The Next Web

Wikiloc, how a hobby grows into a Google darling

Written on September 1, 2008 – 11:20 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

It must be a real pleasure when you’re a Google Maps developer and see some people taking your product to the next level. Like Jordi Ramot did. He’s a Spanish software engineer specializing in geospatial interoperability field and when he’s not behind his computer, he likes to be in the mountains hiking, back-country skiing or mountain biking. Since 2006, he has been developing Wikiloc, a Maps mash-up that allows users to upload GPS waypoints and trails so that other outdoor fans can use it on their trips.

It started as a hobby project, but has grown to a large community of thousands of outdoor enthusiasts sharing their best outdoor routes from anywhere around the world. Several voluntary translators have made the service available in twelve languages. Ramot told Spanish Web 2.0 blog that Wikiloc recently has become a full time project.

And it gets even better now that Google has announced the integration of Wikiloc in Google Earth. Users can now pick routes from the Wikiloc layer. So if you ever feel like skiing near La Monta in Switzerland, be sure to check this map:

Even when you’re not into the whole outdoor extreme sports thing, this post still is relevant to you. It shows that with enough passion, you can even let a hobby project become a successful company.

Google plants forests in Holland: amateurish censorship in Maps

Written on August 7, 2008 – 4:44 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

The controversial Dutch blog GeenStijl (translation: no style, wiki here) received an anonymous tip today saying Google censors certain parts of their Maps. We’re not talking about the regular “Google Blur” that hides military bases and government buildings, but a different - more evil so you want - kind of censorship. The thing is, the Mountain View-based company plants forests in Holland. Some Google employee has replicated a small part of forest to hide a certain object on the terrain of Castle Engelenburg near Eerbeek, Gelderland.

And there also is a second bush, left from the water, that also doesn’t exist. Livemaps, the mapping service by Microsoft, also shows a forest, but this one looks “better”.

According to GeenStijl, neighbors say there was “something weird” going on with European subsidies and nature areas. Anyhow, Google Maps secretly censors its satellite photos, that’s for sure.

Google maps: go take a hike!

Written on July 24, 2008 – 3:11 pm
Joop Dorresteijn, Contributing editor

Google announced a new feature in Google Maps, letting you view the walking directions. And as Andy Schwerin puts, it makes me want to stroll through the city a little bit as well: “You’ll notice shops, parks, and public art that you’ve been accustomed to zooming past, and come away feeling like you’ve really gotten the insider’s take on a neighborhood or city. Of course, don’t get too caught up in enjoying the sights! Please be careful, and be particularly attentive in high traffic areas.”

Simply type in the directions as you are used to and if the route is shorter then 10km, Google will offer a option to show Walking directions on the left of the screen. Don’t walk blind on the new feature’s directions yet, the beta service doesn’t know all the sidewalks yet, and is not intelligent enough to see a pedestrian bridge for crossing a busy street. Google doesn’t know all pedestrian pathways yet, and is collecting new data to find more effective ways to get to where you need to be.

Google seems to be the only mapping service that offers walking directions for now. Although we have seen Google Maps mashups for jogging purposes before, allowing to manually create, share and discuss jogging routes. I hope Google will implement a sportive function as well. For now, the feature will prove very useful on mobile devices for quick navigation purposes.

Google Streetview: Paris, je t’aime

Written on July 4, 2008 – 11:07 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

The subversive-looking Google Streetview cars have hit Paris to shoot a touristic stroll past highlights like the Tour d’Eiffel, Place de la Concorde, and, the Place Charles de Gaulle (depicted below). Not the touristic part, as the ‘normal’ areas of the city aren’t covered. Some Valleywag commenter complains that the Google Cam didn’t shoot anything east of the Louvre. Anyway, when you DO cross a well-known area on the Google Map, this is how it looks like:

Google Streetview shows 360 panoramic photos of cities from ground level. So far, lots of US cities and some parts of Italy and France have been covered. The ultimate goal of Google is to cover the whole world, which is obviously pretty ambitious, really exciting as well as a touchy subject. As you can imagine, ladies in bikinis and men leaving strip clubs aren’t really fond of Google Streetview.

Music Map proves that being a rock star is madness

Written on June 13, 2008 – 5:24 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Would you like to know where to see your favorite artist this summer? Head over to The Last(.fm) Music Map, a - good guess - Last.fm/ Google Maps mash-up by Italian webdeveloper Michele Marcucci. The Music Map imports concert data from Last.fm and shows it on a Google map of the world. The site also showcases similar artists to the one you were searching for. And guess what, I’ve already bought a ticket via this übercool mash-up

My hero used to be Lenny Kravitz. Till my sixteenth I used to buy every album the man released. One minor detail though, I’d never seen him on stage. Well, this is gonna change as I’ve found out via Music Map that the 44-year old rocker will perform in Holland on June 28th.

Though I’m happy with my concert ticket for mr. Kravitz, I’m pretty sure this will be my last visit to Music Map. There’s nothing that stimulates me to come back. So an useful contribution the site would be a ‘keep me up to date’ option. Like a RSS feed or weekly newsletter. Otherwise I’ll just browse to the events section of Last.fm.

