Google Maps

For a project on which I have been working I have been experimenting with using Google Maps to show the route of a heritage walk.

Link to History Begins at Home Heritage Walk

Google Maps allows you to trace a route and place markers of key places of interest which appear on the online map. When the map is printed the online additions do not appear. The street map however is quite clear when printed in landscape.

I am still experimenting with Google Maps and on my next attempt I hope to get the result I am looking for and hopefully will not make errors when tracing the route next attempt. I will also add the location symbols for some of the main places of interest - this is a wok in progress.

It is possible to provide a copy of the map for printing showing the route and location symbols by taking a screen dump of the map, saving it and then editing the image in a program such as Firefox or PhotoShop. The image for printing can then be inserted in an html page with instructions to set the printing options to landscape.

The image of the map map can also be edited in Firefox or Photoshop.

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools

The categories in the SEOmoz's Web 2.0 awards 2007 reflect the topics we have been investigating in Library 2.0 with many of the tools we have played with appearing in the winners' list. The categories also demonstrate the extent to which sharing and creation of information has quickly become an accepted part of the Internet.

*Blog guides *Bookmarking *Books Business City guides &reviews Classifieds & directories *Collaborative writing & word processing Communication Content aggregation & management Digital storage & remote access Events Feed management Fun stuff Games Health *Hosted wikis Lists & polls Mapping Marketing *Mashups Mobile technology

Music Online desktop *Organisation Philanthropy *Photos & digital images *Podcast services Professional networking Questions & advice Real estate Retail *Search Social networking Social news *Social tagging Start pages Travel *Video Visual arts Web development & design *Widgets

For this exercise I explored Google Maps which would be a useful tool for creating maps for a heritage walk for example. The path taken can be indicated on the walk, specific locations noted etc. So far I have only gone as far as locating the area of the map I am interested in and had a look at the YouTube guides provided on the Google Map site. Next step will be to add the route etc - when time permits during the next few days.

Zoho Writer

The online options in this Library 2.0 project continue. At first glance Zoho Writer seems have the major features required for creating word documents -

• general formatting,
  
• ability to add images,
  
• add lists and
  
• insert tables.
  

Tags are used instead of folders but this also means that a document can be stored in more than one place. If a tag contains more than one word inverted commas must be used to enclose the phrase.

Other Zoho applications such as

• Zoho Sheet - a spreadsheet tool or
  
• Zoho Show - a tool for slideshows
  

can be embedded.

The document can also be worked on offline which would be an advantage when the Internet connection is slow or unpredictable.

The information in the document can also be posted to a blog which I am attempting to do now.

Technorati Tags Zoho Writer