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Google: Create & Save your own GMaps

From Dave Winer - Google’s turned on a hot new feature on Google Maps - “My Maps.” You can now create, markup, save, and share your own maps.

Features include:

1. Adding lines, pushpins, polygonal shapes.
2. Public (shared w/ world via URL) or Private (in “My Maps” only) maps.
3. Add photos - though they must be stored online elsewhere.
4. Add videos - from GVideo or YouTube.
5. Add richtext pushpin/map object descriptions.
6. Export to KML for Google Earth.

I created a map of part of an annual hike that we do along some awesome beaches about an hour north of Winnipeg. The creation process was fast and intuitive.

I can see this being a very useful tool. Explaining how to get to the above hike, drop off locations, parking, and so on, just got a whole lot easier. This would be fantastic for coordinating bike clubs, photo-walks, and basically anything involving two or more people in a location that isn’t known to all participants.

Google has done a great job of leveraging thier own API; its just odd that it took them so long to do so. Now that it has happened, I imagine their are a number of API-based sites out there that will be rapidly re-thinking their value propositions.

One complaint: clean URL’s to link to would be really nice and make sharing easier than with the current mishmash of url parameters.

EDIT: Mashable has a good roundup (read through the comments too) of sites that will get toasted by this rollout, in particular Platial. And, TechMeme is pulling it all together.

EDIT: Courtesey of SearchBlog, here’s the official Google Blog post about the launch.

gmaps, google, googlemaps, maps techfold

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