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We’ve mapped twice the World’s Billionaires ranking by Forbes (2009 and 2010 ). And now Challenges magazine has released the 2010 France’s biggest fortunes list.
This subject has never left us cold, and our new map features France’s Richest People 2010 as estimated by Challenges. 514 billionaires and millionaires from all over France (individuals and families) have been located on the map to let you easily find more information about each of them. The map’s information windows contain some personal data about the wealthiest people in France (position on the list, net worth, type of business, company address etc). Have a look at our map, may be you’ll find yourself there:) 
I’ve just found a great map and I’d like to share it with you.
The Australia Council that supports Australian artists to create, present and publish their work provided a new awesome way to explore the arts. Nearly 200 art companies currently funded by the Australia Council have been mapped to give visitors a global view of their territorial ranking (both Google Maps and Google Earth views are provided). To explore the map you need to select the type of art project and the region of Australia you are interested in. Or you can just select the tour option and the flying tour will be created to show you all the companies one by one. The nice red kangaroo map markers provide information windows with each company's details, including the latest digital stories and updates created by the companies. It’s a really smart way to promote art projects!
This is a very special month for us here at Mapize. Last week, our location-based solution for creating customizable and embeddable maps was finally kicked off!
Today Mapize is mainly a social mapping tool that enables you to create and customize your own maps based on the most popular social services such as Twitter and Foursquare. With Mapize, anyone can map their updates and check-ins and share them with other people through a blog or website. Very soon new features will be added to let you map your Facebook friends and your favorite Youtube videos!
With the beta version of Mapize you can build and embed to your website or blog the maps displaying: - Your own content (an unlimited number of markers are at your disposal) - Geotagged tweets of your followers - Geotagged tweets of your Twitter friends - Your favorite hashtags - Your Foursquare check-ins 
Mapize offers multiple options to customize your map’s design and add numerous features, in accordance with your needs.
Though hardly perfect, Mapize is constantly evolving, with a lot of new useful map features that will be integrated in the weeks to come. So, come to test Mapize and create your own maps FOR FREE at http://www.mapize.com/ ! All your comments and suggestions are highly welcome! 
A couple of weeks ago, we discovered an interesting competition run on the Sports Facebook Page to encourage football fans worldwide to support their teams by voting for their countries.
This idea has inspired us to create a map devoted to the 2010 FIFA World Cup that will start on June 11th in South Africa and will be the culmination of a qualification process that began in August 2007. The map involves 32 countries. Each marker shows the number of fans who have voted for this country. For example, you can see that Chile has the most passionate football fans (more than 405, 000 votes!). Each marker includes an information window with two tabs: Country and Matches. It shows some country stats, such as internet population, FIFA ranking, World Cup Victories and 2010 World Cup matches. The map also displays the 10 stadiums in South Africa that will host the World Cup. Information windows contain stadium photos and details (name, city, construction type, completion date and gross capacity). You can view as well the World Cup related tweets and see people around the world talking about this event. Want to support your team? Be active, vote for your country and see the overall results on the 2010 FIFA World Cup Map ! If you like our map, just click on the Facebook button on the map and join our community.
Do you want to win an iPad?
Well, If you are interested, we invite you to take part in our upcoming contest that will mark the launch of the beta for our Mapize mapping platform. And the prize will be none other than your very own iPad! For a detailed description of the contest, follow our updates on Facebook. We will give you more information about the rules and dates very soon. 
Last week we took part in the Annual Agriculture Fair staging various Corsican small and medium agricultural producers, including horticultural growers and exporters.
The event was organized by the CREPAC (Association aimed at encouraging and promoting local agriculture) with the purpose of empowering small and medium level private growers to play a vital role in regional economy. At this fair we presented our new map localizing different Rural Tourism Routes and various growers and manufacturers (wine, cheese, sausages, sculpture, jewelry etc.) in Corsica: http://map.terragir.tv/ The map enables visitors to Corsica to easily find hotels, inns and local growers' shops in different Corsican regions. The information windows give addresses, contact information and description of each point. The map is made with the use of the Google Earth Plug-in, which allows to view the mountain relief by choosing the Earth tab. And very soon Rural Routes in Sardinia, Liguria and Toscana will also be added to the map. 
