Google introduced a new feature to its Google Maps today, making mashups easier for even those with limited or no coding skills. The feature is called “My Maps” and it lets anyone create mashups by essentially pointing, clicking, dragging and dropping. You can choose to make the resulting map private or public. There were also tools that allow you to draw on the map and outline areas, as well as the ability to add your own text, photos and videos.

Here is a mashup I made of SPNO locations

SPNO Locations

A PhD student (Imran Haque) from Stanford University has created a neat application harnessing Google Earth and US Census data. gCensus is the resulting website and application that provides a way to access geographic data freely without having to use a GIS software package. It only provides limited data presentation of three states currently because of the large data sets, but he has made this project an open source project, so over time, the amount of data available to be displayed will grow. A article detailing the initial project development can be found on ExtremeTech. Now if only we could get something like this in Canada…

A gCensus map of the population per block in Berkeley, CA.

The OCLC WorldMap (Online Computer Library Center) presents national data about libraries — size of collections, number of users, expenditures, staffing — in a very nice interactive map. Via The Map Room