By the way, checking out where your music hero is playing is not the only interesting aspect of the Music Map, as you can also tell how hectic it must be to be a rock star. A map like this makes you realize that these guys are flying some miles. I guess I’ll stick to blogging…

Google and Netvibes offer the one thing a European can’t live without these days

Written on June 9, 2008 – 10:55 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

All the German, Swiss, Austrian, Polish, Croatian, Portuguese readers of The Next Web Blog are probably pretty wound up already, Euro 2008 has begun! Now the Dutch, like me, get excited as well, since we have to face the Italians tonight. So please forgive your blogger to express his state of anxiousness with a blog post about this football highlight of the year (don’t even think of the word soccer, my dear American readers. And yes, it’s like the Superbowl). Several services offer ways to keep you up to date about the championship.

Google has made a real effort for its European customers. Besides from showing a special football Doodle, the search giant also developed a special OneBox. Everybody who uses a localized version of one the participating countries can use some handy shortcuts. Whenever you type in ‘euro 2008′, you’ll get info about the upcoming matches. And there’s ‘euro 2008 country_name‘ for the latest scores of your favorite team. I’ve saved the best for last though, as I haven’t mentioned the Euro 2008 Google map yet.

Four of my friends aren’t tech bloggers, so they actually have spare time. They’ve used it to travel to Switzerland to get pissed while wearing an orange outfit. I’m pretty sure they’ve used the handy map Google and transit authorities SBB and VBZ of Switzerland and OBB of Austria have made. So that even after a few beers, my friends still find the way to their hotel or the stadium. If that isn’t enough, Google Maps also showcases the match results and other statistics.

And then there’s Netvibes. Being an important European start-up, you can’t ignore this wave of football news and craziness. The Paris-based team has written a blog post in which they tell their users how to keep track of all the essential football news. There’s a “tailor made” Euro 2008 widget which functions as a score board and some news sites offer special football feeds.

So now your online life is all adapted to the football event, all you need now are some beers, friends, and a tv-set.

Oh, there’s actually one more thing I have to share with you. Follow the Twitter discussions! They’re really funny, especially since some people really think they know a lot about football. Use Summize to track them down.

Bikelogger: GPS tracking service for cyclists

Written on June 8, 2008 – 9:00 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Geeks like you and me need to work out, especially in the summer. We can’t spend the whole week behind our PC without developing symptoms like an ever growing belly, sun-frightened skin, and black pouches under our eyes. So I’m looking for ways to stay fit. I play ping-pong, hallway soccer, and basketball with my Next Web office buddies, but that’s more about the fun. No, I’d to like sport more seriously, like long-distance cycling. Yet, as a city boy, I have no idea where to go on my bike. German-based start-up Bikelogger is going to help me out. This GPS tracking service helps people find biking pals and saves all the tracks of the community by using the Google Maps API.

Who else than a bike fanatic like Bikelogging founder and CEO Manuel Kirchner can explain better what this service is about? In the opening post on the Bikelogger corporate blog he wrote:

The basic idea of bikelogger is to constantly upload the tracklog of your GPS system, so that friends and other bikers can watch your tracks, download interesting routes and find bike partners in your area.

Geo localization is the next big thing in social networking. It will make the whole experience a different - and more exciting - dimension. I’d love to go to a club and see which Facebook friends are there as well. So it’s not surprising that many developers are now working on the geo localization killer-app. Bikkelogger won’t be the one, but I’m sure Kirchner found himself a good niche within this trend. Cyclists are real sportsmen who in general tend to be crazy about their bike. So a useful application that also gives them the possibility to connect with other bicycle-minded folks will be a welcome attribution to their digital life.

Success won’t come for free though. The beta version of Bikelogger misses a sports-appeal as the design is plain boring. Also, cyclists would probably want to show off with their incredible tracks on Facebook and blogs. Hence the call for some more API magic. If Kirchner combines this with some serious community management, he might become a well-known name in the bicyclists scene.

Google Maps-based Mezzoman prevents family fights

Written on February 18, 2008 – 3:47 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Problem 1: when one of my best friends and me want to meet, we always have discussion about the place to go to. Since he lives in the southern part of Amsterdam and my apartment is in the north-east, we have a mutual agreement to meet in the middle. Yet for some reason, our definitions of the ‘middle’ are always slightly different.

Problem 2: a Dutch correspondent in the US once told me that when American families meet for Thanksgiving or Christmas, they just drive to a location that is located in the middle. US visitors of the Next Web Blog can probably verify this, right? These families probably have the same discussions as my friend and me do. The result: family fights about a driving a few miles more.

Solution: As with most great solutions: they’re stupid yet brilliant ideas. This time I found one in the Museum of Modern Betas. It’s called the Mezzoman and it will prevent a lot of people from fighting. It uses Google Maps and some pre-defined search terms - such as Italian food - to show my friend, American families and everybody else out there the way to the perfect meeting point.

The service and its Facebook app are still in beta. Hopefully the guys behind this initiative will expand it somewhat, since options are very limited now. Why not use more services than just Google Maps and Facebook? Mezzoman could also show some reviews, link to blog articles about the spot and find some Flickrpics of the place. That will make the act of preventing fights even more fun.