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Maps – More Types Than You Know
By Michael Russell

For most people, when they think of a map, they think of maybe a couple of different kinds. But the truth is, there are more types of maps than you can possibly imagine. We’re going to take a look at just a few of them and the kind of information you’ll get from them.

We’re probably all familiar with the common map of our world. This map shows all the countries, where they are located, their shape, size and even some major cities within each country if the map is large enough. Of course there are also breakdowns of our world map into continents to get a more detailed view.

We are also familiar with the individual road maps that we use for traveling across country or even from one city to another. These maps are probably the most commonly used maps in the United States, especially by people who do a lot of vacationing by car.

But maps don’t end with these common types. For example, there are climate maps available for just about every area in the world. A climate map shows general information about climate and precipitation of an area. Mapmakers usually use different colors to illustrate whether an area is dry, like in the desert, or very wet as in a rain forest region.

There are also what are called economic or resource maps. These maps show the natural resources most common to an area and also the relative economic status of an area, whether it is an affluent area or one that is relatively poor. These are also color coded to signify economic classes such as blue for income between $40,000 and $50,000 per family.

Another kind of map that is very important for politicians is the political map. These maps show a particular region’s political affiliation, whether democrat, republican or independent. These maps usually come into play during election time.

Then there are maps that are called physical maps. These maps don’t necessarily point out the country or state name but what kind of terrain one might find in this area. For example, a physical map of the United States when viewed would show a very mountainous area out west and flat lands to the East. These maps also show where lakes and rivers are located. Green is usually used to show lower elevations and orange and brown are usually used to show the higher elevations.

But maps don’t just end with those related to our world land masses. There are kinds of maps available today that years ago, especially before the age of the Internet, we didn’t have. Probably the most popular of these is what is called the site map.

Site maps are maps of a particular web site. What a site map does is simply list every single page that is contained in a web site. These site maps are really more for search engines than for real people as it helps the search engines rank the sites better by being able to access all the content on the site without missing anything.

These are just a few examples of the different kinds of maps that we has at our disposal. Yes, a map isn’t just a map any more.

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Tell me. What exactly can a globe do other than show you where land masses and bodies of water are located? Oh, right. It can spin around. I forgot that part. Seriously though, can’t it do anything cool?!

The Celestial Globe from ThinkGeek is WAY cool. Not only is it a standard run-of-the-mill globe that sits on your desk… it glows in the dark. And while it’s glowing in the dark… it changes from world map to celestial map. That’s right. You’ll get a map of all of the constellations! How cool is that?!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be an omniscient and omnipotent being floating high above the world you rule over? It would be wonderful to be in full control over everything, instead of being stuck listening to the commands of your boss and your other boss and your other other boss. Well, while we can’t give you such powers, we can provide a nice bit of daydream fuel. The Celestial Globe is a beautiful addition to your desk. Stare over it and pretend it is the world that you and only you control.

And get this: the people living on your planet (which strangely resembles Earth) have a surprise for you. When the lights go off, they set off a bajillion fireworks in your honor. It’s true – turn off the lights and the photosensor turns on a brilliant blue, LED-lit map of the constellations. And not just points of light, but with graphical representations and labels. You must be a very benevolent deity to get such adoration. We’re proud of you.

This awesome little gadget globe is available on ThinkGeek for only $40.00. I’m tellin ya… you want one of these.

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JPEG image files can contain supplementary information (so-called Metadata). Technical metadata as described by the EXIF standard can contain fields for GPS data, like geographical latitude/longitude, altitude, and track. The Panorado Flyer tool enables you to get the coordinates of the place where the picture was shot and insert them into these fields. You can do it manually, using a dialog window. Or, if you have installed the Google Earth client (can be downloaded for free), you can search for the location there, drag it to the center of the map window, then change to Panorado flyer, grab the coordinates and insert them into the image selected, without typing any numbers.

Don’t think I’m going to do this terribly often, but certainly will consider it for future use.

I posted more about this in tonight’s report, You Live on Google Earth – including stating that this really is a tremendous app that has amazing potential, but I just refuse to look past something as simple as using Arial as the default font in the non-3D experience. At least Google Talk allows you to change the font throughout the entire app!

I am sick and tired of playing the UI heavy around here. Would someone smack the appropriate person over at Google and tell ‘em to get their app act together? It’s great that they’re acquiring great software left-and-right, but it’s not great that they’re not conforming to a single user experience. I’ve given Microsoft hell for this – but they certainly don’t have a monopoly on inconsistent software experiences. I catch hell for stating that Google Earth is still calling on Arial throughout their entire Windows UI (non-nav) – but I’m not going to sit here and say that their software is amazing just because it’s free and it comes from them (Google). It doesn’t look like Google Talk, it doesn’t look like the Google Toolbar, it doesn’t look like Google SketchUp, it doesn’t look like Google Picasa… none of these freakin’ apps look like the other!!! I’d accept that from a startup company, but Google rakes in big bucks and can afford to spend some time on spit and polish. They’re not, and I find that beyond forgivable. I expect better from Google.