Map of the Week: MOCA: Ends of the Earth

Map of the Week: MOCA: Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974

Why we like it: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) "Ends of the Earth” site a great example of using Google Maps as a conduit for connecting art with the real world. This map gives the viewer real world context for the artwork. We also like seeing a user interface that uses a full screen map and is designed to work as one with the map.



MOCA: Ends of the Earth was created as an at-home interactive experience for museum guests and the newest collection at the MOCA. The goal is to give users meaningful context using Google Map’s repository of global Satellite and Street View imagery. As described by MOCA, “Developed by MOCA for End of the Earth: Land Art to 1974, this interactive feature maps key artworks included in the exhibition, pinpointing their original locations to demonstrate the global nature of land art and its relations to real places and times.”

Aside from being a great way to learn about a piece of art that interests you, the site’s user interface creates a very pleasant experience for the user. You can also download a KML file and view the collection in Google Earth.

Perhaps one of the most nostalgic pieces of artwork in the collection is Charles and Ray Eames’ film Powers of Ten. Using this site you can visit the location where some of the film takes places and in an interactive ode to the film, you can recreate Powers of Ten anywhere you want by zooming in and out of Google Maps directly on the site.



Posted by Carlos Cuesta, Google Maps API Product Marketing Manager

Map of the Week: runtastic PRO

Map of the Week: runtastic PRO

Why we like it: runtastic is using Google Earth to show a user 3D Earth View video playback of every run or GPS activity they track with runtastic PRO for Android. In addition to retracing a route, runtastic displays the time, pace, elevation, places of interest, and more. Users can also choose to review their activities with three zoom levels and three playback speeds.


[Editor’s note: For this week’s “Map of the Week” post, we’ve asked Stephan Brunner, Head of Android Development at runtastic, to write a guest blog post about what his team used to create runtastic Earth View - Paul Saxman]


Whether you’re running your first half marathon, biking across the Golden Gate Bridge, or hiking in Nepal, runtastic’s Google Earth playback feature allows you to hold on to the memory and imagery of your activity.


How do we make this happen? The runtastic app captures GPS coordinate data and transforms it into a KML file, and then starts the Google Earth app with an Android Intent, passing a reference to the file in the Intent URI. The Google Earth app loads the track and takes it from there.









The <gx:Track> and <gx:Tour> extension to KML are the perfect tools for making the new 3D experience happen. The <gx:Track> element contains the entire GPS data recorded by the runtastic app, and <gx:Tour> defines the camera animations, overhead view and angle. The Google Earth app matches the elements of both lists using the time-span information from each list element. The result is a smooth animation of the track being painted based on the data from a run, which makes the user feel like they’re flying along it!

With this great new 3D Earth View, we think that there is no reason to stay on the couch. Get out there and record some amazing activities!



Posted by Paul Saxman, Google Maps API Developer Relations Team

Map of the Week: Bostonography Neighborhoods

Map of the Week: Bostonography Neighborhoods

Why we like it: This is a unique solution to an old problem. We really like the use of drawing tools to collect information and Styled Maps to help the data stand out better.



In almost every city, there is some disagreement as to where one neighborhood ends and another begins. Furthermore, as is often the case, reputable sources have differing neighborhood lines. In reality there are no physical lines on the ground clearly defining neighborhoods, however these hypothetical boundaries do have a real impact on local economies, politics, and identity. Bostonography has set out to solve this problem by creating a tool to collect as many neighborhood definitions as possible.



From the Bostonography website, “We want to map the collective definitions of Boston's neighborhoods by its residents and those who know the city well. This map is a tool for drawing top-level neighborhood boundaries … as you see them, and submitting them to a database that will be used to map the areas of agreement and disagreement among participants.”

Bostonography has begun to parse the data and has calculated which neighborhoods have the most agreement and which have the most disagreement. The results of the first few data sets are stunning. To further illustrate how complex neighborhood definitions can be, this separate example by The Boston Globe shows just how “tangled” neighborhood boundaries are, even amongst city agencies!

If you have knowledge of Boston yourself, Bostonography encourages you to contribute to the map. “Submit a map of as many or as few neighborhoods as you wish, but we of course encourage you to draw all of them. Detail as intricate as you have patience for is appreciated, too, for the sake of the eventual maps of the results.”



So whether you’re from Southie or from Allston, we all can agree that this map is wicked awesome.



Posted by Carlos Cuesta, Google Maps API Product Marketing Manager