Hey, there! Log in / Register
Mapping Universal Hub posts
By adamg on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 2:04pm
I've started playing with some of the location-based modules available for the core software underneath Universal Hub. One of the things you can do is set up a map that shows the locations your posts are about (once you tag them with addresses). Here's the first:
It's a map of the 50 most recent geographically-specific Universal Hub posts (or will be, once I've actually tagged enough posts). Once I've worked out some interface issues, I'll open it up to everybody who posts on UH (it seems to be pretty cool - you type in an address and city, and the software grabs the appropriate coordinates from Google Maps).
And I'll look at extending it to other things, from locations of cool photos to crime maps (I'm currently building Boston Crime with Movable Type and a lot of manual looking up on Google Maps). But before I go too map crazy, what sorts of things would you folks like to see on a map?
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
T stops on map
T stations! Everyone who does Boston stuff loves to see their T stops mapped.
Like, when I look at a Crime map with the little guns... are they all around Stony Brook and Brigham Circle? Maybe, but I can't see it on the map!
:D
Subway stopsI
I like that. Somewhere, somebody's posted a file with the geographic coordinates of T stops (hmm, or I could probably just get it by looking at the file the T uses for its own map).
coordinates
Like this?
Exactly
That wasn't the specific file I was thinking of, but will do way better than the one I was). Thanks!
Small comments on the Boston
Small comments on the Boston Crime map:
1. The handgun icons suggest a firearm was involved in the crime, which is not always the case.
2. The point the handgun is calling out is not obvious (viewer might wonder whether it is at the end of the muzzle or the center of the gun).
3. Drawing a perimeter around the area covered by the report would be helpful, especially given how vague the label "Boston" can be.
Guns as symbol of violence
I originally used guns, bloody knives and footprints (for gun, knife and "other" violence). Seemed to be more confusing. Good point on the location of the pointer.
I could draw a line around the city limits, but the site just plots crimes committed in the city itself (so no Brookline. Maybe I could make that clearer, though).
Geotagging software
Adam,
The company I work for makes geotagging software that will automatically read through posts/stories and assign coordinates to addresses, placenames, etc. If an automated tool like this interest you, let me know and I will see what I can do to help out. Universal Hub would probably qualify for the free version.
Cool!
Sure, I'd be interested in hearing more. Thanks!
Map babbling
Images - It would be cool if you could get the photo's thumbnail as the icon (like how google does it :P) at the "approx" location of the thing, where possible
Brookline Crime - There's no current crime stats for Brookline in your data? Please try to add it! The PD has their own "crime blog"
http://blog.brooklinepolice.com/2008/09/september-...
...so if you have the desire, the data seems tangible :) I guess this would go for cambridge and perhaps somerville residents too... hmm.
Putting the T stops would be great, as I mentioned, to tie the whole crime-event-gallery data into the living and commuting regions of the city.
I wish you could work on a project that would combine craigslist with google maps. That really is the missing link of internet data browsing. When I crawl apartment ads, I really wish I could do it with a map instead of trying to type in keywords of the data I want to mine.
It's a time issue
For awhile, I was actually compiling a Brookline Smash and Grab Map, based on their blog. And now Cambridge has gotten into the act, too. So one of these days ...
I thought somebody had done a Craigslist apartment mapper. Will have to see if it's still around.
Brookline Crime Blog
Hah, I was just reading the brookline crime blog, and I almost got bored. The contrast between brookline and boston is startling. There's only like one murder a year or so, so the gun map would be pretty dry!
Yeah, I know it's a time thing, and I guess I'd rather have you focus on one city and do it well then have a bunch of B&E's from Brookline on your Boston map. Smash and grab hah.. yeah that seems to be the trend.
If you can find that craigslist mapper I would never say anything bad about this site again... j/k ;) I should try to find it too. I only find those kinds of tools for buying real estate...
Just out of curiosity ...
Where does it say this post came from?
The ether ...
You were hoping for an infinite loop that would explode the server, I know you are! Just like when I gave the kidlet a second e-mail address (I get 10,000 for free with the service I'm using, so have plenty to spare) and she asked if we could forward mail from the A address to the B address and then have the B address forward its mail to the A address ...
The system I'm using doesn't auto-generate coordinates when I hit the post button. Before hit submit, I have to click on a link to open a box where I can type in an address. Then it grabs the coordinates. Given that we're dealing with Boston, I know there are times I'll have to be careful and look up the Zip code by hand (Washington Street, natch. Harvard Street, too).
Reason for Curiosity
I was looking to see if there would be spatial misclassification of my whereabouts. I'm in Southern California with a laptop that started its computing life in Lowell and tends to live in Medford.
No, no user tracking
There is a separate module to map IP addresses of visitors, and I bet I could connect that easily enough to user names, but no, I'm not doing that. Seems excessively creepy.
It is creepy
Thank you :) I don't use Tor at work and I don't want to start.
Mapping by neighborhood
http://www.universalhub.com/maps/neighborhoods
Kinda homely looking right now, but it works - at least, for neighborhoods for which I've geotargeted posts (try Back Bay or Dorchester as examples).
Custom Metro Boston Maps
Adam, I like the mapping feature. For my work I help run www.MetroBostonDataCommon.org, website that has a custom mapping tool that includes hundreds of layers you can use to create a custom map, including T subway stations and lines, commuter rail stations and lines, and lots of other types of data. Right now you can export the data in Excel format, and the format for ArcGIS Explorer, and we are interested in adding other functionality and formats. I'd be interested in feedback from you and you readers ...