31 August 2005

What Mapquest is looking like these days : http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?city=Wilkes%2dBarre&state=PA&country=United%20States (still no satellite photos).

Web 2.0 for Designers :
“… content will be more important than its container in this next phase [of the Web]…Tom Curley, CEO, Associated Press (keynote speech to the Online News Association Conference on Nov. 12, 2004. According to Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, "Web 2.0 is a world of thin front ends and powerful back ends". : http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2005/08/30/what_is_web_20.htm on article at http://www.digital-web.com/articles/web_2_for_designers/
- Writing semantic markup (transition to XML)
- Providing Web services (moving away from place)
- Remixing content (about when and what, not who or why)
- Emergent navigation and relevance (users are in control)
- Adding metadata over time (communities building social information)
- Shift to programming (separation of structure and style)

http://www.gmdir.com/ has approximately 175 Google Map examples in the Directory todate.

Here is a simple Google API example that gets one into the world of; var xmlFileName = "datawhatever.xml" http://www.fadedshadow.com/mapping/appmaptest3.php (but requires a php server? is there a way to use a simple Excel.xls file to start learning about this approach?), or can I use something like this sample xml file? http://www.fadedshadow.com/mapping/data-all.xml
Good example using "layers" notion : http://lordkingsquirrel.com/ebgmp/mac_county.html
Image and zoom functionality included in pop-up bubble : http://globalcoordinate.com/
Includes ability to add a point and a photo corresponding to that location : http://www.panoramio.com/
SourceForge Google Maps hacking discussion : http://sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_search=forums&forum_id=388073&group_id=113492&words=google+map

An example of the "Band Apart" philosophy : (Die Außenseiterbande) http://www.bfi.org.uk/booksvideo/video/details/bandeapart/background.html

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"It's not as if one day you'll just look down, and discover that you're on the yellow brick road, living the life of your dreams; but that one day you'll just look back and discover you always have been." - The Universe

30 August 2005

Interesting timelime at http://www.bbsr.edu/pubs/ar98_cover/ar98_time/ar98_time.html

Charles Web Debugging Proxy : http://www.xk72.com/charles/ enables a developer to view all of the HTTP traffic between their machine and the Internet. This includes requests, responses and the HTTP headers (which contain the cookies and caching information).

Map resource links : http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/guides/maps/maplinks.htm

"That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in the next." - John Stuart Mill, British philosopher, economist (1806-1873)
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson, US poet (1871-1962)
"Vision is the art of seeing things invisible." - Jonathan Swift, Irish clergyman, satirist (1667-1745)
"Character is doing what's right when nobody is looking." - JC Watts, US congressman (b.1957)
"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are." - Anais Nin, US author (1903-1977)
"There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer." - Ansel Adams, US photographer (1902-1984)
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain, US novelist (1835-1910)
"Those who cannot tell what they desire or expect, still sigh and struggle with indefinite thoughts and wishes." - Ralph Waldo Emerson, US essayist, poet (1803-1882)
"Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment." - Robert Benchley, US author (1889-1945) http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=51794

29 August 2005

eLearning map at http://www.atenea.it/international/Etna/map/e-learning.jpg

......................................... Interesting Timeline / Infographic ---->

Tufteisms from The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (1983):
Graphical excellence is the well-designed presentation of interesting data - a matter of substance, of statistics, and of design.
Graphical excellence consists of complex ideas communicated with clarity, precision, and efficiency.
Graphical excellence is that which gives to the viewer the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space.
Graphical excellence is nearly always multivariate.
The revelation of the complex.
Graphical excellence requires telling the truth about data.
Graphics must not quote data out of context.
Above all else, show the data.
Clear, detailed, and thorough labeling should be used to defeat graphical distortion and ambiguity.
Write out explanations of the data on the graphic itself.
Label important events in the data.
The number of graphic dimensions depicted should not exceed the number of data dimensions.
Forgo chart junk.
Maximize the data-ink ratio.
Erase non-data and redundant-data ink.
Revise and edit. From http://www.cartotalk.com/index.php?showtopic=285

Cartography is Dead (Thank God!) (download/view the PDF here originally published in Cartographic Perspectives number 45, Spring 2003) by Denis Wood : http://makingmaps.owu.edu/mm/cartographydead.pdf

Throughout history maps have taken on meaning well beyond their practical application of providing directions. Artists have always been interested in maps. As author Julia Cameron stated, "The artist is a cartographer; he maps the world. The world within him, and the world as he sees it." http://www.johnsonese.com/ (This show will feature art about or made from maps by 16 artists from across the US: Kim Baranowski, Aileen Bassis, Pip Brant, Eileen Doughty, Rodney Ewing, Dawn Gavin, Pamela Goffinet, Greg Haberny, Tamara Kostianovsky, Lilianne Milgrom, Garry Noland, Betsy Packard, June Szabo, Adrianne Watson,Scot Wittman, Jeff Woodbury).

