MakeUseOf Directory » Mashups

Trulia Crime Maps: Find Out Crime Rates In Your Area On An Interactive Map

azim — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 01:01:34 +0000

If you want to move to a certain area but would like to check and compare its crime rate to your area or other nearby areas, now you can with Trulia’s Crime Maps. It is an interactive online map application that lets you view crime rates by state, county, city and even postal code. Crime rates are shown as black circles with the number of recent crimes written in each circle. The bigger the circle, the higher the crime rate.

You can zoom in to see crime numbers in specific neightbourhoods and view street intersections with the most crimes. Click on a crime circle to see more detailed information – types of crimes committed (theft, assault, robbery etc), recent crime history and exact crime locations.

The black circles show the recent crimes (last 10 days), whereas the heatmap shows the long term crime trends of the area indicating incidents per block per year.

Features:

View crime rates by state, country, city, neighbourhood and postal code on an interactive map.
Filter crimes by type (shooting, robbery, assault, arson etc) and zoom in to see the intersections with the most crimes.
View crime trends by hour and by day.
Provided by Trulia, a real estate search engine.
Free, no registration to use the app.
Similar tools: CrimeReports and SpotCrime.

Check out Trulia Crime Maps @ www.trulia.com/crime

Rome2rio: Travel Directions By Auto, Train & Plane

abhijeet — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 01:01:17 +0000

Rome2rio is a newly launched Google Maps mashup that aims to simplify the hunt for accurate directions by plane, train and cars between two destinations around the world. Enter the from and to cities and then get all kinds of route information. It can search for 670 airlines worldwide (also showing the airfares that are sourced from Kayak.com), trains in Europe, China and India, driving directions as well as directions via ferries in some cases.

The good thing about the tool is that the interface is easy to understand, and it pops up things like the number of flights and fares when you hover over the details in the sidebar on the right. The directions are also shown neatly on the map.

For more info watch demo video below:

Features

Travel directions by train, plain and car.
Built on Google Maps.
Uses Kayak.com to show the airfares.
Searches 670 airlines worldwide, and trains in Europe, China and India.
Similar tools: RouteFriend, Route4Me, Route Planner, POIs Along A Route, UMapper and The Route Planner.

Check out Rome2rio @ www.rome2rio.com (By Abhijeet from GT Mobiles)

SaleLocator: Finds & Maps Local Shop Deals

Israel Nicolas — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 03:00:15 +0000

Day sales are always a great delight for bargain hunters. However finding a sale that will suit your shopping trip can be very challenging. If you are looking for the next big promotion in your city, then you should check out SaleLocator. This tool provides a database promo deals in your locality, laid out on a map so that you can plan your shopping for the day.

Using SaleLocator is pretty straightforward. All you need is to enter your city in the field to bring up a list of deals. Click an item to view the details of the sale including when and where it will take place. You can also click to view the store map and directions.

While there are many deals listed in SaleLocator, you can likewise save the deals that you like to your dashboard. Browse by categories or use the search field to find specific types of deals in your area. It also allows you to save your searches for quick access in the future.

SaleLocator is cool web and iPhone app that focus on providing local retail information.This is especially useful for anyone who wants to discover new stores within the area and check out fresh places to find the best deals.

Features:

Plot local deals in Google Maps.
Change locations to find best deals in the city.
Emphasis on local retail information.
Save your recent searches and deals.
Browse deals through categories or by using the search field.
Sign in with Twitter or Facebook and share deals.

Check out SaleLocator @ www.salelocator.com

WhatWasThere: See How Cities Looked In The Past

MOin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:01:18 +0000

It is remarkable how places change with time. Have you ever wondered what your native city looked like in the past? If yes then What Was There is a website you should definitely visit.

What Was There is a wonderful website that lets people upload old photographs of places in the world. Visitors to the website can view these photographs by browsing to different locations on a map. You can see what different sections of your native city or any other place in the world used to look like. With each photograph there are details that you can view to get better information. Amongst other things, these details include the year the photo was taken. Sections of the photographs can be magnified to get a better look at those old photos.

Features:

A user friendly web service.
Helps see how places looked like in the past.
Lets you browse places via a map.
Lets people upload old photographs of sites in a city.
Covers numerous cities.
Similar tool: LookBackMaps, SepiaTown, Georeader, HistoryPin, SimpleGuideTool and VideoMap.
Also read related articles:

Check out What Was There @ www.whatwasthere.com (by MOin from ThumbPress)

Shipfinder: Find Ships At See

Israel Nicolas — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:01:16 +0000

If you are interested in marine navigation, then you should check out Shipfinder. This tool, based on Google Maps, plots ship vessels around the world and provide good data on each ship. Plotted ships can be filtered into various ship types and color-coded for easy searching.

With Shipfinder, you can view different ships as they sail through the oceans in almost real-time. You can click different filters such as cargo, dive vessel, dredger, high speed craft, tanker, military operation, and more. You can search for ships by typing in their call sign, destination, MMSI, or ship name. You can also go to a specific location using the search tab, Then click on a ship to read more information.

Ship finder is a great-way to find instant information on specific ships. This is especially useful if you are on a cruise and want to find out where the other ships are going to. The tool is also available in the iTunes app store.

