Metro Mapper

Louisville Metro Crime Updated - 2003 Through Now

2009-06-03T11:47:00.000-04:00

Metro Mapper now shows all reported crime in Louisville, KY from January of 2003 through June 1, 2009! That's hundreds of thousands of crimes! Our monthly updates will keep your informed of crime around you.

As part of our upgrade to the Your Mapper platform, there are a number of new features available to you:

Link to More Details - Each map popup contains an Information icon that links to a full page of details about the crime, including the full case report (when available) and an interactive street view. You can also leave comments, and send the link of the specific crime to others.

Mobile Access - The mobile icon at the bottom of the map allows you to get a link to your search for your mobile device. Just email that to your iPhone, Blackberry, or Android phone (or any phone with a web browser) and see that search and create new searches wherever you are!

Data Feeds for Your Searches - When you do a search on the map and choose the center location, the types of crime, a date range and/or keyword, you can use the icons at the bottom of the map to grab RSS (for feed readers) or KML (for your own maps) versions of that search. That way you can see new crimes when they appear without having to visit our site directly.

And as before, you can embed the map into your own site. If you are a web developer, can even program your own map or service based on crimes using the Your Mapper API.

Powered by Your Mapper

2009-06-02T10:19:00.004-04:00

The Metro Mapper site is now powered by the Your Mapper platform! You can tell an immediate difference when you visit each of the maps on the site, since they have a new look, more data, and more features.
New Features

Consistency
All the maps now have a consistent visual interface.

More Information
All data has been updated and will remain updated, and most maps contain more data and details than before.

Location Details
Every single marker location on a map has its own web page, with details, ratings, comments, street view and more. You can visit the page by clicking the Information icon in the mapped location's popup. Share this detail page with your friends.

Search Links
When you perform a search, you can click the map link icon at the bottom of the map to get a link directly to that search in real-time. No need to bookmark to your account!

Data Feeds
You can also grab RSS and KML data feeds of your search for use on your own feed reader home pages or interactive maps. When the search has new results, you see it right away!

Mobile Links
Take your search with you! Click the mobile link to get an on-the-go optimized version of your search to access from anywhere. The mobile Your Mapper site works on any mobile phone browser, from iPhone to Blackberry to Google Android. Tweak your search on your phone, or start a new one!

Speed
The new site and searches are much faster than before.

Changes to Metro Mapper Services

All of your bookmarks and links will still behave as you expect. And your Metro Mapper accounts will work for the Your Mapper login as well, so you don't need to create a new account.

However, if you use the Metro Mapper embedded map services, you will have to make a change. Your maps will continue to work for now, but will stop working soon (a month or so, but we'll see how people take to the transfer). The data and features of your current Metro Mapper maps will become out of date. Instead, what you will need to do is head over to Your Mapper, login, select the map you'd like to embed, and get the new code for your site. We'll be providing detailed instructions on the site and contacting each of you individually to assist in the switch.

We hope you enjoy the upgrade to the site, and the new features Your Mapper provides!

Your Mapper - Coming in June

2009-05-13T18:13:00.006-04:00

June 2009

Things to expect:

New National Site
Data feeds for Everything
Comments and Ratings
Developer API
Retrofitted Metro Mapper
Mobile Version
More Datasets and Maps

Google Earth: Historical Imagery and 3D Ocean Floor

2009-02-03T06:38:00.011-05:00

Google released the newest version of its Google Earth product, and has included some terrific new features.

One is the ability to see all of their historic satellite imagery for an area. Most parts of the US seem to go back to 1993, but some go back to the 1940s. You can cycle through each set of images and play them in a loop. A side benefit of this is that you can now see the month and year that the satelitte pictures were taken.

Louisville had about 10 sets going back to 1993. Here is an animation I made of part of our Ohio River waterfront development over time:

And here is a more detailed version of the entire set (click for high resolution):

Another feature is the ability to dive under the ocean and see all of the earth's ocean floors in 3D, thus increasing Earth's coverage by 233%.

You can also now record everything you are doing, including image history, zooming, panning, toggleing features, audio description, etc, and then share this with anyone else throught Google Earth. The recipient can play back what you have demonstrated, including your voice over.

Google LatLong: New in Google Earth 5.0: Historical Imagery

Tonight: Free Presentation at UofL Honors Lecture Series

2008-10-29T12:43:00.010-04:00

Metro Mapper will be making a free and open to the public presentation tonight at UofL. The fun starts at 7pm. See our previous post for more event details.

Here is a detailed overview of what I will be speaking about at the event. You can print it out beforehand, or I'll have copies on hand tonight so you can follow along, know what to expect, and take notes for questions.

PDF of Presentation (PDF)

UPDATE: We tried to live stream the event, courtesy Nick Moorman, but some technical issues prevented it from working out.

