New article on Religious Cyberscapes published in The Professional Geographer!

In what will go down as a shining example of need for patience when dealing with the world of academic publishing, Taylor, Matt and Mark's article on religious cyberscapes has finally been published in the print version of The Professional Geographer... and one issue earlier than expected at that!

While the online-only version has been up for just over a year already, we're happy to have this paper finally reach it's conclusion, nearly two years after its acceptance and well over two and a half years from the time we started working on it.

If you have institutional access, you can find the article on The Professional Geographer's website. If not, get in touch with one of us and we'll satisfy your sheepish craving.

When Google Maps Fails

With the start of the new semester we've not been posting as much but this shall change.  We've got some fun maps in the works.  Until then, we wanted to share this fun example of a Google Maps fail. Earlier we post an example of how the University of Kentucky was relabeled as Transylvania University.

Now apparently, Bally's Casino and Resort is inconspicuously tucked behind a Wal-Mart on the edge of Lexington, KY.  Who knew what lurked in the back alleys of a strip mall?  Thanks to Patrick Bigger who brought this to our attention.

Now we know why Google posts the disclaimer that "These directions are for planning purposes only"!!

Static ScreenShot

Google Map Maker in the U.S.

Google Maps has a tool called MapMaker which until recently was primarily used for countries for which there are not good maps. This obviously is problematic for Google if it wants to provide mapping services in these countries. The idea behind MapMaker is that users with on the ground experience or working from satellite imagery can trace roads, label towns, etc.

I highly recommend checking out Google MapMaker Pulse where you can watch in real-time (or close to real-time) as MapMaker edits are performed.

One of the results is that usable and digital maps are becoming available for many places for the first time. It is a great example of how user-generated data can be leveraged. It is also a great example of potential issues of power/control of maps, i.e., users are generating the edits but who "owns" the resulting map? MapMaker is NOT opensource like OpenStreetMap. It also highlights how a multi-billion dollar corporation can leverage free/donated labor to enhance a product they use to generate income. But of course, it makes the free Google Maps we use more useful. Clearly, tricky and complicated issues all around.

In any case, Google recently extended the MapMaker program into countries that already have good coverage, including the U.S. This means that users can add their own insights to Google Maps. There's a review process but it seems that edits are almost immediately entered into the system.

Edits to Broomfield, CO City Manager Office as seen in Google MapMaker Pulse

Edits to Broomfield, CO City Manager Office as seen in Google Maps
(note, that it indicates unverified edits but it was available with 15 minutes of the edit)

Google pulse is mesmerizing-- http://www.google.com/mapmaker/pulse