Features:

Find ships position in Google Maps.
Filter ship plots by ship type.
Click on ships to view their full details.
Search different vessels by Name, MMSI, Call Name, and Destination.
Share link to specific location or embed map.
Similar tools: MarineTraffic and Sailwx.

Check out Shipfinder @ www.shipfinder.co

MapMyFollowers: Map Your Twitter Followers

Israel Nicolas — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 03:01:13 +0000

Are you interested in where your Twitter followers are on the map? If you are, then check out MapMyFollowers. This cool Twitter-based tool allows to map your twitter followers and see their locations on a Google Maps.

With this tool, you will have an idea where most of your friends are, making it especially useful if you need to find the most convenient place to meet with your Twitter friends.

To start using the app, you only need to provide your Twitter username and password. Once in, you can quickly see the map with a plot of your friends’ locations. You can also enter any username to see the follower map of your friends. More markers appear as you zoom into the map. Finally, you can get the HTML code to embed and share to your friends.

MapMyFollowers is a great tool for anyone who want to know where their Twitter friends are.

Features:

Free; only your Twitter account required.
Embed user map with HTML.
Zoom to map to find more markers.
View most common terms used by followers.
Also read 3 Cool Twitter & Google Maps Mashups You Should Check Out

Check out MapMyFollowers @ www.mapmyfollowers.com

DirectionsMap: Create Maps With Routes & Animated Street View

MOin — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 23:01:42 +0000

Have you ever tried finding your way through a map? The main problem with that is finding the exact route to take in order to reach your destination. The best way to explain the directions to some place is to show a map that has the route already outlined. This is exactly what Directions Map offers.

Directions Map is a free web service that lets you create a map with a directions route outlined on it. It creates your map by letting you enter the start and destination addresses, along with a number of other options. You can also select your own measurement units: imperial or metric.

Not only is the map given a route, but you can also view the Google Street View animation where available.

The best part about the maps is that they are embeddable. You can create a map of your business or workplace and then easily display it on your own blog or website.

Features:

A user friendly web service.
Lets you create maps with routes highlighted on them.
Provides the animated street view with most maps.
Provides an embeddable code with each map.
Similar tools: Quickmaps, Wherables, MapMyRun, Route Planner, MapOf.it, RideTheCity,
Also read related articles:

Check out “Directions Map” @ www.tripgeo.com/DirectionsMap.aspx (by MOin from ThumbPress)

Safe2Pee: Find Safe & Gender Neutral Toilets

abhijeet — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:01:06 +0000

Safe2Pee is a website (including a Google Maps mashup) that helps people find gender neutral, safe and accessible toilets which they can use without fear of discrimination or discomfort. Single stall and gender neutral bathrooms help not only the gender variant people but also benefit others like those demanding more privacy or parents with children.

The site lets you search for bathrooms across the United States and displays the results on a map. You can filter the results to find gender neutral and free bathrooms.

The site also lets people add a bathroom easily. You just need to fill in the details and go through an anti-spam check. For each bathroom, it also has more information like directions and comments made by other users. And you can also access the site from your mobile phone.

Features

Find safe and gender neutral bathrooms.
No sign up required to do a search.
Uses Google Maps to show the bathroom locations.
Provides information like address, directions and user comments.
Similar tools: SitOrSquat, TheBathroomDiaries and MizPee.

Check out Safe2Pee @ www.safe2pee.org (By Abhijeet from Guiding Tech)

Kayak Explore: Shows Where To Travel Based On Budget, Activities & More

abhijeet — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 23:01:32 +0000

Kayak Explore is a pretty interesting web based travel planning tool which lets you explore places based on the airfare you can afford, activities you intend to do, the temperature you like and much more. It’s a Google Maps mashup which lets you select your preferences and automatically updates the map marking the places you could visit.

Once you’ve narrowed down the destinations, you could click on them on the map, and check latest airfare and nearby hotels. The map updates accordingly, and finally you can check the reviews of a place and more information on Kayak’s main site. The results could also be shared with others via the webpage link.

Features

Show where to travel based on budget, activities you want to do and the weather of the destination.
Powered by Google Maps.
Also select places based on languages spoken.
Latest airfares and hotel reviews available.
Share the results via a link easily.

Check out Kayak Explore @ www.kayak.com/explore (via Lifehacker By Abhijeet from Guiding Tech)

ActiveMap: Maps Local Sports Activities

TehseenBaweja — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:01:33 +0000

Active.com is a great resource to find sports activities in your area; the only problem is that results displayed are too texty. AvtiveMap is a great tool that takes the Active.com data and places local sports activities onto an interactive map. You can filter the map by sports activity such as running, swimming, football and/or by a geographical location like state or zip code.

All the future events are marked in green colored dots, upcoming events in orange and all the past events are shown in red color. You can zoom in on the map to see individual events and click on any dot to see complete event information. Some activities like running and cycling also allow you to narrow results by choosing a sub-category.

Features:

See sports activities on an interactive map.
Easily distinguish between future, upcoming and past events.
Narrow down results by state or even zip code.
Click on any event to see specific details.
No registration required.

Visit ActiveMap @ www.dave.tycho.ws/ActiveMap/?loc=US&racetype=Running