19 May 2009

Thing 32

The maps and mashups had some fun stuff on the sites. I sent my son a crop circle message, although the aerial map of our town had too much cloud cover so I had to site the circle south of town instead of on the football field. I played around with some of the other sites and I have decided I will eventually bookmark all the sites I find useful through these "Things" on my del.icio.us page.
I don't really like Google maps. I find other sites are more useful when I need directions here in Minnesota. I haven't tried maps for out-of-state locations because I never go anywhere except here in the area. In the past I tried to get my husband's running route measured on one of these sites and found it difficult to use and we didn't find the distance anyway. I tried it again today and it is no better than when I used it the first time. I usually use MapQuest or Yahoo maps. MapQuest is familiar, even if I usually get the scenic rather than the direct route. Yahoo maps is okay but I haven't used it as much.
I started making my own map and I am finding it more difficult than the direction video made it seem. I'm not sure yet how these maps and mashups will be useful here in the library. I do know we are regularly asked by patrons for help in getting directions to different places but no one has asked for help to make their own map yet. We have had a few patrons ask about aerial and satellite maps of the area, however. I can find my house on these maps.