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Interesting online map technology: Smart Shanghai
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I'm on on record as scoffing at the silly term "mashup" and thinking that "Web 2.0" has been more impressive as a slogan than as a clearly-defined concept. Still, some of these new-fangled web sites are pretty interesting! Maps in particular -- they get better and better because of the combination (which is how you say "mashup" in English) of aerial photos, geographically-tagged information, user-supplied content, Ajax-based interactivity, and other adornments.
Recent example: this map of Shanghai, which lets you zoom in and out and arrow around, in a way that was novel when applied by Google maps; and, significantly, lets you search by street name, which is a big plus when you're getting to know a city. (You click on "Find Streets" and then choose from a drop-down list.) It doesn't zoom to a specific street address, in the fashion of Google Maps or similar applications; but it's useful in its own way.
Perhaps this kind of searchable map is already known far and wide to everyone but me. I don't know: the main other place I've seen it is on this German site. What I can say is that it was a big help this morning in figuring out how to get to an appointment on Yueyang Road.
Recent example: this map of Shanghai, which lets you zoom in and out and arrow around, in a way that was novel when applied by Google maps; and, significantly, lets you search by street name, which is a big plus when you're getting to know a city. (You click on "Find Streets" and then choose from a drop-down list.) It doesn't zoom to a specific street address, in the fashion of Google Maps or similar applications; but it's useful in its own way.
Perhaps this kind of searchable map is already known far and wide to everyone but me. I don't know: the main other place I've seen it is on this German site. What I can say is that it was a big help this morning in figuring out how to get to an appointment on Yueyang Road.