Best example of muti-panel animated GIF http://blog.loaz.com/media/crazy.gif simulating linear motion.

Safety themed imagery : http://images.google.co.th/imgres?imgurl=http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/ashore/images/ormelearning.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/ashore/articles/ORMe-learning.htm&h=654&w=780&sz=138&tbnid=7AvlfbvMyPQJ:&tbnh=118&tbnw=141&hl=en&start=48&prev=/images%3Fq%3De-learning%26start%3D40%26imgsz%3Dxxlarge%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

"For every person with a spark of genius, there are a hundred with ignition trouble. - ?

26 August 2005

How to make your own compass : http://www.units.muohio.edu/dragonfly/find/find/compass.shtml

"Meaning seems at its root to be about connections: between individuals, between groups of individuals, and, also, within individuals, in that it can be experienced powerfully as new or better links between previously disconnected internal bits of us." : Understanding Meaning : http://www.management-issues.com/display_page.asp?section=bayler&id=2311

World Wild Web 'small pieces loosely joined'

"Mapmaker, Mapmaker, make me a Map" : http://www.hbschool.com/activity/mapmaker/mapmaker.html drawn by kids from verbal descriptions.

Themed mazes are powerful kinesthetic learning tools. The synergy between the physical act of exploring a maze while mentally interacting with the curriculum engages and educates visitors of all ages and creates a memorable experience. : http://www.minotaurmazes.com World's No.1 Maze Company : http://www.mazemaker.com/
Labyrinth Resource Centre : http://www.labyrinthos.net/f_homepage.htm
Visual thinking puzzles : http://www.scottkim.com/

"... as you suddenly find the path that you sought lies beneath your skipping feet." - The Universe

25 August 2005

FlashEarth which lets you compare Google Maps to MSN’s Virtual Earth. : http://www.flashearth.com/

First example use of Google Maps JavaScriptAPI : http://www.1-900-870-6235.com/Navigation/EdmontonMap.htm

"An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail." - Dr. Edwin Land

24 August 2005

Interesting (?) timeline feature "where you can walk through your map in the order that your photos were taken." : http://www.smugmug.com/hack/maps-overview . Discussed at http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2005/08/smugmug_maps_go.html

"In our practices words and the choice of words is very important, but there are times when we have all felt that if only we could just show the client what we mean, a break through could be made"...: http://www.sachinternational.com/library/higher_diploma_seminars/mark_ann_turnbull.htm

Google Maps API homepage : http://www.google.com/apis/maps/ . Online documentation : http://www.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/ . Joined http://groups-beta.google.com/group/Google-Maps-API?msg=subscribe to start development in this environment. Good tutorial http://blog.kylemulka.com/?p=287 from one of the leading hacks.

Pay Per Call Progress Report : http://www.pandia.com/sw-2005/46-ingenio.html , and new announcement : http://www.netimperative.com/2005/08/18/Miva_pay_per_call Billed as an alternative to traditional pay-per-click search advertising, the pay-per-call service allows advertisers to create ads and distribute them across the network of partner websites.

Newest anti-Adware program : http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/?ref=afl_infopackets as well as free virus scanners, and some can even be run online; Trend Micro's Housecall (will scan your computer for viruses and spyware directly from the web(, andPanda ActiveScan (scans, disinfects and eliminates over 90,000 viruses, worms and trojans). From http://www.askbobrankin.com/free_virus_scan.html

(from http://www.illumine.co.uk/hints-quotations.htm) :
"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination." - Albert Einstein
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." - Scott Adams
"What we see depends mainly on what we look for." - Sir John Lubbock
"It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows." - Epictetus (c.55 - c.135)
"Humour is by far the most significant activity of the human brain." - Edward De Bono
"Pain is temporary, quitting lasts for ever." - Lance Armstrong, 6 time Winner of Tour De France
"Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking." - Goethe
"A wonderful harmony arises from joining together the seemingly unconnected." - Heraclitus c.500 BC
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T.S. Eliot
"Every creative act involves...a new innocence of perception, liberated from the cataract of accepted belief." - Arthur Koestler
"Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor." - Aristotle
"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." - Oscar Wilde on Creativity
"The basis of creativity has always been a new connection. To make connections would take hours using words. Your subconscious has to use pictures." - William JJ Gordon
"Dreamers of dreams may be pathfinders; but they may be mere vagrants. Of those who depart from the pavements, only a few are explorers: the rest are mere jaywalkers." - Gilbert Ryle
"Don't be afraid to take a big step. You can't cross a chasm in 2 small jumps." - David Lloyd George
"Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort." - Franklin D Roosevelt