I’ve already touched upon the tips and tricks for business Facebook fan pages. As mentioned earlier, we've also decided to create the Facebook fan page for Mapize, which would help us create our own community and keep our visitors in the loop of the latest company news and upcoming events as well as hold various map-related contests and games.
To make our entrance into Facebook we’ve checked out the already existing best practices and have chosen those which better corresponded to our targets. Now we are happy to share with you some tips that we used to create our own Mapize Facebook Fan page. Hopefully, you’ll find this information useful.
To catch visitors’ attention at once and provide better visibility of our brand we used a 200 x 600 pixel logo for our profile, which is much larger than the standard profile picture.
While there are numerous tips and applications to leverage your brand on Facebook, it’s not so easy to find an optimal way to drive visitors to your fan page without overcharging your Wall with useless or cumbersome data. To avoid this situation we set up the tab Mapize as a landing page, i.e. the space our new visitors will view first when they enter our fan page. And people who already like our page will land directly on the Page Wall.
We’ve also added the large picture and Mapize logo to let new visitors immediately discover our company’s identity and the comments box to let them leave comments directly on the landing page. To set up the landing page, click on ‘Edit Page’ > ‘Wall Settings’ > then on ‘Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else’ chose the tab which you want to present first when new users enter your Facebook page.
To enable ourselves using original tabs we added to our fan page the Static FBML application. This app allows to replace or supplement traditional tabs (Info, Photos etc.) with more personalized ones.
Thus, we created a Video tab to present the music videos for our maps, which will help our visitors discover our maps and better understand how they can use them. For a start we added 3 videos illustrating our: Forbes Billionaires Map, Darwin Bus Map and Book Map. And of course we will add more maps in the course of time. As the page has just been published and there's not enough information, we decided to connect it to our blog, so that visitors could get a general idea of our activity. Within the next few days, we will add the Contest tab, which will enable us to build diverse mapping contests. We’ll also add the Twitter tab to let people follow our Twitter updates.
The Poll application allows to get feedback from your visitors. A poll can be a casual way to get a read from your fans about a new product, a new page design, or your business in general.
You should simply ask your burning question in the poll settings. And our first question was: What kind of map would you like to see next? We’ve chosen to publish our polls to the custom tab but it also can be popped into your left-hand navigation where visitors can click anytime they come to your Page. Certainly, we are only beginners and have a lot of things to learn, but my guess is that the best way to make your page engaging is to post interesting content and keep the conversation going with your fans! :) 
The A—Team is a big screen adaptation of the 80’s TV series about a fictional group of ex-US Army Special Forces who work as soldiers of fortune while being on the run from the military after being branded as war criminals for a crime they didn't commit.
The movie will be released on June 11, 2010. So, to create buzz and promote the upcoming premiere the virtual tour in Google Earth has been created: http://www.youtube.com/drivetheateamvan. You can choose the destination and drive the A-team van there. Just click on the "Drive the Van" button, download the secure Google Earth plug-in and away you go! You can also find some challenges to unlock video content for Speed, Distance, Jumps and Crashes. For example, you must crash a lot to unlock one of the videos. Try it out and have a nice tour via Google Earth! 
As you know, lots of media sources are already leveraging location information to engage customers via new mapping data.
The Washington Post is one of them. This time the renowned journal has produced the map to track the potential movement of the giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: http://timespace.washingtonpost.com/project/oil-spill/ The map lets you read the Washington Post articles on the oil spill and also view related agency and Flickr photos. The map involves a great timeline that allows you to refine the map by a specific date-range. And the clusters are very well done! 
