Platial News and Neogeography

MapKit and Blogs

Seems we were a bit premature in promoting MapKit to bloggers.  Seems the converting of line breaks, the stripping of .js and the wysiwyg vs plain text editors are conspiring against many bloggers. 

Updated code and clarified documentation coming very shortly.

UPDATE:

In our excitement to get this into the hands of eager users, we neglected one big chunk of QA: Adding a MapKit in a blog post may break the XML of an associated RSS feed.  Use with caution.  This particular issue may be fixed by wrapping the code in a "cdata" tag

but we haven't finished testing this yet.

Here is a summary of what we have learned so far.  Please get back to us with any more information you may come across.

Does It Work on...MySpace, TypePad, Blogger, WordPress, my website?

The various blog products and services process the entry content in several ways.  Some strip out javascript, some convert the ampersand and other characters in a way that breaks the functionality, even when posted as 'plain text' or 'html'.  The javascript has also been known to actually break the RSS of an entire site.  Basically, be careful using this inside a blog.  We recommend using it outside the post heirarchy, either in the template somewhere (we've seen it used in the header of a blog) or in a seperate page (like the 'about' page offered on many blogs).  If the code is being appended with 'br' tags, you may have to convert the entire code snippet into a single line of plain text.

Details on known blog products and services

• MySpace
  • Not supported
• TypePad
  • Adding into a post in the 'html' tab works.
  • Creating a new page using advanced templates works.
• Blogger
  • You cannot add it as a Post to your Blogger blog, but you can insert it into the template (like in the page header).
• WordPress
  • We are currently working with WordPress.com on a custom integration.
  • This Widget Plugin may be able to help those with self hosted WordPress blogs.
• My own html site
  • The only known issue on html sites is that the page must actually contain a <p><span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;">&quot;body&quot;</span></p> tag.

If your service does not work with MapKit, send the site a feedback email asking for it. They may not know that their users want map widgets.

Ok, again, thanks for bearing with us on this hectic day of quick fixes!!

More info, more docs, more fixes still rolling out.

Incoming!

Greetings mappers,

Here are the feature requests we're getting for MapKit and what's on deck.

You want better sizing controls.

1. We are making a 150 px width version for Stowe Boyd and anyone else who wants their map in the sidebar. We'll post it here later today!

2. We're going to add an easier front end for changing size here...stay tuned.

You want more ways to populate your map.

1. You can see how to add any csv file to your map here.
2. Chris is making Map My Blog which will make it easy to geocode your previous posts and get them on your map...Coming MONDAY November 6th.

Feel free to add bugs or feature requests right here. Thanks for the feedback- Happy Mapping!

Happy Halloween

Cloning Platial

Found this solicitation for a coder to clone Platial for the Japanese market.
What a strange feeling it is to see this kind of thing.

Here is a snippet of the solicitation.

[Description]

This site is full cloning platial.com

Please study platial.com deeply before you bid.

[language]
this site will be for Japanese site. People use site and search in Japanese
We will translate from English to Japanese by ourselves, so you just need to make English site.

(but you need to direct me where and how I can change character. please comment on the code )

[Design Front end]

we want to use ajax as much as possible.

Platial.com

[administration part]

Need advise for additional function for admin part from Winner of this project.

[User part]

We need to have same functions as platial with additional feature
We want to use ajax as much as possible.

[deadline]

deadline will be 30days after this project awarded.

Once this site is developed, you will need to relinquish all rights to every aspect of it. You CANNOT put it on your portfolio

The chosen bidder MUST be on MSN,or Skype DAILY. I will expect DAILY updates as well as links to previews every step along the way. Don't bother bidding if you can't meet these requirements.

In the same week, we also saw the emergence of another actual semi clone as well, this one from China (cloned css class names and all).

I remember when Scott Heiferman's Meetup.com started getting cloned, we talked a lot about it. We ended up agreeing that the best response is to consider the clone a free, remotely based R&D lab. In fact, many great UI improvements were able to be gleened for Meetup, I guess it's our turn to start window shopping for features on this and the soon to be seen additional clones.

Platial's MapKit :: No Assembly Required

In the months ahead, geotagging will become part of virtually every website you can think of -- from consumer review sites to news, blog platforms, search engines and more.

Steve Rubel, of Micropersuasion.com

Therefore, Platial Announces the Easiest Way to put an Interactive Map on Your Site!

What is it?

Platial's MapKit is a map with built-in collaboration. Create a Map to suit your site (Dangerous Intersections, Great Dog Runs, Kid Friendly Businesses, Local Neighborhood News or Anything Else) and let your visitors add Places and leave comments. Platial's MapKit also supports Video, Photo and Music files right inside.

Why use it?

If you ever wanted a collaborative map of your own, this is the way to go.

How to get it?

Setup a MapKit in seconds, copy and paste one snippet of code into your website. Done.

Want to learn more?

Check out the More about MapKit page.

Watch a short video showing how easy it is

The History of Video Games

I knew this map was coming, and this morning I noticed it on the site. Scootdown's History of Video Games.

Here's a snippet to get you interested:

"Alexey Pazhitnov made Tetris at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow in 1984, behind the Iron Curtain. Back then the KGB was watching any activity in the USSR that was attracting foreign visitors. Alexey's video interpretation of the traditional game 'pentominoes,' led to a secret battle to secure the rights to publish the game and distribute it around the world. Eventually, the game was bundled with Nintendo's Game Boy and became one of the biggest games of all time. While the game went on to fame, the humble creator was stuck in Moscow without seeing royalties for his work, until the 90's when he moved to Seattle, WA."

America in Poems

I ran across Jerry's map America in Poems some time ago, but I was holding off writing about it until I could come up with something to add to it.

Unfortunately, I haven't come up with anything yet. Maybe some of the people who read this blog will prove to be more erudite than I am. I was hoping to find a poem about Iowa, where I was born and raised. I mean a good poem about Iowa. With the Writer's Workshop in Iowa City, Lord knows there are enough poets who have been through there. I've come up blank so far, but to be honest I haven't given the endeavor the effort it deserves. Maybe I'll make it to the library this weekend and I can do a Google vs Public Library search experiment. (My money's on the library for this one.)

The Mapping Circle

We had a great time mapping Wednesday night.

A few people just came by to hang out for a while and see some of the new toys we've been working on, but most people came to get busy on some mapping projects. Di-Ann started working on her map zine. Reverend Phil and Sergio (Zoobomb and Free Geek) worked on a Place list for a bike map, but they haven't mapped the Places yet. Our downstairs neighbors from the French bakery Nuvrei mapped the Places that sell their exquisite goods. Tracy (aka me), Chrissy, and Aaron recruited Bce (Brian from Janrain) to help do research for an elections map. Brian also has a cool Cycloross map on Platial and on his website. The elections map will be up and visible early next week.

Scootdown (aka Benjamin Satterfield), who just happened to be in town, started mapping Richard Neutra buildings. He's part of the team that made Blogabond.

Jason was the most impressive in the one-night map project. It took him until about 2 AM, but he managed to completely finish Platial's first Choose Your own Adventure Map.

There are a few pictures on Platial's Flickr group.

Gizmodo's GPS overload video

Come Make Maps

blof