Christian developed GeoMaker as a side project using PHP and several Yahoo developer libraries (including YQL and YUI). Although in its initial stages, GeoMaker currently allows users to input text or a URL (e.g., http://icant.co.uk/geomaker/index.php?url=http://news.yahoo.com) to be ge-enriched. Subsequently, a Yahoo Map is output, including code for copying pasting the map on to your favorite site or blog. As a bonus, GeoMaker also outputs the geo-enriched location data in Geo Microformats. Christian has also put together a short video (below) that provides a good overview of GeoMaker on the Yahoo Developer Network Blog.

GeoMaker serves as a great example of how a viable and functional web app can be rapidly and easily developed by leveraging existing developer libraries and APIs. Christian is currently asking for feedback, which he intends to use to refine and improve GeoMaker, prior to making it available as an open-source project on GitHub (our GitHub API Profile). Nicely done, Christian!

That’s because in the last 24 hours Twitter quietly increased the limit from 100 to 150 requests per hour (as seen in the update Twitter made to their developer wiki shown below). For a site that has had significant uptime issues in the past, hopefully this is a sign that they can control the firehose.

For a Twitter developer it might mean a little tweak to your code. It is important to keep track of the requests that get sent out, or you’ll risk being blacklisted if you attempt to request beyond the limit. You can also get the requests remaining from the Twitter API without being “charged” for a request. High volume applications can request “whitelisting” which, if approved, increases the limit to 20,000 requests per hour.

The update to the rate limit does not effect the search API, which was already “quite a bit higher” than 150 per hour. Twitter does not publish the search limit, but recommends watching for a 503 error, a sign you need to throttle back.

With the increase to the rate limit, perhaps it’s time to add your Twitter app to the 200+ Twitter mashups we list, or get more familiar with the Twitter API.

These bits of data come from the New York Times visualization of more than 3,000 homicides over seven years. The crimes are plotted on a map with custom tiles, with tiny markers denoting individual crimes. Rollover a marker and you see the details, such as the race and age of those involved.

You can drill down to see the murders by certain categories. In these circumstances the markers change colors based on the meta-data. For example, the screenshot shows weapons used: green for firearm, orange for knife and purple for other.

The Times has found a way to visualize what would otherwise be a spreadsheet of data in a meaningful way. What does a newspaper get out of this? For one, news stories, at least one so far. And they’re asking for tips from readers exploring the map.

This type of interactive visualization of crime data is a popular mashup theme and there are now 44 crime mashups in our directory.

While it helps with reporting, the Times’ site even stands out as a mashup. It is subtle, showing mounds of data in a way that is not overwhelming. It’s certainly an improvement over their earlier try three years ago.

In case it doesn’t stand on its own, the Google Maps team likes it. High praise for a mashup that many would benefit from emulating.

One big obstacle to SaaS vendors getting their applications adopted more widely is that so many of them don’t offer open APIs. Offering APIs is crucial for vendors to get their applications supported by channel partners and for customers looking to integrate SaaS offerings with legacy applications…

“It’s stunning to me the number of SaaS companies that don’t even consider an API as part of the development cycle,” says Treb Ryan, CEO of OpSource, a company that mainly helps SaaS vendors deliver their offerings to businesses but is also now extending its services to enterprises running their own clouds. “Lord knows two Web developers in a garage know to put out an API. [For SaaS vendors not doing this it's] killing them.”

This in turn can lead to a host of issues, both in the sales process and when it comes to integration within the enterprise:

Panelists said providing an API that channel and integrate partners could cut the cost of acquiring customers for SaaS vendors.

“Customer acquisition is the biggest cost,” said Tim Dilley, executive vice president, worldwide services and chief customer officer for SaaS vendor NetSuite. “The general notion of having a robust API to data is a critical jumping in point” for SaaS vendors wanting to play in the enterprise, said Narinder Singh, founder of Appirio, a company that helps customers exploit on-demand applications.

SaaS and enterprise APIs are currently a small percentage of APIs in our directory, but we’re certainly seeing more of this class of API appearing. But it’s likely that the folks on this panel don’t think these APIs are coming nearly fast enough.

According to the All for Good site, the new application was developed in response to President Obama’s call for citizen action:

Inspired by the call of President Obama to engage more Americans in service, a group of individuals from the technology, marketing and public sectors came together to build an open source application that allows you to find and share volunteer activities. All for Good lets you browse activities and find events based on your location or interests. The site is governed by Our Good Works a nonprofit organization that was formed by some of the people who initiated the project and who support the product’s growth. vities.