Here is another great map that lets you follow the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster: http://paulrademacher.com/oilspill/
With this map (using the Google Earth Plug-in) you can see the oil spill progress and the extent of the damage caused by this environmental disaster. 
Even though we have not queued up to buy a much-touted iPad, we have still been waiting several months for delivery! And it’s finally here!
Being smaller than a sheet of typing paper, the device allows to download the 150,000 iPhone applications, plus 1,000 or so unique to the iPad, and stream Netflix movies straight to the screen. And, when turned vertically, its electronic keyboard allows easy thumb-typing for e-mails or Twitter. 
And although it has no Flash video support, no integrated video camera (in this version, anyway) and no phone, this device is a whizz-bang!
You may already know iPad's best features: It's the best way to see the web, e-mail and photos, watch movies and play games, you can also convert subscriptions to your favorite newspapers and magazines to e-versions. For those who want to know more, here is an article featuring 12 little-known iPad's features: http://bit.ly/ayJRZs 
Nowadays, there is a strong interest in the use of maps as a support for various promotional, political and sales campaigns.
Thus, to raise awareness and prevent distracted driving, Oprah Winfrey has launched a campaign urging the public and celebrities to make the car a 'No Phone Zone'. And a dedicated Google Map has been created to promote this 'No Phone Zone' initiative: http://www.oprah.com/npz/map/index.html?mv=pledge The Pledge Map shows real-time pledges by individuals in the USA and Canada to make their cars 'No Phone Zones'. By clicking on a highlighted state name on the map (in the 'Get Involved' tab) you can view the cell phone laws in different states: the restrictions on texting, hands-free and hand-held phone use. You can also contribute to the campaign by making a pledge not to use your mobile phone while driving and see yourself appear on the map.
One of the most pleasant purposes of a map is to let us discover new travel destinations and routes. Indeed, when we plan our vacation trip the map allows us to find more information on the country of destination, hotels, famous landmarks and places to visit etc. In brief, it helps us organize our dream trip.
Vtravelled website http://www.vtravelled.com/ is a real catch for travel lovers. It’s a great service for discovering the most exciting travel destinations, finding (and sharing!) a wealth of information about countries all around the world: transport, climate, hotels, restaurants, landmarks, visas and so on. You can find your destination on a Google Map, then read the destination guide and see lots of amazing pictures. Registered users can also add their review and post their own pictures that will appear on the map. You can also find the list of the most desirable and most visited destinations, which will guide you in this variety of wonderful tours.
Travellr http://travellr.com/ is a travel questions & answers website that enables you to connect with like-minded travellers, explore new destinations and share your experience. Just ask your travel questions and get answers from Travellr community members who know. It’s a very handy service for those who want to get useful hints from experienced travellers.
You can also find a needed destination on a Google Map. Clicking on an information window shows country, region or city details (depending on the zoom level) as well as top (or nearby) cities or countries and popular topics. Have a good trip with maps! 
Scotland's Information http://www.scotlandsinformation.com/ is a service for identifying, locating and accessing the locations of Scotland’s library, archive and museum collections on Google Maps.
This collective mashup was undertaken for the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) and developed by the Centre for Digital Library Research (CDLR) at the University of Strathclyde. All service facilities can be used through mouse-clicks; no keyboard is necessary. You can choose which collections to locate on the map through a variety of clickable interfaces: • A static map of Scottish unitary authorities • Tag clouds (metadata by distinct words or phrases) • Alphabetical lists 
Before accessing the Google Map you should click on a region on the clickable static map or choose the name of the region in the list (the number of locations marked on a Google Map is too great to be displayed at once). You can specify information domains to be displayed. It’s possible to include all three information domains (archives, libraries, museums) in the display, or restrict it to a single domain.
