicely designed, although lacking in great detail, grid (above):
MappedUp is an application that tracks a large number of RSS news sources and displays their latest items on a world map, geographically and in real-time.
They offer a .swf to embed the piece in your page or if you prefer, screen savers for your computer. And like every web 2.0 company, they’re in beta right now so the application itself is rife with errors and inflexibility (right now, you can only add 5 tags and 5 feeds–and I’ve yet to figure out how to get rid of the default feeds.
It’s basically Nintendo Wii’s News Channel plus some good ideas poorly executed.
There are literally hundreds of cool map mash-ups that offer greater information detail via Google maps.
There are numerous reasons why traditional media outlets need to tap into geo-coding information. Take Chicagocrime.org for example. Police blotters usually offer up incident addresses every morning. Tapping into those data resources and serving up relevant maps can only serve their readership for the better.
It’s not just gossip fodder for nosey neighbors.
Think about the restaurant/resort/bar guides on local news Web sites. Utilizing Google’s map API can turn walls of text into useful information that can be consumed quickly and continously.
The end. Or is it?
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