web site: google maps - my maps
I have posted a few entries as of late on the Organic blog about Web 3.0, once on the new Adobe Thermo software coming out and another on the creepy AI direction the web is starting to take. The one thing I haven’t posted about is the idea of the mobile web continuing to explode, more people using smarter devices and more useful applications being developed for them.
So I am going to just come right out and say that I LOVE the My Maps feature on Google. This feature allows you to save points on a map and add notes, pictures, and icons. It is a great way to see how close things you are planning on doing on a trip are in relation to each other, locate nearby businesses on your route, and just generally amazingly useful things.
Although I can’t post it here, because it contains contact information for the people I am interviewing in LA next week for Organic, I just created an awesome map for my trip. I mapped out all the interviews, but also added icons for nearby cafes that have internet access, restaurants that people have been recommending, and the best LA wine stores from Dr. Vino’s blog.
It’s so fun, but it is also an INCREDIBLE tease as…
1. It doesn’t work on my Motorola Q
2. There is no export to GPS units for cars
So, there is no way to have the technology tell me that whilst I am driving that there is an awesome wine bar coming up about 10 miles away and I should take a detour to go check it out. Again, I am back to printed out maps and planning where I am going the day before hand. I long for the day when technology can actually service spontaneity.
Still, even with the limitations of what I can and can’t do with my phone… pairing a site like Yelp with the Google Maps mobile app is pretty powerful. It is a power that I have grown accustom to in life, and a power that I am going to miss so very much when I go smartphoneless in Europe for 18 days. A time when a technology like that could have really come in handy.
I’ve been techno-spoiled.
Update: I just found a website that lets you convert your Google My Maps into GPX or upload to your Garmin GPS unit. While this does nothing to solve the problem with my Motorola Q, I’m sure that there is some GPS-enabled cell phone out there that would accept GPX files. Since I happen to be renting a GPS unit in LA, I am going to test out how this all works (rental companies might not let you upload to their devices). If it is a success, then Tom and I are going to be vacationing future style with a European GPS device rigged with our special wine and food lovers dream map. Hurray!!
technorati tags: google my maps
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