Platial News and Neogeography

Where are the Joneses?

Checking out sites that are using Platial maps often leads me to discover some really cool projects, and Where are the Joneses has got to be one of the best of the best.

It's a funny interactive comedy, with viewers helping to write the scripts. The general starting point of the story is that a woman discovers that she is the daughter of a sperm donor and so goes about trying to find all of her brothers and sisters, an endeavor which takes her and her "brother" Ian all across Europe. The videos are really good, and the blog is hilarious.

Visit their wiki to find out more and to get more involved. You can even become a Jones by submitting a profile.

This is a really wonderful project, the videos are all funny and well worth watching. Thanks for using Platial to map your progress!

MapKits from the Network

I was checking out the new Platial Network page and wanted to share a couple of the cool sites I found there.

The Gem City Blog covers Dayton, Ohio. I actually had not known until seeing this blog that Dayton was nicknamed Gem City. The map in the blog's side bar contains a lot of restaurants and pubs and is open for contributions.

Jeremy Fain's blog Tech IT Easy may be pushing the pun limit with that title, but it has a lot of interesting stuff in it and very interesting guest bloggers. The posts are long and good, not fluffy. Definitely worth taking a bit of time to read.

The Ning community of Map Librarians has a map of its members.

Biking for Cancer

Platial has a new power user, named Mike Sierra. He is using Platial for a really wonderful and worthwhile project. The first week of August this year, he will be riding 192 miles across Massachusetts to raise money for cancer research. He writes about the fundraiser in his blog, Let Me Spell it Out for You:

"The PMC is the nation's oldest fundraising bike-a-thon, and its most successful charitable athletic event. Last year it raised $26 million for Dana Farber's Jimmy Fund, with an outstanding 99 percent of all funds raised going directly to developing new treatments."

Mike is hoping to raise $6,500 this year. You can make a pledge to his effort here.

Leave him some encouraging comments and check out his route on these maps:
Pan-Mass Challenge Day 0
Pan-Mass Challenge Day 1
Pan-Mass Challenge Day2

A Whole Blog of Tours

Platial member Veehikle has a blog called T3 Consortium's Scratchpad of Thoughts. So far he's using it for great mapping projects. The first one is a map of historic pubs in New England and the second one is America's best burgers. (I see some kind of theme starting here.)

Both maps are open for submissions, so go and give your favorite burger joint its rightful place on the map and if you see a pub missing, put it on there.

I love the way he's using the new flash version of the maps in his blog posts and I also like how he changed "Steal this map" to the more polite "Borrow this map."

I'm excited to see what he's going to map next.

Tyrone Wells Tour on Platial

We just launched the flash version of MapKit last week and we're excited to see Tyrone Wells using it to map his current tour. You can see the map on his MySpace profile and on Platial. Tyrone is a very talented young singer-songwriter. He started out playing acoustic in cafes a few years ago. Now he's just released his first major-label album, Hold On, after signing a deal with Universal Records.

If you're a fan of Tyrone Wells, leave a comment on the map to encourage him while he's on tour. If you're going to one of the shows, leave a comment to show your support.

Tyrone Wells Official Site
Campus Circle write-up of Tyrone Wells
Listen to some tracks and read a good review on CDBaby
SB Independent Review

A few MapKits of Note

Bootleg Bon Vivant is looking for the world's best tobacco shops. Do you know where to get a rare blend? Know the location of the perfect cigar? Contribute to the map.

I recently signed up for the fon network when they were giving away free routers. Today a Fon community member set up a map of hot spots on his blog dedicated to the subject Have Fon. Seeing this map finally got me to actually set my Fonera up!

Ubikcan is a blog covering politics, mapping, history, philosophy, Massive Attack concerts, and whatever else Ubikcan feels like writing about. There's a Platial map on the blog with an equally gloriously open-ended raisond'etre: "Anyone can add markers or comments to this map. The idea is to share geographically referenced experiences. Say you go to a good restaurant, you can tag that. Or a comment thread may refer to some places."

The blog Fly Fishing in Yellowstone National Park is run by a local expert on the subject whose username on Platial is Yellowstoner. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the blog page to see the map he's working on.

Canyon Guides

The CIC canyon Guides website is using mapKit to show the locations of its certified guides (in German). It's an excellent resource for finding Canyoning guides, especially in Europe. Each guide on the map has contact phone numbers and/or a link to a website. They also often list the languages the guides speak.

Celebrating Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day and this year's focus is "Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls." This map of Women Who Changed the World was created around this time last year. If you're not a Platial member, you can also add your favorite women to the map from this blog.

History of International Women's Day from the United Nations.
International Women's Day on Wikipedia.

Suburbarazzi

Suburbarazzi is using MapKit to stalk Lower Hudson Valley celebrities. They've plotted the home towns of the stars. I had no idea Ang Lee lived in Larchmont and Bill Murray lived in Sneden's Landing. I had no idea that there even were towns called Larchmont and Sneden's Landing.

I hope their readers enjoy tracking their own brushes with fame. Did I ever tell you about the time when I was working as a waitress and the guy who played the crazy scientist in Back to the Future sat in my section?

Help Tia and Nishant Figure out where to go on their Honeymoon

Nishant Mehta and his fiance Tia have put a MapKit up on their blog to solicit honeymoon destination suggestions. Just look at these handsome, happy people. They're in love and they need us! Visit the blog Who Would've Thought to leave your romantic ideas. Here are the criteria they want you to take into consideration:

1) We are on our honeymoon and not to sightsee - so preferably we’d like to avoid cities except as our point of origin and departure. Of course, another reason to avoid cities is to be away from the hustle and bustle that will greet us anyway when we return to New York

2) The wedding’s in January 2008, so many places in North America and Europe, for example, would be too cold for a honeymoon. Ideal weather: high-70s to high-80s (in Fahrenheit)

3) Not too kid-friendly or touristy, please.