Platial News and Neogeography

Biggest Pet Map + Widget! Get your Maps up on Widgetbox!

Just today I noticed that PetBrags had published their adorable map on Widgetbox. How cool! Way to go, PetBrags!

We have a bunch of cool maps up on Widgetbox, including another one put their by its owner, Great Places to Sail by Turinas. That map and the Shark Attack map by Bianca2000 are in the top 10 most popular map apps on Widgetbox.

One of the cool things about Widgetbox (and there are many, many cool things!) is that they have an app accelerator to help you get your maps on Facebook, Bebo, Hi5, and soon also Myspace. If you'd like to get your own map into the Widgetbox gallery and turn it into a facebook app, watch this video I made:

Show Your Love! 50Cent, LL Cool J, Lil Kim, Chris Brown, Asia Cruise

Today, Platial launched a new Top 10 Fan Maps page. Anyone can grab the code and add an artist widget to their Facebook profile, other site or blog. Show your love! (Or start a new fan map.)

We'll be listing new fan map widgets soon but here are the Top 10.  Feel free to point out your favorite Platial or Frappr fan maps if we've missed them.

Teenage Confessions

This morning I discovered a new project on Platial that I really love: Teen Confessions Through the Ages. The idea is wonderful. Teenagers and Adults have a tough time talking face to face, but they have a lot of things to talk about. This map blog lets teens and grown ups tell stories about themselves for mutual benefit without the awkwardness of having to be face to face.

The maps are new and ripe for stories. Tell the world about your practical jokes, embarassing teenage crushes, and favorite hangouts.

From the blog:

"Kids and adults are nosy about each other — especially when it comes to the teenage years.

Teenagers can’t always count on the adults in their lives giving candid answers when they ask, “So, when you were my age, what was it like for you?”

Adults often get blank stares when they ask kids, point blank, “What’s up,” or disinterest when they try to serve up stories about when they were teenagers.

Here at this blog, kids can post their teenage experiences and adults can recall theirs for a funny, poignant or informative read and without the pressure or awkwardness that often comes with in-person, one-on-one exchanges of this sort."

Romanitas

Romanitas is a new site all about ancient Rome, using Platial maps. Any Classicists out there should check out this brand new project. They're looking for ideas and collecting pictures for the map in their Flickr group.

April Fool

April Fool's Day is my favorite holiday after Halloween. Get inspired for your own pranks by reading up on those perpetrated in the past on the Hoaxes Map.

This is an open map. If you've done a good prank or know of one, be sure to add it to the map. You can get this map as a flash widget from Widgetbox or publish the full-featured javascript version for your blog or site by grabbing the code from the top title bar of the map on Platial.

Earth Hour Participants Map

On Saturday, at 8 PM people all over the world will turn off all of their lights for one hour. Some of the participants have added themselves to the Earth Hour map on their MySpace page.

You can get more information about Earth Hour from the Official Site. The event was begun in Sydney Australia by the WWF there to demonstrate how individuals working together can make a difference for the environment.

Satellite Cassette Tape

Go here, and try to find this geographic likeness of a smashed audio cassette.

Smelling Committee's Audio Clips about Odors Map

The Smelling Committee awakens us to local ecology through the goofy yet meaningful sensory exploration of our neighborhoods. Smelling Committee initiates are invited to explore sniff-along audio guides and post found smells with their cell phones to an online geo-tagged odor data bank. During the DUMBO Art Under the Bridge Festival, the whole of DUMBO is turned into an audio tour of odors. Look for plaques to call in for an audio guide, download the pdf map or the podcast .

The Smelling Committee is a collaborative project by Caitlin Berrigan & Michael McBean.

They started using Platial to embed the richly researched audio clips that were a part of the original project, making an audio map of smells around DUMBO. Now, the Platial map has expanded to an outreach and collection tool for stories and knowledge about smells in your own area.

Social Mapping Goes Mama (and more)

Frappr and Platial share a single most pervasive use case: communities, groups, enthusiasts collaborating on maps, sharing places, visualizing where their community is around the world.

The concept of shared place and social mapping has grown is now an important part of local search and many online communities. We knew the groups/community aspect is what mattered which is why we created MapKit a fully functional social map application for any site or blog or online community around sailing, 50 cent fans, moms, birders and anything else

We've just taken another big step down this path with Community Maps, a platform which allows others to create their own map-based communities through collaborative mapping. These are customizable for specific communities. Think of it as one great big world-wide map for moms, green activists, dog people, architecture buffs, foodies and more. This means your own readers/users can interact with the map on your own site and see what others around the world are adding!

Together with some of our power users we'll be rolling out 24 of these over the coming months and we are so thrilled! The next step is to roll it out for everyone to create their own.

So, share with your community and tap into relevant recommendations around the world. The first Community Map "MommyMap" was released in testing last week. Please check it out and if you're a mom, mommy blogger or just organize lots of playdates please give it a whirl and let us know what you think! Don't worry dads yours is coming.

Grab your own!

Also please see our local fav mommy bloggers using Mommy Map!

Resident professor, Chris Goad has wanted to release this for two years and finally we get to take this step. Here's what can be customized (and you wondered why we care so much about rdf!):

1. The kinds of information collected
2. How it is displayed
3, Custom pre-populated content
4. Distribution channels

Happy Mapping!

Want to sponsor one? email diann at platial dot com

Want to suggest one? email tracy at platial dot com

50 Cent Ticket Promo Using Platial

Win Tickets to 50 Cent's International Tour!

50 Cent is using his Platial map to give a few lucky winners free tickets to his International Curtis Tour! All of the dates and venue locations are displayed on the Curtis Tour Map, and fans are encouraged to add their own markers and rep their city. Fans must add themselves to the tour map, and then post it on their own profile page on Thisis50.com to be eligible to win. Check out thisis50.com for more information and to grab the map. Find out when Curtis will be coming to you, upload your picture, leave 50 a comment, and enter to win your free tickets!