Apparently Google Maps isn't the only the only service to run into trouble with a foreign government, having a large scale map will do it as well. Forbes.com has an article about how Russia considers large scale maps to be state secrets. While Google Maps has recently drawn the ire of several countries, including India and the the Netherlands for its maps of sensitive areas, Russia is going old school and suspending BP's operations over the handling of large scale maps. Apparently, in Russia maps with a 1:25,000 scale are too detailed for the eyes of foreigners …

We've been hearing a lot (and writing a lot here) about Google Maps, but how does the service actually work? In particular, how does additional data get added in to a Google map? There have been a lot of maps on the Internet over the years, and many of them have been highly popular (such as Yahoo! Maps and (years ago) maps from folks like DeLorme). However, none of these location and driving maps have had the caché of Google Maps. The most obvious reason is that none of them allowed you to add your own content to the map …

Another in a long string of recent Google Maps hacks, Rising Concepts has created a service called Frapper! that provides groups of people with similar interests a way to share their general location. The collaborative map site is basically a database that stores course map information (zip codes and international city names) along with an annotation (such as your name, picture, and a "shoutout"). When you bring up their map page, it overlays the points onto Google Maps and now you have a map of your group, or your interest. The purposes of the maps range from just communities of …

The BBC News has an article (China angry at Google map change) about a row between China and Google over changes in Google Maps (now Google Local) because of a recent change in the way Taiwan is labeled. China was angered because (under pressure from users in Taiwan) Google removed the phrase "a province of the People's Republic of China" from around Google's map of Taiwan. China has now countered claiming that there is outrage on Chinese chat rooms and talk about boycotting Google China's services.

The National Atlas is a US government site that provides access to government mapping data in an interactive form. With oodles of background data, you can create maps representing everything from crime to crops.

For those of you who have seen the movie or, dare I dream, read the book, The Map Room has a link to a newly found map created by the late T.E. Lawrence. Amazing the things you can find when you do a little spring cleaning. Apparently the British National Archives had misfiled Lawrence's Peace Map indicating his ideas on dividing up the middle east after WWI. While the image is a little small, those of you in London anytime between now and April 17th can view the original at the National Archives.

In yet another post on the Google Maps phenomenon, the New York Times has an article that discusses what the fuss is all about as well as provides links to several different sites that make use of the Google Maps API. At this point I would like to make a personal plea to the God of GIS for something new to come along in the world of GIS so that I can have something else to talk about. For those of you who don't already know the New York Times requires a free registration to view articles.

Welcome to a brave new world. Would you sacrifice a little privacy in order to have a better idea about traffic jams and commute times from home to work. If you live in Missouri you may get to answer that question, or have it answered for you very soon. More after the jump. Yahoo News has an article from the AP that details a plan by the Missouri Department of Transportation to use a system to anonymously monitor thousands of cell phones, using their movements to map real-time traffic conditions statewide on all 5,500 miles of major roads. As …

Since the introduction of Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, A9 and other web mapping products earlier this year there has been a great deal of discussion about the effect these software packages will have on the GIS industry. Will these products kill GIS, improve GIS, or have no impact at all on GIS software. Find out more after the jump. Since the introduction of the latest and greatest web mapping applications earlier this year the GIS industry has been nervously trying to figure out what impact this will have on the bottom line. Speculation on the impact ranges from no impact …

OK, maybe it isn't your name, but it is the name of your town, and the names of millions of towns and places throughout the world. The USGS's Geonames (or GNIS) site contains downloadable datasets with names of cities, towns and other places. A companion site from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) contains foreign place names.

The US Geological Survey has a pair of sites online showing galleries of various maps about the hurricanes Rita and Katrina. These pages are part of an ongoing effort by the USGS to provide a community-based site that points users at mapping and other geospatial sites.

Our first featured map is Pop Vs Soda.com's main map. Although 3 years out of date at this point, Pop Vs Soda is still an interesting site showing more interesting kinds of data you can tabulate geographically.

Here is an interesting new community mapping project in the same vein as the pop vs soda mapping project. Wired magazine has an interesting article about a webpage entitled commoncensus.org, that is designed to help shed light on how Americans perceive their surroundings. Specifically, the website directs you to provide information on where you live (address) and from there it asks you to identify which area (community, city, etc..) you identify with the most. The end product is a U.S. map that provides a better understanding of which areas/regions that people associate themselves with. This appears to …

India, South Korea, Thailand, the Netherlands and a few other countries have expressed concern about the quality of satellite images on Google Maps and their potential use by terrorist groups. Maybe Google is trying to be the new Microsoft. Apparently, not everyone is excited about the way in which Google Maps may change the world. Wired magazine has an article (India: Google Maps Too Graphic, originally titled Google Terror Maps) discussing how security officials in several countries such as India and South Korea are concerned about the possible misuse of Google map data. In particular, security officials are concerned that …

One of the most talked about new uses of mapping has spawned more than a few articles about its impact on society. While Google Maps and its competitors are no competition for a true GIS package it is an innovation in terms of non-technical users. As the map search wars are now just starting to heat up several respected technology magazines have articles sizing up the innovation, uses, and odds of who will win. In particular, Technology Review has an excellent article entitled Killer Maps, while Geospatial Solutions article is entitled Google Sparks Search Wars. Read and enjoy and please …

As is to be expected, GIS and mapping are playing a big role in the analysis, and future prevention efforts, of Hurricane storm damage. While GIS has been used for years to map and analyze hurricanes and hurricane damage it appears that GIS has taken on a bigger role this year. This article in Wired on mapping Katrina's storm surge damage discusses the attempt to map the damage in hopes of using the information to create an atlas for future hurricane preparedness. It appears the data is going to be mapped for all of the gulf coast area and that …

What's all the fuss about the Chicagocrime.org Google hack. While this site gets all the press the Chicago Police Department has been mapping for years and putting it on the web for all to see. The press likes to talk about the great Google hacks that are starting to pop up on the net with the most popular discussion seeming to center on Chicagocrime.org. This is a simple hack in which Adrian Holovarty has taken publicly available crime data and mapped it for all to see using Google hacks. While at first blush this seems an innovative use …

New versions of GeoDa software are being developed as open source software and will be available for the Mac and Unix systems. For all of those of you who conduct spatial analysis of areal data you probably already know about GeoDa, the great FREE software developed by Luc Anselin at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This standalone piece of software allows users to conduct exploratory spatial data analysis as well as spatial regression analysis all without the need of a GIS. Importantly, because Luc Anselin is a Mac guy he decided to create a version for Mac and Unix …

How low has Hollywood sunk? Apparently low enough to make a teen/college killer-in-the-woods movie with geocaching as the main setup. Start lining up now for the 2006 release of this sure to be Oscar contender. Gadget site Engadget had an article about the upcoming low budget movie G.P.S. that appears to be a Blair Witch type movie in which kids get lost in the woods and killed while on a geocaching hunt. I guess this officially means that GPS and geocaching have entered the mainstream. Not enough on the website to give it a review, but as …

Geospatial Solutions has an interesting story about a company (PBS&J Consulting) that created a hurricane debris model for Broward County Florida. The article describes the techniques used in creating the model, and models created by the Army Corp of Engineers, including data sources, assumptions, and problems with the models. For those interested in spatial modeling the article provides an interesting discussion about how models are created including the limitations of data and assumptions.