Open Street Map & FireFox 3.5 (RC1) Geolocation

Open Street Map & FireFox 3.5 (RC1) Geolocation

update 30th June 2009
FireFox 3.5 is officially released
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html

FireFox 3.5 Download Visualization Map (& Stats)
http://downloadstats.mozilla.com/

Question where is Geolocation support in Firefox 3.5?

TOOLS>PAGE INFO> PERMISSIONS> Share Location

@Mapperz original post:

FireFox 3.5 (RC1) now has Geolocation built-in this has very distinct advantages.
"Websites that use location-aware browsing will ask where you are in order to bring you more relevant information, or to save you time while searching. Let’s say you’re looking for a pizza restaurant in your area. A website will be able to ask you to share your location so that simply searching for “pizza” will bring you the answers you need... no further information or extra typing required."

An important note privacy:

"When you visit a location-aware website, Firefox will ask you if you want to share your location.

If you consent, Firefox gathers information about nearby wireless access points and your computer’s IP address. Then Firefox sends this information to the default geolocation service provider, Google Location Services, to get an estimate of your location. That location estimate is then shared with the requesting website.

If you say that you do not consent, Firefox will not do anything."

Okay this a mapping blog and here the best FireFox 3.5 (RC1) Geolocation Example: On a map.


In Firefox 3.5 (RC1) you will be prompt to 'share location' allowing
will enable the geolocation tool.
Here map quickly finds the IP address and geocodes this returning the map for your ISP.
This then starts bringing up an OpenStreetMap with wiki poi & placenames (from geonames.org)

Here is the link to that Geolocating map (Geolocation will only work if your using FireFox 3.5)
http://3liz.org/geolocation/ (well done 3liz.com)

Mapperz

Firefox 3 - Pledge Map

Firefox 3 released
update 17/06/2008 Firefox 3 is now available to download (if you download today you contribute to a world record -hopefully)



http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/?p=downloadday

Firefox 3 - Pledge Map


*Map current on Monday 16th June 5pm GMT.

Firefox 3 is due for release on 17th June 2008. They are attempting to break a new world record for the highest amount of downloads with a 24 hour period.
The current pledges are 1,358,652 and counting - expect the actual amount to be a lot higher.



For a full rundown of what is new and/or improved go to the Field Guide
http://www.dria.org/wordpress/archives/2008/06/12/655/

New Live Maps - Goes Live +KML Overlay

New Live 'Search' Maps - Goes Live


New cleaner version of Live Search Maps

and the 3D gets smoother....


Brighton Pier in 3D in FireFox.

Look for the Loader

The Globe show the data loading/rendering for the view.

quick guide -

Shortcut keys...
Home [Button] - Birds Eye -straight down
Page up [Button] - Zooms Out
Page Down [Button] - Zooms in
Cursor keys - Pan in keys direction
Shift - Pivot on that location
Control (Ctrl) Key - tilts and rotates (with mouse)
B - Birds Eye View

Click 'N' (North) on the controls resets the direction to North.

Control and Shift keys can be use with the mouse.

Have a Play - http://maps.live.com/


Some more details coming out.

Codenamed Gemini is Version 2 of Live Maps based on the Virtual Earth 6 Engine

New Features include KML overlay (a global accepted spatial dataset now?)

Seems only points are supported so far here is an example

Google Maps KML overlay

Now Live Maps KML Overlay

Same KML URL but the route(polyline) is missing - though does allow you to subscribe to the KML via RSS

Much more information in more detail is available from the official blog
http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

Google Earth Blog has a very good articial on Basic KML supported by Microsoft
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2007/10/microsoft_virtual
_earth_supports_ba.html

Mapperz

New Version of Live Maps Launches

A new version of Live Maps Launches (Live Local, Virtual Earth, Microsoft)


In Summary

• Firefox support (officially supported) for 3D mapping (hooray)
• Ratings and Reviews of Business Listings and Details page enhancements (USA Only)
  
• Subscribe to a Collection via RSS.
• Area Calculations and Drawing Enhancements
• Traffic and Driving Directions Enhancements
  
• Address-Only Geocoding
• Live Search Maps for Outlook is Updated

• Twitter 3D map in Virtual Earth (see link)
  

In detail here