This great example of a collective mashup demonstrates once more how the map can streamline cumbersome data and organize any kind of information in a simple, readable and engaging way. Actually, we will soon launch the similar map built for the French Book Association (Le Motif). The map will localize all the libraries, bookstores and book-related events in the Ile-de-France region. I'll give you more details very soon.
Over the past week, everybody has been talking about the extraordinary impact of the Icelandic volcano eruption. Indeed, the volcanic ash cloud has halted air traffic all over Europe and made airspace across much of Europe a no-fly zone. The cloud has paralyzed air cargo delivery and disrupted business and leisure travel. Air travel disruption costs airlines about $200 million a day. Not surprisingly, the event has been widely mapped.
One of the first maps on the subject is the Mibazaar's Flight Delay Tweet Map http://www.mibazaar.com/euroflights.html showing the latest tweets from Europe and the Eastern USA that mention 'volcano' or 'ash'.
The map is centered on the latest tweets on the subject. And you can easily see the ash cloud related news appear in different parts of the map. 
The Radar Virtuel plane tracking website http://www.radarvirtuel.com/ allows to watch the ash cloud directly on the Google Map. So, you can see the current location of the cloud (Central Europe at the present time) and follow its future direction changes.
We hope your vacation or business trip has not been cancelled due to this annoying cloud! 
Though the phenomenon of Tweet Maps is quite recent, it’s proving ever more popular. It’s very cool indeed to see the real-time tweets appear on the overall map, which not only provides their territorial ranking but also helps you find Twitter users close to you.
Streamdin (http://streamd.in/ ) is one of these mashups that lets you read tweets from the people you follow, view your direct messages etc. In brief, it provides all the usual Twitter features, but with the use of Google Maps. So, you can center the map on your current location or filter the tweets to display Twitter updates about a specific topic within a specified region. This tool can be used to track the buzz about a product and discover news as it happens. To be honest, we will get back to the topic very soon… 
The sixth Where 2.0 Conference that annually brings together the people, projects and location-aware issues, is now being held in San Jose, CA.
The lucky ones who have grabbed the opportunity to attend this awesome event joined developers, technologists, CTOs, researchers, geographers, academics, business developers and entrepreneurs from all over the world to debate the latest mind-bending Web 2.0 technologies and trends. One of the three main Where 2.0 program tracks is Mapping for Consumers. Multiple mapping sessions are thus being held to discuss mapping accessibility, 3D and open data. It’s pretty obvious now that location is a requisite feature, helping us to make more informed choices. And lots of businesses, institutions, organizations and media sources are already leveraging location information to engage customers via new mapping data. And one of the sessions titled « Why Wall Street Is Learning to Love Interactive Mapping » actually deals with the reasons why the renowned journal has started integrating geodata into its business intelligence applications. If you want to stay informed about the conference’s news you can track out speakers’ slides, videos and photos and even access the Keynotes live stream on the Where 2.0 website: http://en.oreilly.com/where2010 Stay in the loop! 
Over the past few years Facebook fan pages have become immensely popular for companies and organizations. To go with the times, we’ve also decided to create a Facebook fan page for Mapize.
However, while there are numerous tips and applications to leverage your brand on Facebook, it’s not so easy to find an optimal way to drive visitors to your fan page without overcharging your space with useless or cumbersome data. Besides some obvious verities (posting interesting content, keeping up the conversation with your fans etc.), there are some extra tips to continuously attract new fans to your page. Fortunately, there are so many helpful people willing to share their strategies, tips and best practices for creating an engaging Facebook Fan page. Here are some useful links to create an appealing FB fan page or improve your already existing page: http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/03/facebook-page-strategy/ http://www.radicaltrust.ca/2008/09/25/best-practices-for-facebook-fan-pages-user-types/ http://mashable.com/2009/03/30/successful-facebook-fan-page/ Take a look at these tricks and suggestions. They could be very useful for any company looking to make their entrance into Facebook.
Yesterday, Forbes Magazine released the 2010 World’s Billionaires List.