All for Good is backed by several influential private and non-profit organizations, including Google, Craigslist Foundation, UCLA, YouTube, FanFeedr and Aha! Ink. There are numerous founding activity providers, including the American Red Cross, United Way, Sierra Club, and many more.

All for Good’s RESTful API accepts several request parameters, including search keywords, volunteer opportunity providers, and proximity to a geographic location (either a city/state or latitude/longitude). Documentation for the API is already available, as well as an application gallery that features a web page gadget and Android App developed with the API. Developers should note that an API Key is required.

The All for Good API is a great addition to our API directory, and it joins the ranks of other APIs like the Green Thing API, Social Actions API and the Kiva API, in providing developers with access to valuable information that can be leveraged to do good.

This allows prototyping of web or mobile applications that query Sprint users and mash that up with other data. For example, developers could create tracking apps for families, groups or businesses, text the users when they go out of bounds, or if remind them if they are in range of a location or a commercial service. Or by adding-in weather information, developers could push weather warnings according to dynamic location with simple service calls. Developers can use any language to make the service call, and any platform, so if they wanted they could even develop an iPhone app to query Sprint handsets.

The location service returns lat/long positioning data accurate within 100 meters, which is better in the cities since it relies on tower triangulation location. As an example application on Sprint’s developer site, they offer a Google mashup of a very simple map with a user location (shown above). There’s also a presence service, which simply indicates the phone is on or in network range, and an SMS service to send a text and get the status of the message.

Carrier privacy policies require a type of opt-in notification to the services by the “trackees.” Trackees receive an initial text requiring an opt-in. The trackees can opt-out at anytime at the Sprint account management web site. And just to be sure, the trackees get a text message monthly reminding them that they are being monitored. So no anonymous tracking is allowed.

On Sprint’s developer sandbox the first 250 API calls per day all free, but for better performance and more calls, commercial access is available through an arrangement with one of Sprint service partners, which effectively act as “bucket” shops for purchasing access. Initially these services are fairly basic and the performance on the free Sandbox is not at the same level provided by via the for-fee commercial access. There are non-REST APIs that are richer. But for free, you can get an idea of what you could do with accurate location mashups that require no clients on the handset.

These REST services access only Sprint customers now, but Boost Mobile may be added in the future. And longer term, these services may ultimately extend through Sprint’s partners like Cricket and Virgin. It will be interesting to see how this evolves and how other US carriers begin to create open REST-based developer platforms.

Nan Hickman is a technology strategist, architect and professor who is currently working on the book, “Open Strategies for Enterprises” for FutureText.

 Amazon eCommerce used in Amplified Documents

 Amplify used in Amplified Documents

 AOL Video used in Gawkk.com

 AOL Video Upload used in Gawkk.com

 BBC used in Gawkk.com

 Bing used in Adult Or Not

 Blinkx used in Gawkk.com

 Blip.tv used in Gawkk.com

 Buzznet used in Gawkk.com

 del.icio.us used in Chromomulator, Craigslist ZIP and Picture Search

 Digg used in Chromomulator, Craigslist ZIP and Picture Search, Gawkk.com

 eBay used in Shopbib: Shop and Compare Online

 EchoSign used in EchoSign eSignature for Google Apps

 Facebook used in Chromomulator, Gawkk.com, One of You

 Flickr used in Amplified Documents, Chromomulator, What's happening, London?

 FriendFeed used in Gawkk.com

 fring used in Twitter for Mobile

 GeoNames used in Gigometer

 Google Ajax Feeds used in Rock Climbing in Mexico

 Google App Engine used in Bookmaplet, EchoSign eSignature for Google Apps, TwitDiff

 Google Earth used in Rock Climbing in Mexico

 Google Maps used in Bookmaplet, Craigslist ZIP and Picture Search, MuzkMesh, North American Wildfire Browser, Rock Climbing in Mexico, TravelMapia, What's happening, London?

 Google Search used in Chromomulator, Craigslist ZIP and Picture Search, What's happening, London?

