Help with Maps (see Source at footnotes) provides BufWiki viewers and contributors with information on mapping within BufWiki. Contributors are given a number of choices and tools to assist them in coordinating their material with geo-positioning information.
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Address Macro - add Map Icon to tool bar above
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Using Google - how to use Google mapping tool to assist with your editing contributions
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Google Saved User Maps - mapping multiple locations using Google
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Using Yahoo - how to use Yahoo mapping tool to assist with your editing contributions
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Using MS Live - how to use MS Live mapping tool to assist with your editing contributions
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Using Mapquest - how to use Mapquest mapping to assist with your editing contributions
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Using Photo Mapping - how to use Photo mapping to assist with your editing contributions
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Comment or see
Frequently Asked Questions on our Help with Maps/Talk
BufWiki currently supports direct mapping of one location for each BufWiki page using the Address Macro. BufWiki uses the macro to add a clickable Map icon with text in the menu bar at the top of the page. The first click on the button reveals a framed
Google Map of the address. A second click on the Map icon will hide the map again. Clicking on the Google Icon on the map itself will open Google Maps with the current map displayed. BufWiki uses the
Google API to generate the map, and is thus dependent on the manner in which Google resolves and places addresses.
The user may pan and zoom using the standard interface shown by the Google API. The current view selected by the user (zoom and pan) will be preserved while on the page, even if you click the Map Icon and hide the map.
To add the Map Icon to a page, insert an Address Macro
Syntax: [[Address("street, city, statecode zipcode")]],
, into the page. The address may contain only the city and state (as shown in the example on this page) or may include the details of street number, street, and zip code. Only one location per page is linked to the Map Icon, and that is currently (July 2008) the last entry of multiple entries.
Example: Buffalo, NY
If the map generated by the address used in the macro doesn't look right, it may be because of the way the Google API plotted the address1 you've given it. This occurs most often on streets that cross town boundaries.
If your map doesn't look right, be sure to include a zip code (see Zip Codes for related info). Oddly enough, the best place to find a zip code is to use the Google Maps site
http://maps.google.com. Even though we're using Google API to power our maps, Google Maps may be better because it relies as well on search information and not just the geocoding (address parsing) used by the API. Go figure!
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See a Slideshow of
Google Map Issues on BradMandell's Flikr Photos. Includes several Rochester, NY area examples, including cache of the Fast Ferry, Kodak blurred buildings, and problems with addresses of some Webster businesses.
Google Maps and associated search facilities provide a variety of tools to BufWiki contributors (and viewers). The Google Maps facility includes views of maps, satellite images, hybrid, terrain, and street views as well as traffic conditions. Google provides facility for multi-stop directions and the user may modify the directions by actively moving the route on the map. Maps and directions may be shared via email, link, or directly embedded on a web page (not available within current RocWiki environment). The satellite (or aerial) images displayed in Google maps may vary in age and quality from area to area. Built up areas such as the city and surrounding communities may display in high resolution, while coverage of more rural areas will not zoom in as closely.
Google Saved User Maps
Google Maps - Salvatore's Screenshot
Google User Map RocWiki Musical Instruments
Google Maps features a My Maps facility which allows users to create their own maps with named lists of features tied to specific locations on the map. The features information can include text, links, photos, videos, user provided icons, etc. The User Maps can be made public or unlisted and other users may be given collaborative permission to edit the map. The User Map may also be saved as a Keyhole Linked Map (KLM) file, which can be viewed in Google Earth or can be imported into your User Maps within Google.
For example, a search of Google Maps for "
Salvatore's" in Rochester, NY reveals a saved Google My Maps
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&mid=1216646417. A screenshot of the map is shown above, right. An entry in the Location section of the
Salvatore's RocWiki page helps with the many locations, since only one can be mapped by the current Address Macro.
You will also find an example on the
RocWiki Musical Instruments page. The Google User Map
RocWiki Musical Instruments displays the pages listed businesses, screen-shot of the map shown to the right.
Yahoo Maps provides facilities for displaying search results geographically and to develop directions for traveling between two or more locations. Their maps also feature maps, satellite, and hybrid displays as well as current traffic conditions. Yahoo satellite maps may sometimes provide better satellite image coverage than the Google Maps. Their directions mapping may also differ from Google or Mapquest.
Yahoo Maps allows search options by address or by business name and type. For example,
Rochester, NY address within Yahoo provides a top level map of the Rochester area. Entering
1 East Main Street, Rohester, NY displays a more detailed map pointing directly to the address. Searching for Geva Theatre while on the last map provides
mapping of the theater on that map with associated search results.
MS Live Maps provides facilities for displaying search results geographically and to develop directions. The maps also feature road, aerial, and birds eye views with option to turn labels off and on. The birds-eye views have high resolution aerial photography from four different angles. For example, see
View of Rochester, NY.
MS Live Maps also have a Collections feature which integrates data from other web sources and contributors onto the map. There are numerous collection items on the Rochester map that relate directly to RocWiki pages. For example, you will find historical places like Corinthian Hall or even Nick Tahou Hots in the Live Collection
Late Night Eats.
Mapquest Maps provides mapping services similar to Google and Yahoo
The Mapquest equivalent map for
Rochester, NY provides map and aerial images plus traffic conditions (not currently available for Rochester). The Mapquest map for Rochester does not zoom down into the last two steps of high resolution, so image quality is inferior to Google or Yahoo.
Mapquest provides companies with
Mapquest Platform Services which are used by many national and international companies to map their stores, offices, dealers, etc. on Mapquest maps. Unfortunately, the generated maps for the listings cannot be directly linked and added to a RocWiki page.
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Fliker Photo Map displays photos stored on Flikr for which the user has provided map coordinates. For example, enter "Buffalo, NY" in the search box and you can do a search and see all the interesting photos placed in
Buffalo, NY. Click on the "Search The Map" link, leaving "Everone's Uploads" and "This Map", but enter Airport into the "Search For" box and see a number of photos (149+) from that location.
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Several of the online photo storage services include services for the users to map their photos.
TOP -Address Macro - Using Google - Google Saved User Maps - Using Yahoo - Using MS Live - Using Mapquest - Using Photo Mapping
Source: This BufWiki page is based on the
RocWiki Help with Maps page. 2
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Geocoding Google API geocoding for position locations - 2Some of the material on this page was drawn from copyrighted works by BradMandell and was contributed by him under the Creative Commons provisions. Other material, not found here, in those works remains the copyrighted material of the author.