23 August 2005

Most popular 250 tags, the bigger the text, the more active it is. : http://www.technorati.com/tags/

It makes compelling intuitive sense to apply spatial conventions to Internet navigation: after all, we understand how to navigating in the real-world so it should be a simple matter to transfer these competencies to online environments... http://www.a-website.org/mnemosyne/sitemap.htmlhttp://www.gvisit.com/record.php?sid=0e8020a1947a3458bd59e95858b727e7" type="text/javascript">put in HTML to generate http://www.gvisit.com/map.php?sid=0e8020a1947a3458bd59e95858b727e7

"But what ... is it good for?" - Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music'; self.ql_skeyphrase='guitar%20music'; if(window.event) self.ql_sevent=window.event.srcElement; self.ql_timeout = setTimeout('ql_doMouseOver(1)', 1000); self.ql_isOverLink=true; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onclick="if(self.ql_timeout) clearTimeout(self.ql_timeout); self.ql_isOverTip = false; ql_closeiframe(); self.ql_skeyphrase='guitar%20music'; window.status='Search for: guitar music';return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; if(self.ql_timeout) clearTimeout(self.ql_timeout); self.ql_isOverTip = false; setTimeout('ql_closeiframe()', 1500); " href="http://www.qklinkserver.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=92&k=guitar%20music&st=1">guitar music is on the way out." - Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
"There is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments with unexpected outcomes." - Buckminster Fuller
"If at first, the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it." - Albert Einstein
"Instead o pouring knowledge into people's heads, we need to help them grind a new set of eyeglasses so that we can see the world in a new way." - J S Brown
"You see things: you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never are: and say 'Why not?'" - George Bernard Shaw in Bak to Methuselah
"All great discoveries are made by people whose feelings run ahead of their thinking." - C H Oakhurst
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." - Henry David Thoreau
"Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different." - Albert Szent Gyorgi
"Launching a breakthrough idea is like shooting skeet. People's needs change, so you must aim well ahead of the target to hit it." - Raymond Kurzweil
"Half the failures in life arise from pulling on one's horse as it is leaping." - Julius Hare, 1795 - 1855
"There is no limit to what a man can achieve as long as he doesn't care who get's the credit" -- Bob Woodruff. Coca Cola
"Think wrongly if you please, but in all cases think for yourself." - Doris Lessing
"Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprang up." - Oliver Wendell Holmes (All above from http://www.mycoted.com/creativity/quotes.php )

22 August 2005

GSV 1.0 (Giant-Ass Image Viewer) http://mike.teczno.com/giant/pan/ reproduces the same functionality as Google Maps, that is, draggable and zoomable images in your browser. It is a javascript on the client side and a python script on the server side which calculates which tiles are needed, cut them on the fly, and send them back to the client.
http://www.zoomify.com/ez/ uses a Flash approach.

GreatIdeas Map http://www.1-900-870-6235.com/eLearning/TheGreatIdeas.htm must have been referenced in Yahoo Group TJEDinAlberta (141 Members, Archives: Membership required; for families living in Alberta, who wish to implement a leadership model of education in their home. The method is described in A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver Van DeMille.) : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TJEDinAlberta/

Illuminating the Path:Table of Contents (also available as a 200 page book from IEEE Press for $35). Preface (84K PDF)Executive Summary (346K PDF)1. Grand Challenges (500K PDF)2. The Science of Analytical Reasoning (1.9MB PDF)3. Visual Representations and Interaction Technologies (4.6MB PDF)4. Data Representations and Transformations (560K PDF)5. Production, Presentation, and Dissemination (4.3MB PDF)6. Moving Research into Practice (848K PDF)7. Positioning for Enduring Success (108K PDF)Additional Reading (84K PDF)

Supporting Coherence with a 3D Instant Messenger Visualization : http://grouplab.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/papers/2002/02-Carmen.ChiWorkshop/02-Carmen.CHIWorkshop.pdf

Explorers by period or region : http://www.win.tue.nl/cs/fm/engels/discovery/

Apparently there are 281 links to site : http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=linkdomain%3A1-900-870-6235.com&ei=UTF-8&fl=0&fr=slv1-&b=61

Embed a live version of a website traffic map into your site : http://www.123count.com/add_map.cgi?user=count123&area= (requires a premium traffic account with them however).

"Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly, as when they discuss it freely." - Macaulay

12 August 2005

Yahoo! launches pay-per-call service : http://www.netimperative.com/2005/08/10/Yahoo_pay_per_call
Pay-Per-Call is billed as an alternative to traditional pay-per-click search advertising. .. The advertiser is only required to pay for the adverts that result in phone calls, in much the same way pay-per-click advertising only charges for visitors sent to a website. .. Users who have selected the retailer and offer, which best fits their needs, will be able to contact the advertiser directly by phone to make a purchase... The pay-per-call option will facilitate the development of personal customer communications and bespoke customer services through the internet.
Added Zooming functionality to "Happiness" and "Love" roll overs on http://www.1-900-870-6235.com/eLearning/TheGreatIdeas.htm


HandDrawnMapPrint HandDrawnMapPrint, originally uploaded by rwild.
Need to blog all development URLs (for example http://www.1-900-870-6235.com/eLearning/HandDrawnMap.htm ) to facilitate independent off-site access validation.

"If you could choose the easy way or the fun way, which would you choose? (Hint: Looking for the easy way usually means you're messing with the cursed how's. Besides, the fun way always turns out to be the easy way, no matter how things appear in the beginning. Although the reverse can hardly ever be said.)" - The Universe

11 August 2005

A mind map is a visual representation of ideas and concepts. The Emblaze mind map provides a snapshot of our entire company essence in a single visual map : http://www.emblaze.com/site/

A year old now --->
Labyrinths are thought to enhance right brain activity : http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/html/about_labyrinths.html
"A raft of new Internet sites and services is borrowing from hip-hop culture's mash-ups, which combine two tunes to produce an entirely new song. Likewise, hackers are combining the data and features of two or more Web sites, creating entirely new, independent Web mash-ups that in the best cases transcend either of their forebears (most mash-ups are free, noncommercial experiments by hackers who want to customize their own Web experience)" : http://images.businessweek.com/ss/05/07/mashups/index_01.htm
"Map Sites a Good Place to Find Searchers (5 Aug 2005) Looking up directions and using map sites are among the most common online activities, reports eMarketer. Some 85 percent of internet users in the U.S. have searched for maps or driving directions online (at number one, 88 percent do so to research specific topics; at number three, 64 percent search for news about current events). Hitwise data finds that Yahoo and MapQuest are the leading map sites. For the week ending July 23, Yahoo was the most-visited map site, with a 41 percent share, followed by MapQuest ,with 33.4 percent. Google's new site accounted for nearly 10 percent. From http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2005/08/05/map_sites_a_good_place_to_find_searchers/index.php

"You have an in-depth knowledge of information architecture and business analysis methodologies, but are also a creative thinker, with a desire to experiment with new ideas and solutions." (= me) from http://www.dynamicdiagrams.com/about/careers.html

10 August 2005

Google mapper: Take browsers to the limit : http://news.com.com/Google+mapper+Take+browsers+to+the+limit/2100-1038_3-5808658.html

Parthenon Graphics Timelines : http://chaos1.hypermart.net/PGHome.htm

"2. The James Burke hypermedia map
This is a single image with links to a variety of media sites all involving the author James Burke. Best known for the books and television series Connections and The Day the Universe Changed, Burke is the subject of this image map which presents a set of graphic links to outside content. (Burke did not create this site but it does fit well with his approach to writing 'connected' history of science material.)" From http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/wignall/idesign/03_1.htm

"Eric Grohe creates mural art that transforms the environment and communities as well." - http://www.ericgrohemurals.com/projects.html

From http://www.artknowledgenews.com/?q=quotes&from=18 ;
‘If you know where it’s going, it’s not worth doing." - Lee Strasberg (That’s the life of the artist.) "Here be dragons..." - Ancient map notation indicating threshold of the unknown.

"Art is not about thinking something up. It is the opposite -- getting something down. That is the Artist's Way." - Julia Cameron
"Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known." - Oscar Wilde
"An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture." - Jean Cocteau
"He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist." - St. Francis of Assisi
"A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts." Sir Joshua Reynolds
"Art is either plagiarism or revolution." - Paul Gauguin
"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without the work." - Emile Zola
"I've been doing a lot of abstract painting lately, extremely abstract. No brush, no paint, no canvas, I just think about it." - Steven Wright
"In life you don't even have to know how you got where you are, in order to get where you want to go." - The Universe
"Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic." - Dave Barry