 Grouper Video used in Gawkk.com

 Joost used in Gawkk.com

 Kyte used in Gawkk.com

 Last.fm used in Gigometer, MuzkMesh, Shtaggle

 LiveVideo used in Gawkk.com

 LyricWiki used in MuzkMesh, Shtaggle

 MTV used in Gawkk.com

 Ning used in Gawkk.com

 Notifixio.us used in Notifixious and SimplyHired

 Ooyala Video Player used in Gawkk.com

 OpenSocial used in Gawkk.com

 PostalMethods used in Postal Letters From Salesforce

 Reddit used in Craigslist ZIP and Picture Search

 Revver used in Gawkk.com

 Salesforce.com used in Postal Letters From Salesforce

 Scribd used in View Docs Online

 Scribd iPaper used in View Docs Online

 Seesmic used in Gawkk.com

 Shopping.com used in Shopbib: Shop and Compare Online

 Simply Hired Jobs used in Notifixious and SimplyHired

 Skyhook Wireless used in Gigometer

 Technorati used in Amplified Documents, Chromomulator

 Twitter used in Amplified Documents, Gawkk.com, TweetTest, TwitDiff, Twitter for Mobile, What's happening, London?

 Ustream.TV used in Gawkk.com

 Viddler used in Gawkk.com

 Videodetective used in Gawkk.com

 Vimeo used in Gawkk.com

 Yahoo Video Search used in Gawkk.com

 Yahoo Widgets used in Craigslist ZIP and Picture Search

 YouTube used in Chromomulator, TravelMapia, What's happening, London?

And each day there is one mashup selected to be Mashup of the Day. Here are last week’s winners:

 Adult Or Not

 Craigslist ZIP and Picture Search

 Gawkk.com

 Postal Letters From Salesforce

 TweetTest

 TwitDiff

 View Docs Online

Doodle API: The Doodle API allows you to create and conduct a poll. You can use the Doodle service to schedule an event or reach a consensus about a topic. Doodle polls can also be integrated into a facebook or igoogle page.

Global Biodiversity Information Facility API: Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) enables access to over 7000 datasets by over 200 data providers as part of a UDDI Registry. Get species data, including plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms, plus species occurrence records with classifications and scientific and common names. Participants in the GBIF network can use a toolkit to efficiently publish to the Internet biodiversity data. GBIF is an international group that works to make the world's biodiversity data accessible anywhere. The GBIF office is at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, in the Zoological Museum.

Google Virtual Keyboard API: As we reported earlier this week, Google released a Virtual Keyboard AJAX API. As they note, the Google Virtual Keyboard API “lets you use an onscreen keyboard on any textfield or textarea in a webpage. This will help your website users to type in any language using their familiar keyboard layouts. This JavaScript API allows you to configure and integrate the keyboard. It is part of the Google Translate family of APIs.”

Textingit API: An SMS API for mobile marketing campaigns. Use this API “as part of a cost-effective, flexible, private-label solution. Possible uses are campaigns, real-time alerts, interactive displays, site integration, or customer support, classifieds, and real estate. Send messages to certain phone numbers. If the message is over 160 characters, the message will be broken into parts automatically. You also can schedule messages and specify a time zone for them. Cancel scheduled messages as needed. Enter a message ID and learn its delivery status. “

XigniteNASDAQLastSale API: Provides real-time NASDAQ Last Sale stock prices and trade data for US-listed stocks. Use the API “to obtain last sale, open, high, low, and close information. Also you can create completely customized real-time charts of a security's intra-day activity.”

XigniteVWAP API: The XigniteVWAP API gives you access to intraday and historical volume weighted average price. You can find historical vwap, daily, weekly, monthly, realtime vwap and other related metrics.

Since these apps are being added to PW so frequently, we now have 210 Twitter mashups listed. To give a sense of the variety, here are three of the most recent:

Loading the Virtual Keyboard requires just a few lines of JavaScript code, and Google has included 5 language layouts in the initial release (support for additional languages will be rolled out in the near future):

• Arabic (العربية)
• Hindi (हिन्दी)
• Polish (Polski)
• Russian (Русский)
• Thai (ไทย)

The Google AJAX APIs Blog summarizes the rationale behind the release of this new API:

It is often difficult for Internet users to input text in many non-Latin script-based languages for a variety of reasons. The correct keyboard layout may not be installed on the computer they’re using - sometimes such a layout may not be well developed or widely available. This poses a challenging problem for web developers because there is no way they can ensure that their users have access to this very basic input technology.

In addition to class reference documentation, Google has made samples of the new API available in the Code Playground. Despite its simplicity, this new API is sure to prove quite valuable for a variety of sites already implementing the Google AJAX Language API as well as other sites that serve an international audience.