Presentation
Biography – Michael Schnuerle: Louisville, UK, Australia, Paris, Edinburgh, San Fran, Louisville
Technology – Convergence and new tech 2005: Map APIs, Ajax, Hosting Costs, Open Source
The Metro Mapper Site
Site Overview – types of maps, daily traffic, updates
Cool Examples – filtering, historic overlays (UofL)
Services – free to public, account, bookmarks, embedding free and paid
Revenue – ads, sponsoring, consulting, custom work, embedding, collaboration (PVA)
History – 2005 technologies, city crime, other data, embedding, full time
Career Path – Computer Graphics, 2 years abroad, Big/Small Companies, Independent
Technical Overview – PHP, MySQL, Data -> Convert -> Site -> Embed
Tools Used – Photoshop, Dreamweaver, MySQL Administrator, SmartSVN, WinSCP
The Your Mapper Prototype
Site Preview – logo, interface, maps
Key Differences – National, browsing, tools, data loading, social media, mobile
Open Data - Open Municipal Geodata Data Standard
The Future of Online Maps
Google Earth – Exporting data into a 3D environment, 3D cities, 1:1 correlations.
Mobile Tools – iPhone, Google Android, GPS, ubiquity
Location Based Tools - Connecting where you are to useful information, social
Data Loading – Making public data truly public

Municipal Partnership: Jefferson County PVA and Metro Mapper

2008-10-21T13:18:00.006-04:00

We've launched a new map as part of a partnership with the Jefferson County PVA. We've put all of their property values on an interactive map that is embedded on their site. There is also a version on our Metro Mapper site.

It's a perfect example of working with existing government data, and creating an interactive map for the government agency's site. It's going to keep people coming back to their site, and gain a whole new following of people that find the Metro Mapper site then see the property value map. I think it’s really going to improve the way people search for information, and raise everyone’s expectations for what the government should be providing to citizens.

Here is the full press release text from the PVA:

Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator, Tony Lindauer, announced today another enhancement to the PVA award winning website. All property parcel values across Jefferson County will be viewable on a free interactive map.

The new service supplements the existing address search, since it allows citizens to see the property values around them at-a-glance without having to know the neighboring street names.

A citizen can enter any address or street and see the closest parcels. A marker for each parcel will show a popup with useful information, including the property and land value, owner name, date assessed, parcel thumbnail, and type of property. The popup will include a link to the subscription web service, which gives even more detailed information on property.

The new service will be available on Monday, October 27, 2008. Lindauer said the interactive maps, similar to Google Maps, will be more user friendly in accessing snapshot information for each parcel.

Michael Schnuerle, of Louisville Metro Mapper, who designed the enhancement for the website, said: “It’s great that the Jefferson County PVA is constantly improving the website. This visual mapping tool will make browsing for property information much easier. “

To facilitate the data exchange, the PVA is using the open data format called the OMG Standard.

Metro Mapper at UofL Honors Lecture Series, Oct 29

2008-10-21T13:09:00.008-04:00

I will be speaking at the University of Louisville Honors Lecture Series Wednesday, Oct 29, 2008 at 7pm.

I'll talk about maps, demo the current Metro Mapper site, give a technical overview of how it was made, show some cool maps and data, preview the new Your Mapper national prototype, discuss mobile location-based tools, speculate on the future of online maps, and take any questions.

And I'll discussing my big announcement from this coming Monday.

Before the event, post some questions here and I'll incorporate them into the presentation!

Become a fan of Metro Mapper on Facebook and RSVP to the event so they know how many seats to have. Space is pretty limited since it's in a classroom: RSVP for Event

Map of Estcorn Honors Center at Threlkeld Hall's Location on Campus: www.tinyurl.com/mmuofl

Thanks to the student organizers for putting it all together:

Greer Waldrop
Venkat Ramakrishnan
Greg Shaw
Amruth krishnamurty
Michael Miao

Parking - For off campus people, you can use the Floyd St Parking garage, which costs a bit before 7, but after 7 is free. Also after 7, you can park on the streets in the area without worrying about being ticketed. I know the even starts at 7, but you should be alright if you arrive just before 7.

Idea Festival Wrap-up: 5 Blog Posts

2008-09-29T08:15:00.004-04:00

The third Louisville Idea Festival is now over, and it was a fantastic trip through architecture, video games, mobile phones, ninjas, word games, the Berlin Wall, and Aliens vs Predators. I was able to blog 5 of the Idea Festival events, take a few photos, Twitter live updates, and a few location-based concepts.

Here are my five posts:

The fest is over for this year, and I'm sure it will be coming back stronger than ever next year. If you'd like more general recaps, check out:

Idea Festival Flickr Pool

Flickr Photos tagged with IF2008

Tweets with IF2008 tags

Thanks to Wayne Hall, the official IF blogger, and Michelle Jones at Consuming Louisville for coordinating the bloggers.