Know your San Francisco Hood
This is actually quite cool in that the Chron has set up an interactive map for people to map out where they think they actually live as in, which neighborhood. Unfortunately they didn't really parse things so well so you get, "The Mission" as well as "Mission" or "Mission St." Maybe they'll fix that in a final version, but it's it's interesting to see how people are defining their sense of place in this city.
It's all based on this article which talks about how real estate types are working to rename a great number of areas, like calling the "Financial District" the "Barbary Coast" for some godforsaken reason. Obviously, things aren't selling well if this is what they're spending their time doing. Take a look and map out where you are if it's still available. I'm either in "Nob Hill" or the "Tendernob" depending on who you ask. Thankfully I'm not in "Tenderloin Heights". They're a bunch of drunken snobs over there.
30 05 2009 0 comments
Tags: maps, place, san francisco
Google Maps Loves Italy. Balkans, not so much.
I've driven around the Balkans a bit. Probably the craziest driving is in Belgrade. The easiest is in rural Slovenia. People generally always drive fast. They love it, like this moron who I assume is on the A1.
Driving fast is fine when you know where you're going. When you're a tourist, things get dicey. A map is necessary. I always had mine from Freytag & Berndt when I was driving and I was thankful for it. There are those who think that Google Maps technology trumps the age-old paper map though. For those interested in using it, you might want to think again as shown here and here for going between Dubrovnik and Mostar and Split and Dubrovnik. I know I like a ferry to Italy, how about you?
Cross posted on Čevapija
14 11 2008 0 comments
Tags: google, maps, the balkans, transportation
The Modern Art of My Travels
Below, in the illustrated example that has become a stable on this site, you see a rough map of the my nearly four month excursion. You can see an even bigger version of this as well as a textual breakdown here. That is a good summary of all the wine drinking there, since it links to all the respective articles for the region.
Of course... this is just The Balkans. There was Venice, Catalonia, Paris, and brief hops through London that I doubt I'll get to mapping. My friend, Dinko had a fun idea of mapping this out in Flash or something to make one of those maps like you would see in the Indiana Jones movies. I loved that and someday I might actually do it. But for now, what you see is what you get.
Happy readings over on the wine site I link to above if you haven't see that before.
12 10 2007 0 comments
Tags: maps, the balkans, the europe
US Americans Without Maps in South Africa
After traveling The Europe for three and a half months, I got a little taste of the superior everything that's waiting for me back in the US America. I realize that this is "old" news having broke a few days ago, but I got out my map (oh yes, I have one) and I feel comfortable enough to post it.
29 08 2007 2 comments
Tags: maps, sponzorusa, us america
Microsoft Live Maps Make for Strange Walks
Live Maps, the blatant attempt by Microsoft to take on and improve upon Google Maps, are in a state of rapid data collection currently. For those who haven't checked out this new mapping system, it will actually give you a street view of the location you're looking for. Oddly enough, I had this idea about three years ago and was going to call it streetment.com (still available if you want it) or something, but I realized that I simply did not have the manpower to pull this off because I can't cover all the streets of San Francisco like they'd need to be covered to make this work. Microsoft however, in their endless pile of money (insert Scrooge McDuck image here) does have the manpower to make this happen though. The end result is that they are in the process of mapping all these streets with guys driving around in cars that have cameras mounted all over them. A slight tinge of 1984? You betcha.
So, yesterday, I was walking along Sansome Street and saw one of these guys turn in front of me to drive up Commercial Street, right past the home of the $40 burrito (Tlaloc). It was a weird sight. Here was this guy in a Toyota Camry, with a sunroof that had a tripod sticking up through it. On top of that was mounted this four-lensed camera, which I assumed was taking pictures of everything as he drove. Then I realized that I was in these shots and at some point, I would appear when people looked at this street. Check it out for Powell Street on their current maps. It's pretty weird. I doubt that there's anything you can do about this since it's legal. Still, it's weird, but hey, it's Microsoft and everybody loves dancing monkeys.