And of course we could not let this event go unnoticed. So, we’ve done it again! Here is our new map of the World’s Billionaires 2010 according to Forbes: http://www.mapize.com/forbes It should be noted that there have been a number of surprising breakthroughts this year: the world has now a new richest man and there are more billionaires on the list compared with last year (937 billionaires in total). Just like last year, we localized billionaires on the map to give you a global view of their territorial ranking. You can sort out the billionaires by age or by country. It’s also possible to find some personal data in the information windows (position on the list, net worth, nationality, country of residence). Want to embed this map into your website or blog ? [size is modifiable] Direct link to the map : http://www.mapize.com/forbes 
Once again we’ve compiled the list of last week’s top maps.
These are three maps on different subjects that have different uses. However, they all have one common point: they are very cute! 1. Places to Smoke Cigars: http://epcarrillo.com/places "Places to Smoke Cigars" was created to help cigar enthusiasts find places to enjoy premium cigars. The map shows the cigar places (bars, shops, smoking lounges) located in the USA, where you can enjoy smoking. All of them are divided into five categories, representing 5 premium cigar brands. Clicking on an icon on the map opens the information window with the place’s description, address and website. Nice tool for cigar connoisseurs! 
2. Employee Search Portal: http://laudontech.com/esri-mashup-contest-2010/
This portal is intended for large companies occupying an entire building or one/some floors of the building. If you work for such a company, you know how it can sometimes be difficult to find a colleague’s office. This tool allows to localize on the map all company’s employees and shows their location on the office floor plan with the building's satellite view in Google Maps. You can also find (update or modify if needed) each employee’s profile, add or delete an employee. Very useful tool for large companies employing numerous stuff. 
3. Ivry Confluences by U-Mapper: http://www.umapper.com/maps/view/id/57745/
This map has been built with the U-Mapper platform to display various urban projects in Ivry city, France. You can see the plan of the sites, parks, buildings to be constructed in the city in the near future. You can also see the site drawing images for some of these sites. Take a look at these maps and maybe you’ll find something you’re interested in.
We all love cinema. And a lot of our favorite films have been inspired by different cities which themselves became movie stars.
It’s obvious that the map is the best tool to make us discover or revisit sites where some of the most memorable scenes in the history of cinema took place. Here are some maps created to help us find the most popular film locations. 
London Movie Map: http://www.filmlondon.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=1234
This map displays movies that have been shot in London. Interview with a Vampire, Wolfman, Match Point, Waterloo Bridge, Brief Encounters, The Omen, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade… All these films have been made in London. And you could know where exactly, thanks to this cool movie map produced by Film London to help visitors to the city discover these cult locations in real life. You can search the map by film genre, from romance to horror or just explore by viewing different parts of London. 
Filmaps : http://www.filmaps.com/films/oceans eleven-ref-79/ eleven-ref-79/
Filmaps shows famous movie locations. It's possible to search the website for a particular movie or, at your option, for a location to see which movie was made there. You can also view the list of the most popular film locations. For example, if you choose Paris, you’ll find a lot of well-known movies made in this city: Amélie, Da Vinci Code, The Bourne Identity and many others. For each of them the exact locations where the movie scenes were shot (landmarks, streets) are given. You can also add a location to movies if you know of one that hasn't already been added. It’s such an absorbing pastime!
Regional elections have been held in France since 1986 to elect regional councilors and regional presidents for each of 26 regions: all elected to serve 6-year terms.
With the approach of the elections 2010 that will be held on March 14 -21, we’ve decided to highlight this event by localizing candidates for the Corsica Region on the map. 
On the whole, there are 11 listings of each party’s candidates (51 candidates by list), which makes 561 candidates in total.
Each list contains the photo of a party’s representative, which is shown on the map according to his (her) location. Hopefully, this map will arouse public interest in the forthcoming elections and help local voters know better their candidates. http://www.mapize.com/territoriales |
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