By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:
What if Google Maps were more than just a place to get directions and local information filtered by Google. What if you could go to the house you grew up in on a map, post a note in your old neighborhood and find your childhood friends?
That’s the idea behind ZoomAtlas – a map that aims to be friendlier, social, and more informative than any other map service out there. The wiki-mapping site that launched on Monday, November 16, 2009, has built a detailed, photo-realistic map of the United States, blending satellite imagery with user-edited details, lending a realistic description to specific neighborhoods or areas.
The free site combines the technology of interactive maps with the social networking of Facebook for users to post notes, stories and insights to reconnect its users with friends, family and places from their past.
Site-customization tools users can update map details including roads, railroads, waterways, sidewalks and property lines to miniscule landscaping details like grass, flowers and bricks on residences, restaurants, schools, parks, workplaces and more. Beyond updating location-specific aesthetics and details from the past, the map enables users to post information and notes for family and friends at important locations in their collective lives.
“Facebook is a great tool to find and connect with people using the site, but what about those who aren’t on Facebook, or what about connecting with the places, not just the people, from your past?” asks Mark Sherman, founder and CEO of ZoomAtlas. “Our beta testing found users want more than to simply connect with people, they also want to share their experiences, recommendations and expertise about the places they know the best. ZoomAtlas creates a geo-social networking experience that takes social networking to the next level through an interactive map that is friendlier, social and more informative – interactive map meets Facebook as a place for people to reconnect with their past by mapping their lives.”
“ZoomAtlas makes all notes and details logged available to the top search engines so that any search for any combination of the information entered is likely to result in a successful hit to reconnect – even when an individual being sought is not a user of the site,” said Sherman.
Individuals are encouraged to post as much detail as possible about a place or memory to increase their chances of reconnecting with people from the past. They can also map their lives using the LifePath feature, which creates a visual timeline of the places they have been and lived. The timeline can then be posted on Facebook to share with friends.
The ZoomAtlas database currently contains 140 million places in the United States. The database will continue to expand over time as users add places and map their lives.
, google maps , interactive maps , map of the united states , social networking
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The trouble is that this site only covers the United states. I’m looking for something sinilar to this, but worldwide.