MSN UK - Local Maps with Local Information

MSN UK - Local Maps with Local Information

Microsoft new service for the United Kingdom:

"a market-leading range of data to allow people to conduct personalised searches of any UK neighbourhood and create an-easy-to-understand map, with all relevant information displayed succinctly on one page."



MSN UK overlay Local POI (Points of Interest) for the current map, panning or zooming automatically updates the map with more local information based on users choices in the sidebar.

The coloured polygons represent the local constituencies though out the UK.

One option that is interesting is 'Flood Layer' though not currently available - issues with Crown Copyright and the Environment Agency? ononemap.com has the same issue.




property portal Propertyfinder.com and Virtual Earth (now Bing) developers shoothill.com
Find out where "Risers & Fallers" are with this heatmap

Overall , lots of data, managed in a way that it is not totally overload the base maps [TeleAtlas, Ordnance Survey and Collins Bartholomew background maps available].
A good selection of local information is currently available.

Bird Eye View is available but local information is not overlayed - am sure Multimap has this available (Multimap now owned by Microsoft)
See http://www.multimap.com/s/JV2Swe8T
for points in Bird Eye View.

Source:
http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/msn-offers
-localised-property-info-service-608518

Yahoo Maps Update February 2009

Yahoo Maps Update February 2009

Yahoo Maps has had an update that seems to concentrate on localization
International Support is improved overall.


Italian Maps Mode and Controls

Yahoo make it far easier to change language, the page/map tiles do have to refresh in order to view the localised maps. Enlgish to Italian shown.


Español Mapas, Maps for Rome Spanish Version.


French Canadian Maps available too.

• Yahoo updates to US, US-Español, Canadian and Canadian French Mapping sites.
• A language selector, easy selection from English, French, Italian, Spanish and German.
• A miles/km selector, distances can be quickly changed.
• Print page improvements
• Drag/Pan/Zoom functionality for Print page maps.
• Collapsible driving directions vertical to save space.
• Driving Directions made wider and in a larger font.
• Interactive map controls on the Print page. Useful for tweaking before printing.
  

Source:
http://www.ygeoblog.com/blog/2009/02/25/yahoo-maps-%E2%80%93-enhanced-international-support/

Yahoo! Zimbra Maps - New! & Updated Yahoo! Local API

Yahoo! Zimbra Maps - New!

"Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop is the next-generation email application"

Easily set up Zimbra, Yahoo! Mail Plus, AOL and Gmail email accounts with the Account Wizard

Web mash-ups

• View addresses as Yahoo! Maps
• Automatically detect your location and find points of interest with Yahoo! Local
• Preview web pages at thumbnails instead of opening a browser
• See your calendar schedule from within an email message if you hover over a date
• Web Search powered by Yahoo! is built directly into Zimbra Desktop

Larger View

Updated Yahoo! Local API
Other Yahoo Local News is that Version 3 of the Local API has been released.
One new feature is the ability to find locations along a route
Here is an example XML output
http://tinyurl.com/6xc8n9
For this map and nearest pizza restaurants
http://cartosoft.com/lab/ygeo/index.htm
"We are releasing a new version of the Yahoo! Local API (V3), that gives developers a key new feature – the ability to search for convenient points of interest for a given user defined route. For example, as you are driving from San Francisco to Sacramento, you could search for a Starbucks or for a hardware store."

The RESTful API now includes a “route” parameter that is a series of latitude/longitude coordinates, with the first pair of coordinates as the starting point and the last pair of coordinates as the ending point. A string sent as the route paramater would be structured as follows:

lat1 long1,lat2 long2,...,latn longn

The API returns XML, JSON, or serialized PHP"

Yahoo Local - GeoSpatial Searches

Yahoo Local - GeoSpatial Searching

eh?
Results from searches can now be interactively expanded/refined by geographical location.

*Top Tip - You need to use the 'Expand' Map when in 'Shrink' Map Mode



After a search is returned you can expand or shrink the circle


In this case expanding gets you a wider area of results

A Nice Touch! - One over Google Maps there?


UK Users will have to sit and wait, this does not work in Yahoo Local UK. (yet)

More info on Geospatial techinques


Found via DigitalEarthBlog


The Official Post on this

Yahoo! Go 3.0 (Beta) with Maps

Yahoo! Go 3.0 (Beta) with Maps




Yahoo! Go 3.0 services:

• oneSearch
• Yahoo! Calendar
• Yahoo! Address Book
• Yahoo! Local
• Yahoo! Maps
• Yahoo! News
• Yahoo! Sports
• Yahoo! Finance
• Yahoo! Entertainment
• Yahoo! Weather
• Flickr
• Yahoo! Mail
  

"Yahoo! Go 3.0 connects your device to these Yahoo! services in real time. You can manage your contacts on the device and changes are synchronized with your Yahoo! account. The application uses widgets to display information from your Yahoo! services. Download provides a basic set of Yahoo! Go 3.0"



Local & Maps searches for and provides information and images specific to a location or business. The results of the search show up on the display as a

map with pinpoint links to a list of items including:

• web sites
• mobile-friendly web sites
• businesses with addresses, telephone numbers, driving directions, maps, and ratings and reviews
  

Results will vary based on what you search for and the location set. Local & Maps remembers the last location mapped so that you can get the information again immediately.

Other ways to get information relevant to a location are listed at the Local & Maps position of the carousel:

• Map View for the location at the top of the display
• City guide about places to eat, drink, stay, visit, shop and more
• Find nearby... with lists of categorized goods and services
• Driving directions for turn-by-turn instructions for getting from A to B
• Traffic Watch where you can check traffic incidents for your location and for special routes you define.
  

*Local & Maps is only available in versions for the United States of America currently.

If your device has GPS, you can use it with Local & Maps.

related links:
http://beta.m.yahoo.com/

http://mobile.yahoo.com/local
(opening 9am PST/5pm GMT 08/01/2008)

Supported phone/device list
http://mobile.yahoo.com/go/phones;_ylt=Ai3Qyh0abqfrpE_8BfnHMAFltQcJ
(N82...?)

See the Tour
http://mobile.yahoo.com/go/tour

Yahoo Local UK Changes

Yahoo Local UK and Ireland Changes Mapping





Now uses Map24 to search locally

The maps are available either in a Static or Dynamic Mode. Search radius can be applied in static mode. Carefully with Firefox in dynamic mode as panning can cause firefox to close without warning (a map24 api bug?).

Blogged by Mapperz in Canada

StreetAdvisor

Find out about the local area before you move


http://streetadvisor.com/

"StreetAdvisor is the easy way to find out what people REALLY think about the street they live in. It’s a place where people can finally voice their opinions about where they live, have lived or simply visited"

Using a search you report on Mobile Phone Coverage, Nightlife, Schools and many other amenities.
A very useful service where the more that use it the better the service becomes.


mapperz